Abd ul-Rahman Lomax writes: > If Mr. Poole thinks that what I wrote was "political rant," I wonder > what planet he is from. He is certainly free to ignore it, as is > anyone. But what I wrote was little more than what is commonly > believed among, for example, legal experts regarding the 2000 election > and the Supreme Court decision that interrupted the Florida state > process, entirely contrary to precedent established by the same court > and its announced principles. > > This is not rant. It might be seen as political, but it is not > polemic, nor is it exaggerated. The context was an assertion that the > present Supreme Court would likely rule the Compact > unconstitutional. It was not rant for me to note that this would be > even more outside of precedent than that 2000 decision. Nor that if > the Court were to go so far outside of precedent as that, they would > be risking impeachment. I think that possibility, if it came to that, > is real. But, in fact, I do not expect the court would do that. I am > not railing against the Court. I think Mr. Poole must have some > special sensitivity here....
Do you consider it tactful or convincing to begin an argument that you were not ranting with an implication that I am from another planet, or to close it with the assertion that I have some other agenda? Perhaps I should be clearer about what I meant by political rant. It is an unsupported assertion of one particular political position, with the apparent assumption that there is no reasonable disagreement over it and with a controversial conclusion that is dependent on the first assertion. You have made strong claims about the Supreme Court "making blatant result-oriented decisions", which you elaborate above to apparently mean departure from precedent, and the possibility of impeachment for Supreme Court Justices. You have not supported these beyond hand-waving and appeals to authority. Beyond an expectation that people making strong, controversial claims provide adequate support for their claims, I would not say I have any special sensitivity in this area. Michael Poole ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
