Baby steps, my good coward...

still efforting the 40% threshold for RTFS.

The one I've heard that rings true is the sanctity of life argument: the Cons being against the abortion with the same zeal as the Libs against the death penalty.

It's the single most difficult barrier to growth and understanding: settled World view coupled with stubborn self righteousness.

Alright. As for the honest politician oxymoron, it is really a selection of the least imperfect. Fairy tale good and noble are rarely on the ballot, but some are clearly more suited to the task than others, once you've identified a set of characteristics you're willing to vote for. Carter's failure was more management style than lack of guile. His great intelligence made it difficult for him to delegate.

"Some voters don't think that single iffy practices are necessarily indicative of character." I see what you did there.

If a President needs to lie, and maybe he doesn't (how would we know?), he needs to be able to do so convincingly.

Understanding the World is not the goal for everyone, indeed, perhaps fewer people than one might imagine want it all neatly explained by science and informed study.

If people have proven nothing else, it seems clear many are much more comfortable in an illogical cocoon of faith and superstition.

I think we also do this to our heroes, and to our histories.

Look, it all makes sense!" is a comfortable place in a chaotic World.

My error.

I'm no Doomsayer, but which group of really old people should I be rooting for to straighten out this proprietary nightmare: the Congress or the Supreme Court?

I'm going to silver lining this for you. The oath of impartiality is important to a fair jury trial, and participating with an eye toward the advancement of a personal agenda is flawed, but we're better off with that than with apathy.

We all think we're smart here. Many of us are correct. Shit, you survive here as an outspoken conservative on what could be accurately described as a liberal forum... The important thing is, when things are argued properly on Slashdot, all sides are represented.

The best jury trials are like that, too.

I have little doubt Mr Snowden ever imagined he'd be where he is, right now, at the mercy of a schizophrenic patron like the Russian Putin.

One of the great moments of shame for me, was when an American citizen sought refuge in Soviet Russia. I understand. The US government has a real need to treat him like a cold war spy instead of an heroic whistleblower to retain any credibility on this ubiquitous unconstitutional eavesdropping, but darn it Beav, we used to stand for something. I think some of us still do. How do we fix for him?

I don't know... sounds like the sort of technology ripe for exploitation by the few evil doers that give the internet a bad name.

And heck, we have Paypal already for that necessity.

That, Detective, is the right question.

My twenty-year-old son recently served for the first time on a local murder trial, no less, and it taught him quite a lot about how the judicial system works. He was proud of his service, and as you might imagine, had no trouble making the jury as seemingly everyone attempted to get out of it.

Heaven forbid one of us would ever have to stand trial, but I would hope all the competent, decent people didn't weasel out of service that day.

It will be brought up during the presidential debates at some point, assuming Mrs. Clinton runs as expected, but you've hit the nail on the head. The US political system is so polarized that many supporters are unable to gauge wrongdoings within their own party.

The over-the-top reaction from extremists on the other side parroting what some talking head said this morning drives the party faithful to circle the wagons. We have allowed them to divide and conquer us.

I've heard it said that we get the type of candidates for political office that we do because the system is not attractive to good and noble candidates.

It also rings true that we have lowered the bar of expectation with regard to decency and morality from our politicians.

Fortunately, we can both still vote in our respective nations to change this perversion. FWIW, there are many candidates for the upcoming presidential vacancy I would be less pleased to see in power than Mrs. Clinton.