Good news, everyone!

They want to have a civil war. I say we just call them up and let them have Texas.

Well, if we can keep Austin. I kind of like Austin.

But it's not a deal-breaker.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-broden_22tex.ART0.State.Edition1.33278a9.html

WASHINGTON – Republican congressional candidate Stephen Broden stunned his party Thursday, saying he would not rule out violent overthrow of the government if elections did not produce a change in leadership.
In a rambling exchange during a TV interview, Broden, a South Dallas pastor, said a violent uprising "is not the first option," but it is "on the table." That drew a quick denunciation from the head of the Dallas County GOP, who called the remarks "inappropriate."

 You don't need to have an armed rebellion, unless you want to convince the "liberal elite" states to go with you. Hell, take the whole Confederacy. We won't miss it.

...and read only what I want you to read

We go now to rural South Carolina, where a jail has a particularly interesting idea for its inmates - you can read anything you want, as long as it's the Bible. No, not that one, the Christian one. Not only is this an obvious freedom of religion issue, but as the article points out, it limits prisoners' rights to things like a fair trial, as they aren't even allowed to read about their social-contract-given rights...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100604933.html?hpid=sec-religion

The American Civil Liberties Union filed the federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the policy on behalf of Prison Legal News, a monthly journal on prison law. The 16-page complaint says officials at the Berkeley County jail in Moncks Corner, about 100 miles southeast of Columbia, are violating several of the magazine's and inmates' constitutional rights including free speech, freedom of religion and right to due process.
Since 2008, the publishers of Prison Legal News have tried to send magazines, letters and self-help books about prison life to several inmates at the jail, the complaint says. Some were sent back, and in July a jail official wrote an e-mail to the publishers referencing the jail's policy.
"Our inmates are only allowed to receive soft back bibles in the mail directly from the publisher," First Sergeant K. Habersham noted in the e-mail. "They are not allowed to have magazines, newspapers, or any other type of books."

Freedom of speech, as long as you say everything I make you say

Mississippi, the worst-educated, most obese state in the union, checks in with a little gem in their messed-up court system. Some judge unilaterally decides he is going to say the Pledge of Allegiance in his courtroom, and everyone's going to play. Fine, I guess, it's your courtroom. Oh wait - you mean to arrest anyone who doesn't do what you tell them to, on some shaky contempt-of-court grounds? Hmm.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/07/danny-lampley-arrested-pledge-of-allegiance_n_755074.html

TUPELO, Miss. — When a Mississippi judge entered a courtroom and asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, an attorney with a reputation for fighting free speech battles stayed silent as everyone else recited the patriotic oath. The lawyer was jailed.
Attorney Danny Lampley spent about five hours behind bars Wednesday before Judge Talmadge Littlejohn set him free so that the lawyer could work on another case. Lampley told The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal he respected the judge but wasn't going to back down.

And in a two-for-the-price-of-one update, let's see what other stupid things happened in Mississippi in the last 20 years...

"I thought he was a disgrace to the United States," Bobby Martin, a 43-year-old self-employed maintenance worker, said of Lampley. "If he can't say that in front of a judge, he don't deserve to be here" in this country.
Others voiced support for the attorney.
"I'm speechless. The judge needs a reminder copy of the First Amendment," said Judith Schaeffer, a Washington attorney who, along with Lampley, successfully sued the Pontotoc school district in northern Mississippi in the 1990s to stop students from praying over the intercom.

The rest of the country figured out separation of church and state a long time ago. It's still confusing for the Confederates. They're still too busy separating their black and white proms.

It's like Russian Roulette, but every Friday night

Apparently, four states - we'll include Arizona as honorary Confederacy, as they're certainly trying to move that way in the short run - have taken the time in their busy state legislative calendar to explicitly allow the carrying of loaded handguns into bars. I'm never going to a bar in Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, or Tennessee. That shouldn't be too difficult, as I don't intend to find myself in any of those four states anytime soon...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/us/04guns.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

NASHVILLE — Happy-hour beers were going for $5 at Past Perfect, a cavernous bar just off this city’s strip of honky-tonks and tourist shops when Adam Ringenberg walked in with a loaded 9-millimeter pistol in the front pocket of his gray slacks.

Mr. Ringenberg, a technology consultant, is one of the state’s nearly 300,000 handgun permit holders who have recently seen their rights greatly expanded by a new law — one of the nation’s first — that allows them to carry loaded firearms into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.
“If someone’s sticking a gun in my face, I’m not relying on their charity to keep me alive,” said Mr. Ringenberg, 30, who said he carries the gun for personal protection when he is not at work.

Drowning the government in a bathtub

... or when that doesn't work, just burn it to the ground.

The Tea Party mindset is already alive and well in South Fulton, Tennessee, where "don't tax me, bro" has led to serious cutbacks in such unnecessary government waste as schools, police, and fire protection. Because of this, the nearby town's fire department cannot afford to cover outlying areas; citizens are required to pay a $75 fee if they want to be protected. This is what local control looks like - you wanted the government out of your lives, here you go.

What blows me away about this story is that the fire department still responded, and then sat there watching the house burn down. Only in the Confederacy would they go ahead and waste the time and resources to drive out there, defeating the whole purpose of the fee.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/internal?st=print&id=104052668&path=/news/local

It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't.
We asked him why.
He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn.
We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception.
"Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said.

 And this one went international. This is what the British learn about us. Swell.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8039814/Tennessee-Firemen-ignore-burning-house-over-unpaid-subscription-fee.html

About three hours after the fire began, Mr Cranick's son Timothy allegedly arrived at the South Fulton fire station and asked for Mr Wilds, the fire chief.
It is alleged that when Mr Wilds came forward and asked if he could help, Mr Cranick punched him. "He just cold-cocked him," Mr Crocker said.
Mr Cranick allegedly had to be pulled off Mr Wilds by other firefighters, after having knocked him to the ground. The 44-year-old is said to have been taken to hospital after injuring his hand committing the alleged assault.
Mr Wilds was said by officials to be "doing OK". The Cranicks are temporarily staying in a mobile home.

Every sentence of that anecdote reminds me why I don't live in the South.

The swine flu is part of God's plan. Vaccines, on the other hand...

A quick Google reveals that this sign hung at the "Cross J Cowboy Chapel" in Asher, Oklahoma. I wonder how Jesus fares against the control group....