Category: Touchy Subjects

The things that should never be discussed much less published by non-professionals.

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McCain Endorses Obama!

Not really but John McCain just scored some points in my book. Well handled John! Watching this video was like watching a character actor step out of character. I’m still voting for Obama but McCain showed some class.

"[Senator Obama] is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States," he said, before adding: "If I didn’t think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn’t be running." [Source, The Huffington Post, McCain Faces Backlash Over Rabid Crowds and Source, TalkingPointsMemo TV, McCain Tries to Tame Flames He Earlier Fanned (YouTube and Talking Points Memo site)]

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The State of Arizona Poised to Secede

HCR 2034 introduced by Representatives Johnson, Cooley under the reference title of "abolish federal government; state sovereignty" says that when the United States declares martial law, Arizona is outta here!

when or if the President of the United States, the Congress of the United States or any other federal agent or agency declares the Constitution of the United States to be suspended or abolished, if the President or any other federal entity attempts to institute martial law or its equivalent without an official declaration in one or more of the states without the consent of that state or if any federal order attempts to make it unlawful for individual Americans to own firearms or to confiscate firearms, the State of Arizona, when joined by thirty-four of the other fifty states, declares as follows: that the states resume all state powers delegated by the Constitution of the United States and assume total sovereignty; that the states re-ratify and re-establish the present Constitution of the United States as the charter for the formation of a new federal government, to be followed by the election of a new Congress and President and the reorganization of a new judiciary, similarly following the precedent and procedures of the founding fathers; that individual members of the military return to their respective states and report to the Governor until a new President is elected; that each state assume a negotiated, prorated share of the national debt; that all land within the borders of a state belongs to the state until sold or ceded to the central government by the state’s Legislature and Governor; and that once thirty-five states have agreed to form a new government, each of the remaining fifteen be permitted to join the new confederation on application. [Source, Arizona State Legislature]

Please note that I could not find a copy of this in THOMAS.

Update: The document says it is from House of Representatives, Forty-fourth Legislature , Second Regular Session, 2000. That would be pre-9/11.

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I Twittered the debate

I allowed myself to be distracted by the Presidential debate at Belmont in Nashville last night. I Twittered my thoughts as Obama, McCain, and Brokaw played their game. Naturally, apologies were issued for the flood. Read from bottom up.

#debate08 #nashdebate mccain scores last laugh by blocking tom brokaw’s teleprompter. Tom needs an improv class. about 9 hours ago from txt

#debate08 #nashdebate its the anticipated pow reference! Everyone drink! about 9 hours ago from txt

#debate08 #nashdebate political cartoonists are going to be on easy street for the next 4 years regardless of who gets elected. about 9 hours ago from txt

#nashdebate #debate08 not with Russia. The next cold war will be with China. Search http://realityme.net for “china” about 9 hours ago from txt

#debate08 #nashdebate have they forgotten they are on a stage in Nashville? Instant win to the first one that pulls out a guitar! about 9 hours ago from txt

#debate08 #nashdebate yes! Now its a debate! about 9 hours ago from txt

@therealhoff re Rules for Radicals yes about 9 hours ago from txt in reply to therealhoff

#nashdebate #debate08 a minute ago mccain’s hero was Reagan now its Teddy Roosevelt. about 9 hours ago from txt

#debate08 #nashdebate that’s the 2nd invocation of The Reagan! about 9 hours ago from txt

#nashdebate #debate08 either the debate caused twitter fail whaled, everyone went silent at once, or my phone melted. about 9 hours ago from txt

#debate08 #nashdebate i predict tonight’s winner is Tom Brokaw. Mccain, i won’t see a dime of your 5k. Wear my shoes! You won’t like them. about 10 hours ago from txt

@vinull keep a heathy society and have a productive happy society. The sick don’t add to gnp. #debate08 #nashdebate about 10 hours ago from txt in reply to ViNull

#nashdebate #debate08 John if you kill the oceans you kill us all. There is more to the continental shelves than money. about 10 hours ago from txt

Tom is really getting ticked about the 1 minute time. Just turn off their mics at 60 seconds. #debate08 #nashdebate about 10 hours ago from txt

#nashdebate #debate08 did he just complain about’fix it for us’? Isn’t that what we just did on wall street? about 10 hours ago from txt

Mccain is desperate! He invoked The Reagan! #debate08 #nashdebate about 10 hours ago from txt

$5k tax cut for medical won’t help many of the 47 million uninsured. I won’t see a dime of that 5k and i will still be without healthcare. about 10 hours ago from txt

Scalpel vs hatchet was good. #nashdebate #debate08 about 10 hours ago from txt

@akula i second the minute gong! #debate08 #nashdebate about 10 hours ago from txt in reply to Akula

Mccain can also lose “my friends” and “I did that” #nashdebate #debate08 about 10 hours ago from txt

I like that the candidates aren’t hidden been podiums. #debate08 #nashdebate about 10 hours ago from txt

Things they must quit saying:Obama-“well look” McCain-“i suspended my campaign” #nashdebate #debate08 about 10 hours ago from txt

@vinull i am liking the whip cracking. Obama takes first cheap shot. #debate08 #nashdebate about 10 hours ago from txt in reply to ViNull

Just how long was that campaign suspended? 2 days if at all? #debate08 #nashdebate about 11 hours ago from txt

http://debatehub.c-span.org/ is well done! about 11 hours ago from twhirl

@cspan just invited people to join them through skype. Cspan is demonstrating the right way to use technology! #nashdebate #debate08 about 11 hours ago from txt in reply to cspan

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With due apologies for the Twitter flood

Rumor has it that outside a this valley thar be other states beyond just Tennersee. Nows I can vouch for that cus I done traveled a bit in my life and seen me those other states. That is til I ran into da Mississip out there to the West. Head South an’ it gets hot inside an out! The weather and food is spicy! And thar’s that Gulf of Mexco. Lota water an nothing else. Head East an tis the same thang. Ocean of water and far da eye cn see. Taint nothing else.

Now, it been told that beyond all da water thar’s other lands. Some says we came from there. Some says all the land was squished t’gether an it drifted apart like Billy’s raft done in the river current las sumner. Ifn ya ask me, I gots to say what’s it matter. Sholy a Twitter message caint reach dem other lands. It’d fly straight off da Earth befo’ ev’r reachin them lands.

Ahem! Sorries.

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I predicted Tom Brokaw the winner

At about 9:55pm I called Tom Brokaw the winner of the Presidential debate in Nashville.

#debate08 #nashdebate i predict tonight’s winner is Tom Brokaw. Mccain, i won’t see a dime of your 5k. Wear my shoes! You won’t like them. about 1 hour ago from txt

Anyone call it sooner?

Update: My other debate Tweets.

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I watched the debates on CSPAN

I intended to just pick up the highlights of the debates today but I got dragged in. I want to understand the McCain/Palin love. I feel like I’m missing something. One of my neighbors has a McCain/Palin yard sign and I simply do not understand what they see in these two.

I watched the debates on CSPAN with their wonderful split screen and no over talking the candidates with commentators! Did anyone else notice that CSPAN gave Palin 53% of the screen while Biden was squeezed, with his head often bobbing offscreen, in 47%. On my 20 inch tv (that’s the diagonal measurement), Biden had 7.5 inches and Palin had 8.5 inches. Perhaps that was intended to be a metaphor for Biden being more in touch with the average American while Palin supposedly swings a big stick.

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Don’t Vote! (registration ends Monday)

(mature language warning)

Leonardo DiCaprio, will i. am, Tobey Maguire, and Forest Whitaker have created public service announcements to encourage American youth to register to vote. The non-partisan PSAs, produced by DiCaprios Appian Way, were created to engage and inspire young people to register and vote and participate in the upcoming election. Celebrities appearing in the PSAs include: Amy Adams, will.i.am, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Bacon, Halle Berry, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Connolly, Courteney Cox, Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Jonah Hill, Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Kiedis, Ashton Kutcher, Adam Levine, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Tobey Maguire, Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Giovanni Ribisi, Ethan Suplee, Kyra Sedgwick, Michelle Trachtenberg, Usher, and Forest Whitaker.

Have you reached out to an unregistered voter and encouraged them to participate in the election? Time is running out. Find voter registration information at http://maps.google.com/vote

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Random searches of students passes unanimously

The Knox County School Board voted unanimously to approve random searching of students. The next steps are to have the Law Department issue a legal memorandum then to have a final reading of the policy on November 2nd.

A commenter with good common sense from Volunteer TV’s comments regarding the Knox County School Board wanting to implement random searches in the school (emphasis added):

Posted by: Keri Location: Knoxville on Oct 1, 2008 at 09:46 AM
Are we, as members of a free democracy-protected by a Constitution, going to allow the constitutional rights of our children to be trampled upon? I am as concerned as most citizens about the safety of our children at school, but I am more concerned about the intimidation and conditioning of our children to accept infringements on their rights as American citizens. If we accept policies that not only allow, but encourage the powers that be to randomly search our children, without cause or evidence of wrong doing, how much longer before these policies obscure the rights of every citizen? These children are the future policy makers and leaders of our country and they will lead us based on the manner in which they have been lead. It is time to send a message to our children and the policy makers of our community that we value our Constitutional rights and those who fought and died to secure those rights, far too much to allow anyone, for any reason to strip our children of their liberty. [Source, VolunteerTV.com, Knox Co. School Board considering random search proposal, Keri]

Quit looking for quick fixes and think about the future. Please.

See also: teenagers are not criminals

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In PA the vote is split between Obama and McCain

This is why you should never get your news from FOX! I really like the lady in the back right smacking her husband’s arm as he tries to raise it for McCain.

Note for when Youtube takes the video down. A reporter asks for a show of hands for McCain voters vs Obama voters. Almost every hand is down for McCain and up for Obama but the reporter declares the vote "split."

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Please vote NO to random searches in our schools

I felt compelled to email each of our school board members (and the ACLU) since tonight they will vote to approve random searching of students in our schools. This is the email I sent. Will you send one?

Dear School Board,

Please vote NO to random searches in our schools. Our money and time will be better spent developing a rapport with the students.

These websites informed me that Knox County School plans to pass a measure to allow random searching of students in the schools:

http://schoolmatters.knoxnews.com/forum/topic/show?id=879777%3ATopic%3A28290
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/sep/30/random-searches-at-schools-studied/
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/oct/01/Knox-school-superintendent-proposes-random-search/

After the Central High School shooting, didn’t security experts advise you that the security cameras were a waste of money and that we’d be better served by having personnel interact more frequently with the students? See this quote from Knox School Matters:

I do not agree, I have a teenage daughter and do not want anyone “doing a pat down” search on her. They had a random metal detector search at Powell the other day and they only ran every 7th kid through it and yelled at the kids to shut up and just go through and dont ask questions. The kids were terrfied not knowing what was going on and being yelled at like criminals. Source, Knoxschoolmatters.com, Cindi

Our students deserve to be treated better than that. The students will not talk to the staff and warn them of impending doom when the student body fears the staff. We gain nothing through fear. In the penitentiary system random searches are to “breakdown” the inmates. Is that our goal? To brainwash and breakdown the children and parents? What legacy will we leave with these children when they graduate and start passing laws for us? For our own safety, will they legalize random searches in our retirement homes? The malls? Our houses?

Random searching is nothing more than theater. It is a waste of staff time, humiliating to the students, and ineffective. Ineffective? The student that wants to bring a gun to school isn’t going to be deterred by the possibility of a random search but I bet that student will be talking and exhibiting behaviors that give warning signs long before the gun comes in. You will pick up on the warning signs by interacting positively with the students. Negativity begets negativity and random searches are very negative.

Random searches at a school are different than random searches at an airport (although equally ineffective and very much theater). At the airport, we have the option to decline being searched and leave. Will our students have the right to decline a search and leave school?

You cannot build trust and safety on a foundation of fear and false suspicion. Please vote no.

Thank you!
Doug McCaughan
phone number

Update: A commenter at Knoxnews has this:

The Supreme Court Case that most directly deals with student searches is New Jersey v. T.L.O (469 U.S. 325). The written opinion states that althought students have not “necessarily waived all rights to privacy in such items by bringing them (legitimate, non-contraband items) onto school grounds,” a search can still be conducted if determined to be “reasonable.” The following describes the factors used to determine reasonableness:

“Determining the reasonableness of any search involves a determination of whether the search was justified at its inception and whether, as conducted, it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justified the interference in the first place. Under ordinary circumstances, the search of a student by a school official will be justified at its inception where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.”

In other words, officials must have a reason to search (less cause than suspision) a student. Random selection, by definition, is not a specific reason.

No matter how the school board votes, allowing random searches would be in direct violation of a Supreme Court ruling, and state and county law can not supercede federal law.

http://supreme.justia.com/us/469/325/…

[Source, Knoxnews, Knox school superintendent proposes random searches; board to hear plan tonight, zachbest]

Update: No response from any board member. The ACLU called almost immediately!

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Congress Is Under Martial Law!

I said martial law was coming October 1st. I was wrong. Apparently the Speaker of the House declared martial law on Saturday night (September 27th) according to Rep Burgess.

Anyone have any clarification on Rep Burgess’ statement? Ah! Apparently Congressional Martial Law is different than Martial Law from the Executive Branch. Explanation:

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Nobody knows what gas is worth

Same street corner. Intersection of Northshore and Morrell. The free market is confused.

  • Weigel’s: $3.489
  • Texaco: $3.459
  • Pilot:$3.399

I don’t know if it had anything to do with the price of gas or just being a Monday but Pilot’s parking lot was a clusterduck of activity and could barely fit any more vehicles. There was no order to it either. Looked like an intersection in Hanoi! The McDonald’s 18 wheeler was delivering supplies. The Waste Connections truck was picking up the dumpster. Landscapers were filling up their tanks. Between the huge trucks and trailers, cars were zigging and zagging and negotiating right of way by hand signals. And you know what! It worked. No accidents. No red light cameras. No traffic signals. Granted, it was just a parking lot.

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Save electricity without spending a dime, right now!

Fall is upon us and the weather is beautiful! Are you stilling running your air conditioner? Why? For the past 2 weeks or more, we have kept our windows open most nights and through most of the day. Some afternoons get too warm and the air has to be run briefly. At night, the bedroom windows may be closed so the children don’t catch a chill but the rest of the windows are left open to enjoy the sound of nature, feel the breeze, and on those wet days listen to the pitter patter of rain drops.

We forget the sounds blocked by the windows. The melodious birds are relaxing. The crickets and cicadas are disturbing to some and calming white noise to others. The sound of the rain is a special treat. The open windows air out the house with fresh smells. Best of all, open windows mean less electricity which is good for the environment and pleasing to the pocketbook. Try keeping your air conditioner off for 3 weeks and see if your next utility bill is not surprisingly pleasing.