The Benefits of a Modern Secular Legal System

In "the year 1000 the Middle East’s share of the world’s gross domestic product was larger than Europe’s—10% compared with 9%. By 1700 the Middle East’s share had fallen to just 2% and Europe’s had risen to 22%." Why? Tammy might not like the answer. Read The Economist, The crescent and the company.

Flee-ocrats

UPDATE: Democratic state legislators are also fleeing the party in record numbers.

"The 2010 election was devastating for Democrats across the country, but the South was at the epicenter of the destruction. . .

Since the election, things have gone from bad to worse for Democrats in the South. In Louisiana, the state's attorney general and five state legislators - all Democrats - have switched to the Republican side since the 2010 midterms.

The Republican consolidation of the South over the past two years is hard to dispute. But is it a permanent reality or simply the latest swing of the political pendulum in the region? Not surprisingly, the two parties offer vastly different assessments."

Read the Washington Post, Will the South stay solidly Republican?

"Lawmaking can be a frustrating business, especially when you're outnumbered. But some Democratic state legislators have recently embraced a simple tool to gain leverage: the empty chair." Read the Washington Post, Democratic legislators embracing tactic to gain leverage: Fleeing.

A sad commentary on the the party.

Cheer Up Monday -- Childhood Innocence (Posted Early)

You'll be laughing till Monday:

New Score in the Health Care Lawsuit: US 3 - VA 1 and FL 1

UPDATE: Unconstitutional, but still enforceable, if the government appeals the original ruling "within seven days and [seeks] an expedited review at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals." Read the Wall Street Journal, Judge Says Health-Care Overhaul Can Roll Out While Government Appeals, which includes a link to check the status of "the 22 cases challenging the health-care law" at the Kaiser Health News scoreboard.

To read the order potentially staying his find that the health care law is unconstitutional, click here.

To read some of the other recent court documents, click here.

"A third federal judge upheld the constitutionality of the Obama health care law, which two other federal judges have ruled against." Read The New York Times, A Third Judge Validates Health Care Overhaul Law.

Free Speech, Is It All or Nothing?

UPDATE II: Chief Justice "Roberts called 'startling and dangerous' the government's argument that the value of certain categories of speech should be weighed against their societal costs when protecting free speech." Justice Alito would disagree. Read the Washington Post, Alito stands alone on Supreme Court's First Amendment cases.


UPDATE: Free speech means all of it, at least so long as the speech is on matters of public concern, the relationship between speaker and subject was not a private grudge, and speech is said from a place where the speaker has the right to be. Read the New York Times, Justices Rule for Protesters at Military Funerals, or read the Supreme Court opinion.

Antichrist Obama, God Hates Adultery, You're Going to Hell!

Any problems with those statements?

Then what is the objection to God Hates the USA, Thank God for 9/11, Thank God for Dead Soldiers, Semper Fi Fags, Priests Rape Boys, or God Hates Your Tears?

Read the Washington Post, High court struggles with funeral protest case.

No Class Like This at My School

According to Northwestern University spokesman Alan Cubbage:

"Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and some of at the leading edge of their respective disciplines, The University supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge."

Their dedication to the advancement of knowledge is commendable. Case in point:

"A Northwestern University professor concluded a discussion of bondage and other sexual fetishes in his human sexuality class by having a woman take off all her clothes, climb on stage and graphically demonstrate the use of a sex toy." Read The New York Times, Northwestern Uni Defends Sex-Toy Demonstration.

I liked this quote from the article:

"'It is probably something I will remember the rest of my life,' said senior Justin Smith, 21, one of the students who stuck around voluntarily after class when students were told about what they were about to see.

'I can't say that about my Econ 202 class and the material that I learned there,' Smith told The Chicago Tribune."

For a more graphic description of the events that day, read EdenFantasys.com, Northwestern Students Treated to Orgasm Demo.

Republi-CONs, and Their Mutually Beneficial Relationship With Their Corporate Overlords

"Corporations are restricted in making contributions to Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. But they can give whatever they like to the foundation set up by his wife." Read The New York Times, Wife’s Charity Offers Corporate Tie to a Governor.

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line.

Topics:

The NoBullU New Year's Resolution;


Follow-up to fact-free fantasies: TBD;


Local and regional: BREAKING NEWS, unconstitutional, but still enforceable, if at first Boeing doesn't succeed . . . change the rules, more state Republi-CON fiscal conservative hypocrisy, Republi-CONs, and their mutually beneficial relationship with Louisiana corporate overlords, and remember days gone by, watch this 1964 Pensacola tourism film;


National and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget, don't hold you breath because the Republi-CONs Con the Tea Party, there'll be no $100 billion budget cut, but the budget battles continue, free speech, is it all or nothing?, union busting, part of the Republi-CON war on the middle class, budget gamesmanship and tough decisions, the Republi-CON Double Dip Recession, not a new ice cream, but it'll make you scream, and they're off and running, reports are that former speaker of the House Gingrich will become the first major Republican candidate to enter the 2012 Presidential race, America's obsession with sex, but not violence, a former car thief and arsonist, who is he now?, Hedgehog News protects its investment in Republi-CONs, a Facebook revolution?, new score in the health care lawsuit: US 3 - VA 1 and FL , the reason for repeal -- the health care industry bottomline, Republi-CON fear, anger, hatred whatever the subject, time flies, we just finished the runt month, no class like this at my school, and 'The Great Stagnation' and our broken political system;


Fun stuff: test your power of observation; what Dads do when Moms are not home, America's Funniest Grandmother and Mission Impossible, Squirrel Edition, Escapa;

and

Donate to a good cause: help the friends of a former instructor at the Naval EOD school at Eglin Air Force Base, Gunnery Sgt. John Hayes, who was detachment company gunnery sergeant from June 2007 to June 2010 and taught several courses and was recently wounded in Afghanistan.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take down if you are a party hack pandering to fear, anger and hatred, because the truth sure makes it hard out there for the party pimps.

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle the truth and some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

A Former Car Thief and Arsonist, Who is He Now?

A six-term California Republi-con, recently been elected chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Read The New Yorker, Don’t Look Back, Darrell Issa, the congressman about to make life more difficult for President Obama, has had some troubles of his own.

A Facebook Revolution?

UPDATE II: "Future historians will long puzzle over how the self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, in protest over the confiscation of his fruit stand, managed to trigger popular uprisings across the Arab/Muslim world. We know the big causes — tyranny, rising food prices, youth unemployment and social media. But since being in Egypt, I’ve been putting together my own back-of-the-envelope guess list of what I’d call the 'not-so-obvious forces' that fed this mass revolt." Read about those 'not-so-obvious forces' at The New York Times, This Is Just the Start.


UPDATE: So far, the Middle East revolution "movements that have appeared so suddenly and proved so powerful have shunned the two central tenets of the Qaeda credo: murderous violence and religious fanaticism. The demonstrators have used force defensively, treated Islam as an afterthought and embraced democracy, which is anathema to Osama bin Laden and his followers." Read The New York Times, As Regimes Fall in Arab World, Al Qaeda Sees History Fly By.

Reaffirming what I said for many years, violence favors the terrorists.

In the meantime, follow the Middle East protests, country-by-country.

To understand "[h]ow a spat over pears in the middle of nowhere morphed into a Tunisian revolution," read The New York Times, Facebook and Arab Dignity.

If at First Boeing Doesn't Succeed . . . Change the Rules

"Boeing won a rematch for the airborne refueling tanker this week because the government put more emphasis on long-term costs." Read The New York Times, Air Force’s Shifting Rules Helped Boeing.

It was a "decade of effort to overcome multiple obstacles." Read The (Everett, WA) Herald, 6 keys to how Boeing won the tanker contract.

The Runt Month

Should we feel " sorry for February, squeezed between the big months of January (named for the Roman god Janus, keeper of gateways and entrances) and March (after Mars, the god of war)." Read The New York Times, Except February.

Test Your Power of Observation

How much do you see and remember? A quiz about things you've seen before. Give it a try.

America's Obsession With Sex, But Not Violence

Master Mike sent me an email to inform me that Ted Kennedy rented a Chilean brothel for the entire night to talk with communist.

My reply: Bush (and Clinton and Obama too) rented torture cells and associated with dictators.

So is torture good/acceptable and sex bad/unacceptable?

Hedgehog News Protects Its Investment in Republi-CONs

First Hedgehog News bought a stake in the Republi-CONs when parent News Corp. donated $1 million to Republican Governors' Association. Then News Corp. contributed $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "the business lobby that has been running an aggressive campaign in support of the Republican effort to retake Congress." But more shocking, "every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now" on the payroll of Hedgehog News.

And just revealed, two years ago. the powerful chairman of Hedgehog News encouraged an employee to lie to federal investigators doing a background check on former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, to protect former New York Mayor Giuliani and conceal an affair. Giuliani was Kerik's mentor and supporter, and a longtime friend of the chairman. Giuliani was also just beginning a presidential campaign.

Hedgehog News owns the Republi-con party and will protect its investment.

Cheer Up Monday

It could be worse:

What Dads Do When Moms Are Not Home

Pulling out a tooth with a rocket:

Class Today at NoBullU on WEBY

Listen to the voice of wisdom and reason in a wilderness of partisan rhetoric -- No political insanity, no conservative hypocrisy, no liberal foolishness -- Just straight talk, straight at you, and that’s no bull!!

NoBullU will broadcast today from 4:05 to 6:00 p.m. at 1330 AM WEBY and on line.

Topics:

The NoBullU New Year's Resolution;


Follow-up to fact-free fantasies, don't be duped: God Mocks Pastor Truthiness

I called, he's a fraud (who pimps of fear anger and hatred), he denies the missile nonsense, and claims God talks through an oil well,

and of course, the birther delusions, it is clear that he hasn't even read the Congressional Research Service that would agree that Obama is a "natural born citizen," (the Congressional Research Service is a part of the Library of Congress, providing professional, objective and non-partisan public policy research to members of Congress and their staffers. The writer of the memorandum is a qualified constitutional attorney who has summarized the historical and legal material with references, showing, by contrast, how shoddy the birther arguments are) (this memorandum explains why even Republi-CON Congressmen/women refuse to join the Birthers), and he hasn't talked to Barbara Nelson, who "specifically remembers his birth" because she spoke with the obstetrician who delivered him shortly after his birth,

and slander by innuendo, one example -- Michelle Obama did not surrender her license to practice law, another example -- denying the theory of evolution,

and now he continues the devil's dirty work supporting Middle East dictators;

and predicting apocalypse (why are people addicted to such 'predictions?', bold predictions: always enticing, but often wrong);


Local and regional: is it déjà tanker all over again and remember days gone by, watch this 1964 Pensacola tourism film;


National and international: I'm waiting, where's the balanced budget, don't hold you breath because the Republi-CONs Con the Tea Party, there'll be no $100 billion budget cut, budget battles continue, budgets from Reagan to Obama, always lookin for the anti-Obama angle, and showing how dumb they are, Republi-CON fear, anger, hatred whatever the subject, the Republi-CON Reagan Myth, which ad was your favorite?, health care lawsuit score: US 3 - VA 1 and FL 1, the reason for repeal -- the health care industry bottomline, time to call the Republi-CON bluff on health care, you go to war based on the myths you want, and 'The Great Stagnation' and our broken political system


Fun stuff: America's Funniest Grandmother and Mission Impossible, Squirrel Edition, Escapa

and

Donate to a good cause: help the friends of a former instructor at the Naval EOD school at Eglin Air Force Base, Gunnery Sgt. John Hayes, who was detachment company gunnery sergeant from June 2007 to June 2010 and taught several courses and was recently wounded in Afghanistan.

I'll discuss anything, but expect a no mercy take down if you are a party hack pandering to fear, anger and hatred, because the truth sure makes it hard out there for the party pimps.

So tune-in, call-in, but only if you can handle the truth and some ass kickin' discussion of politics and current events.

Republi-CON Fear, Anger, Hatred Whatever the Subject

"The corpulent critic giggled and concluded: 'Yes, every square inch of my glorious, naked body oozes with the truth.'" Actually what oozes from his mouth, whatever the subject, the Republi-con campaign strategy -- fear, anger, and hatred. Read the Washington Post, Rush Limbaugh binges on anti-Michelle Obama vitriol.

Four Pinocchios

"The claim that Obama repeatedly has apologized for the United States is not borne out by the facts, especially if his full quotes are viewed in context." Read the Washington Post, Obama's 'Apology Tour'.