I think I'll just asssume that the previous two comments are satire. It's rather staggering to be chastised for having too much freedom from a country that actually still has a few senior citizens tottering around with tattoos on their arms. Or an area that just a little over ten years didn't have enough "efficient organization" to prevent the killings in Srebrenica, which last time I checked was still considered part of Europe.

To an American the stereotype of Germany and Europe is an area where mass killings are normal but we are hopeful that this latest round a democracy will last. We have confidence that eventually Europeans will lose the ability to kill their fellow citizens and begin to value "big freedoms" as well as the small ones.

Joerg-The main difference is that many of these so-called "quality of life" issues get promulgated and passed at the local level, ie. state, county and city. In some cases within a private gated community via its homeowners association(CC&Rs). The smaller the area covered the easier it is to get some personal pet peeve enacted into law because of the lower turnout and the ability of small groups to organize themselves into voting blocs at lightly attended local elections.

I can comment on the drinking laws because of the reams of statistical evidence that shows that a huge percentage of fatal accidents in cars involved underage drinking. Therefore since drinking is not an enumerated right in the Constitution then the laws on drinking are determined by the states. This may even sound retrogade but there thousands of municipalities and over a hundred counties in the USA that are dry. There are even guides available on the internet of when, where and what kind of drink you can get when travelling through some of these counties.

I do agree that there is a "slight" inconsistency in citizenship and drinking. But I'm perfectly happy to have these kind of issues solved in my city rather than Washington DC.

There is no federal authority to pass any law banning drinking under the age of 21 in the US. That power, to set age limits and availability of alcohol, hadd been given by the states to the federal government and then repealed during the Depression. attempt. However, those states that want to allow drinking at an earlier age, can do so, but would lose a big chunk of the federal funds set aside for transportation projects in their state.

Even then many states have exceptions that allow undeage drinking. Also through the legal doctrine of joint and individual culpability many places that used to sell to minors don't do it as much anymore because of the catastrophic penalties that could be imposed.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age[/url]
[url[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underage_drinking_America[/url]

I'm not even going to try to explain the rationale for the multitude of different state laws about minors acquiring licenses except to say that most teenagers are stunned to discover that getting this permit is not guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. But again an enumerated power that has not been delegated to the federal government.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was in 1956 made famous by Rosa Parks and E.D. Nixon while MLK had just been appointed pastor of his first church, Dexter Avenue. He played only a minor part of the first boycott and had minimal involvement in the nearly year long boycott later that same year. His reputation truly become noteworthy after his house was bombed and he had established the SCLC.

Bull Connor was the Public Safety Commissioner of Birmingham and a delegate from Alabama to the Democratic Convention in 1956, 1960 and 1964. His confrontation with MLK, using dogs, water cannons and chewing tobacco, was in 1963.

Again, you can't get at reporters unless there has been a crime to which that reporter was witness. Here the case was the publishing of secrets which was an indictable felonies and the desire to question the reporters as witnesses to that crime. If you end up with a packet of papers marked Top Secret and then publish them you can expect to be questioned about this crime just as if you got a TV off of a truck and tried to sell it on E-Bay. Many conservatives were upset that the Bush Administration didn't seem to interested in either finding out who leaked. Especially as some reporters did seem to know but wee not questioned.

The hyperbole of different commentators and politicians are just that, hyperbole. If you think that Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck are the face of the Republican party then I will claim that Armin Hary and Heidi Krieger are the face of German athletics. Seems fair to me.

I didn't blame Clinton but rather pointed out that these acts were already in use, probably a long time before but he did sign the legislation that the present Administration relies on. Now whether the Bush Administration should use them now is a different and legitimate issue.

Also I did provide a list of several notable conservatives that objected to rendetion and waterboarding, so now I think its fair to ask for a list of some liberals that objected in the 90's when, tah dah, Clinton used them. I also would like a link to the House Intelligence Committee as there are literally thousands of links in the archives that are not organized by month but by month and date.