On News of the Week

[vakkotaur]

April 15th was the U.S. tax deadline and also a day of protests. Some claimed this was top-down thing and pointed to a few folks at the supposed "top" pushing it, but it happened all over without that. The claim has been debunked a few times over, but it's funny to watch what could well be called Soros' Minions whine about their opposition being controlled from a single or very few points.

There were, no doubt, some off-message folks spouting nonsense at the tea party protests/demonstration, such as someone in Des Moines someone trying to bring the gay marriage thing (which ought to be a non-issue all around) into things. I did see a few good pictures of various parties/demonstrations. Two of the best were:

* A bi-(or non-)partisan sign noting that Bush's overspending was bad and Obama's is worse.

* A shirt with images of a tea bag and a of a pitcher of a reddish fluid, captioned, "Which one are you drinking?"

There was, supposedly, even a gathering in Fairmont. I didn't go. Due to my schedule, I slept through it and most of the silly reactions to whatever all went on. One fellow said he preferred to drink his tea rather than do anything else with it. I can certainly understand that. Dumping it is uneconomical, and a while after drinking it you can really express a truly appropriate opinion of the irresponsibility of the federal budget.

To those railing on about the protests, the promotion thereof, and a bit of crudeness in some of it I have a couple things to say: After the mudslinging of the last eight years, you do not hold any moral high ground here. And to hear you now whine about dissent after screaming about how it was patriotic for the last several years says quite a bit about you. Guess what? Dissent is still patriotic. Even if the timing, and alleged content, of an incredibly vague "intelligence" report is suspicious as all get out. At least that distraction didn't seem to work.

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Meanwhile Texas has said that it'd be nice if the federal government followed that Constitution document thing, as amended... but several silly folks have now said that "Texas is threatening to leave the union. Har, har, let 'em!" No.* Texas said that the tenth amendment ought to be taken seriously and maybe they will force the issue somehow. I don't really see how, but the commerce clause of the Constitution has been long abused to control states with their money.

As for Texas going on its own, I don't see it as at all likely but I doubt it would be as "amusing" as some claim. First, more money flows out of Texas in the form of federal taxes than flows in as appropriations. So right off, Texans would have less of an economic drag on them. If you think Texas is just yahoos and rednecks, consider where NASA's mission control is. Also consider where, and what, Pantex is. And UT and A&M. It isn't just cattle and old oilfields, folks.

Even if it is just symbolic, it would be good to see more states point out that unfunded mandates and "We'll give you some of your own money back if you play our games" are not only wrong, but in violation of both the letter and spirit of the Bill of the Rights.

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A few pirates lost. Not just to the USA, but some also lost to France. The pirates need to keep on losing, and badly. The claim of an "independent navy" is absurd. If it were so, it would be defending the territorial waters from the (European and African) fishing poachers and illegal dumpers. Instead of that, they attack relief ships and kidnap people from them.

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Oh yeah, and a company that sells books got caught implementing a poorly thought out policy - that got a lot more attention to due to a clumsy systems implementation and some social monkey-wrenching that exploited that clumsiness.

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* Gov. Perry did quip about seccession, but isn't it strange to hear an uproar about leaving the country... from folks who seem to have the market cornered on "If $PERSON is elected, I'm/we're leaving the country!"?

Comments

[ken-redtail.livejournal.com]

A lot of people don't seem to know that Texas is in full rights to leave if it wants more than any other state of the union as part of the deal when the country of Texas decided to join with the country of the United States was that at any time, Texas reserved the right to resume its sovereignty and strike off on its own. Of course we remember what happened the last time that a state decided it was better off on its own.

After the mudslinging of the last eight years, you do not hold any moral high ground here.
This. So much this. A lot of people are so indignant that we're criticizing Obama only a few months into his presidency, but these were the same people who criticized Bush a few DAYS into his presidency. If there's one thing I've learned about the human race is that no one likes the taste of their own medicine or having the tables turned on them.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I was reading an article written by a conservative protesting the Justice Department targeting people based on their views of religion, immigration, taxes, and abortion. Half of the liberal responses were "Nazi, Nazi, Nazi..." comparing various conservative groups to Hitler's Germany using the flimsiest of threads. They're going spastic over our refusal to accept their stereotypes of us.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

Yeesh, I could really go off on George Soros. Here's a guy placing massive financial bets on the decline of the US economy, and the party in power consults him for policy direction? Do they know what "self-fulfilling prophecy" means?

I liked the tea party protests, mainly because they were unusual, peaceful, and law-abiding (one group decided not to dump their tea in a pond because they were informed they needed a dumping permit first). It was nice to get some media attention for our grass roots folks for a change. Naturally the mainstream media went schizo over it; one media lady claimed they were racist protests because the president is black. I did get a chuckle out of a local editorial cartoon: http://www.post-gazette.com/images4/041609_Tea_Party.gif (at least he was being funny instead of just mean).

The Tenth Amendment is the most ignored in the entire Constitution, and that's sad. The Founders intended very strict limits on what the government could do, to be expanded only with amendments approved by the state governors and a super-majority in Congress, but we've got now is a government that does whatever it wants without bothering to check whether it's allowed to do it. I doubt Texas will secede, but they have the legal right to split into six states, which would make the Senate quite interesting.

I hope the pirates soon realize that the funtime party is over and if they keep at it, there's going to be a very messy war that they're certain to lose. And I hope the world community follows through on this, so the war is short instead of dragged on for a decade.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

The "tea party" thing does seem a bit light. It just doesn't have the cachet of, say, "Whiskey Rebellion."

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

Yeah, conservative protests generally don't degrade into riots, so we're more boring than the other side.

[thecanuckguy.livejournal.com]

Despite what ken_redtail says (not saying he's wrong, just saying that I've always thought something different) I didn't think that anyone was allowed to leave. (After all, as Ken points out, last time someone did that a few people got upset. Ken may have forgotten that Texas was one of the 11 who left (in fact, one of the original 7) and the Union fought just as hard to get Texas back as they did, say Alabama (though why they would fight to get Alabama is anyone's guess, really ... ).

Texas, as well as the other 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Palmyra Atoll (as well as maybe one or two other minor areas, but I think that's it) are incorporated parts of the US and thus cannot secede (unincorporated territories can and have). (Although something tells me the Phillippines were an incorporated territory, but I may be wrong). See the Supreme Court's decision in Texas v. White (Wikipedia, Cornell U. Law School Supreme Court Collection for more info - this case ironically specifically mentions Texas since it was the state in question in the decision so we know for sure that Texas cannot secede, but by extension, the other 49 states cannot either.)

[thecanuckguy.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I want to applaud your last paragraph before the first break. I'm in 100% agreement that dissent is patriotic. I'd say that dissent is the most patriotic thing a person can do, and is guaranteed in the US Constitution. If they took away any of your/my rights, the one I would complain loudest about is the right to dissent.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I disagree. Dissent taken to an extreme is treason, which is the exact opposite of patriotism.

I would argue that joining the military is the most patriotic thing a person can do. Giving up your freedom and risking your life for your country is a far greater show of love for your country than launching a protest.

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

The Constitution may have been meant to change with the times, but that's why there's an amendment process. Unless and until it's amended, its words are the supreme law of the land, and should be treated as such.

Note, also, that the "meant to change with the times" argument is most often used to support the idea that the Second Amendment should be ignored. That's a supremely bad idea...