On good men doing nothing. (please RECOMMEND)

[Poll_Blind]

  Edmund Burke said "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."

  For most of my life and certainly all of my adult life I have confronted various evils, intentionally or otherwise. Sometimes you go looking for that monster and sometimes it comes looking for you. Regardless, the eventual confrontation is a trial. Winning or losing in a battle against evil is a moot point to judge a man or woman.

  It is whether one flees from the battle or enjoins it that is relevant in my opinion. That is a point to judge on.

  There is also the matter of how thoroughly that evil is confronted. As Americans, we are taught that some evils are so highly-appointed in the infernal hierarchy that they require we lay our lives down to stop them. Again, it is of little importance whether we win or lose that battle, but what pains were taken to stop it.

  To many here, it is high Truth that this battle today required more effort than was given by those we have appointed to defend us. It will be marked down, and it should be, that the battle might not have been winnable. That is ultimately irrelevant. What will also be noted, and of much greater importance, is that this battle should have been fought with the kind of vigor appropriate to the menace of that evil which was confronted.

  Which it was not.

  This was not a legislative kerfuffle over the subsidizing the price of corn or choosing a design for the face of a coin. Nor was it merely, and I use that word correctly, merely how we confront the evils which threaten America.

  This was something greater than that. Today's battle was a question about how we confront evil in ourselves, and how we define our national character.

  And the choice has been made. The President will lower his gallows-pen and the scratches it makes on paper will become a pale reflection of the gallows-blade which hangs heavily over our Liberties' neck.

  The good men and women who represent us in Congress have not done nothing. But they have certainly not done what was necessary when confronting an evil of this magnitude. I did not expect our representatives to lay down their life for us, today. But I sorely wish that I would have known that they would lay down so little when the stakes were so great.

  Freedom is a prologue to that which we will live with from this day forward. But Freedom is not the father or mother of it.

PB

[Xipe Totec]

1. To Kill a Mockingbird

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11, spoken by the character Atticus Finch

[Poll_Blind]

2. Thank you, that sums it up well and it rings true.

  And while there was courage today, I did not realize its expense in the face of this evil would cause it to be meted out so sparingly.

PB

[niallmac]

15. A quote only a Democrat could love.

One of my favorite books. I admit though, I have
many many favorite books but that quote represents
a human trait I have hung my hat on.

[Xipe Totec]

16. Likewise

In that quote he captured what it means to be a human being.

[Poll_Blind]

18. "...what it means to be a human being." INDEED. n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

3. Kick. n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

4. Kick. n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

5. Kicking for 3 more recommends. Please. n/t

PB

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. k&r

[Poll_Blind]

7. Thank you! n/t

PB

[Solly Mack]

8. Happily recommending

[Poll_Blind]

13. Thank you! n/t

PB

[kentuck]

9. K & R

should read.

[Greyhound]

10. K & R with enthusiasm.

:kick:

[NYC]

11. The vote.

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00259

By state, by yea or nay, alpha, etc.

[cosmicdot]

19. thanks for the vote link

what is it with these Americans?

hell, even Blanche Lincoln came around to vote for saving the Constitution and against torture

voting yes

Carper
Johnson
Landrieu
Lautenberg
(Lieberman)
Menendez
Nelson - FL
Nelson - NE
Pryor
Rockefeller
Salazar
Stabenow

[Jcrowley]

12. Yes

K&R

[bonzotex]

14. K & R...nt

[Poll_Blind]

17. Relevant passages from our Party's platform. Worth contemplating:

  Should those Democrats who voted for this legislation be expelled from the party? Even posing this as a question defines the absurdity of their position on this matter. I do not recommend it but it is, charitably, shameful to associate the word Democrat with the following: Tom Carper, Tim Johnson, Mary Landrieu, Frank Lautenberg, Joe Lieberman, Robert Menendez, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, Jay Rockefeller, Ken Salazar and Debbie Stabenow in light of their recorded, public, stance on this matter.

  If our party's representatives are clergy, the Bible from which they teach is our Democratic Party platform. Is this not heresy? There are Democrats who will uphold the tenets below. Is it unthinkable to find those names and recommend them over the current group?

PROMOTING DEMOCRACY, PEACE, AND SECURITY

We know that promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law is vital to our long-term security. Americans will be safer in a world of democracies. We will work with people and nongovernmental organizations around the world struggling for freedom, even as we work with their governments to protect our security from weapons of terror. We will restore America's credibility and commitment as a force for democracy and human rights, starting in Iraq. We believe that upholding international standards for the treatment of prisoners, wherever they may be held, advances America's national security, the security of our troops, and the values of our people. And we believe torture is unacceptable. America should abide by its own laws and the treaties it has
ratified, including the Geneva Conventions.

Guarding Liberty

Together, we can make America safer, stronger, and more respected. We can do it in a way that
safeguards all the greatness of America by protecting our people, securing our homeland, and
reinforcing our values – faith and family, duty and service, individual freedom and a common purpose to
build one nation under God. We can do it in a way that keeps faith with the best measures of American
leadership around the world – the builder of alliances, the defender of freedom, the champion of human
rights. We can do it, and we will.

[chill_wind]

20. K&R. So well stated, all of it. THANK you PB. nt