Germany tells Greece: CLEAN UP YOUR ACT!
The Greek unions go on strike, they protest, the Commies scream in the streets and the Government tells them tough, we’re bankrupt; there is no money. We do this or NO EU help.
Who would have thought the Germans would be so er rigid?

How much longer do you think it will beuntil Hu Jintao says the same thing to Obama: CLEAN UP YOUR ACT!
What does that mean for YOU?

That is the difference between being a creditor and a debtor.
Debtors GET TOLD what to do!

Faber and Mish:
We’re Doomed and Washington Can’t Do Anything About It

Washington is patting itself on the back for having orchestrated an amazing economic recovery. But Washington lawmakers are a delusional bunch of boneheads, say Marc Faber and Mike “Mish” Shedlock, editor of the Gloom, Boom, and Doom Report and investment advisor at SitkaPacific Capital Management, respectively.

The economy is NOT recovering, they say, and the U.S. faces a depressing “eventuality” of either crushing deflation (Shedlock) or runaway inflation (Faber). The timing and type of this eventuality is uncertain, say the gurus, but they are certain it’s too late for America to change course.(emphasis added)

“It’s beyond repair — it’s too late,” to avert fiscal disaster, Faber declares.

Mish agrees: “The day of reckoning has arrived. The question is how long it takes to play out.”

This grim outlook doesn’t mean you’re helpless. Faber recommends individuals prepare for doomsday by buying gold, owning assets abroad and buying property outside of major cities.

Click here to see more from Faber and Mish:The Great “Inflation Debate or Deflation?” Debate: Mish vs. Dr. Doom

Marc Faber: Don’t Expect Another Crash … Bernanke Won’t Allow It

The Bamster won’t be buying you houses or putting gas in your cars. He will be destroying what capital you have and value held in currency, bank accounts and bonds.

Don’t forget what he said before he was elected; he thought that the Constitution was a bad document, since it prevented the Government from redistributing the wealth, your money.

You can phrase that any way you like use nice terms or not, but it comes down to taking your property away from you and giving it to someone else.

Remember, you voted for bozos like them or them!

Freshman Rep. Grayson Taken to Cleaners in Ponzi Scheme

Freshman Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) lost $3 million in a stock swindle between 2000 and 2005, a Florida television station reported this week.

This guy is a lawyer to boot. The alte kackers in Florida elected this clown, what a bargain they got!
The old adage, you can’t cheat an honest man…

Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money. [snip]

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

Hey, call me Joe, “My IQ is higher than yours,” what’s the first rule of getting out of a hole? They should have tossed this clown in one of the abandoned Scranton coal shafts and shut up.

He does provide comic relief.
Goebbels stand up routines come to mind. 

Piss off a Liberal today!

Vote the bastards out!

No one will do it for you!

NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION!

Don’t let the slackers on the dole vote for your money to go into their pockets.

Sarah Brady warned that concealed carry would lead to a “”Wild West” scene in the streets. Liberals wailed about the potential loss of life and danger of guns in the hands of armed citizens.
Liberals actually worry about the elimination of the wrong person, that would be the perp. You’ve heard all the weepy crap.

Here’s one happy result.

Robber fatally shot in Miami Burger King holdup

A robbery at a Burger King in Miami’s Upper East Side neighborhood left one person dead and another seriously injured.

An afternoon shootout at a busy Burger King restaurant in Miami left a potential robber dead and the customer who shot him seriously wounded.
The bloody event unfolded about 4 p.m. Tuesday at the restaurant at Northeast 54th Street and Biscayne Boulevard. It was a time, employees said, when it is usually crowded with schoolchildren and people getting out of work early.
The robber entered wearing a ski mask. He approached a clerk, showed his gun and demanded money, said Miami police spokesman Jeff Giordano.
A customer eyed him and the two started arguing. The customer had a concealed-weapons permit and his gun — and the two exchanged gunfire.
The robber crumpled to the floor and was pronounced dead at the scene. [snip]

The only bit of stupidity I can find is the citizen argued with the perp. Two rounds in the hat and the citizen wouldn’t have received return fire, hence been wounded. Furthermore, he wouldn’t have endangered others in the restaurant with the errant gunfire by the dirtbag.

The scorecard reads: Concealed Carry—1, Gun Grabbers–0.
A previous post to this subject here at NER.

Now the wounded citizen needs to file a huge civil suit against the perp’s family and estate. Whether they have anything or not is immaterial; one can hope threats of retribution might force families to shoot the bastards before they commit crimes again.
I doubt this was the first trip down this illicit road. No matter, it was his last!

Dressed in his best suit, TOTUS delivered a power speech to the Nation laying out at his feet his economic plans.

Why Carry a gun

There comes a time in every man’s life, when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts bustin’ caps; usually it’s when he stops being stupid. I learned that in the military very early; using your hands just hurts your hands. With weapons comes responsibility, regardless whether it is one’s fists, baseball bat, auto, newspaper or soda straw. Laugh not, the last two are very lethal and silent.
God created people; Sam Colt made them equal.

• I don’t carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
• I don’t carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
• I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
• I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the World.
• I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the real limitations of government.
• I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry. I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
• I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
• I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.
• I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
• I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
• I don’t carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.
• Personally, I carry a gun because I’m too young to die and gave up being stupid years ago.

Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

• In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
• In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
• Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
• China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated
• Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
• Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
• Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

This must be what the Liberals like for they all go for it in a big way; defenseless people rounded up and exterminated.
In the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million eliminated.

Since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own Government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:

• Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
• Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.
• Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
• In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not and criminals still possess their guns!
• While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
• There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such great effort, and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

England proceeded down this path earlier than OZ; they had the same results earlier. You won’t see this data on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information. They won’t tell you that London bobbies are now armed and patrol in pairs.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the law-abiding citizens.

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of these history lessons. With guns, we are ‘citizens’. Without them, we are ’subjects’.

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is most important above all. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

Switzerland issues every household a gun! Switzerland ’s government trains every adult they issue a rifle. Actually, they issue sub machineguns, the horror of it all.
Switzerland has the lowest gun related crime rate of any civilized country in the world!
It’s a no brainer! Don’t let our government waste millions of our tax dollars in an effort to make all law abiding citizens an easy target.

The Middlebury Institute has promoted Vermont secession. Nothing they have provided shows a grasp of the intricacies faced in this process even if it passed.
Today, Vermont is a cassava root ahead of being a Third World Nation; if not for the earmarks dragged in by Sen. Leahy, it would be one.

These numbers below are probably close, given the level of education in this country.

Secession, Ignorance, and Stupidity:

A recent Zogby/Middlebury Institute poll shows that 22% of Americans believe that “any state or region has the right to peaceably secede and become an independent republic.” Belief in states’ and regions right to secede was especially common among blacks (40%), Hispanics (43%) and people aged 18-24 (40%). Interestingly, Political liberals (32%) were more likely to believe in a right to secession than conservatives (17%). 18% of respondents say they would support a secession movement in their own state, including 24% of southerners.

Constitutional law professor Ann Althouse claims that these poll results show that “all these people [who believe in a right to secession] have the law wrong and don’t seem to know the basics of the history of the Civil War.” She concludes that the pro-secession survey respondents are “fascinatingly stupid.” [snip]

I certainly agree with Ann that much of the public is shockingly ignorant about American history and constitutional law. This is one aspect of the more general widespread political ignorance that I have often written about on this blog and elsewhere (e.g. here and here). At the same time, I don’t think that ignorance is necessarily a sign of stupidity. [snip]

I agree with Althouse, fascinatingly stupid is a mild term however. I think the largest majority of them are clueless to what will be in order.
Unlike Althouse, I would encourage them to secede while they still know everything. And once out they cannot return. Citizenship is revoked.

First lets look at the demographics and their political suasion (this is important): from above

• Blacks–40%
• Hispanics–43%
• 18 to 24–40%
• Political liberals–32%
• Conservatives–17%

There are two groups, which I suspect fit in the prior numbers but listed separately:

• Own state respondents–18%
• Southerners–24%

The odds are good that each group has their own ideas as to how and where to form their country. This may cause some discombobulation in some areas for an unknown duration. For the sake of this discussion, all is amicable; selection and agreement is with minimal delay. People leave who wish to and others arrive all done equitably.

Government

With your own country, you need to form a government and some form of document of guidance. This will be by ballot or bullet. Given the liberal’s past history and for that matter most of the world, I’ll let you guess which method forms the ruling body.

Monetary system

Every country needs to have a means of settling internal debts, trade on the world markets and negotiate as something other than a third world nation. Or did these secessionists think they would use Sam’s money? It doesn’t work that way; you are a sovereign nation, act as one. All we have to do is change the color of the currency, declare the old valueless and issue the new in our banks. Don’t be stupid and think the Government hasn’t all ready printed the necessary notes. Those from the military remember MPC’s being changed to shut down black markets overnight.

Infrastructure

Roadways, airports, hospitals and rail lines are in place. All the new country needs is to equip and staff the existing structures and maintain them. Who says the professionals doing this work now are going to stay there. How will they be paid, housed, fed?
Forget keeping the National Guard equipment, guardsmen stay if they wish, but they are no longer paid nor receive any federal benefits if they do. Why should they, now they are foreign troops.

Business and Industry

Whether you have any industry and business depends on the tax structure. The tax structure depends on the country’s monetary system. If you cannot pay the employees in something other than rubles, your industry moves. No industry, what do you trade for things you need?

Basic services

Most of the listed above believe they will get the same basic services they get now: socialized medicine, welfare, WIC, food stamps, public schools Section 8 housing, police, fire and emergency response and working telephones. Yeah, think about that, working phones,

I encourage the above groups to opt for nationhood; pure emotion drives it and it drives it right into the Swamp of Stupidity.

If this should happen, we need to know who occupies what areas. All borders with new nations are fortified like the Korean 38^th parallel until and if treaties are negotiated.

(Political liberals)
New England–The Democratic Republic of Gated Communities (Might contain NYC, Long Island and NJ)
Who will mow the lawns and plow the snow, I haven’t an idea. After seeing what happened in South Africa, nobody but the swells will live there. That is all ready graven in liberal stone.

(18 to 24)

Southern CA—High Kingdom of Surf
Dude, like it will be soooo tomorrow and full of tatts.
It will be until we shut off the water for non-payment and shut off the power so they can conserve to their heart’s content.

(Hispanics)
Florida—Sovereign State of Sunny Sombrero
They can mow lawns, pick oranges and smuggle illegals to surfeit.

(Blacks)
Louisiana—Chocklit Empire
With Chief Nagin as the Wonka Man and Jesse “Fillin’ Man” Jackson as Minister of Appointees with Al ‘Mouth’ Sharpton as Minister of Graffiti, a government with portfolio is formed. This former state, having been run by liberals and Donks for years won’t know the difference except there won’t be any money.

(Conservatives)
I haven’t a clue who these individuals are. Guessing says Bible people so
Del Rio, Texas.
If that is wrong, then the panhandle of Idaho. They’ll all fit and you’ll never see them again.

Stepping back in history, Obama clears up some problems and puts his Hussein on the document. A historical painter from ACORN collective put brush to canvas to capture the moment.

This is more tidy than that unwieldy organ we suffer under daily, isn’t it.

I am an ardent supporter of the 2^nd Amendment.

The SCOTUS ruling upholding the lower courts in Heller produced satisfaction, tempered by the narrowness of the decision. All justices did agree the 2^nd Amendment is an individual right. How four voted against is not comprehensible. Nonetheless, they did and that is worrisome, when the Bill of Rights is subject to a whim.

Obama’s position on the 2^nd Amendment has one more side than a polygon. He finally settled on pro right to own a weapon according to the Bill of Rights, but states and localities can legislate all manner of rules as to where, how and who is elite enough to carry.

At first consideration, this is a typical liberal absurdity. Why have a Bill of rights?

The scales fell from my eyes and the beauty of this logic became apparent. I realized the cramped channel of my logic. I thought only inside the box.

Why restrict Obama’s reasoning to the 2^nd Amendment. Well-crafted legislation in the states and localities can produce highly desirous results in many other amendments, to wit:

1^st Amendment
Any journalist convicted of publishing, printing, broadcasting liberal tripe or causing the aforementioned shall be prohibited from being in possession of writing implements, computers microphones telephones, paper or transmitters and banned from all media contact as a prohibited person.

4^th Amendment
This now applies only to American citizens in the selected states and local areas; all others may be seized and searched. Illegal immigrants may be indentured before deported.

5^th and 6^th Amendments
Depends on who and what they did. The more heinous the crime and undesirable the miscreant gives sanction to more basic diversion.

8^th Amendment
The state and locality will determine bail and punishment, to be dependent on the person held. See 5^th and 6^th

13^th Amendment
No slavery unless the state or locality votes such laws for a specific reason.
Section 2 is void if any state or locality so chooses.

14^th Amendment
This new process makes this amendment null.

15^th Amendment
Voter registration in states and localities so choosing may ban liberals from voting under new mental incompetence laws. This avoids race, color and servitude unless changed under the amended 13^th Amendment
Section 2 is void if any state or locality so chooses.

16^th Amendment
Most states will vote to end income tax. Why send any money to support the remnants of the Constitution.

19^th Amendment
Hey, some places might have changed the 13^th, why not change this one.

24^th Amendment
States and localities may bring back poll and any other voting tax as needed. One never knows when the entities need a new revenue source. They will know whom to tax.
Section 2 is void if any state or locality so chooses.

26^th Amendment
Definitely, this is changed. If anyone isn’t smart enough to drink wisely or own a handgun, he or she isn’t smart enough to vote.
Section 2 is void if any state or locality so chooses.

27^th Amendment
Most localities if not states will write new law on this. Why pay any of these clowns in congress, they don’t do anything.

We have Obama to thank for this enlightenment; it takes a liberal, socialist lawyer to see part of an answer. They never see the unintended consequences.

Democratic voters look like a pretty homogeneous lot. The same nebulous themes of “hope” and “change” that elected Deval Patrick are now being bandied about on the national level by Barack Obama. And rather effectively at that given Obama’s comfortable Iowa win.

Obama has yet to impress me as a deep thinker, but his weak kneed themes make me wonder if he has the stones for the job. He voted “present” 130 times as an Illinois state senator. How many state issues can possibly be that vexing? But Obama partisans are quick to defend him:

They said Mr. Obama cast 4,000 votes in the Illinois Senate and used the present vote to protest bills that he believed had been drafted unconstitutionally or as part of a broader legislative strategy.

So the vote should have been “no” after all. He did take an oath to “defend” the constitution, not offer “protest” votes when it gets trampled on. And if merely voting to defend your beliefs is too daunting a challenge, what would a President Obama do if China invades Taiwan? You get the feeling he’d instruct our UN ambassador to vote “present” during the Security Council deliberations to maintain a Swiss like neutrality. Wouldn’t do to offend anyone after all.

This kind of rudderless indecision would be disastrous on the national and international levels. This man simply doesn’t have the experience to be president. His campaign slogan should really read—”Making change for changes sake and hoping for a plan”.

Anatomy of a political hangover

Listening to the promises made by the candidates, most overstep presidential powers and violate the Constitution. Tax law belongs to the House as does all money bills. Susurrations to the contrary, the President isn’t a King which makes the MSM anointments a futility in progress.

On Clinton–
Rush Limbaugh said last night was the worst night for Hillary since Bill’s second term. Not even close, people, for Communist Hillary, the election of Nixon crushed her ideals. Last night, this Alinsky drone’s pyloric valve seized in the open position, showing her true color.

You will never hear her expound upon her vision for the US. With Clinton, as Yoda said to Luke, “With you, it’s change, always change.” Her idea of change, abolishing the Constitution, doesn’t sound good on the hustings. Afterwards, the loud noise heard off screen was a boomer exploding.

On Edwards–
He wants to make your life better, but not quite the way he made his better. An envious man, he wishes to have more money than the collective you. To accomplish this end, everything will be free on his watch. Wait till you see what that costs. You will be verrucose in short order, waiting in line for universal medical relief. Then again, it would be kinder if he merely sued you. Under current tort laws, at least you keep your dignity.

On Obama–
Same droning sounds as from Silky. Different words used. Obama likes the word hope. We have hope. Hope we can make changes. Change is good for it gives us hope. He has no idea how the real world works. That will never prevent him from lurching into the breech. To give us hope for change, hopefully.

On Huckabee–
Having prodded GOP caucus goers with his RINO horn to get what he wanted, let us see how he dolls up the message for low denomination voters. I do not believe many NH voters place hands on the TV. Anyway, Huckabee is calling the NH primary, the Big Camp Meeting, can I get an AMEN.

On Romney–
Many questions need be asked of the Mitt. Does the U.S. deserve the type of government foisted on MA inmates? Do we need a “Big Dig” in every state? Why is the working population of MA shrinking? Why isn’t the illegal immigration population shrinking?
More to the point, which Mitt is running for office?

On McCain–
He is in the wrong party. That speaks to his good points. There isn’t room for the thought on the dark side.

On Paul–
Collaborating with the Donk moonbat Kucinich, both are investigating the appearance of illegal aliens at Groom Lake aka Area 51, instead of along the border and in meat packing plants. Art Bell is chairman of this primary of two.

On Thompson–
Not running hard while running, this makes one wonder, Wassup! If he keeps dissing the lame stream media, he may become the front-runner rather quickly. More of a Washingtonian politician (person, not place) he says it is about duty, not desire. We’ll see if this reaches fruition.

On the usual perennial weeds–
After signing up for campaign matching funds, they cash the check; spend a minimal amount on electioneering and pocket the rest. This is a common trope for most politicians, usually seen as groveling for power and re-election, and by the older politicians, sex in strange places with alien DNA types. Their attendance is for obfuscating purposes only, this heterophony helps shield the front-runners from real questions.

There is no right to privacy. That’s a concept liberals exploit until they take over, then kiss that goodbye. Let me rephrase that. You’re not willing to do what is necessary to attain and maintain your privacy.

Intel Official: Say Goodbye to Privacy

WASHINGTON (AP) - A top intelligence official says it is time people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguards people’s private communications and financial information. [snip]

I scoured my handy pocket-size unabridged U.S. Constitution for any word, clause, phrase or Amendment stating one has a right to privacy. I didn’t even find the word privacy.

• I was sure Article I sections 7 through 10 might relate to the subject at hand, alas nothing exists there.
• Article II is junk about the President, electors and impeachment and how Congress has screwed up that bit.
• Article III runs on about the Men in Black, that they should behave and shouldn’t make things up. The last sentence in Section 3 is interesting since it might block the idea of slave reparations today.
• Article IV contends with the Full Faith and Credit stuff that the states have to do except when they don’t want to do so. Laws regarding interspecie marriage and return of runaway indentured servants are to be honored. However, we fought a war over this so we probably should erase section I. Ditto section 4 that speaks to governmental form and elections; it doesn’t mention fraud or dead voters. It does say MA shouldn’t invade VT or NH, which it is currently doing.
• Article V determines how to change this Document without guns. This seems like a long drawn out process. Guns are much more influential and immediate.
• Article VI is a waste of space and says nothing about privacy anyway!
• Article VII is a bunch of signatures of guys who could write and liked power.

Well, all those words and nothing said about privacy. Not in writing, not even hinted at in any form.

The 4^th Amendment is the only one worth looking at for a mention of of this subject. As before, there is nothing here about mail, communications, voice, and semaphore, going through the trash, signal fires or whispering. This amendment does forbid the government from unreasonable searches and seizures; but, since the government determines reasonableness, you are SOL in advance, so forget it.

The most contentious issue in the new legislation is whether to shield telecommunications companies from civil lawsuits for allegedly giving the government access to people’s private e-mails and phone calls without a court order between 2001 and 2007. [snip]

The central witness in a California lawsuit against AT&T says the government is vacuuming up billions of e-mails and phone calls as they pass through an AT&T switching station in San Francisco.

Mark Klein, a retired AT&T technician, helped connect a device in 2003 that he says diverted and copied onto a government supercomputer every call, e-mail, and Internet site access on AT&T lines.

So much for privacy in today’s world, anything uttered in any manifest form is in the public domain. You don’t have a hope of privacy if you express yourself to another.

Republicans probably don’t deserve another chance to run Congress after botching it so badly, but it looks like Democrats are determined to open the door for them:

The U.S. House voted along party lines Tuesday to send a resolution calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney to the House Judiciary Committee, where it likely won’t see daylight any time soon. 

The impeachment resolution, sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, accuses Cheney of violating his pledge to protect the U.S. Constitution. It says that Cheney misled the public about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and ties between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime, as well as by making threats against Iran “absent any real threat to the United States.”

They’re rejoicing at the Democratic Underground and the Daily Kos, but impeaching the vice president wasn’t a huge priority in most voters’ minds last November.  And they know this issue won’t move their mid 20ish approval ratings, which is why they voted to table it.   However, I do agree with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.:

“I am surprised that Republicans would treat an issue as important as the potential impeachment of a vice president of the United States as a petty political game,” he said. “It is beneath the dignity of this institution.”

Yes, it is a serious charge.  That’s why you should explain to the American people why you brought it and present your evidence.  But tabling it told every intelligent voter all they need to know about the substance behind these charges.

This is from the NY Times, so you can imagine how bad this really is.

Democrats Plan a Shorter Workweek

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 — Shortly after winning a majority last year, Democrats triumphantly declared that they would put Congress back to work, promising an “end to the two-day workweek.” And indeed, the House has clocked more time in Washington this year than in any other session since 1995, when Republicans, newly in control, sought to make a similar point. [snip]

The staff pushing broom around the House put in less time and accomplished more.

The House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, told fellow Democrats this week that the House would not be in session next year on Fridays, except in June for work on appropriations bills. [snip]

Taking off for three day weekends will cut down on their weight gain; they’ll have considerably less time to feed on the pork.

The Democrats, by contrast, say that after 10 months of putting in longer days and weeks, they have made significant gains. They cited legislation, including an increase in the minimum wage and new ethics and lobbying rules, as well as in the nitty-gritty work of House committees, which they say has provided much-needed oversight of the Bush administration and will also set the stage for an ambitious agenda next year.

What ever the Dems fired up to produce light, produced only voluminous smoke obscuring everything excluding their mirrors. Those mirrors worked quite well whe they took up the ethics reforms. Replacing a couple of “or’s” with an “and” plus exchanging a semicolon for a period failed to clean up the problem, which is, the persons working on the problem.

And they blame Mr. Bush and Republicans for Congress’s low approval ratings, which they say will only help the Democrats expand their majority in 2008. [snip]

Certainly, they are going to blame Bush. I never expected them to look at themselves for the lack of productivity.

Still, Democrats conceded that the hectic pace had taken a toll, especially on lawmakers who must travel long distances home and who have small children. And members of Congress have not gotten a raise or cost-of-living increase this year.

Ah, here’s the real grumble! Congress didn’t break a sweat, but they want more money. Tax dollars, your money! Many Americans are not getting a raise this year and they worked for them.

On Wednesday, the House cast its one-thousandth roll-call vote of the year, the first time that it reached that mark since the Constitution was ratified. Democrats hailed the occasion, while Republicans sniped that only 106 of the votes were on bills ultimately signed into law, and that 45 of those bestowed names on post offices or other property. [snip] (Emphasis mine)

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida, said the Democrats had to put in the hours to make up for Republican failings last year. “There was so much left undone by the 12 years of Republican control of the Congress, it was absolutely essential that we put our nose to the grindstone,” she said.

Whatever the Donks put to the grindstone, it wasn’t their collective nose.

Ms. Wasserman Schultz has three children, 8-year-old twins and a 4-year-old. “It’s tough,” she said in a telephone interview from Orlando, where she had taken the children while she attended the Florida Democratic Convention there this weekend. [snip]

Ms. Wasserman Schultz, what is more important, your kids or being in office?
Shanghaied into running, I doubt that transpired. Hand the tykes off to their father.

Secessionists meeting in Tennessee

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two advocacy groups from opposite political traditions — New England and the South — are sitting down to talk.

Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede peacefully. [snip]

Has anybody information on where all these “right-wing courts are? Secondly, Just how far bent to the left could the Middlebury Institute want in a court. How about a Star Chamber to clear up non-PC utterances and what, expunge rampant hate crime?

Flag of the Second Vermont Republic

Motto: “Vermont, we have maple syrup and omelets.”

If allowed to go their own way, New Englanders “probably would allow abortion and have gun control,” Hill said, while Southerners “would probably crack down on illegal immigration harder than it is being now.”

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prohibit secession, but few people think it is politically viable.

Vermont, one of the nation’s most liberal states, has become a hotbed for liberal secessionists, a fringe movement that gained new traction because of the Iraq war, rising oil prices and the formation of several pro-secession groups.

After secession, Vermont’s GNP will exceed only North Korea’s manufacturing excesses. As of now they cannot keep college grads here and business expansion will consist of Macramé and candle shoppes festooned with gingerbread gewgaws.

To these characters, running a business consists of running it into the ground. Then the elite will request the UN to send them rice and automatic weapons.

Thomas Naylor, the founder of one of those groups, the Second Vermont Republic, said the friendly relationship with the League of the South doesn’t mean everyone shares all the same beliefs. [snip]

The first North American Separatist Convention was held last fall in Vermont, which, unlike most Southern states, supports civil unions. Voters there elected a socialist to the U.S. Senate. [snip]

Yeah, between that embarrassment and the other bozo in the senate, a new state motto is needed. Perhaps, “Vermont, we’re all dysfunctional here.”