In Texas, 31% Say State Has Right to Secede From U.S., But 75% Opt To Stay

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FYI: 75% say Governor Perry is pretty much an idiot.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of Texas voters say that their state has the right to secede from the United States and form an independent country.

However, the latest Rasmussen Reports poll in the state finds that if the matter was put to a vote, it wouldn’t even be close. Three-fourths (75%) of Lone Star State voters would opt to remain in the United States. Only 18% would vote to secede, and seven percent (7%) are not sure what they’d choose.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, in response to a reporter’s question about secession at a protest "tea party," said Wednesday, "We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot." The comment was widely reported in the media.

Rasmussen Reports™: The Most Comprehensive Public Opinion Data Anywhere

I like my country like I like my sports

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By: Karl Frank Jr.

“Let the players play!” is the old adage, and it is a good one.  As a matter of fact, I like it.  I like it a lot.  Especially in baseball.  A good game is designed like a well-written novel.  The suspense and anticipation of every pitch, nod, wink, and stolen base can keep a true sport fan on the edge of their seat until the climactic final out.  And while there is no one way to write a novel, or play a baseball game, there is a general set of rules and regulations that everyone agrees to play by.  These rules did not appear in a magical rule book by some invisible hand overnight.  The rules of the game evolved over a period of a hundred years, and even longer if you delve in to the history of any sport that involves a ball and a stick.  If it was not for these rules that everyone agrees on before the first pitch is thrown, and the umpires to enforce them, the game that we have come to know and love would not exist –- the same applies to my country, the United States of America….

There are few things more sweet than the swing of Ken Griffey Jr.’s bat.  In 2008, he started the season seven home runs short of 600, and his last home run, number 599, had been on May 31.  The drama and anticipation of that 600th blast was on every baseball fan’s mind until finally, on June 10, 2008, this pure athlete took the Marlin’s Mark Hendrickson over the wall for his place in the history books.

One has to wonder what Griffey’s numbers would look like if he had not spent all of that time on the bench with nagging injuries - but even still, 600 hundred home runs is something that only 6 of over 16,000 former Major League Baseball players had ever managed before.  That moment in time was a feat of personal greatness by any athletic standard.

However, Griffey’s greatness did not mystically appear out of nowhere.  It was not his inborn natural talents that made him a household name in America with millions of dollars in his bank account and a place in the record books.  Instead, he was a man with a passion for the game that thrived in a system that was devised for him and others to succeed within.  To better illustrate this point, read what Sir Isaac Newton wrote of the French philosopher Descartes, “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”  Griffey was a giant standing on the shoulders of the giants before him, including a man named Ken Griffey Sr.

Yet, the system that Griffey has thrived in is not perfect, and it has never been perfect.  Individual players and sometimes even whole teams have attempted to swipe the legs right from under the giants of Alexander Cartright and his “Knickerbocker Rules,” Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Stan “The Man” Musial, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and more.  The 1919 White Sox, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Hal Chase, and the 1877 Louisville Greys, just to name a few, are black eyes on the history of baseball, and in many cases, almost brought down the game all together.

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‘Broken Window Theory’ gets a boost from the University of Groningen

It seems like common sense.  If social standards appear to be low, many people will not work to exceed them, as “ordinary people are in fact more likely to violate rules in situations where other rules — even completely unrelated ones — have already been broken.”  This also plays well with “the banality of evil” and Dr. Zimbardo’s ‘Lucifer Effect.’

Seed: Chaos Begets Chaos

Broken window theory (BWT), first proposed by James Wilson and George Kelling in 1982, holds that the presence of disorder — in the form of broken windows, litter, and graffiti — can encourage delinquent behavior. BWT promotes a “nip it in the bud” stance toward crime prevention: Fix small problems (like litter) before big problems (like theft) have a chance to occur. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was a loyal subscriber to the theory. He focused on small-scale issues like graffiti, prostitution, and squeegee men to influence, and ultimately drive down, crime in a seemingly unmanageable city…

…But these new findings by Kees Keizer, Siegwart Lindenberg, and Linda Steg (University of Groningen) show that ordinary people are in fact more likely to violate rules in situations where other rules — even completely unrelated ones — have already been broken.

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General Ann Dunwoody gets honorable mention on Daddy Hogwash’s 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008 list

A couple of weeks ago we released the ‘1st Annual Daddy Hogwash Top 10 Most Fascinating People‘ list for 2008.  One honorable mention was Ariana Huffington, and now we have another, General Ann Dunwoody.  If she would have been submitted earlier, she probably would have made the list.  So, we will call this an “Extraordinary Honorable Mention.”

Ann Dunwoody, First Woman to Become a Four-Star General in the US Armed Forces

In November 2008, Ann Dunwoody became the first female four-star general in the United States military. Her promotion has been described as breaking “the brass ceiling” of the armed forces.

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“Bush Insider (Michael Connell) Who Planned to Tell All Killed in Plane Crash” - Press Release

I always take conspiracy theories with a grain of salt until some real evidence is presented in a convincing manner.  That being said, this will be an interesting one to look in to.  I hope it gets the attention that it appears to deserve.

Bush Insider Who Planned To Tell All Killed In Plane Crash: Non-Profit Demands Full Federal Investigation - MarketWatch

WASHINGTON, Dec 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush’s 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution (”VR”), a non-profit that has been investigating Mr. Connell’s activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how he can tell all about his work for George Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that George Bush and Dick Cheney would “throw [him] under the bus.”
A tipster close to the McCain campaign disclosed to VR in July that Mr. Connell’s life was in jeopardy and that Karl Rove had threatened him and his wife, Heather. VR’s attorney, Cliff Arnebeck, notified the United States Attorney General , Ohio law enforcement and the federal court about these threats and insisted that Mr. Connell be placed in protective custody. VR also told a close associate of Mr. Connell’s not to fly his plane because of another tip that the plane could be sabotaged. Mr. Connell, a very experienced pilot, has had to abandon at least two flights in the past two months because of suspicious problems with his plane. On December 18, 2008, Mr. Connell flew to a small airport outside of Washington DC to meet some people. It was on his return flight the next day that he crashed.

Shoe throwing incident at President Bush is not funny - it is embarrassing

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As someone who does not particularly care for  George W. Bush and his policies, I am not exactly excited or elated by the shoe-throwing incident.  As a matter of fact, I am more embarrassed about it than anything.  When I delve deeply in to the reasons why I think Bush is a bad President, it almost always points to the sickening reality that he does not represent me, yet here he is, representing me.

Maybe I should just be a little less nuanced about it and just say flat out, I feel like the shoes thrown at George W. Bush were shoes thrown at me.  Perhaps if it was Tom Brokaw, a mid-western American journalist who threw the shoes, I would be less bothered by it, but a man stood up at a press conference on the other side of the world and threw a shoe at my President.  Because, let’s face it, even with all of his faults and lack of intellectual curiosity, he is still the American President.

I did not vote for him the first time, nor the second time.  (Jesus, how could people vote for that man not once, but twice?)  But I will never forget that day he stood up after the election and pontificated to the American people, “We have a mandate…”  When I heard it, I threw up in my mouth a little bit.  Now here he is, on worldwide - international - all-of-Earth television, getting not one, but two shoes thrown at him.

1.  Can George W. Bush please just stay in his oval office and twiddle his thumbs until January 20th so that he can not bring any further embarrassment to his fellow Americans?

2.  Anyone who thinks they can throw a shoe at my President deserves more than a couple of broken bones.  That journalist is lucky that I am just a humble, mid-western computer guy, or he just might find my sole prints on his face.

Hey, I never claimed to be a pacifist.

Cheney continues to lie his way out of the White House - Tom Diehl (Guest Post)

In an interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney said:

“As I look at the intelligence with respect to Iraq, what they got wrong was that there weren’t any stockpiles. What they found was that Saddam Hussein still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. He had the technology, he had the people, he had the basic feed stock.”

Using Cheney’s rationale, we should have invaded Canada, Brazil, the European Union, Japan, China, Russia, and most other industrialized nations. With the no-fly zones, Saddam Hussein had no means to deliver any weapons that could harm the United States. We’ve spent 900 billion dollars occupying a country that was no threat to us and have emboldened our enemies and inspired thousands of Jihadists to join the movement to destroy civilized society and wreak havoc on the world’s economy.

On the flip side, the Bush Administration ignored the warnings of Osama bin Laden; and then obligingly fell into his trap, straining our military capability; causing a spike in oil prices that bin Laden knew would come from a protracted fight in the Middle East, further enriching people who finance al-Qaeda.

Now, what was so important that we had to elect George W. Bush and Dick Cheney twice?

January 20, 2009 cannot come soon enough.

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What the election of Barack Obama Means to Me and America - by Karl Frank Jr.

I won two tickets to Barack Obama’s inauguration, and no, they are not for sale.  I don’t think I could sell them even if I wanted to, which I don’t, because I have to be there (in D.C.) in person to pick them up on the 19th of January.  So, since my lodging will be in Richmond, Va. during my stay, i will have to drive 12 hours to Virginia, and then 2.5 hours to D.C. on Monday, and 2.5 hours back to Virginia Monday evening, and then 2.5 hours back to D.C. on Tuesday, and then 12 hours back to St. Louis.  Would you do it?

The essay contest was held by Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan’s office.  Here is the essay that won me my tickets:  (Now all I have to do is figure out who I’m going to take with me.)

What the Election of Barack Obama Means to Me and America - By: Karl Frank, Jr.

Throughout American history, events like the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency have been a reminder to us all that the United States of America is the greatest country in the history of humankind. November 4, 2008, was evidence to all observers that while the founding fathers were well-aware that there were certain hypocrisies in the founding documents, they were confident that when the situation demanded it, the system was constructed in such a way that would allow for the government to mature alongside its people. The election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America is the latest in a long line of examples of that maturation process, and was imperative to the rebirth of the ideals first expressed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.

For me, Obama’s election resulted in a boost to my previously suffering faith in the American people. A faith that was restored to a level I had not felt since I was a child. While I respected and appreciated the traditions and sacrifices of my ancestors, our country, and the system that has worked for the American people for over two centuries, my hope for America’s ability to progress with the needs of the 21st century world was diminishing. This was especially disheartening when I pondered the prospects of my young family’s future.

What happened instead is that my three young sons were able to witness firsthand our unique form of democracy in action. For them, it was a perfectly devised civics lesson, a lesson about how our government is special because it is not separate from the American people, it is the American people. Most importantly, they learned that when change is needed in government, if the message is right, the average person in this country can make change happen. In addition, thanks to Barack Obama and his supporters, my daughter, all but six-months in age, will never know a day in her life that an African-American cannot be President of the United States of America. Not once will she ever open a history book that will say otherwise.

For all of us as Americans, being alive today is as revolutionary as being alive the day the shot was heard around the world at Lexington and Concord in 1775; or when Francis Scott Key looked through the smoke to see our flag still waving in 1814; or the day when Abraham Lincoln stood at Gettysburg in 1863 to address the nation over what was at once our greatest tragedy and greatest feat as a country; or the day that Martin Luther King Jr. took a bullet in 1968 in the hope that someday the sons and daughters of our fellow countrymen would “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

These are the days that define the American spirit for all future generations.

January 20, 2009 will not be about the swearing in of Barack Obama, or even about Barack Obama himself, but rather the ideals that Barack Obama represents, the ideals that our founding fathers put forward for future generations to ponder and achieve. It is about bringing a decade’s old cynicism in our government to a screeching halt, and how our children for generations will learn about that day in their classrooms, studying what it means to be an American, and that success in our country is not just what you achieve, but what you overcome.

That day in January will be the day that this country will once again declare its independence, and remind the world that, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Barack Obama is the epitome of the great American ideal that no matter what our story is, any one of us, from any walk of life, with the right drive and desire, can make it to the top. That is what the election of Barack Obama means to me and America, and I have never been more proud to be an American.