Bill Clinton as symbol and a source of wisdom can be a flexible campaign instrument – used in different ways by Democrats and Republicans depending on the circumstances.

Keep our forests fracking-free

Apr 29, 2012

Re “Feds to sell oil and gas leases in Talladega National Forest” (News article, April 16):

Seemingly out of the blue, this community was notified that the federal government has parceled out more than 43,000 acres of our land, mostly in the Talladega National Forest, to be auctioned this June as leases to oil and gas companies for potential drilling. Right now, I’m not interested in debating the pros and cons of “fracking.” Instead, I would like to express why everyone in our community, no matter what their political views, should take a stand against this upcoming auction.

The Talladega National Forest is some of the most beautiful land in our state. Relatively undisturbed and home to a wide variety of wildlife, we can all take pride in this great natural resource which exists in our backyard. This is our land. We don’t “lease” out our sacred land as though she’s some prostitute for big corporations to use as they will.

Read more: Anniston Star - Keep our forests fracking free

"Pursurant to Section 9-12-46 as stated by Rule 220-3-01 the Alabama Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, Marine Resources Division, announces that as of 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, May 2, 2012 the following waters will temporarily close to shrimping:

"I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape.""
— State Senator Chuck Winder, sponsor of Idaho's mandatory ultrasound bill

Because lots of women just don't remember whether it was their husband in the bedroom, or a stranger in an alley with a knife at their throat.  Silly women; lucky to have the GOP looking out for them.

""Sixty-two percent of kids who enter college with some sort of faith commitment leave without it.""
— Rick Santorum

89% of people who listen to a Rick Santorum speech all the way through report dead brain cells.The other 11% did not display live cells before or after the speech.

Piggieheart Research Council

Mitt Romney made $41,000 average for every speech he gave in 20011.
The average American earned slightly more than that for working the entire year. An hour of Romney's time = a year of yours. And that is just his speaking fees, a tiny percentage of his total income. And he paid 15% tax.  What % did you pay?

Facebook: Making Your Political Opinions Less Private Since 2012

Facebook announced yesterday that “every post and comment — both public and private — by a U.S. user that mentions a presidential candidate’s name will be fed through a sentiment analysis tool that spits out anonymized measures of the general U.S. Facebook population.” This analysis, along with reader polls and other information, will in turn be shared with politico.com.

Yesterday, John Hinderaker at Powerline shows just how far Conservatives think the “truth” will bend before it breaks. And proves, once again, their thinking is wrong.

The heart (black and shriveled as a lump of coal, though it be) of the piece is in the 1st paragraph:

“The Senate voted on five budgets today, at the insistence of Republican senators. The result was revealing: no Senate Democrat voted in favor of any budget. This is consistent, of course, with the fact that the Democrat-led Senate has refused to adopt a budget, in violation of federal law, for the last three years. Still, it is a little shocking to see that not a single Democrat was willing to vote in favor of any budget, even the most irresponsible.”

Now, each of the sentences is true. But, the paragraph lumps those individual truths into what we commonly call, “a lie”.

1. There were 5 budget votes yesterday, all orchestrated by the Republicans.
2. The result was revealing…no Senate Democrat voted in favor of any budget.
3. And, since 2010, there has been no budget adopted by the Democratic majority led Senate. (I suggest that each of you research the reason why that is true. Every dog (blue or yellow) has fleas.)
4. Some (Republicans) probably were shocked (SHOCKED, I say!) that they couldn’t find any (Blue Dog) Dem to vote for any of the budgets, “even the most irresponsible”.

And the last sentence gives the lie to the paragraph and the rest of the story, even though it, itself...that last sentence...is true. Because, none of the bills proffered by Senate Republicans were responsible.

ABC provides the spyglass that detects the truth of the matter. Even though they put Jeff Sessions as being a Mississippi Republican (I WISH!!) they correctly identify what Sessions presented. The Sessions’ bill “…put forward the same topline numbers as those in the president’s budget,…(but) offered (no) specifics. The Sessions legislation was 56 pages long; actual budgets are closer to 2,000 pages long.”.

ABC quotes the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Kent Conrad of South Dakota, “I think it’s readily apparent there is a big difference between the president’s budget, which I hold in my hands, and what Sen. Sessions has presented as being the president’s budget. This is not the president’s budget. So, of course, we’re not going to support it. It’s not what the president proposed.”.

The Powerline piece goes on to say, “Four different Republican budgets were taken up by the Senate. The House budget (commonly referred to as the Ryan budget) was voted down 41-58. The vote on Pat Toomey’s budget was 42-47; the vote on Rand Paul’s budget was 16-83; and the vote on Mike Lee’s budget was 17-82. The common denominator was that no Democrat had the courage to vote for any of them.”.

Hopefully, I don’t need to go into the reasons why NO self-respecting, democratic (please note the initial lower case) inclined person will support the Paul Ryan initiated House budget. Running a short term budgetary deficit while continuing the path of a liberal democracy, in my opinion, is a given when opposed to turning America into an Oligarchy, which the Ryan budget will do. According to Bloomberg, 5 Republicans couldn’t even stomach that mess. And, God knows, it’s hard to get a buzzard to turn down carrion.

The Rand budget (again according to Bloomberg) would have mandated, “...to end Medicare, cut Social Security benefits and eliminate four Cabinet departments”.

And that last Conservative Patriot, Senator Lee (R, UT) would have (Bloomberg, again) “...cut the size of the government in half over the next 25 years”.

I indicated that Powerline and Hinderaker were irresponsible in couching their piece the way they did. And I stand by it. I stand by it because,

1. In the past (like, uhm, before Clinton), it was normal to twist the spoken and written word out of context for political gain…everybody did it.
2. But, now and in the not so recent past, outright lies and orchestrated disrespect and calumny are sprayed out as “news” against everything (truth AND “twists”) that don’t directly and explicitly support the Conservative basis for their platform. Not just their platform but the BASIS for it, as well.
3. This broad based and pervasive propaganda has developed into a “floor” or “ground” against which the bar of believability is placed so very near for people who have neither the time nor inclination to search for the truth,
4. That it becomes easy to believe these “twists” as being the truth and the “outright lies and orchestrated disrespect and calumny” to become the new “out of context for political gain” jabs.

I’ll end here with a little quote from Part II, Chapter IX of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism:

“The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary. This demands a continuous alteration of the past, made possible by the system of thought which really embraces all the rest, and which is known in Newspeak as doublethink. Doublethink is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

“Natural gas prices are lower than they have been in 10 years,” Lathem said. “Producers are deciding whether to shut wells down because it’s costing them more to pump it than what they’d get back from selling it.” Anniston Star

While I have every sympathy for cash strapped Alabama communities, it stops short of allowing the Feds to sell off public land leases for private profit. The environmental and community devastation will cost much more than what would be gained by a few feet of natural gas, which is currently in abundant supply without tapping pristine forest land.

For our comic realief this Sunday morning from the New Zealand Herald by way of HuffPo another Alabama Republican shows us once again what a bunch of sick puppies they really are. 

A few of the priceless comments at HuffPo:

- Well, if you don't have a good partner it helps to have a good hand.....(in a card game, of course)

- Shouldn't his sperm come with a warning lable like cigarettes?

"WARNING! implanting this sperm could result in birth of another weirdly sex obsessed Republican!"

- How can you have any pudding if you don't beat your meat?

- Now this is a new twist.
Usually they prefer to receive sperm donations - in public restrooms for example

- I can't think of a man more qualified to represent the conservative views of voters in the great state of Alabama.

But my favorite so far is....

- In NZ he is referred to as Sir Wanksalot.

One wonders how these clowns stay in prepetual power in Alabama.  Is the Alabama Democratic Party so unorganized and incompetent that they can't hoist the Reublicans by their own petards?  Is the populace so moronic and racists that they can't see these idiots for what they are?  Expiring minds want to know! 

Maybe it's time to escape the pollen and curl up with a good book.

We can safely give this one a miss:

http://www.politicususa.com/the-barton-lies-a-review-of-david-bartons-the-jefferson-lies.html

 I think I'll finish House of Leaves instead.

Friends,

      Today is not only my 26th birthday, but it marks six months to the general election. To my knowledge I am the youngest Democrat running throughout the state, this goes without saying, but I have very little capital. I am using my birthday and the six month mark to the general election as an opportunity to seek donations. In honor of my 26th birthday I am asking for donations of $26.00 to my donation website. However, any help or amount is greatly appreciated.

     For those of you who don't know me, I am running for Mobile County Treasurer and the only Democrat running in a contested county-wide race down here. I am a double graduate from the University of South Alabama with a BS in Education and a Masters of Public Administration. The office right now is currently held by a Republican who will be retiring at the end of this term. This means I will be running for an open seat against a Republican opponent. This can be a winnable seat as it is a non-partisan office. I have many split ticket commitments already, which has strengthened my basis for support, but funding is my biggest obstacle right now. I believe I can make a difference but in order to achieve this goal I need resources, to remain visible, to reach voters who may not have heard of me yet. 

     I am young and people are unsure if I can do the job. However, I am qualified. I have not only studied public budgeting, but have appropriated public funds via the Student Government Association for 2 years and assisted many non-profits in securing funding as well as attending and participating in conferences for the city county management association. I am also the past treasurer of numerous organizations and I was recently elected as Treasurer of the Mobile Area Alpha Gamma Delta Alumnae Association. The county commissioners in my area would like to get rid of this position and have no oversight of the budget. I will fight for the people of Mobile, ALL the people not just the city of Mobile. Those in the county have been completely underrepresented and I would like to change that when I am elected to this position. I am an active young Democrat who is ready to fight but I need your support to have a strong fight.

Here is the website, any amount is greatly appreciated.

www.gofundme.com/christiansmith

Thanks

 Christian Smith

The problem with FDR was that he was out-of-line with his base.  He was a flip-flopper.  He had changed his positions on everything from his support of embattled NY Mayor Tammany Hall to his support of the League of Nations, Prohibition and monetary policy.  Convention delegates saw him as weak in light of his lack of a spine combined with his perceived weakness due to his inability to walk unaided.

FDR lost in the all of the first three rounds of convention voting.  Chicago bookies placed FDR's odds at 5-to-1.  But everything changed when Senator McAdoo decided to swing his support to Roosevelt, rather than allowing Smith to win.  (Smith had denied McAdoo the nomination eight years earlier.)

As soon as McAdoo took the microphone at the convention to announce his support for Roosevelt, the audience knew that Roosevelt would be the nominee.  The delegates began to jeer Roosevelt's name.  The party didn't want a weak ticket with such a bad economy.  It was political suicide!  They though they could defeat Hoover and win if they had a strong enough ticket.  As the boos came in, McAdoo replied, "I intend to say what I propose to say without regard to what the galleries or anybody else thinks."  Senator McAdoo swung his California delegates to Governor Roosevelt and clinched for him the nomination.

Governor Al Smith was so bitter, he broke with tradition and refused to endorse Roosevelt on the floor.  It was the first of two upsets.  The general election soon followed.

Of course, we all know how the story ends.  Roosevelt, the weakest of candidates became one of the first presidential candidates to speak at his party's convention and arrived on something a presidential candidate had never utilized before - an airplane, in dramatic fashion.  In the end, Roosevelt was able to paint Herbert Hoover as completely incompetent, although he continued the Hoover policies for another decade.  Today, FDR is regarded by the left as the greatest democratic president in United States History.

Will a weak flip-flopper arise from the GOP nominating contest in 2012 and go on to beat a weak incumbent in November?  It is difficult to say, one thing we know for sure is, it has happened before.

If you knew me well, you would know to avoid getting me started on the subject of abortion. 

If you are unfamiliar with the  "Personhood"  movement or Personhood USA, it is the latest attempt to make all forms of abortion illegal by giving legal "personhood" to an egg from fertilization.

If an embryo is a person right from fertilization it  trumps the personhood of the woman carrying it.  ALL terminations of all  pregnancies would be banned.  This would include terminations of pregnancies to save the mothers life (such as ending an ectopic pregnancy where the embryo implants into the fallopian tubes and as it grows will cause the mother to bleed to death internally). Apparently supporters of this agenda don't realize or dont care that when the mother dies so does any embryo or fetus she is carrying anyway. 

Alabama is now considering personhood.  Alabama’s so-called "personhood" bill, SB 5, is scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Health - Tomorrow, May 2nd at 11am in room 304. 

Planned Parenthood is planning to demonstrate in front of the State House at 10:45am. 

Gramma Susan

Perhaps a little afraid people will blame him for starting his budget slashing by cutting funding for sick children, our beloved Guvnuh has announced a health screening program for the Black Belt.

http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/04/black_belt_alabama.html

Naturally, Guvnuh Pitchfork McJesus left it to his betters to manage and pay for it.

... about 250 military medical personnel would provide health, dental and vision screenings for about 5,000 people in the three towns.

What do we do?

What do we do with the people who use

their wealth, power, and their desire

for more wealth to thwart our efforts to solve

the climate change problems?

What do we do when planet populations

suffer and die?

Do we confiscate their wealth to give aid

to the millions, even to billions that suffer

the consequences of greed

result of power monger's human action?

Do we take something of greater value?

 a true classic :)

In her radio show, Dr. Laura Schlesinger said that homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. The following response is an open letter which was posted on the internet.

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination...End of Debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness -Lev. 15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord -Lev. 1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, is it a lesser abomination than homosexuality? Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination? 

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/poly blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death in a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's Word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan,

James D. Kauffman, Ed.D Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction....

"Richie Rich" Dick Shelby and "Don't talk like that around a White man" Jeff Sessions voted against the Violence Against Women Act.

Here's the roll call vote:

http://yubanet.com/usa/31-Senators-Voted-to-Oppose-the-Violence-Against-Women-Act_printer.php 

Now the bill goes to the House for consideration & the GOP there can probably be counted on to fight hard against the expanded bill.  Contact your representative and ask him/her to vote in favor of the expanded, bi-partisan Senate version of the bill.

Moody was shot in the head April 15 after police say her boyfriend, Scott Byrd, Daniel Parnell and Dylan Tyree broke into a fish camp on Gravine Island in the Tensaw River Delta. Three fisherman also staying on the island, William Hearn, Lonnie Davison and Larry Duncan Jr. heard the 4:00 a.m. burglary and hopped in a boat to check it out. When they reached the section of the island where the robbery occurred, two men fired warning shots. One of the shots hit Moody in the head.

Arrests have been made but not the ones you might expect.
The 3 young men who accompanied Moody have been arrested for burglary and only one has managed to bond out. The campers who fired blindly in the dark, one of whom fired the shot that quite likely caused Moody's death, have not been charged. The DA is cautioning against a rush to judgement. The sheriff says the investigation is "very close to concluding".

Yes, the campers who fired warning shots probably didn't mean to actually hit anyone, but since when is defense of property worth shooting someone? Especially when it's not even your property?

Here is the self-defense law in Alabama. Somewhere in there is the rationale for not charging the shooter. If you find it, please post, because I don't seem to be seeing it.

I try hard as I can conjure to believe each is an individual. Difficult balance, but older I get, I get more success.

But yet
I have walked several blocks to find a black man, woman, or white man to ask directions.

If I have to ask a white woman, especially in evening dim, I stop 3 or 4 meters from her, speak loud enough for her to hear, but calmly, never move toward her. I may stand only 2 meters from a white man, if he is older, my age.

When I see a white woman I know and she knows me, I walk parallel a couple of meters away, turn so she can see who I am.

If I am in a neighborhood that I know the residents are mostly white and see police officers on foot or officers in a squad car, I stop and ask them directions, even if I know.

My behavior varies by venue.

If in Kroger when it's crowded, other folk around, I may stand close as 2 meters.
Although I assess the white person for tells of their attitudes, pass on some I deem dangerous.

I visit Florida sometimes, I have a relative there. If no relative, I dont visit Florida. White folk there almost as crazy as too many white Alabamans.

It was more important that I was careful 20 or more years ago; I am old now and so dont seem to present much danger to white folk.

If white folk thought about it with half rational brain work, they'd believe old black folk more danger to them and dangerous. We lived through some of the horrors.

All black folk over 50 are racists, not reverse racist. That's a racist trope, implies we not human enough to act out straight up racist.

Some of us work to expunge it, through religion, black folk may live as better Christians, through will, damn hard, since a healthy response in a sick way may be to respond in kind, or may live a few, who truly enlightened, may not have a smidgen of racist attitude.

The latter I doubt.

Though know, most black folk resist, stomp each racist iota before it grows to inhabit them.

Some of my elders, not racist, or much, did believe, with some evidence, read the history, that white folk were inferior and possessed a hateful racist gene.

It's difficult sometime not believe that.

My white kin, kith, and friends - yes, thank eternity I have that kind of family - make it so easier to resist the demon racism.

I'd have to condemn them to suffer my racist demonic behavior if I succumb to such.

My son and his blood great aunt would visit museums, movies and such, were mistaken as social worker and her charge because the northern white folk behave sometime as southerners often behave.

His mother is a French Rumanian American Jew.
His father is a Creek, African, Scots Irish, and some elders say, Polish, American Jew.

He's thoroughly jewed.

In the shul in New York he attended, he was a vice president of the youth organization. He said that he never felt an outsider there. He was a Jew to them, no more no less.

Jews may pass as white sometimes, but Jews are not white.

My grandfather in law discovered that fact in Germany. He was in the German army during W W 1, then in the events that led up to W W 2 he learned that Jews weren't
white.

He escaped from two concentration camps, and left Europe through Portugal, I believe.

Jews who believe that they are white live in danger from white folk.

Ask the cousin of my friend, the poet Armand Schwerner.

Ask any of my white - inappropriate trope, believe me - kin, kith, and friends if they are white, they'd say, no, I'm Jesse, Yidel, Sarah, or Carolyn, or something such.

We have a family, kin and kith, of intellectually rowdy individuals. We are a family of Jewish (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist), Christian (Protestant and Catholic), Muslim, Bahai, Buddhist, Ethical Culture, agnostic, and atheist black, brown, yellow, beige, red white and blues individuals.

Some magic we cohere as a kin, kith, and friend, cohorts, and generations family.

We live fiercely as individuals and resist the rest of you crazy folk with your weird superstition of race.

White is an insecure, neurotic attitudinal trope grown in the pseudo science of the 19th century without any basis in fact.

Ask Mr. Zimmerman if he is an individual, he'd, I guess, nay, hypothesize he'd say, yes.

I invent him since I dont know all the facts, but I invent him as an individual.

He didn't give the same quality to the young man he killed, I guess.

I dont assumed all white folk are like their fore fathers and mothers, each live as individuals. Even their fore felons were individuals, though some on the wrong and traitorous side.

They make it difficult to individualize them sometimes.

Black folk are often not accorded individual status; we are somehow responsible for the foibles, miscreant behavior, and felonious conduct
of other black folk.

Black leaders are asked, nope, demanded to clean up the acts of black folk.

Black leaders are demanded to condemn the out of wedlock births of other black folk.

It's as if it aint a problem for all American individuals, if it is a problem all the time.

It's a black problem to some.

I dont hang with criminals. I'm not responsible for their behavior.
There ain't in existence any
black on black crime.

I and we may be responsible for conditions conducive to release the - yetzer hara - criminal from some individuals, but I dont believe so, especially after they're 12 or 13.

It's individual on individual crime.

I warn you to forego that statement, black on black crime, when you talk to me.
I will insult your soul, your body and soul, your soul, not your mama, not your daddy, not your grands.

I have individual condemnation for them too.

I put the statement, "black on black crime,"
in the list with
"good old days,"
clean and load my flintlock, keep it by the door

my pout and powder dry.

I know there's a lot of you from South Alabama on here that I don't reach via facebook so I wanted to pass this information along. and please share share share!

Subject: Film Screening: Women, Media & Power
The University of South Alabama Gender Studies Program will host a
screening of the film, "Miss Representation," which exposes the
influence of  the mainstream media and how it contributes to the
underrepresentation of women.  After the film, there will be time for
discussion, particularly focusing on what can be done to increase
awareness and increase the representation of women.

WHAT: MISS REPRESENTATION 

WHEN: Tuesday, April 10 @ 6:00 p.m.

WHERE:  University of South Alabama Library Auditorium 

This event is free and open to the public.

A few months ago my family physician sent out a survey asking several questions about how I felt about the scope and quality of the health care that we had received from him and his office. I have always been very happy and satisfied with all of my interactions with him and both his nursing staff and his business staff, but the final question on the survey gave me pause and provided an obvious clue to what was to come.

The final question was something like this: would I be adverse to essentially paying a yearly membership fee in exchange for an enhanced level of service?

From that point on I could see what was, most probably, in my future and I came home a couple of days ago to a letter stating that my physician had decided to join what is termed a "Personalized Healthcare" group and that he would be limiting his practice to 600 patients with a yearly membership fee of $1,500! That equates to $3,000/year for us, not to mention a cool $900,000/year for the doctor and the "Personalized Healthcare" group.

The sad reality is that is very much out of my range, so I guess that I will be shopping for a new family physician after over 20 years of seeing the same doctor a couple of times each year generally for nothing more than routine visits. I have no idea how difficult this will be, but I'm certainly not looking forward to it.

Obviously, I have no clue as to the needs of other of his patients, but I cannot escape the feeling that this is nothing less than end run around the insurance companie's fee for service schedule in an attempt to maximize the clinic's revenue and I am, understandingly, angry about this move! 

"And I'd just remind conservative commentators that, for years, what we have heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism, or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law."

"Ultimately, I am confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."

We have to support one of the successful creations of this society.  It does not cost taxpayers money. It has been robbed by the government and has onerous and unfair requirements imposed on it. It has been crippled by the right wing attacks on it.

I could not say it better than Jim Hightower.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-truth-about-the-u-s-postal-service/

But once we say that there is a market and Congress can require people to participate in it... it seems to me that we can't say there are limitations on what Congress can do under its commerce power, just like in any other area, all bets are off, and you could regulate that market in any rational way.

MR. KNEEDLER (Deputy Solicitor General): We think, as a matter of judicial restraint, limits on equitable remedial power limit this Court to addressing the provision that has been challenged as unconstitutional and anything else that the plaintiff seeks as relief. Here the only -­

JUSTICE KENNEDY: But when you say "judicial restraint"... you are echoing the earlier premise that it increases the judicial power if the judiciary strikes down other provisions of the Act. I suggest to you it might be quite the opposite. We would be exercising the judicial power if one Act was -- one provision was stricken and the others remained to impose a risk on insurance companies that Congress had never intended. By reason of this Court, we would have a new regime that Congress did not provide for, did not consider. That, it seems to me, can be argued at least to be a more extreme exercise of judicial power than to strike -­ than striking the whole.

JUSTICE SCALIA: My approach would say if you take the heart out of the statute, the statute's gone. That enables Congress to -- to do what it wants in -- in the usual fashion. And it doesn't inject us into the process of saying: This is good, this is bad, this is good, this is bad.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: But the problem is, straight from the title, we have two complementary purposes, patient protection and affordable care. And you can't look at something and say this promotes affordable care, therefore, it's consistent with Congress's intent. Because Congress had a balanced intent. You can't look at another provision and say this promotes patient protection without asking if it's affordable.

So, it seems to me if you ask what is going to promote Congress's purpose, that's just an inquiry that you can't carry out.

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Alabama Legislators should take care not to repeat the mistakes of 2011

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

From the Pew Center On the States report: Evidence Counts: Evaluating State Tax Incentives for Jobs and Growth

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo:

Left in Alabama posted a photo: