DAnneMarc - don't go there, please. Just drop it.

ken ware ~ You're gonna "smack me around"? I'm an "idiot"? You're going to "kick my ass around"! Go ahead and use your software to find me. If you want I'll tell you exactly when and where you can find me. Just come alone--like a man- without any axe handles, 5 inch knives, or 350 magnums and we'll see just who ends up in the hospital for an extended stay. Are you game?

2950-10K ~ Thanks for the history lesson. I'm shaky on history, sociology being more of my forte. A friend of mine is a serious history buff, but not I. I stand by basic precepts, common sense, logic, and a constant wave of divine inspiration. I welcome any commentary that helps to procure the truth and improve the situation for us all. Thanks buddy.

You have a great weekend as well. And yes, I've had to fan the smoke off my keyboard several times this weekend so far. If only I could work the stiffness out of my joints. DAM

DAnneMarc: Not that it really matters much, but as a fan of ancient history I'm going to express my opinion regarding Roman Empire longevity. 670 years is actually pretty accurate if you count 250 of those years as being from the Roman Republic. I consider the Republic's solid years as those starting around the first Punic war and ending when Octavian assumed the title of Augustus. If you don't count the Republic the actual Roman Empire existed a little over 400 years. Many pick 476 AD as the end but it was pretty much over well before then. As a side note we should give the Byzantium Emperor Justinian, actually his General Belisarius, credit for a brief re-expansion during the 6th century.

DAnneMarc.....I trust you had a good weekend..... By the looks of all the posts, the ole smoke must have been coming off of your keyboard from time to time.

DAnneMarc -- Do you know what your are saying? You do realize that the laws of the red states are being written by the Koch Brothers, the Chamber of Commerce, Walmart, the NRA etc. via ALEC. The red states now include WI, MI, IN, and OH and others as well as the old confederacy.

ken ware wrote ~ "I suppose from your comments that it would still be alright for someone like Gov. Wallace to stand in the doorway of an elementary school and state no black kids or niggers in the words they used at that time in the 1960's were going to enter a white school. It took the President to send the National Guard in to allow integration of the schools to take place. "

No ken, you totally missed my point. Upholding the Civil Liberties of every citizen regardless of color is not the same as attacking the Civil Liberties of every citizen. The Fed may use any tactic it sees fit to defend The Bill Of Rights; but, when it attacks those same rights, it attacks the very foundation of the Constitution and pits itself against every American citizen and is no longer a valid entity. That is my point.

Yes, I am a person of peace but when aroused I am not the kind of person you want to run in to.

chuckle8/ken ware ~ It's fine to amend the Constitution to address new issues encountered in time due to progress. This, indeed, I believe to be the intent of the founders. Such examples would be the internet, or the sale of weapons of mass destruction to foreign nations. However, to Amend the Constitution to change the Constitutions founding precepts, to me, is Treason. That is why all Presidents must take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.

Passage of laws that do what the foundation of the Constitution expressly forbids doing is Treason. There is no fuzzy middle ground! It is what it is! If we argue about upholding any part of the Constitution when our Civil Liberties have been obliterated, laws supporting religious establishments have been enacted, and our right to be confronted by witnesses, without cruel and unusual treatment, with due process and a speedy trial is no more, than we are but fools being prepared for the slaughter when we tell ourselves this document is still the law of the land..

ken ware ~ I don't consider myself a hypocrite. My opinion changes depending on what I see happen. Back when we argued about gun control and I stated that reinstatement of publicly funded mental institutions is the way to go I was shocked to see no one--NO ONE--in power attempt to drive this point home. Instead there was a total embrace of gun control. Paint lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig. Now that some of the States are officially filing grievances with the Fed, the Fed responds with threatening the State. Nonsense! As far as I am concerned when the point has gone this far it is no longer a bad idea but a policy of state dominance and the same as if a declaration of war has been announced. Regardless of our differences with the far Right, Ken, like you said before the parties are only a word starting with a "D" or an "R". The same party rules. The citizens however are all American Citizens and what threatens the liberties of a red state threatens the liberties of us all. We must join together and support our brothers while we still can.

It is you who surprise me with assuming my old position on the matter in light of the latest developments.

Outback ~ Right on, buddy! You hit the ball out of the park with that one.

chuckle8 ~ Thanks for simplifying the math. By the way, child porn is not protected by freedom of speech--it is child abuse! The violation of the civil rights of a minor. Completely different crime not needing an illegal Amendment to the Constitution. Any state that wants to change The Bill Of Rights should have the right to succeed from the union. The same goes for any politician and any citizen(s). Like I said once before, adios, siannara, arrivederci, magandang hindi importanteng bagay, adeus, and näkemiin. Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.

ken ware~ As far as moving away to avoid the problems in my beloved home town is concerned--you must be smoking something potent if you think for one minute that this blatant display of audacity on the part of Oaklands Finest does anything more than annoy the hell out of me. I've survived numerous gang fights with machine guns outside my bedroom window before without once considering moving away. No, this police state is just a fly in the ointment compared to what once took place in this fine city during the Reagan administration. Troubles pass and there is no place like home.

Ken Ware, since I'm one of those "pissed off" people you've addressed your remarks at, I'll take this opportunity to tell you I think you're living in a dream world. I'll blow on past the impression you leave when you almost wet your pants over the "awesome might and power of the United States Military" to absolutely CRUSH any opposition, including any cone heads hovering over missile silos.

The reason I think you're dreaming is that this fiction that people are still being encouraged to believe in regarding, by god, "just vote the rascals" out of office took a serious nose dive when the Supreme Court awarded George W. Bush his first term. Remember that? Didn't that start to make you wonder? Since that time we've seen illegal wars launched on lies with no accountability, secret black hole prisons set up for extra judicial interrogation of US Citizens (let's not argue about whether you think anyone was guilty or not) and most recently, a Democratic president declare himself the singular decider as to which American citizen gets whacked, anywhere on the planet. We've seen Wall Street nearly crash the economy and make off with a good portion of the assets of middle class and poor American citizens, again with impunity. Our system is flat broken, my friend. Don't you get it? Absolute power corrupts, absolutely! Long live the king!

Now, since you seem intent on interpreting any reference to the use of force against an oppressive government as a call to flat out armed insurrection, I'll tell you you're missing the point. I would never be so stupid as to support that scenario, and you're right. Billy Bob's New Tennessee Volunteer Militia wouldn't last too long against, say, the 101st Airborne.

I hope to god it never comes to this, but here's the more likely scenario if the government ever decided to get too heavy handed with the populace, like for example, suspending the Bill of Rights and confiscating all civilian weapons. There would be a domino effect. A few people would stand up to the authorities and be slaughtered. This would put the rest of the population on alert. The situation would escalate and finally degenerate into a situation similar to what's been happening for the past two years in Syria. There are roughly 300 million people in this country and an almost equal number of privately owned firearms. I can tell you it would be ugly and even your vaunted US military (and you can throw in the LAPD for good measure) couldn't win that one. I don't care how many tanks, drones and fighter aircraft they have. It would be a war of attrition and the country would be left in smoldering ruin. It's exactly this mutually assured destruction (MAD as it was called inn the cold war) that will be the only mechanism that will keep the government from making a total power grab. And this is the very reason I oppose gun control.

(And for our friends at the NSA that are taking notes, please don't quote me out of context. I already have too long a dossier.)

DeAnneMarc - To start with I am not bothered by your comments or remarks concerning my person. If I was offended by your rants I would use software to find you, take a flight from LAX to SFO and then to Oakland and put you in the hospital for a week. JUST A JOKE MY FRIEND!! BUT I do find it ironic that just months ago you were this left-winger, anti-violent soul who I mistakenly thought was a middle aged woman. Now you’re ranting about the rights of the Red States and how they should be allowed to pass their own laws without interference from the Federal Government. I suppose from your comments that it would still be alright for someone like Gov. Wallace to stand in the doorway of an elementary school and state no black kids or niggers in the words they used at that time in the 1960's were going to enter a white school. It took the President to send the National Guard in to allow integration of the schools to take place. You sound like you have grown some balls and are ready to put on the fatigues and grab your M-16 to protect the rights of these renegades that would use their interpretation of the Constitution to run their States in the manner they deemed to be legally correct, regardless of the rights of those who did not fall in line with those good ole' boys. Can you spell hypocrite? And which President did you have in mind when it comes to replacing the Judges on the Supreme Court. Would you have them all come from the same party that you seem to be falling in line with? There is a reason why the President can only serve two, four year terms and that is so we the people can vote into office the person of our choice as a majority of the population. And please do not start with the Electoral College and the fact they could by law decide who will become President in any given election, which is a subject we can all rant on about in the future. You hate were you live and the Para-military police, move or get elected to the City Council where you might do some good. (Might)

There has always been a divide among the people of America and our thoughts concerning the Constitution and what it means. The reason why the President can elect the person he feels would do the best job when a Judge steps down, is that it allows there to be a change of thought and perspective as the nation changes and our views change and mature with age. Amendments to our Constitution are the only logical way to have change as our nation changes, but to throw out the Constitution because you feel those in power are using it against us is ludicrous at best. The Bill of Rights is untouchable and should remain that way as long as we exist, regardless how we feel about our Government and the present entities that run it. Any citizen groups who bare arms against our Government on either the Federal or State level will last about as long as it takes the Military,F.B.I., and local Para-military police forces to reach them and eliminate them from the face of our Country. You can take all the conspiracy theories together and put them on a shelf, unless you have a 100% physical proof and the backing of the American public, you will be laughed into oblivion. This is not to say there have not been conspiracies against us, it is just they are so damn good at hiding them, most people will walk away. U.F.O.'s and our nuke missile sites is a prime example of being laughed at, myself included! Ha! Along with remote controlled aircraft attacking the Twin Towers, but that is getting off of the subject here. The Federal Government (President, Congress & Courts) has and should remain the entity that has the last word concerning what is constitutional, not the red or blue states. Until all Americans take an interest in our National and State elections, those who are in power will abuse their power with impunity. Only when Americans finally decide they will have a hand in changing America through their Constitutional given right to vote out of power, those who abuse us, nothing will ever change. Those who would believe that they can change our nation through the use of violence have a very rude and destructive awakening in their future. POINT BLANK, and without mercy. No power within or outside of our Nation will ever defeat Democracy and the price for attempting such a thing will be absolute and complete devastation.

After reading ALL these comments or blogs, I have come to one basis conclusion: You are all really pissed off about something you already know the answer to. Chill out and concentrate on working together to correct the course we are now on and mellow out, we only get one chance in this life, so let the truth without anger ring in the halls of America. Figure out how you will make a difference in our country that has fallen into the hands of the wealthy and elite, while we were busy trying to survive and forgot to take control through voting and reminding those in power if they do not comply with our demands, they will be gone from the halls of Washington after the next election. We as a whole have allowed the present situation to happen, because we as a whole did not get involved politically when we should have. Now it is up to us to educate our friends and neighbors what they need to do in 2014! ADM put down your M-16 and relax you are stressing out!

Police State Tactics ~ You all may have heard about Alex Jones and his rants about the coming police state. I'm sure most of you live in comfortable areas and think he's nuts. However, I don't. Have any of you heard that the military has been ordered to make military weapons, equipment, and vehicles available to local police departments. Here in Oakland I've had several opportunities to see the results of this move. It has been a disaster of epic proportions. The police are now trigger happy. They ride their assault vehicles every chance they get.

A friend of mine recently had to stay in a hotel for six months while her apartment was repaired. Police pursued a suspect of domestic abuse into her apartment complex. Instead of knocking on the door, like they did for decades past, they surrounded the building and tossed flash grenades and tear gas into every apartment and in the crawlspace under the building. Of course at this point they weren't really sure if he was there, or which apartment he was in. Consequently, they almost killed a sleeping baby in one apartment and destroyed the life possessions of a single mother--including all her childs toys--in another apartment. Ironically, they missed the second floor apartment the suspect was in. He came out and peaceably surrendered after all the damage was done. The fumes of the explosions not only destroyed all the clothes and belongings of every tenant in the building; but rendered the building uninhabitable until it was completely renovated. Of course, the city (THE TAXPAYERS!), paid for all the damages including the hotels for the displaced tenants.

Is this really the type of community you want to live in? I don't!

The fact of the matter is this. Ever since the War on Drugs the US Government has defiled The Bill Of Rights by passing illegal UnConstitutional laws. The Patriot Act, Extraordinary Rendition and Federal Sponsored Torture has shredded the document to pieces. The present President even proposed "Indefinite Detention" and claims to have the right to order the killing of anyone he wants to in the world--including US Citizens. The Constitution as we know it ceased to exist a long time ago. Since then the Government, regardless of party in power, has systematically increased it's stranglehold on US citizens. As Alex Jones points out, every day we are moving closer to a police state.

When We The People argue that it is "UnConstitutional" for a State to insist on jurisdiction over itself we are actually arguing to uphold a document that no longer exists; and, advance the agenda of those who destroyed it. We are living in a fantasy world and are fooling ourselves. Mass cognitive dissonance. We are purporting to support the very doctrine of the fascist leaders that destroyed the document in the first place allowing them to pretend as though the document was actually still the law of the land because now some convenient provision of the past suits their present agenda.

In addition, we are attacking the sole group amongst us that has the brass balls to stand up to this fascist regime before they do any more damage. Not that stopping them is possible; but, if they can't be stopped now we certainly have no hope to do that after they disarm everyone. Shame on us! This may be our best hope to make a stand.

We need to support the Red States now while we still can!