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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Russell Wallace wrote:</FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">On
12/23/05, <B class=gmail_sendername>Dirk Bruere</B> <<A
href="mailto:dirk.bruere@gmail.com">dirk.bruere@gmail.com</A>> wrote:
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote></SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">When
it comes to politics on this list I consider one form a necessity and the
other a pest.<BR>The pest can be summed up as "parochial party politics". It
is easy to spot - the names 'Bush', 'Republican', 'Democrat' etc make
unwelcome appearances in almost all instances.<BR>If people want to talk
about politics let's keep it to either specific instances that affect
Transhumanist aims directly, or to principles and practices op the wider
stage..<BR>Am I alone in this view?<SPAN
class=sg><BR></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR>Seconded (or thirded,
fourthed etc). Anyone who disagrees, let's suppose I got a bunch of Irish
friends and we came onto this list and started spamming it with a zillion
angry messages a day about Bertie Ahern. Something tells me the moderator
wouldn't be quite so tolerant.<BR><BR>Now there are political discussions that
are genuinely extropy-relevant. They just don't tend to involve sphexish
bickering about whether the current occupant of $government_building shags
sheep.<BR><BR>- Russell<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Russell, no polity can survive without the rule of
law. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That is what this is ultimately about, the rule of
law.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bertie Ahern is not a threat to the global
rule of law.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ireland doesn't matter that much. The United
States</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>does. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you can show how future communities might
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>emerge in this world without upholding the
principle</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>of the rule of law and without the expectation
that</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>those who take an oath of office should be
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>expected</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>to uphold it then I am all eyes and
ears.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brett Paatsch</FONT></DIV>
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