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So all these people have the law wrong and don’t seem to know the basics of the history of the Civil War. They think secession is possible, but would they support secession in their own state?

18% said yes. In the South: 24%. And 35% of the under 30 group were ready to secede.

Fascinating(ly stupid). Blogger: Althouse - Post a Comment

Given the disdain that politicians have for the law and their constituents I don’t think it is a surprise that folks want to secede. With Judges inventing rights from the bench, politicians lying from the floors and Presidents barely able to form complete sentences the nation is a wreck.

Furthermore I do not care for the intrusion unto my life that other more liberal states believe is good for me. That they may force me to behave in the manner of their choosing by using judges is insulting and clearly is asking for trouble. Sooner or later the bills will come due.

About whether they have the right or not it is clear that the founding fathers were not so sure that succession was “fascinatingly stupid”.
John Quincy Adams…

In the calm hours of self-possession, the right of a State to nullify an act of Congress, is too absurd for argument, and too odious for discussion. The right of a state to secede from the Union, is equally disowned by the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Nations acknowledge no judge between them upon earth, and their Governments from necessity, must in their intercourse with each other decide when the failure of one party to a contract to perform its obligations, absolves the other from the reciprocal fulfillment of his own. But this last of earthly powers is not necessary to the freedom or independence of states, connected together by the immediate action of the people, of whom they consist. To the people alone is there reserved, as well the dissolving, as the constituent power, and that power can be exercised by them only under the tie of conscience, binding them to the retributive justice of Heaven.

With these qualifications, we may admit the same right as vested in the people of every state in the Union, with reference to the General Government, which was exercised by the people of the United Colonies, with reference to the Supreme head of the British empire, of which they formed a part - and under these limitations, have the people of each state in the Union a right to secede from the confederated Union itself.

Thus stands the RIGHT. But the indissoluble link of union between the people of the several states of this confederated nation, is after all, not in the right, but in the heart. If the day should ever come, (may Heaven avert it,) when the affections of the people of these states shall be alienated from each other; when the fraternal spirit shall give away to cold indifference, or collisions of interest shall fester into hatred, the bands of political association will not long hold together parties no longer attracted by the magnetism of conciliated interests and kindly sympathies; and far better will it be for the people of the disunited states, to part in friendship from each other, than to be held together by constraint. Then will be the time for reverting to the precedents which occurred at the formation and adoption of the Constitution, to form again a more perfect union, by dissolving that which could no longer bind, and to leave the separated parts to be reunited by the law of political gravitation to the center.

While the Constitution was thus accomplishing the first object declared by the people as their motive for ordaining it, by forming a more perfect union, it became the joint and co-ordinate duty of the legislative and executive departments, to provide for the second of those objects, which involved within itself all the rest, and indeed all the purposes of government. For justice, defined by the Institutes of Justinian, as the constant and perpetual will of securing to every one his right, includes the whole duty of man in the social institutions of society, toward his neighbor.

I guess that with many folks elevated opinions of themselves perhaps even John Quincy Adams is “fascinating(ly stupid).

NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices fell harder than they have in 17 years Tuesday, as fears that record fuel prices are spreading broad economic pain led to the third big sell-off in just over a week.

Light, sweet crude plunged $6.44, or 4.4 percent, to settle at $138.74 in an extremely volatile session. Prices at one point dropped more than $10 a barrel from the day’s high.

The turnaround may not signal a lasting shift in sentiment—prices have swung violently in recent days as they flirted with record highs. But it does underscore investor uncertainty about the sustainability of sky-high prices and potentially long-lasting effects on the broader economy.

“They’re slamming this pretty good. But remember, these (big) moves are becoming a little more commonplace,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.  Oil prices plummet over $6 amid economic fears

Following are excerpts of a transcript of an interview conducted by The New York Times’s Adam Nagourney and Michael Cooper with Senator John McCain in Hudson, Wisconsin, on July 11. The answers are transcribed verbatim; some of the questions are paraphrased. The other people Mr. McCain refers to, who were in the room, are his wife, Cindy; Mark Salter, a senior adviser; Brook Buchanan, his press secretary; and John Taylor, an economic adviser. Transcript - The Times Interviews John McCain - Text - NYTimes.com

Robert Samuelson wrote about this interesting phenomenon the other day at Real Clear Politics. Campaign 2008: The Sounds of Silence.

It is one of our fondest political myths that elections allow us collectively to settle the “big issues.” The truth is that there’s often a bipartisan consensus to avoid the big issues, because they involve unpopular choices and conflicts. Elections become exercises in mass evasion; that certainly applies so far to the 2008 campaign. A case in point is America’s population transformation. Few issues matter more for the country’s future — and yet, it’s mostly ignored.

Two changes dominate — aging and immigration — and they intersect. In 2005, 12 percent of the population was over 65; by 2050, that will be almost 20 percent. Meanwhile, immigration is driving population growth. By 2050, the population may exceed 430 million, up from about 300 million now. About four-fifths of the increase will reflect immigrants and their children and grandchildren, estimates the Pew Hispanic Center. The potential for conflict is obvious. Older retirees and younger and poorer immigrants — heavily Hispanic — will compete for government social services and benefits. Squeezed in between will be middle-class and middle-aged workers, facing higher taxes.

What do John McCain and Barack Obama say about these looming problems? Well, not much. Of course, they’re against poverty and fiscal irresponsibility. They oppose illegal immigration and favor “reform.” But beyond these platitudes, they’re mostly mute. It’s not that the problems are secret. Dozens of reports have warned of population aging, which affects most wealthy societies. Global aging is “a demographic shift with no parallel in the history of humanity,” argue Richard Jackson and Neil Howe in their recent “The Graying of the Great Powers.

Mr Samuelson hit a lot of good points but missed the most obvious point. Sure it is possible that the Parties can decide to NOT talk about certain issues. But the press is not supposed to be under the same constraints. So we can applaud Mr. Samuelson for being part of the Drive-By that is talking about it we should also wish that his colleagues would start asking some tough questions.

Both major presidential candidates have endorsed CO2 abatement targets for the US, with Obama advocating for the most stringent — the “20 by 50″ target by which the US would reduce CO2 emissions by 80% in the next 40 years.

Given that they support such targets, the candidates’ public positions on gasoline prices should be something like this:

Yeah, I know that $4 gas is painful.  But do you know what?  Gas prices are going to have to go a LOT higher for us to achieve the CO2 abatement targets I am proposing, so suck it up.  Just to give you a sense of scale, the Europeans pay nearly twice as much as we do for gas, and even at those levels, they are orders of magnitude short of the CO2 abatement I have committed us to achieve.  Since late 2006, gas prices in this country have doubled, and demand has fallen by perhaps 5%.  That will probably improve over time as people buy new cars and change behaviors, but it may well require gasoline prices north of $20 a gallon before we meet the CO2 goal I have adopted.  So get ready. Climate Skeptic: In Search of Honesty

Btw this is one of a long list of great sites dealing with the scam of human caused global warming.

Via Tom Nelson and Climate Debate Daily

William M. Briggs
Climate Audit
Climate Change Facts
Climate Change Fraud
Climate Police
Climate Resistance
Climate Scam
Climate Science
CO2 Science
Friends of Science
Global Climate Scam
Global Warming Heretic
Global Warming Hoax
Global Warming Skeptic
GlobalWarming.org
Greenie Watch
Bruce Hall
Warwick Hughes
Lucia Liljegren
Jennifer Marohasy
Warren Meyer
Maurizio Morabito
Luboš Motl
Tom Nelson
Newsbusters climate
Planet Gore
Roger Pielke Sr.
Fred Singer
David Stockwell
Philip Stott
Anthony Watts
World Climate Report

Grasping this, our leading politicians engage in a consensual censorship to skip issues that involve distasteful choices or that require deferred gratification. They prefer to assign blame and promise benefits. So elections come and go, there are winners and losers — and our problems fester. RealClearPolitics - Articles - Campaign 2008: The Sounds of Silence

There is a group of folks who are supposed to prevent this sort of collusion. Rush calls them the Drive By Media for a reason though. Reporters covering both candidates should be hammering them on this crucial issue. Smoke them out and make them take stands. Instead we have a bunch of folks who by and large seem to be rooting for whomever they might be covering and because of this they almost have a stake in “their” candidate winning.

Sickening as it may be, it is an indication of just how shallow we have become as a people. We are getting both the press and the politicians we deserve…

By Jeffrey Denning

Just when you thought you’ve heard it all…
A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below).

This bracelet would:

• take the place of an airline boarding pass

• contain personal information about the traveler

• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes
The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.”  Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line. Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News - “Want some torture with your peanuts?” by Aviation Security

Retired Marine Is Top Gun At Sub Shop Source: PC Free Zone

Mother of dead schmuck says the Marine shouldn’t have killed her son…I say she should have done a better job of raising her son.

 Here is a hero….

And here is a dead zero…awwwwww…poor little dead zero made a bad career decision. Now his grandmother is missing him. Boo hoo…make no mistake he probably had every intention of killing those inside of the Subway. Never ever let criminals move you from the initial scene of the crime. You will die.

Well he looked angry while alive…

Mr Lovell on other hand looks pretty satisfied. Two bullets, two tangos down….one dead. Not a bad nights work. Semper Fi.

“I’m gonna rip them apart,” Fagan said of young victims. “I’m going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they’re 8 years old, they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.” FOXNews.com - Jessica Lunsford’s Dad Blasts Mass. Pol’s Vow to ‘Rip Apart’ Child Rape Victims at Trial - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum

That statement was made by Rep. Fagan Defense attorney and Democratic member of the House, during the debate to enact mandatory 20 year sentences for those FOUND GUILTY…of raping children under 12 years old. Exactly how are Republicans losing to shit heads like that? Jessica’s law apparently offends him…he offends me. Deeply. Around this time some lawyer type is going to pop up like those wacka weasels to defend this stack of shit but screw him…and them.

Yes a case can be made that some of those found guilty in these trials have been later found innocent. But that argues for adjusting the way these trials are conducted, not for what we do to folks after they have been found guilty. Far too many of these predators have found their ways out of jail to murder and rape again. Sex offenders are repeat offenders. Rapists are the worst repeat offenders. And that is when we catch them. Lord knows in the current system catching them in the first place is next to impossible since many don’t report the crime. Then when they do report the crime folks like that stack of shit above make them sorry for reporting it.

Here is a good start to educating yourself regarding this terrifying issue over at About.com What To Do With Sex Offenders 

In the recent high-profile stories about sex offenders being charged with murder, the criminals should never have been at large. In one case, the offender had failed to register his address, but no one looked for him. In another case, a judge released the offender on bail, even though he had a record of being jailed for sex crimes. In another case, the offender was jailed for a minor charge and then released, because the officials didn’t know that there was a warrant out for his arrest in another state. In other cases, the offenders were released from prison before they served their entire sentence.

A much more detailed article about repeat offenders can be found at Center for Sex Offender Management’s (CSOM).

Established in June 1997, the Center for Sex Offender Management’s (CSOM) goal is to enhance public safety by preventing further victimization through improving the management of adult and juvenile sex offenders who are in the community. The Center for Sex Offender Management is sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in collaboration with the National Institute of Corrections, State Justice Institute, and the American Probation and Parole Association. CSOM is administered through a cooperative agreement between OJP and the Center for Effective Public Policy.

Over at that site we find out just how big of a problem this is…

One method of dealing with this problem is to examine recidivism studies of specific types of sex offenders. This approach is warranted, given the established base rate differences across types of sex offenders. (Recent research suggests that many offenders have histories of assaulting across genders and age groups, rather than against only one specific victim population. Researchers in a 1999 study (Ahlmeyer, English, and Simons) found that, through polygraph examinations, the number offenders who “crossed over” age groups of victims is extremely high. The study revealed that before polygraph examinations, 6 percent of a sample of incarcerated sex offenders had both child and adult victims, compared to 71 percent after polygraph exams. Thus, caution must be taken in placing sex offenders in exclusive categories.) Marshall and Barbaree (1990) found in their review of studies that the recidivism rate for specific types of offenders varied:

• Incest offenders ranged between 4 and 10 percent.
• Rapists ranged between 7 and 35 percent.
• Child molesters with female victims ranged between 10 and 29 percent.
• Child molesters with male victims ranged between 13 and 40 percent.
• Exhibitionists ranged between 41 and 71 percent.

How is that for scary statistics! And all these statistics are only for those crimes we find out about…from the CSOM site:

Underestimating Recidivism

Reliance on measures of recidivism as reflected through official criminal justice system data obviously omit offenses that are not cleared through an arrest or those that are never reported to the police. This distinction is critical in the measurement of recidivism of sex offenders. For a variety of reasons, sexual assault is a vastly underreported crime. The National Crime Victimization Surveys (Bureau of Justice Statistics) conducted in 1994, 1995, and 1998 indicate that only 32 percent (one out of three) of sexual assaults against persons 12 or older are reported to law enforcement. A three-year longitudinal study (Kilpatrick, Edmunds, and Seymour, 1992) of 4,008 adult women found that 84 percent of respondents who identified themselves as rape victims did not report the crime to authorities. (No current studies indicate the rate of reporting for child sexual assault, although it is generally assumed that these assaults are equally underreported.) Many victims are afraid to report sexual assault to the police. They may fear that reporting will lead to the following:

• further victimization by the offender;
• other forms of retribution by the offender or by the offender’s friends or family;
• arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of an offender who may be a family member or friend and on whom the victim or others may depend;
• others finding out about the sexual assault (including friends, family members, media, and the public);
• not being believed; and
• being traumatized by the criminal justice system response

Naturally, because God does indeed have a sense of humor, the Supremes just this very day have elected to shine the light of their unparalled wisdom down upon us small folks. Justice Kennedy, my fingers tremble with anger at being forced to type the honorific of Justice in front of this sad excuse for a human, in his infinite wisdom wrote this in todays opinion striking down Louisiana’s death penalty sentence against a scum who raped his 8 year old step daughter.

“Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person[.]”

Kennedy, the fingers won, you have no decency. You are  an example of everything that is wrong and increasingly evil with this country. How dare him declare that a man who violently raped an 8 year old girl deserves respect and dignity. It is becoming more and more evident that our sides of the political spectrum cannot co-exist and that worries me tremendously. Macsmind is real happy too….

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers… Did Shakesphere have it right?

Dr. James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, sounded the alarm about global warming in testimony before a Senate subcommittee exactly 20 years ago.

Good to know that “scientists” like him are in “charge” of our tax dollars…open minded and all! No wonder we are dying under a mountain of public debt with clowns like this running the show.

He returned to the topic Monday with a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., given to the Worldwatch Institute.

“Special interests have blocked the transition to our renewable energy future,” Hansen writes in an opinion piece posted on the institute’s Web site. “Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming.”

Ah ha…so anything that runs counter to the conventional wisdom is dismissed as simple propaganda from those “EVIL” oil corporations…exactly how long will that shtick keep working?

“CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of the long-term consequences of continued business as usual,” Hansen continues. “In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.” FOXNews.com - NASA Scientist: Put CEOs On Trial for Global Warming Lies - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

Arrest them!!!! The Eco-Freaks Cultural Revolution begins in earnest as they get bold enough to declare such absurdities in public.

But as always…What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. What is a terrible shame is that once these freaks get discredited the legitimate conservationists may be painted with the same brush. 

It is unseemly to me to drive cars bigger than what your family needs. Like showing off I guess and showing off has always been bad taste.

“Former state Rep. Fred Hobbs has apologized to fellow members of the Tennessee Democratic Party Executive Committee for declaring that Barack Obama ‘may be terrorist connected.’”

Instapundit.com -

Barack Obama appeared at a fundraiser in Philadelphia last night where he delivered the following remark:

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”

A couple thoughts from McCain HQ on this. First, Barack Obama has a long track record as a proponent of stringent gun-control regulations–to the point that a questionnaire filled out by his staff, and with the candidate’s handwriting on it, stated that Obama favored a ban on the manufacture, sale, and distribution of handguns. Can we assume that Senator Obama now opposes efforts to ban the possession of handguns?

Second, would Obama be carrying a concealed weapon to this fight

John McCain 2008 - John McCain for President

In a report published mid-January two geologists have suggested that a rock unit known as the Marcellus shale that extends from southern New York state through western Pennsylvania into eastern Ohio and West Virginia may contain anywhere from 168 trillion cubic feet to 516 tcf of natural gas. That could translate to a “super giant” gas field with at least 50 tcf of technically recoverable gas, the geologists, Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University and Gary Lash, professor of geosciences at the State University of New York (Fredonia), have said. Appalachia to the rescue - January 27, 2008 - Petroleum News

These folks want all drilling stopped in the world…

A Mayor with a seriously funny sense of humor. What is even funnier is watching the Global Warming Freaks heads explode under the mockery. This is an ad asking for folks to visit Ocean Beach.

Well anyway. I just gave to the Campaign and I hope you do to since McCain will need every penny he can get to blast through the media hype for Obama. Make no mistake every single media outlet will be working for the Obamamessiah Election committee.

John McCain 2008 - John McCain for President

Breitbart.tv » Worker Freak-Out Caught On Tape Creates Internet Phenomenon

http://view.break.com/513310 - Watch more free videos

What happened? When did we lose focus?  When did we go from being the Party of Ideas and philosophy to the party of appeasement and stuffed animals? You laugh and think he is nuts for saying the Republicans are the party of Appeasement? Tell me exactly what the hell is McCain calling for when he makes the claim that he will cross the aisle and work with the other side? The other side is Obama and tell me exactly when he has bragged about crossing the aisle to work with us? Why do we apologize for our ideas? Why don’t the Democrats apologize for theirs? Their ideas lead to corruption and disaster and yet we act as if they have ideas worth meeting halfway. Why? When do they meet us halfway and furthermore exactly why is it valuable to meet certain ideas halfway. Should we meet those who would nationalize our oil industries half way? What is the compromise point in that discussion? Should we give away half of our guns? Give away half of our children’s education to their corruptions? Goddamn I hate McCain…but I hate Obama worse.

Which ideas lead to corruption and disaster? Let me count the ways.

1. Democrat Ted Kennedy authored the 1965 Immigration that has led to whole sale changes of our society. He explicitly promised that his changes would not bring exactly what they have brought.
• 1965: “The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.” (uh dial one for english…2 for whatever)
2. In the fall of 1974, Nixon resigned under the pressure of the Watergate scandal and was succeeded by Gerald Ford. Congress cut funding to South Vietnam for the upcoming fiscal year from a proposed 1.26 billion to 700 million dollars (which led directly to the Boat People and Cambodia, congrats to the Democrats)
3.  The War on Poverty…which has given us, drumroll please, more poverty.

I have to stop this is pissing me off…exactly HOW CAN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BE SO CORRUPT AND LACKING OF IDEAS THAT WE ALLOW FOLKS WHO CAME UP WITH THIS CRAP TO WIN?

Thank you Democrats…and Thank you Republicans for being so unable to answer the idiocy of the Democrats that you are reduced to giving away GODDAMN STUFFED ANIMALS. If there is a God in heaven please let him send us someone who will rid us of the idiots currently in charge of the Republican party machine.

Rev. Al Sharpton: Let’s talk about violence in black neighborhoods

The Rev. Al Sharpton is calling for a high-profile community summit to address black-on-black violence after Harlem was rocked by a wave of shootings over Memorial Day.

“Last year alone, nearly one black child a day under the age of 17 was shot and killed in New York City. Shot mostly by other black city residents,” Sharpton said.

“Shootings and violence within our community by one of our own is an outrage and an issue that we must confront as diligently and as passionately as a sensational case of police misconduct or brutality.”

Four gun battles in one three-hour period in Harlem Memorial Day weekend wounded 10 people - including a 15-year-old girl hit at a barbecue. A 15-year-old boy was also shot dead after a house party on the upper West Side.  Rev. Al Sharpton: Let’s talk about violence in black neighborhoods

That is a damn tragedy that has remained hidden by our reluctance to hold folks accountable.

Justice Department statistics

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on Wednesday dismissed the idea that taunting terrorism suspects with women’s panties is a form of torture.

In a debate about detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the California Republican cited panties eight times, arguing that making suspected terrorists wear women’s underwear on their heads isn’t demeaning and degrading enough to be called torture.

“You’re suggesting that the behavior of, what, panties on his head … is unacceptable interrogation technique for a man who was involved in a conspiracy to kill tens of thousands of Americans?” Rohrabacher asked during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. Lawmaker: Panties OK to use in torture - USATODAY.com