tvashtarkatena

Oh, very compact, I assure you.

You will also be required to attend to the needs of high profile visitors, such as Hugo Chavez, Noam Chomski, and Ralph Nader, when they visit to discuss how we will make the transition to a yoga-based economy. To flatter such guests, you will be required to memorize and cite key passages from "Hegemony or Survival". If, in fact, the lesbians perform a dragging, it will be behind a Prius with "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" on the bumper.

You will guard my harem of hot ninja lesbian communists. Along with Donald Rumsfeld. With whom you will periodically wrestle in an enormous vat of olive oil. Naked.

...if that is your preference. I believe in beneficent ownership.

You'd never have that problem with a polonium heater.

I'm just seeing if you ever lighten up, that's all. Speaking of threatening trees, the wind out there right now is kicking some serious ass.

...a Union in which I would make you my personal slave.

Why does every one of your posts involve a serious threat? Come on, it's Christmas.

Hence the 14th Amendment. It seems that the guidelines of the contract, however clear the signers thought they were, were either not interpreted equally or were not longer agreed to by Southern parties in the years leading up to the civil war. Either way, the 14th Amendment was a way to stuff a bit of extra caulking in the chinks. Historically, it's interesting to note that few imagined that secession would lead to war in the months leading up to Ft. Sumter. Going to war in general is rough, but going to war against your own countrymen must have been particularly unthinkable to many at the time. Despite my vehement historical/legal arguments (which I still stand by), I'm not sure where I'd personally stand if the PNW decided to scurry off with BC, Yukon and AK to form a new nation. Is adhering to the US Constitution or maintaining the Union worth civil war? It's a nasty, nasty question. Oh, we'd have to include HI, of course.

Lawn care by Dr. Greenthumb.

Bush doesn't, apparently, engage in much private contemplation.

Public addresses are a very poor indicator of private belief. They are tailored for public consumption, not private contemplation. For example, during public speaking engagements I rarely state that Bush sucks donkey dicks at ten cents a herd.

Some analogies do involve binding personal contracts. Try enlisting, then walking away in the middle of a battle, stating that you've 'changed your mind', and see what happens.

It is the blackest of times that truly tests your sense of humor.

Actually, historians have not been able to conclude whether or not Lincoln believed in God. Frankly, I'm not so sure Bush's professed faith isn't as just as cynical as his leadership in general. The man doesn't have a truthful bone in his body.

One can make up any hypothetical scenario to support any viewpoint, but all we have to go on is actual events and the body of law that resulted from them. We are a nation of laws, not opinions, however eloquent. One can assume that the Constitution's signatories knew what they were signing. The language is clear, and they were all intelligent men who'd debated the issues to exhaustion. They apparently felt that forming a Union was worth the limitations on State's rights embodied in that document. I think most of us would agree today that they were right in that belief. And, again, a state is not an individual. Laws governing states rights must extend to every individual within that state. For example, a state might choose so secede over the right to own slaves, which is a clear violation of the Bill of Rights. The majority may vote within that state for secession, but it is the federal government's responsibility to prevent that secession to maintain the rights of would-be slaves within that state. That's what being part of a union means; signing up to observing certain rights for every citizen in exchange for collective security and all the other benefits of being part of a larger country.

I think my brain might have one...

My lawn is a pool of phytoplankton.

My previous post quotes just some, but certainly not all, of the very explicit language in the original Constitution that documents that the original 13 states did, in fact, agree to give away some of their independence, including the right to form new states (including, of course, nation-states) without Congressional approval. States' rights, which certainly do not include national sovereignty, are also explicitly defined. The language is plain and clear. The 14th Amendment provides further explicit language that makes secession unconstitutional. You may have your personal opinion on the matter, but it is not supported by any body of law in this country. The historical events leading up the the formation of the Constitution are interesting, but they are not law. By way of example, there was much dissent about the inclusion of the Bill of Rights, yet its proponents prevail, it became law, and it, not the viewpoints of the dissenters, is what guides us, legally and philosophically, today. As for your example of West Virginia statehood violating the 4th Article: After decisive Union victory in Virginia, a new state government was 're-instated' and recognized by the Union (the only Constitutionally legitimate national government). This new reinstated state government, and Congress, approved statehood for West Virginia. Statehood for West Virginia, therefore, followed the prescription outlined in the US Constitution.

You're probably already aware of this method, but to remove glue, try ironing on strips of brown grocery bag paper. Peel them off while still hot, or the paper will stick. It's less toxic and messy than using a solvent like brake cleaner. As for re-applying glue, well, that just sucks any way you look at it.

What, ju doan lahka Peyote?

Mr. Delay just learned a second valuable lesson about the blogosphere.

I you've got 110, Home Despot sells little 1500 W space heaters beddy chip that might do the trick. 4" x 5" x 6".

National studies have shown that it can add as much as $15K.

Teh-ran roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Tiny tots, with their towns all aglow As we dress up like Eskimos