Just My Opinion: "Repeal the 17th Amendment"

We all know this country is going through a tough time. There are many issues that must be dealt with. I will be giving my opinion on various issues in the weeks to come, but this is one that has been in my head a long time. With the way the Governors of this country are being treated lately I feel the time to bring it up is now.

What is the 17th Amendment?, you ask:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

How were the Senators elected before the 17th?:

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, (chosen by the Legislature thereof,) (The preceding words in parentheses superseded by 17th Amendment, section 1.) for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year...

This is one of the underlying issues that is bringing this country down.

The way I see it; most of our problems come from the federal government's lust for more control of the American people. At the forefront of this is the weakening of the state governments. The way I understand it is; the original Constitution was written to ensure a balance of powers. The executive branch is to represent the Government. The House is to represent the people. The Senate is to represent the states.

Since the passage of the 17th the states are no longer being represented in Washington. The federal government pretends to care about what the state governments are saying, but there is nothing in place to ensure the states are being taken seriously.

No I am not crazy. I know this will never pass this congress. If it did, it would surely be vetoed. I am not concerned with this or any of my Just My Opinion posts getting passed. After all they are just my opinion, and you know about those. I think it does need to be brought up front, and kept there. One of these days the democrats are not going to control Congress. One of these days they will not have the executive. As it takes years for an issue to ferment, I think we need to start this process now.

REPEAL THE 17th AMENDMENT

WND: "Federal obligations exceed world GDP"

Not good:

As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.

The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.

The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

I am no economic expert. I'll be the first to admit it. But this has got to be a bad thing.

Is The End Of Freedom In Sight?

Kevin O'Brien suggests it may be:

If all goes as scheduled -- and barring an exquisitely timed meteor strike on Washington, D.C., it will -- on a holiday formerly dedicated exclusively to the president who saved the union in hopes of "a new birth of freedom," the president we have today will sign freedom's death warrant.

Two quotes from Benjamin Franklin leap to mind: "You have a republic, madam, if you can keep it"; and, "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

We have kept the republic poorly. And in a stampede toward a false promise of economic security, we have given up our essential liberty.

I am not ready to give up on her yet. Even though America is taking a big hit with this sorry ass pork fest of a bill.

Add this story in and it seems to be coming a little closer to the point of no return:

The measure calls for all handgun owners to submit to the federal government an application that shall include, among many other things: a photo; an address; a thumbprint; a completed, written firearm safety test; private mental health records; and a fee. And those are only some of the requirements to be licensed!

The bill would further require the attorney general to establish a database of every handgun sale, transfer, and owner's address in America. Moreover, the bill would make it illegal to own or possess a "qualifying firearm" -- defined as "any handgun; or any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device…" [emphasis added] without one of the proposed licenses.

Read the rest at the link. There's more to the bill.

America is suffering from a terrible form of cancer, it is called SOCIALISM and it must be stopped.

The pork fest anti-stimulus bill has passed in the house (roll call here), and will surely be passed in the Senate. They are voting around 5:00 today. It will be signed into law by Obama. We will suffer from it as well as other bailout bills in the weeks to come.

It is going to be a long hard 4 or 8 years. I pray this country will survive the onslaught from the left. I have my doubts.

Rep Tom Price On The "Non-Stimulus" Bill

It is 1073 pages long. It was presented to members of Congress at 11:00 last night:



Unbelievable!!!

H/T: Hot Air

I Just Don't Feel Like Blogging Today

But that is not unusual these days. I am still around, paying attention as much as ever. Probably more than usual. I just don't feel like writing about what is starting to look like the complete destruction of capitalism, as well as this country.

I have to agree with one of my favorite bloggers on this one:

If you've ever been curious about why I don't blog nearly as much as I used to just read the story (link to story here) excerpted above.

It takes a psychic toll to comment upon news which is so relentlessly grim. Imagine that someone you love dearly were dying a slow and painful death from cancer. Would you be eager to describe their symptoms and catalog their suffering in a daily blog?

The nation has already come so far down the road to socialism that it would be difficult to avoid completing the journey under the best of circumstances. The fear and despair caused by another Great Depression would, I fear, be the catalyst the left needs to take America beyond the "soft socialism" of Western Europe and into the kind of totalitarian socialism seen in the Cuba of the Castro brothers or that which is taking shape in the Venezuela under Chavez.

More at the link.

Rest assured, I am not giving up. I have been on the phone and worn out my keyboard with e-mails. I just really don't feel like talking about it.

Radical Muslims Promise World Wide Islamic Rule

From World Net Daily:

Radical Muslims in Somalia are promising Islamic rule from Alaska and Chile to South Africa and from Japan to Russia, issuing the warning "Beware, we are coming," according to a media monitor

...On Al-Jazeera, Muqtar Robow, identified as a spokesman for Shabab al-Mujahideen, said his group intends "to implement Shariah completely – every single element of it."

"Our objectives, by the grace of God, are to see the return of the Islamic Caliphate, the last of which was the Ottoman empire that collapsed in the 1920s. We want to bring that system back and govern the world with God's law," he said.

Read the rest at the link.

I was having a conversation with a colleague a few months ago. I stressed my concern about the way women were being treated under radical Islamic rule. My co-worker (a female) gave me a good talking to about being tolerant of other people's religion. I wonder how she would feel about having to live under Islamic Shariah law.

I do not have a problem with other people's religion. I could care less about how other people worship. But, my tolerance only goes so far. It ends when your religion teaches the destruction of mine.

Europe is now suffering from being too tolerant of the "Religion of Peace". I pray the the US does not allow itself to follow them down the same road.

2008, My Best Year, As Far As Deer Hunting Goes

2008 was a rough year for me. Had a lot of changes as far as my personal life goes. But deer season went better than ever. I finished the year with 6 deer. My previous best was 5, two years ago. Before you say anything, I hunt Tennessee and Virginia, so I stayed within my limits.

Today was my last day for this year. I am already looking forward to November.

But at least now I can finally get back to the keyboard. I will pick it up in a few days but for now I would just like to pose a question to Israel:

What the Hell took you so long?

A question to the UN:

Is it possible for you to get your heads out of your asses?

The last question goes to the American people:

How long would we be willing to allow Canada or Mexico to bomb our country before we acted just as Israel is?

I don't know how you would answer this question, but this American would be ready to go the very first time.

I hope Israel stays and gets the job done. The world needs to be rid of this vermin known as Hamas.

Got an Extra Ten Minutes?

Watch this video on the economy from Fred Thompson:



Fred touched on a very interesting topic. The youth of this nation. A voting block that which overwhelmingly supported the dems.

These young people are also the ones that will be effected the most from our constant march towards socialism. And this "CHANGE" will most definitely be negative. I just want to offer a little word of advise for everyone, especially the youth: Given the choice between Capitalism and socialism, always choose Capitalism. (no matter what your professor says)

Hunting Update

Thanksgiving weekend has been good to me. First of all I got to spend time with the family. I also got deer numbers three, four, and five. Before you say anything about the amount of deer I have killed and bag limits. I hunt Tennessee and Virginia. So I have a bunch of tags.

Hunting season is closed for a few weeks. So I have got some catching up to do, as it relates to blogging. Right now I am watching Obama offer his National Security appointments. I'll respond to it later.

Updated: Work, Hunt, Sleep

Update: I've got two deer now.

.....................................................

I have not been able to post much this month. There are several reasons for this.

The first is due to the economy. We have been working a man short. There are supposed to be three people in my department. We had a man leave several months ago and he can not be replaced due to the economy tanking.

The second is due to deer hunting season. I have been in the woods as much as I can.

The third is sleep.

I will try to get more posts up. Things should start to slow down at work now. Given the choice between hunting and banging away on this keyboard, hunting will win out every time. I should be able to get to it at night though.

So check back in with me.

And just in case you are wondering, I've got one deer so far.

Not Everyone Should Vote

I have said it time and again; if you are not going to educate yourself on politics (at least to the point you can answer these simple questions) keep your ass at the house on election day:

Edward Koch: We've Been Had

The bailout has been a bust:

The more I think about it, the more I believe we were had when the federal government proposed that $700 billion bailout to primarily deal with the liquidity crisis.

At the time, nobody seemed to know what to do. When Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke jointly proposed the bailout in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the Great Depression, nearly everyone threw up their hands and concluded there was no alternative.

His solution; CAPITALISM!:

Why not let them be bought by others in bankruptcy? There are those who say we are bailing out companies in order to prevent massive layoffs. In my view, those layoffs will come sooner or later anyhow because those companies are run by incompetents and no longer able to compete, while foreign companies like Toyota, manufacturing their cars in the U.S., are selling them and not seeking to be bailed out.

This is why we must get elect true conservatives from our party. The dems are certainly not going to fix this mess. Their solution to any problem is to throw more money at it.

A Warning From An Ex-Hitler Youth

From Hilmar von Campe:

Because it has abandoned moral absolutes and its historic Christian faith, the U.S. is moving closer to a Nazi-style totalitarianism, warns a former German member of the Hitler Youth in a new book.

"Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss," writes Hilmar von Campe, now a U.S. citizen, and author of "Defeating the Totalitarian Lie: A Former Hitler Youth Warns America."

Von Campe has founded the national Institute for Truth and Freedom to fight for a return to constitutional government in the U.S. – a key, he believes, to keeping America free.

Read the rest at the link.

Read his book. It will make you think. It can be purchased here.

Ted Nugent Is Ready To Go RINO Hunting, Join Him

Ted Nugent is as fed up with the RINOs as I am:

RINOs are Fedzilla punks who feign support for conservative principles only when it serves their political interest. RINOs are also known for their moderate positions such as supporting tax increases, federal “bailouts”, “comprehensive immigration reform”, advocating more counterproductive gun control that guarantee more innocent victims, opposing the death penalty, and growing and sustaining Fedzilla and all its toxic mongrels by going along with the liberals. RINOs have forgotten President Ronald Maximus Regan's admonition that government is the problem, not the solution.

RINOs reach across Fedzilla's aisle to cut deals and build consensus with the liberals. Consensus building means compromising values and cutting deals with the socialist prankster punksters whose goal it is to turn America into EuroAmerica.

Consensus building is for wimps and soulless people who stand for nothing. Compromise is not about being tolerant: these days, it’s about giving up conservative principles.

What does Ted recommend:

My specialty is making Fedzilla punks squirm and turn into a puddle of sweat and drool. Therefore, in the spirit of famous butt kickers Generals Chesty Puller and George Patton, I say we launch an attack on all fronts. Uncle Ted hereby declares it is open season on RINOs. No bag limits or permits required. Conservative ideas, arguments and votes are the weapons we will use. Hunt them down and shine a blazing light on these RINO turncoat cockroaches. Zero in the "we the people" crosshairs of your voting assault weapon and aim for the RINO pumpstation. Double tap center mass. Whack em and stack em, track em and hack em, pack em and give em no slack. Let's do to the RINO beasts what we did to the passenger pigeon. Force out of the Republican Party out the subspecies known as RINOs.

Read the whole article at the link above.

Ted is right on target. RINOs only weaken out party. America is a right of center nation. Even in California they could not get gay marriage past the people. RINOs can not gain the support because they do not embrace conservative values. We must weed the RINOs out.

Iran Tests New Missile That Can Reach Israel

You have to wonder how long Israel can let this kind of stuff go:

Iran said it successfully test-fired a new generation of long range surface-to-surface missile on Wednesday — one that could easily strike as far away as southeastern Europe with greater precision than earlier models.

The Sajjil is a solid fuel high-speed missile with a range of about 1,200 miles, Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar said on state television. At that range, it could easily strike Iran's arch-foe Israel and go as far as southeastern Europe.

President Bush has repeatedly encouraged Israel to let the sanctions work. These sanctions have not made a dent in Iran's rush toward the destruction of Israel. I know, Obama has stated that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear missiles. Do you believe he will take the actions that will be required to stop them? If Bush won't do anything to stop it, why would you think Obama would?

I expect Israel is thinking the same thing. At least I hope so. I expect there will be an attack by Israel before the end of the year. I hate to see this happen, but I do not believe Israel will have any other option than to stop them with force. I only hope the President will back Israel when they do have to stop Iran.

Thank You Veterans

Why now?

My sitemeter account is full of searches on Obama. While I appreciate the extra traffic, I have to make an observation. If you were interested in what Obama stands for:

Why the hell didn't you find out before the election?

Just My Opinion: Why McCain Lost

I have heard a million and one reasons for McCain's loss in this election. IMO these are the reasons he was defeated. (In no specific order)

First and foremost, the MSM. The media made a full transition from being a left leaning news source to an all out democratic tool. The constant bombardment from the media made a huge difference in this election. They consistently attacked McCain. They skewed their questions to force McCain to give answers that made him look like the worst possible choice. They did this while making Obama look like a hero, and letting him slide on the issues with "softball" interviews.

The next reason is the steady move the RNC has made to the left. I was not a fan of McCain from the beginning. The biggest problem with McCain is the fact he is a RINO. The democrats had the upper hand from the start. Bush hatred was running wild. McCain could not press Obama on the issues that could have kept a republican in the White House. You know the ones I am talking about. Two of them are: Immigration and Global Warming. McCain could not hit Obama on these because he shares the democratic views on these issues. ( John Hawkins has a great post up titled: The Top 7 Reasons Why The GOP Can't Build A Political Party Around Moderates.)
Do yourself a favor and read it.

Next is McCain's failure to take advantage of the last chance issue. The one that could have saved this election for him. That is right, the BAILOUT. When given the opportunity to stand up for capitalism, McCain opted to get in line and vote for this fiasco. I don't know if he could have pulled the election out or not, but it damn sure would have helped.

I'm sure there are many more reasons you could think of. Me too, but these are the biggest reasons we have a radical left wing socialist as our president elect. Borrowing a McCain phrase: "My friends", brace yourself. We are in for a bumpy ride. Keep your heads up though. This may be the best thing that could have happened. Maybe this will give the RNC a nice swift kick in the ass. This should wake them up to the fact that it is not good to alienate your base.

Voting Twice

This from Gateway Pundit:

More gas for the fire...
Georgia's WSBTV discovered over 100,000 Georgia voters are also registered to vote in Florida or Ohio.

Some are actually voting twice:

Georgia's Secretary of State has launched a full investigation and may seek criminal charges against three Georgia men who appear to have early-voted twice.

“This is extraordinarily disturbing," said Secretary of State Karen Handel.

...WSB-TV Channel 2 tried to find Thomas Habel at the home where he's registered to vote in Hartwell, Georgia, but was unable to locate him.

That’s because he was spending time at his other home in Marco Island, Florida. Before he left for the Sunshine State, according Georgia's Secretary of State, Habel early-voted at the Hart County elections office.

Chief registrar Elizabeth Forbes says she knows Habel and saw him cast his ballot. She even gave him a sticker. State records confirm Habel voting on October 1, 2008, but Florida records show him voting there on October 25.

"Oh, then that's not good," said Forbes when she saw both voting records with Habel’s name on them.

Contacted at his Florida home Habel admitted voting in Florida at the Marco Island library, but says he doesn't recall voting in Georgia.

Read about the others at the link.

No Words From Me, Just Watch

Election News So Far

I am getting a late start. I have quite a bit going on today, but I am going to try to do what I can.

First things first. Do not pay any attention at all to the exit polling. These things are a joke. Some people decide not to vote since these polls say their candidate is losing. Remember the presidency is not all that will be decided today. Let your voice be heard, vote.

A few links you may be interested in:

Broken Machines, Shortages Plague Voters Around the Country

Video: Hillary campaigns inside polling station

McCain campaign sues over overseas military ballots

Schumer on Fox: Fairness Doctrine ‘fair and balanced’

It's Time

I have never been a big fan of telling people to vote no matter what. A lot of people have no business voting. I know that is not the way most people see it, but what can I do.

I offer this advise. If you have not looked at the positions of both these candidates, stay home and watch TV. If you have spent the past year and a half trying your best not to discuss or think about the elections, go to a movie.

Now, if you have looked at both candidates and decided which one shares your views. No matter which one you have picked:

Go Vote!