We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.Powerful words and, even today, vaguely dangerous. "Abolish?"
He has refuted his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.Their King refused to approve laws the public wanted that they felt important to them.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.Starting to sound familiar?
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.A military force, which in those days did many of the functions of the police, FBI, etc., had grown separate from and disconnected from the people they served. Or, as Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton called it, "they are my men."
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.The colonists were taxed, at the worst, roughly 10% of their income. Ten percent Last time I did the math, and I really did sit down and calculate it, I was paying over 40% of my income in various government taxes, fees, licenses, excises, charges, etc. As the Founders noted above, we put up with it because as intolerable as it is, it's familiar and changing things is a bit scary.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury.Asset forfeiture is now the law, where your property is taken first and then you have to prove your innocence to (attempt) to get it back. Good luck. You may also find yourself in jail for a year or more waiting for the government to "assemble its case" against you.
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.A faraway body decides that the local government isn't doing the job and takes over for them. Say, in much the same way we find so many things Federalised when they ought to be State or County or local issues.
Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision last week might make it easier for the City of Memphis to move forward with its plans for redeveloping the riverfront.Not cautionary, not at all. But they sure do seem to assume the whole Promenade thing is gung-ho, eh?
All of this matters because the much-discussed “gender gap” is actually more of a Democratic “man problem” than it is a Republican “woman problem.” And no Democrat of stature seems willing or able to do anything about it. Bill Clinton often talked like a regular guy but was, in the end more Lothario than Hank Hill. What wisdom Clinton did possess on this account, however, has seemed not to have filtered downward.He also looks at how the Demcorats' harping on the Gitmo prisoners is backfiring in the worst way for them.
The fact that he founded the Democratic Leadership Council, a group which seeks to move the party more toward the center, shows Clinton is aware of the problem—called the party’s “wuss factor” by one Democratic strategist—but the fact that he has not returned there seems to suggest his motivations were more about boosting his own fortunes rather than putting his stamp on the party as Ronald Reagan did with the Republicans.
I've always believed individual rights are a big thing..... but, I find value in the court's decision. As long as people are compensated fairly, I can appreciate the decision. Certain areas in our state are crying for development, if this decision helps - it's a positive.His instinct to straddle the middle does him poorly. Confidence in State and local government is at ebb tide right now in Tennessee. Pitching in with that lot just makes him look like he doesn't care about the little guys and gals he'll need in '06.
"At first I thought the kidnapper had dyed her hair, you know, to make her less easy to recognize," said Maria Baker, one of the volunteers who spent 50 hours last week searching. "Then I thought, wow, that week in the wilderness sure was rough on her. Then I saw a closeup, and I thought, man, did a bear get her too?"You were buying this, weren't you? Doesn't it sound entirely plausible? What does that say about television "news?"
It turns out that Francine's family had doctored the photo released to police and the media in order to make her "more appealing" and spur a wider rescue effort. In the picture, she is a perky, cute blonde girl somewhat resembling Lindsay Lohan.
"In actuality, Francine is neither perky nor blonde," said a grim-faced Perry. "In fact, her picture is mainly a testament to her father's skills with Photoshop."
...the Keyes family has defended their actions, arguing that there are only five or six slots for widespread searches in a given TV season, and if they didn't give their daughter "every advantage" she wouldn't have made the cut.
"This season we've already had Natalie Holloway and Brennan Hawkins, two really high-profile cases with very appealing protagonists," said Alan Keyes, Francine's father. "Heck, Francine used to scare the cat whenever she smiled. What were we supposed to do?"
The state of Texas has grudgingly concluded that it cannot charge the Keyes family for the search and rescue effort, since Francine's disappearance was the result of an actual crime (unlike recent runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks). However, CNN is considering filing a civil suit.
"Our viewership drops fifteen percent every time we show the real picture of this girl," said Umbridge. "I'm sorry, but CNN has journalistic standards, you know. At least put a wig on the poor girl."
Several months ago, I made a statement that America was in big trouble, and that, barring some major changes, we were heading down a path that would lead to the end of America as a world power within a decade or two. It appears I may have been optimistic. The recent activity on both sides of the political aisle, coupled with the actions of the Supreme Court, has accelerated trends I’d already noted significantly. We’re getting to a very dangerous place where the majority of people have no respect for the people who make and enforce our laws. To continue on in the same manner as we have for the past few decades will, without any doubt or possibility of error, lead us into a position of weakness, one that our enemies will not hesitate to exploit.He's right and the new Republican majority has only proved him so. Something's building out here in The Great Red Sea and it's not pretty.
And that’s why I’ve changed the picture. The threat is no longer external; we know the terrorists cannot beat us. They can hurt us; they can make us angry; but they can’t beat us. The enemy that can beat us is among us, and no, I’m not talking about liberals. Yes they are a big part of the problem, but the Republicans have quite a bit to answer for themselves. The divide is no longer one of left and right, but authoritarianism and libertarianism, and friends and neighbors, the authoritarians have damn near won the war before we woke up enough to fight the first battle.
The study finds that some 70% of journalists who use blogs do so for work-related tasks. Most often, those work-related tasks involve finding story ideas, with 53% of journalist respondents reporting using blogs for such purposes. But respondents also turn to blogs for other uses, including researching and referencing facts (43%) and finding sources (36%). Fully 33% of journalists say they use blogs as a way of uncovering breaking news or scandals.First we're a resource; then we're the new guys; then we're peers.
# 45% of journalists are less trusting of the professional behavior of their own colleagues — up from 34% in 2003.I love that last one. Just two years ago, nearly half of all reporters were less than "excruciatingly careful" in fact-checking. Makes you wonder what got missed in the days when there weren't all us self-appointed, publicly accessible media watchdogs out there, doesn't it?
# 93% note that they are less trusting of colleagues who are paid to act as spokespeople.
# 79% believe that recent revelations about journalists taking payment from third parties has had a strong effect on media credibility.
# 78% believe that Rathergate has profoundly altered the media's credibility.
# 93% of journalists said they are being "excruciatingly careful" in fact-checking their stories in 2005 — a huge increase from 59% in 2003, likely a reflection of the press's declining credibility.
There is a way around the New London decision that precludes the exercise of this power. Carrollton's citizens voted to do so in 1998 by amending our Charter. Below is the relevant excerpt from the Charter:Can we convene a Charter Commission to get this one paragraph added to the City's Charter? Because I highly doubt the City Council ever would.
"Provided, however, nothing included above or anywhere in this charter shall authorize the City of Carrollton, or any corporations, agency or entity created by the City, or pursuant to the City's approval and authorization, to institute and exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire private or public property if the purpose of the acquisition is the promotion of economic development for a private business enterprise which business enterprise would own any right, title, or interest in the property so acquired." (Emphasis added.)
Shooting begins Wednesday on a film version of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," bringing him together with director Robert Altman and a star-studded cast including Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Lindsay Lohan.Two words quickly sprang to mind: turgid and humorless.
We feel that in the past, the convention has often been all about who controls the chairmanship. This has created rifts and splits within the party and committee after the convention. Our intent is simply to get good, active Democrats involved in the party, elected as delegates, and elected to the committee, regardless of whom they support for chair.It strikes me, as someone who wasn't there and is reading tea leaves, that two things are happening here. One, this is fallout from the Tennessee Waltz sting that stamped Memphis Democrats pretty hard with the "Corrupt" label. Some members of the party seem to be trying to shake off the Old Guard and bring in fresh untainted faces.
To the naked eye, the new party cadres were overwhelmingly white – though some of their key figures (Watkins, for example) were African American. But race was not the factor that bound them together. Most of them were motivated by a desire to throw off the perceived timidity and uncertainty that have accompanied Democratic defeats in recent years.and:
Some of them were "Deaniacs," who entered the political process with near-revivalist fervor to support the reform efforts of Howard Dean, a presidential candidate in 2003-4 and now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Others got involved to support the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry, against President Bush.This is what piqued by attention, and I think is a good sign for non-Democrats. This crowd is intent on driving the Democratic party back farther to the left politically, away from the mainstream of America, which is more conservative right now. Electorally, this portends well for 2006 when, in Tennessee, the political hot-button will be gay marriage.
Well Mike,OK then! "Staff?" What about, ohh... I don't know... volunteers? Rallies in Memphis? I don't recall any, but that may just be me. I mean, I'm just a regular Midtown Joe, not your average militant activist caring person.
To answer briefly we have been doing something. The MSPJC has been working
with SCLC and the Baptist Ministerial Assoc. To organize the rally's and
events in Memphis about the TENNcare crisis. We are very short staffed right
now and busy with all the rest of the programs and campaigns we have
undertaken.
Given more funding we would hire many more staff to tackle many issues. So
if you want there is a Donate link on the website, with your help we can
stop doing the behind the scenes organizing and start leading the charge.
In Peace,
Jacob Flowers
Director,
Mid-South Peace and Justice Center
Uhhh... yeah. We're all out here scowling, with our arms crossed over our chests and lips pursed in peeve.
"Private-property advocates?" What other kinds are there, other than a few Socialists and Communists? What's with that hypen? Picture the kind of mindset that thinks this way and you see why the CA are such suck-ups to the downtown cabal.
Who writes these things? Trainee journalists learning how to drain impact from the big stories? High school interns? C'mon, fess up. Someone from the Death Star let us know.
So we can pop you on the nose with a rolled up paper. Bad dog!
PRISONERS in Irish jails will no longer be permitted to hire servants or order in private supplies of food and alcohol under new draft rules published today by the justice ministry.My God, what kind of hellholes are they proposing to operate there?
In the first update of Ireland's prison regulations for almost 50 years, the proposal would also rule out punishments, which are now considered inhumane, such as a restricted diet or corporal punishment.
Hundreds of prisoners have lodged legal claims again the government seeking damages because they are being held in cells without toilets and have to "slop out" pots every morning.We mishandle books and it's a worldwide scandal. Irish prisoners have slop buckets in the cells, which they have to clean by themselves and this is the first I've ever heard about it.
To him, the popularity of the stingingly anti-P.C. cartoon series ''South Park'' signals the advent of a new generation of Americans who refuse to accept public censure for their scornful attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, Native Americans, environmentalism and abortion rights.Yeah, that's right. It's not that they have a valid, alternative viewpoint, it's that they "refuse to accept public censure." They're just wrong dammit and refuse their public shaming and re-education. They're... they're... scorners. Scorners! Just can't have that.
Is this a process that reasonable liberals and reasonable conservatives can acknowledge? Perhaps the argument clinic of the Monty Python Tories can light the way. First speaker: ''Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.'' Second speaker: ''No it isn't.'' Exactly.Notice the construction. In the first sentence it's "reasonable" liberals, then conservatives. In the Python bit quoted, it's the first person who is reasonable and generous while the second is dogmatic and stubborn. The parallelism is very, very clear.
[King of the Hill] could easily be the setup for a mean parody about rural life in America, in the same vein as ''South Park,'' but ''King of the Hill,'' which was created by Mike Judge (who is the voice of Hank and who also created ''Beavis and Butt-head''), has never been so crass. The show's central theme has always been transformation -- economic, demographic and cultural. Hank embodies all the traditional conservative values of those Americans....It's not about "transformation" but about renewal of traditional values in the face of the transformative. Every time Hank encounters the kind of "transformation" that Democrats and bureaucrats and the PC peddle, he defeats them -- often using their own internal problems and philosophies against them. At most, he adapts himself or his family by showing the value of the traditional and its lessons in the modern world.
