Some Interesting Findings about the More "Antique" Tea Pots

I haven't forgotten y'all! I've just been thinking. Taking a break from debate and just thinking. I came across the following article and found it quite thought-provoking.

Why Are Elders Stirring the Tea Party Movement?

Robert W. Stock

Contributor

(Oct. 30) -- The tea party skews old.

Media descriptions of the conservative movement's protests are incomplete without references to a Walmart's worth of wheelchairs and walkers amid a sea of gray heads. Surveys of tea party supporters have found that half are over age 55 and something like a third are 65 or older.

Why?

Many experts have suggested that the elders were motivated by fear that the Obama administration will cut their Social Security or Medicare payments. But new research into the roots of elders' political and cultural attitudes suggests there may be other factors at work as well. . . .

Read the rest of the article here.

Open Question to All Tea Partyists! Please Read and Respond

Without giving personal information,  please explain in as much detail as possible the tangible way in which this Congress and administration has negatively impacted your life.

Conservativism, Whiteness, Exploitation and More Ways to Help Haiti

I got two different thoughts and at the moment, neither is so long as to elicit its own post. But, share your thoughts and we'll see what happens.

I came across this:

THAT liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;

here.

Now I suppose by "economic freedom" they mean low taxes and little regulation. But it's those very policies that have gotten us to where we are now.

And You Say Obama Has an Ego?

Yeah, gotta admit, after getting myself excited about the incredibly spectacular debacle a Rush owned team would be, I was disappointed that the whole thing fizzled out. I suppose I should be glad that racism has been rejected, and I am. Yeah, I am.

Plus, RushBo's response makes up for it a lot! (Sorry about the picture. That was not under my control.) Now, my next post should be a little more serious. But since I wrote on the issue in Ram Rush, I feel like I'm obligated to write about the conclusion. So anyway, back to your regularly scheduled program:

Limbaugh blamed DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA, whom he called an "Obama-ite," and the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, whom he referred to as "race hustlers," for Checketts' decision a day earlier to drop him. He said his sacking was an example of the political clout wielded by the Obama administration.

Yeah. The ignorance he blathers had nothing to do with it.

"What is happening to the National Football League, what is about to happen to it, has already happened to Wall Street, has already happened to the automobile business," Limbaugh said.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and main street and unemployment numbers aside; didn't the DOW close over 10,000 for the first time in months this week? And did I miss something? When did the NFL get a bailout?

Limbaugh said he's "lost nothing" over the episode and vowed to continue being the "biggest non-paid promoter of the sport."

"On the other hand, our country has lost a great deal. A lot more than most people realize at the moment," Limbaugh said.

That's just laughable! Whatever we "lost," I'm glad we've lost "it." We should've never had "it." Setting "it" aside, wow. 8-o Wasn't aware Limbaugh was such a major player in American history. Really surprising seeing that he's not the head of the RNC or the Republican Party. Allegedly.

Lastly, "Limbaugh said the real reason he's out is the NFLPA's attempt to influence negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement."  If that's true, that makes me happy. The player contracts and the pension and healthcare ex-players receive suck.

Amendment IX: Strict Constructionism? Or Just Plain Ol' Disregard For Actual People?

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

It could very well be that I'm slow. I doubt it. But that could be the case. It's probably my AP US History teacher's fault. But I doubt that, too. I can read for myself.

Now, granted, I'm no constitutional scholar. And I haven't read up on the latest in law journals. But it seems to me that . . . you know what, let me tell you what I'm actually commenting on. Today, I guess, the Supreme Court ruled that:

Convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence after being found guilty, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

You guessed right. It was a split decision. The majority of Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy against the minority of Souters, who Sotomayor will replace, Ginsberg, Stevens, and Breyer. You have to read the article because the case is as interesting as the majority reasoning is specious.

Now we return to my regularly schedule diatribe.

My history teacher told us that the 9th Amendment essentially meant that just because the Constitution doesn't say you have the right to use the bathroom in private doesn't mean you don't have that right. And reading for myself, I think it's quite clear. Just because the Constitutional didn't specifically address some specific right doesn't mean the people don't have it. Now, with the 2nd Amendment and the discussion concerning it in mind, we can argue whether "the people" in this case refer to the American collective or individuals. But let's take for granted it refers to individuals. I actually should've done this long ago, but I was a bit lazy and interested in other things.

Oh! Let me write this down before I forget - I'm going to need to do some quick googling of actual Constitutional scholarly articles about the 9th for my own sake if not for whatever contribution it could have to you.

Here's how I understand the 9th and would explain it to a reasonably intelligent child. You know how children like to argue that it's okay that they take the car even after they've been told not to because their parent(s) didn't precisely say, "You are not allowed to drive that car"? Maybe all Mom said was, "Don't let me catch you driving that car," in which case it's okay so long as you don't get caught. Or, maybe all Dad said was, "Don't let me hear tell of you driving that car," in which case it's okay to drive the car, and maybe even okay if Dad catches you driving the car, so long as he doesn't actually hear about your driving the car.

Well, as we know, not a few of the authors of the Constitution were parents and all had been teenage boys, so they knew to guard the country against specious legal reasoning by saying, "Just because we didn't specify a right doesn't mean the people don't have it."

But here's the thing. You know how conservatives argue that the Constitution doesn't guarantee a right to privacy? Well, you have the 4th amendment for that. The right to abortions? That's in the 9th. Gay marriage? Check the 9th. It's one of those things the conservatives get all funny about when it doesn't apply to them. It's one of those things they become less strict about when they have the chance to jam the individual.

Don't get me wrong. I don't know what legal standing convicts and inmates have in regards to the Constitution. Clearly it's okay, so far anyway, to deny them the right to vote even after they get out. But it does seem fairly quick and easy that they have the right to DNA evidence that may clear them, even if they don't, and here I'm referencing the article, say absolutely that they're innocent.

And too. I'm not trying to render a legal decision. I'm just side with the 4 who were.