Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA
It wasn’t quite the firing on Fort Sumter that launched the Civil War. But on April 1, your Georgia Senate did threaten by a vote of 43-1 to secede from and even disband the United States.
It was not an April Fool’s joke.
In fact, Senate Resolution 632 did a lot more than merely threaten to end this country. It stated that under the Constitution, the only crimes the federal government could prosecute were treason, piracy and slavery.
“Therefore, all acts of Congress which assume to create, define or punish [other] crimes … are altogether void, and of no force,” the Georgia Senate declared.
In other words, in the infinite, almost unanimous wisdom of the Georgia Senate, Michael Vick is being imprisoned illegally, Bernie Madoff should serve no time for stealing $60 billion and the Unabomber must go free. In fact, the federal penitentiary in Atlanta should be emptied of its inmates.
But wait, there’s more.
The resolution goes on to endorse the theory that states have the right to abridge constitutional freedoms of religion, press and speech. According to the resolution, it is up to the states to decide “how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged.”
The resolution even endorses “nullification,” the legal concept that states have the power to “nullify” or ignore federal laws that they believe exceed the powers granted under the Constitution. That concept has a particularly nasty legacy. It helped precipitate the Civil War, and in the 1950s and early ’60s it was cited by Southern states claiming the right to ignore Supreme Court rulings ordering the end of segregation.
Finally, the resolution states that if Congress, the president or federal courts take any action that exceeds their constitutional powers, the Constitution is rendered null and void and the United States of America is officially disbanded. As an example, the resolution specifically states that if the federal government enacts “prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition,” the country is disbanded.
In other words, if Congress votes to restore the ban on sale of assault rifles, the United States is deemed to no longer exist.
This, your Georgia state Senate voted 43-1 to endorse.
Now, to be fair, the resolution passed because it was snuck unnoticed onto the Senate resolution calendar on the 39th day of the 40-day legislative session, when senators were trying to handle dozens of bills and scores of amendments. Most did not have an opportunity to read the six-page resolution, which in its description claimed to merely affirm “states’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.”
However, those who introduced and sponsored the measure have no such excuse. Presumably they read and understood what they asked their fellow senators to endorse. And those sponsors include some of the most prominent members of the Senate —- Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock, Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams, Transportation Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga, and Chief Deputy Whip John Wiles of Cobb County, among others.
The resolution they sponsored is part of a radical right-wing national movement —- a similar resolution was introduced in the Georgia House but not voted on. It has been introduced in legislatures all over the nation, and has passed in both chambers in Oklahoma and one in South Dakota.
And while the Georgia resolution is legally meaningless and was passed without debate or even knowledge of most senators, it has had an impact. It has been hailed by, among others, those fighting the conspiracy to create a single North American country, by the Confederate States Militia, by the John Birch Society, and the League of the South, which still pines for the cause of an “independent South” and believes that “Southern society is radically different from the society impressed upon it by an alien occupier.”
You have to question the judgment of those who would have any truck whatsoever with such nonsense, and who would jeopardize the reputation of the Georgia Senate to lend aid and comfort to such radical causes and fringe groups.
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405 comments Add your comment
M. Carey
April 16th, 2009
8:31 pm
Go, Begone, Get out of here, Scram.
Good Riddance
–From California.
Doug
April 16th, 2009
8:35 pm
1. The Consitution of the United States begins: “We, the people…”, not “We, the States…”. The idea whether the United States is some sort of voluntary association was decidedly rejected in 186-65.
2. The Constitution of the United States gives one of the three definitions of treason as “…levying war against the United States (see above 1861-65). That makes any armed rebellion against the United States treason. Make what you will of that.
3. While the 10th Amendment does reserve to the people or the states those rights not enumerated in the Constitution, the basic document itself also gives the Federal Government all authority “necessary and proper” to carry out its functions.
Basically, it boils down to: you lost. And you don’t like it. The citizens of this country voted and your candidates and the ideas they proposed lost. And you don’t like it. And until you can persuade a majority of the citizens of this country that your ideas are better than your opponents’, you will continue to lose.
The ball’s in your court.
south side
April 16th, 2009
8:42 pm
Geogia aint going anywere these are the same idiots that said they would not take stimulous money but we see that was a bunch of bull.Let these dummies keep on all they are doing is making it easy for the democracts to regain control of the state
Susan Myers
April 16th, 2009
8:43 pm
Californication @ 4:00,
Just as I suspected. You have no links. You’re dismissed.
Dave R
April 16th, 2009
8:44 pm
Here is why many of us are so frustrated with the way this country is going, that we are seriously considering secession.
When Republicans got in office and had their majorities, very little was ever done to the existing framework of our government. While many of us wanted to see some dismantling of the behemoth known as the Federal government, it was usually just a status quo kind of mentality. No one lost rights, no one had their future earnings confiscated, and while the Constitution wasn’t strictly followed, neither was it trampled on.
Big change in 2009. Our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are now being attacked, and being attacked in plain view. The Constitution is being fully and completely ignored, and the proponents of these moves simply say – “we won, you lost, get over it”.
But you are talking about removing our rights to earn a living, make a profit, chose for ourselves or run our lives as we see fit, so long as we do not take the life, liberty or property of another by force or fraud.
Don’t you see that the President of the United States should not have the ability to choose the head of a car company, or that the Congress of the United States should not have the ability to judge whether a man or woman is worth the money being paid to them, or that the appointed Secretary of the Treasury should not have the ability to determine how much profit is enough profit, or that the Federal government should not have the ability to determine who should get a home loan and who should not?
Why would anybody think of starting up a bank or a car company or any new industry at all, if they know that they will not be running things, but rather the great and all-powerful Federal government will just swoop in and take over the fruits of your labor if a congressman or woman doesn’t like what you make or how you make it?
Regardless of the fiction of N J, the Founding Fathers did NOT want a large, oppressive Federal government; instead they wanted states to determine how best to run themselves, and the Federal government would be there to handle things on a NATIONAL basis. Defense. Treaties. Patents. And not much else.
We want out because you’re advocating and taking the only thing we are born with – FREEDOM.
Now, the glib answer to our request is to just say – “leave”. That we are free to go. But go where? Where is there anyplace that is free enough for those of us who want it to live? This country was free at one time. It is you liberals and Socialists out there who have changed it, and not for the better when it comes to freedom.
We who rejoice freedom never, ever took away a freedom of yours you didn’t have at birth, yet you continually want to remove more and more from us as you “progress”.
And you wonder why we want to go our separate ways?
Now you know.
BagBoy
April 16th, 2009
8:47 pm
Now who is having the faux outrage?
Susan Myers
April 16th, 2009
8:50 pm
Read the 10:51 by NOBH,
“taxpaying African-Americans ” isn’t that a oxymoron !
The ugly truth is these tea parties were Klan rallies without the sheets.
Lyle
April 16th, 2009
8:50 pm
America — love it or leave it.
I don’t know why the Republicans hate America so much, but if that’s the case, then I guess they should go.
south side
April 16th, 2009
8:57 pm
They are so desprate they think 250,000 people at rallies across the nation speak for the majority of the country.Sorry that 250,000 is the number of the republicans left in a country of millons .Republicans are becoming excint
Copyleft
April 16th, 2009
8:59 pm
The right always hates America and everything it stands for… they prefer the imaginary country they invented in their heads, where rich white males still call all the shots and the poor suffer because they deserve to.
They’re shocked and angry that the real world hasn’t lived up to their sick fantasies, and they want out. I strongly encourage them to leave, if they can’t deal with the REAL America.
wikistan » Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA (Jay Bookman)
April 16th, 2009
9:01 pm
[...] Bookman: Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA — It wasn’t quite the firing on Fort Sumter that launched the Civil [...]
south side
April 16th, 2009
9:07 pm
DaveR ,were you not the last 8 years under King George the Constituion was step on several times rights routinly violated I guess you was in a coma
south side
April 16th, 2009
9:11 pm
How about dismantling Ga im sure no one will miss it
south side
April 16th, 2009
9:12 pm
Ga the EMBARRESS ME STATE
Dave R
April 16th, 2009
9:12 pm
South side, hence, my line about it not being strictly followed. GWB does not get a pass from me, but what is being undertaken now is light-years ahead of what his administration did.
We might also disagree on what parts you considered being violated, but I suspect you can’t even quote the relevant points in the actual document in question.
Dave R
April 16th, 2009
9:31 pm
Please Copylefty, tell us what we hate about America. Tell us what the REAL America is to you and what is should stand for. Then back it up with FACTS like pointing out where the Constitution says it should be the GOVERNMENT’S ROLE to make your America happen.
The silence will be deafening.
south side
April 16th, 2009
9:32 pm
Why is there so many complaints and no solutions . Havent heard one that made any sense. I guess protesting is the answer
south side
April 16th, 2009
9:42 pm
GA. dosent have leaders we have followers who continue to make fools of themselves this state government is no different from the federal government probably worse.
Unionists
April 16th, 2009
9:57 pm
Here we go again. Guess Sherman should have burned your whole state to cinders because you didn’t learn the last time you lost, and it appears you still haven’t learned how to lose gracefully. Since those that support these measures obviously only support democracy when their side wins, perhaps you should move to a country where that is how the government is run. Say, North Korea or Venezuela. You are not Americans, you are pathetic and cowardly totalitarians.
Military Veteran
April 16th, 2009
9:59 pm
Hear, hear Unionists. These people have no respect for the blood shed to build a country where the people are in charge. Guess what guys, there was an election and one side received more votes. You don’t like the programs they’re instituting? There’s a simple solution. Vote. If you don’t like the system, go somewhere more to your way of thinking.
America, Love the results of democracy, win or lose, or leave.
Cathy
April 16th, 2009
10:00 pm
As one of the latte drinking liberals in Athens, I simply had to laugh at the tea party protests. The vast majority of people in our fair state got a tax cut under Obama, and yet we’re protesting taxes? Really, I’d have settled for a tax hike if it came with a higher paying job, but if I can’t get the latter I’ll take that tax cut, thanks. “Most men without property would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich, than face the reality of being poor. …”
That said, I’m frankly not surprised. The GA Senate has never represented my views in the 11 years I’ve been allowed to vote. The probably never will. I love my state and hate its politics.
Yankee Atlantan
April 16th, 2009
10:05 pm
At least this will give them a shot at being #1 of 1 in education (a big bounce from the current 49)
md
April 16th, 2009
10:32 pm
Can you explain the “tax cut” you received, or are you parroting about the “tax cut” you received?
Sure its not a reduction in withholding??
Do you smoke?? Ask them about the “tax cut” on cigarettes.
Corporate taxes going up?? Cost of goods going up?? Do you buy goods and services??
The rehtoric is “tax cut”. That makes us all “feel good”. Reality is you end up with less in your pocket to help pay for “tatoo removal” because someone made a choice they no longer like.
Keep telling yourself you’re getting a “tax cut” and continue through life unknowing. I guess the old adage of “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” applies.
For the left/right players of the game. Neither party should get too worked up over winning and losing as you cancel each other out. The middle/independants are the ones that elect our gov’t, and if you look close enough, they elected Bush and Obama. They are fickle and they are cyclical. So tone down the name calling and chest thumping – your irrelevant. Look at the numbers 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.
David Johnson
April 16th, 2009
10:53 pm
Bye Georgia! We’re not taking you back this time…
…I mean, except for the nine million plus refugees from your future third-worldness.
Georgia threatens to secede, dismantle United States « Real Weird Politics
April 16th, 2009
11:03 pm
[...] Full Story: AJC [...]
Matt
April 16th, 2009
11:03 pm
What’s the fuss about? They are right to defend their rights as a state, and this guy is clearly a big-government, federalist ninny. Of course they aren’t saying the Unabomber should walk free, these are educated people in the senate who are seeking re-election, no one in their right mind would vote for legislation that even HINTED at that. But the only crime (yes CRIME, singular) clearly outlined in the Constitution is treason. Which means the power to prosecute other crimes is left up to the states. It is unfair to compare this bill to things such as the Confederacy, slavery, etc. I wish there were more bills like this around the country, where I live we recently passed as bill that says essentially the same thing and I am 100% happy with it. I’m not an Obama hater or a Bush lover or anything in between, I’m impartial to the office of president because I really believe He is essentially a puppet with the size of our bureaucracy these days, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is that states NEED to start taking some of their power back from what has become an increasingly incapable, corrupt and power-hungry central government. And you who are bashing the tea-baggers should remember that this country was founded because of a clash over taxation and a belief that the colonists were being robbed by the British (which of course lead to the tea party) The tea baggers are just expressing their not-entirely-unfounded belief that the Federal government is coming dangerously close to treading that same path. Maybe you don’t agree with that, but do some research on what our money is really worth, where that value is going, whether the Federal Reserve even has the power to coin money and establish interest under the Constitution, etc. Maybe take a trip down memory lane and visit the days of Andrew Jackson, the days of our First National Bank and what happened with that, it’s still relevant today. To get back to the main point though, there is nothing wrong with states reclaiming some of their sovereignty, sovereignty guaranteed by the Constitution as a necessary check on Federal power. State powers are essential to the political structure of our country and to call that into question is unpatriotic. Wake up.
Matt
April 16th, 2009
11:06 pm
I guess I should express that I think secession is just a stupid idea at this point, all I’m agreeing with is the core idea behind the legislation, at least as I read it.
love it or leave it
April 17th, 2009
12:03 am
Hey, this feels a lot like the “love it or leave it” crap when Bush got elected, but this time the people doing the complaining are illiterate and have stockpiled firearms.
Part of me wants to see one of these militias finally get into a shooting war with the US government. It would purge the far fringe pretty quickly and painlessly and we could get back to fixing the problems that Bush and his mafia of criminally incompetent compatriots caused.
Ivan
April 17th, 2009
12:22 am
Its times like this Im proud to be from New England. It seems the “right wing” are happy to destroy this country and piss on the brave men who died for its flag.
hdtv information
April 17th, 2009
12:42 am
Please, by all means keep this up.
Texas can guard the border on their own and let the drug runners go free, get on their horses and start to shoot em some messicanz.
GA can have less funding for their schools, jails, police and fire.
Send me more money back in FL, well take it
Yankee
April 17th, 2009
12:43 am
Hey Follow the Money-
Follow the money: He wrote two books. Many people read them. Publishers give advances for those things and the authors actually get a profit from writing them. Do I really need to explain this to you? Maybe books are a foreign concept to you….
fsudirectory
April 17th, 2009
12:49 am
MD: You Choose to Smoke Cigs, You Choose to watch Porn, etc, those are sin taxes and are always the first to go up in a budgetary crisis.
Tattoo Removal: For gang members that have gotten out of them and will get killed with those tats on, its a proven program known to have helped the LA community.
Keep bashing without any knowledge, im sure you would love to have your police, hospitals and fire fighters to all be privatized. Then if there is no profit incentive to go to your house, youll be SOL
Most people got a tax cut, no ones taxes have gone up yet, and would you rather an economy thats working and stabilized or turn us into what Hoover did by cutting everything.
SOIssues
April 17th, 2009
12:54 am
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com
Yep, now I am positive we have a bunch of idiots running this state. The same folk passing the draconian, unconstitutional sex offender laws, which do not work, and will not work, and are also based on myths instead of facts.
Beej
April 17th, 2009
2:19 am
There us no such word as “snuck”. The word is “sneaked”. Sorry, I can’t help it. I used to be an English teacher.
Leo
April 17th, 2009
3:29 am
You interpret this wrong (author). The purpose of this bill is to prove that the federal government has overstepped its bounds, which it has. All of these issues of which you speak are those which the individual state has the right to determine the legality of, not some omnipotent central government.
Those crimes would still be prosecuted, simply by the state in which they were committed, or if they were committed across state boundaries, then the federal government does gain the right to adjudicate.
You have a closed mind, and that is sad, you need to look beyond the most obvious truth, because this bill was a good thing, the federal government has broken its own laws and should be held accountable.
That is not to say that disbanding the United States is the appropriate response, it is not, but returning the inherent rights of the states is, and it should be done.
Please respond with an e-mail to lmh87@pitt.edu.
BOBY
April 17th, 2009
4:36 am
WOW WHAT A STUPID ARTICLE
GA Senate Says Nullification is Acceptable « SWGA Politics
April 17th, 2009
5:31 am
[...] to Doug Mataconis and Jay Bookman for bringing this issue to my attention! Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)HB 614 [...]
Greatest Hits: Apr. 17, 2009 | Whatever Is Right
April 17th, 2009
6:04 am
[...] GA Senate votes 43-1 to make threat of secession – Jay Bookman (AJC) [...]
Virginia Shanahan
April 17th, 2009
6:36 am
What a disgrace. The Georgia Senate had the audacity to support the Constitution? How dare they!
It would behoove Mr. Bookman, and many of his readers, to study some history. Only then will they not appear so foolish and ignorant.
MickeyG
April 17th, 2009
8:08 am
Holy crap, we can’t have a state that takes the constitution literally now can we. The constitution was written by men that knew what they were doing. The words they used had meaning and purpose. The US government has far over stepped any power the constitution affords it. Good for Georgia! There is much for Washington to fear than this.
md
April 17th, 2009
8:11 am
“MD: You Choose to Smoke Cigs, You Choose to watch Porn, etc, those are sin taxes and are always the first to go up in a budgetary crisis.
Tattoo Removal: For gang members that have gotten out of them and will get killed with those tats on, its a proven program known to have helped the LA community.”
Spin it to fit your agenda – typical.
Last I checked, joining gangs and getting tattoos are choices too. As a matter of fact, everything we do is a choice. They chose to get them, they can choose to remove them – with their dime.
Choices have consequences. Known fact. Yet you want to nanny some for the choices they make to lessen the consequences. Yet you pick and choose which ones to help. A little hypocritical there.
You might want to do a little research on that “tax cut” before you call others unknowledgeable.
I don’t have a problem paying into the collective for collective services, and I don’t have a problem helping those that “can’t” help themselves. But I have no sympathy what so ever for those that “won’t” help themselves. That is a choice, and they choose to make us work for them. Justify that please.
YuvbinDuped
April 17th, 2009
9:51 am
THEY’RE RIGHT!
The Federal Government was NEVER supposed to grow so exponentially, nor was the government itself. Today we are so out of control that we are bordering on fascism. Because some candyass people are so scared they think the government can protect them, which it has failed at miserably so far, thay allow this massive expansionism. Cases in point:
The Prohibition completely backfired and we had gangs everywhere, Remember Al Capone? Now for the past 40 years we have had a “war on drugs” which has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars and drugs are everywhere. Why? Because the very illegality allows profiteering, from both sides of this so called war. Now we have government agencies like the CIA propping up Wall Street with Afghanistn Heroin. Nice! Then they come along with their newest government expansionism tool, the War on Terror. GREAT!!! Lets create more expensive layers of bureaocracy because the hundresd of billions on “security” have not helped do anything but CREATE criminality so lets spend another 40 BILLION we don’t have on HomeLand Security! Sounds a little like Nazi Germeny to me all this “Homeland” stuff.
I am absolutely disgusted with all of this government expansionism causing me to pay taxes til May every year with their equally illegal and unconstitutional “income” tax or as I call it the “slave” tax.
The Constitution was meant to be understood in its “simplest” form by a bunch of 18th century Bozo’s. There were no “buts” in the text. It says waht it says and there were no scholars, lawyers or “interpretor” required to comprehend its meaning. It IS NOT a “living” document either. That would have rendered it inert from the start. The Bill of Rights was were not rights granted to us from government. They were already ours under “natural law.” Our founders merely enumerated (or listed) them as a contract between the newly forming government. In other words, if We the People ALLOWED our founders to create this new REPUBLIC, they would GUARANTEE that the rights in the Bill of Rights would be GUARANTEED PROTECTED!
These guys are more correct with the founders intent than they are wrong. The author pof this article seems to downplay be saying thse crimes would not be prosecuted if not for the Federal Government. They would have on a state level. No country club prisons for those guys upon conviction.
The real criminals have been running our presidents for years. They are the crooks running our monetary system at the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a “private” bank and illegal under our republican form of government. The only thing Federal aboout it is the name just like Federal Express! The Bankster have NEVER been audited!
Time to do so now. Support H.R. 1207. Go to http://www.ronpaul.com and sign it. Call your representtives and support it.
TIME TO LET THE REAL SKELETONS OUT OF THE CLOSET!
Pick up the Bill of Rights and read it. It’s not that difficult, the usurping government through its Bankster run judiciary made it difficult by interpreting it for you to undermine it. Some times too much help is no good.
wesmorgan1
April 17th, 2009
9:55 am
None of these “state sovereignty” resolutions are worth the paper on which they are printed. Take a close look at this one; did you notice that they completely ignored the Constitutional authority of Congress to ‘regulate commerce…among the several States’ and Congress’ Constitutional authority to regulate patents and copyrights? You can’t regulate something without proscribing illegalities, which means defining crimes. So much for that “and no others whatsoever” rhetoric, eh?
Furthermore, they completely ignore Article III, which specifically grants the authority for adjudication of disputes “in which a State be a Party” to the US Supreme Court, with original jurisdiction. In other words, the States agreed to take these precise disputes before the “one supreme Court” created by the Constitution. If these states-rights folks want to be serious, all it takes is “Georgia v. U.S.” – file the papers, we go straight to the SCOTUS (that’s what “original jurisdiction” means – no lower-court nonsense), listen to their arguments, get a ruling, and that’s that. These guys can’t threaten nullification of the Constitution–or of Federal laws they ‘just don’t like’ unless they follow the rules to which they, themselves, agreed.
sobe
April 17th, 2009
10:23 am
I remember Jimmy Carter saying that, in his first session as a Georgia legislator, a bill was passed stating that no one could vote in a state, county, or municipal election in the state of Georgia, who had been dead for more than three years.
Freeman
April 17th, 2009
10:28 am
Writer: Please read this great nation’s constitution. If you would like to change this nationa and/or establish another nation based on your belief please provide a written document that addresses your position as our founding fathers did. I applaud our state representatives for restating what is and always has been within the bounds of law. If this is a surprise to anyone we must work to correct the ignorance.
Bad Lawyers, Secession Talk, and Rewriting the Novel. « The Unfocused Life
April 17th, 2009
11:28 am
[...] Second story: Let me get this straight. Spending a trillion dollars to fight a war in a country that didn’t commit terrorist acts on U.S. territory is perfectly fine and questioning it makes you an unpatriotic terrorist sympathizer, but spending a trillion dollars on rebuilding infrastructure and other projects here at home is a crime against the Constitution and the American people that warrants states seceding from the Union (check this link too)? [...]
N.J,
April 17th, 2009
11:35 am
For the better part of the last three decades, the majority of the states calling for session have been had more tax dollars returned to them than they have sent to Washington DC in the form of income taxes. The southern United States is the only regional area in the country in which this occurs. for every dollar that the Southern U.S. sends to Washington, Washington has been sending 1.19 cents back to this region. One of the first things that will have to be settled if secession is even to be considered is the return of that debt to the regions had these revenues diverted from their region to these states/
Red states to secede? | MNpublius.com
April 17th, 2009
12:00 pm
[...] To Georgia: [...]
Natch Greyes
April 17th, 2009
12:21 pm
This is insane and certainly seems to be linked to Texas’ insanity. I’ve provided some commentary: http://natchgreyes.blogspot.com/2009/04/governor-perrys-secessionist-talk.html but overall I think that these people need to be thrown out of the legislature.
Freeman
April 17th, 2009
12:23 pm
N.J.:No. The Federal Government is the catalyst, and the critical common point for corrections to be applied in both cases. It is frustrating that some are not able to connect the dots on what the core issue is. A power base at the federal level is forming and has been forming for decades. The intent of this etire thread *should* be that the power’s enumerated within the constitution limit the power of the federal goverment. I personally believe the last ~100 days have quickly and clearly demonstrated the weakness of the states and the power of the federal government. While the powers of the state are currently weak, relative to the fed, they are not absent and HAVE NOT been surrendered to the federal government.The fact that we have our representitves recognize and fundamentally proclaim the 9th ammendment (as well as the 10th ammendment on the floor) is a day to rejoice that there is hope for all of our voices to be heard and governance applied much closer to our home.
Mario Piperni dot Com » Texas and Georgia Threaten Secession
April 17th, 2009
1:06 pm
[...] Jay Bookman writes in his blog… [...]
Daniel Berry
April 17th, 2009
2:13 pm
“god is great; beer is good; people are crazy.” … Daniel A. Berry
Georgia State Senate Use Racist Code Language to Threaten Secession from USA - Jack & Jill Politics
April 17th, 2009
2:23 pm
[...] Jay Booker at the Atlanta JC via AmericaBlog: In fact, Senate Resolution 632 did a lot more than merely threaten to end this [...]
Bryan Bustard
April 17th, 2009
3:28 pm
So then, I take it that those who are against seceding are actually FOR the federal government taking away a workers right to a secret ballot, giving the union bosses that Obama owes BIGTIME the power to intimidate workers into voting in unions. I suppose you agree with Biden when he said about the stimulus package that no one was SUPPOSED to read because it was such an emergency, that the health care reforms tucked inside would be detrimental to senior citizens. But, according to him, we’ll just have to face hard facts and realize that the government has to put all health information into a single federal database and the government will decide what the correct treatments are for a patient and the doctor does not have the final say so, nor the patient have a choice in the matter. And well, old people are going to die anyway, so they shouldn’t get the same opportunities for medical treatment that younger people have. And I suppose you agree that you can have your “rights” to marry anyone you choose? A person of the same sex, your beagle, or your cousin? And you can have the right to kill your babies before they are born because sex and birth have nothing to do with each other and we shouldn’t have to face the natural use of sex with the inconvenience of an unwanted child if we don’t want to. BUT doctors who believe that it is murder to kill the unborn DON’T have the choice to refuse to do abortions and patients who want a doctor who will abide by their decisions for life don’t have the right to choose such a doctor under new Health and Human services decisions that are being made right now in Washington.
I see.
And contrary to those who want to paint the Confederacy as being totally evil, the Confederacy, under the 10th Amendment was entirely right in ALL instances EXCEPT for one moral one … the one for which the South was ultimately judged by God (oh, I’m sure you smug defenders of the federal totalitarian leadership don’t believe in him… after all, Nancy Pelosi in 2006, a “supposed” ardent Catholic said “We don’t need God anymore, we have the Democrats”).. slavery. I strongly believe that General Longstreet was right. The South should have freed the slaves first, and then fired on Fort Sumter. Secession? YES! If it should come to that.
Sam
April 17th, 2009
4:42 pm
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m proud to be an American. This is the best country in the world. Those of you who think secession is a good thing should be ashamed. You might as well be burning the American Flag.
Yankee Atlantan
April 17th, 2009
4:45 pm
I am a nurse in a doctor’s office, a specialist no less, and every patient with any type of private insurance must get prior approval from the insurance company for every single test, procedure, treatment and many medications ordered. This usually involves communicating with the physician employed by the insurance company, you know, the doctor that is 8 states away and has never laid eyes on the patient.Ironically, the least and smallest amount of prior authorization is required by (government)Medicare. Private insurance=limit care= MAXIMIZE PROFITS
GOP: Stop This Insanity Before It’s Too Late « Desperado’s Outpost
April 18th, 2009
9:18 am
[...] The Georgia Senate passed a resolution calling for the nullification of the Constitution and disbanding of the United States. [...]
Arleeda
April 18th, 2009
12:25 pm
We are too reliant on the federal government–highways, social security, medicare, grants to universities–to secede. If GA secedes, most of the business and industry that is left will go back North or West. Even a reconstructed confederacy may find the ties too deep to break without major upheaval.
I pay my share
April 18th, 2009
3:09 pm
Hey NRB,
“This is a conservative state.”
Like most of the conservative states, it’s also a welfare state that takes a little more from the Government than it gives. I guess you forgot to mention that.
Paul
April 18th, 2009
5:43 pm
Why do some people always have to play the race card. I guess thats all they have. There were plenty of fellow black citizens at the protests.
With the increase in gun sales and over 30 states having recent resolutions on sovereighty, I fear that another civil war is upon us.
Paul
April 18th, 2009
6:11 pm
Laws are made to prevent unlawful acts. There is no law against secession of states from the U.S.. The U.S. Constitution does not expressly recognize or deny a right of secession.
Texas insured they had an “out” when they joined the union. They were once a sovereign nation of their own. Georgia, Alaska and other states could easily challenge the legality of any obstacles to succession.
If, Texas were to succeed, other states bordering with Texas would follow suite or suffer an unmanageable influx from Mexico of illegal immigrants when Texas locks down their borders. Then, these states could place tariffs on all goods moving between Mexico and the U.S. to generate the needed revenue to support their military defenses.
But, if you look at history and see how Lincoln handled similar problems when the southern states succeeded, you can expect a similar response from Obama since Lincoln is his idol.
ProgressivePeach.com
April 19th, 2009
12:16 pm
This needs to be our new “Limbaugh Test” for conservatives. Ask each if they agree with Texas’s governor and this Georgia law, specifically “Do you believe our state has the right to secede from the Union?” If the answer is “yes,” call them a “traitor” and “unAmerican.” If no, their right-wing psychos will leave them twisting in the wind. Put ‘em on the spot, media and bloggers!
Atilla
April 19th, 2009
1:50 pm
Let the damned south secede. Take the Jesus nutters and the GOP, Greedy Old Perverts whit them. We could build a fence around it and call it an insane asylum. They’ll all kill each other off in 6 months anyway. Good Riddance.
Atilla
April 19th, 2009
2:58 pm
REPUBLICANS GONE WILD ! Georgia Secession, Texass Secession, Huckabee, Failin’ Palin, Tea Baggers, Cheney’s Mouth, Pedophile Christian Leaders, Newt, Bushco, Obama a Socialist, Limbaugh, Obama a Muslim, Party of No. No Ideas, No Leaders, No brain, No Truth, No Honor, No Scruples, No Base, No Patriotism, No Courage, No Creditability, No Clue! If it weren’t for Evil, Greed, Ignorance, Gullibility, and Jesus, they’d have nothing going for them at all.
HadtoshowmybirthcertificatetogetaDLinGA
April 19th, 2009
5:28 pm
I have a good idea after reading this discussion. The Federal Government should stop taking income tax from everyone in GA and stop sending any funds to GA. That way they will be money ahead. Anyone with me?
Nick
April 19th, 2009
6:34 pm
With all the talk of secession, it is worth examining these issues: see http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo56.html and http://www.daveblackonline.com/was_secession_treason.htm
Suspect Device: The Blog » Secession Fever!
April 19th, 2009
11:46 pm
[...] Catch it! [...]
NCBlue
April 19th, 2009
11:47 pm
Amazing and these are the same leaders who proclaimed themselves to be such patriots when Bush was in charge and now suddenly they hate the USA. Well their true colors are showing and it ain’t pretty. Did someone say traitors!
How bad are the nation’s public schools? | Fresh Loaf
April 20th, 2009
10:30 am
[...] about their two straight national election blowouts that leaders in Republican strongholds Georgia and Texas recently threatened to [...]
SunGuard
April 20th, 2009
12:43 pm
Attention idiot Jay Bookman; It is indeed the Federal Government that is trying to end the United States of America through their corporate takeover, tyrannical socialism and calculated bankrupting of our country. they have sold us out and passed legislation that is in direct conflict to our CONSTITUTION, attempting to enslave the people of the United States to CRIMINAL international bankers.
God Bless the Georgia Senate who are trying to protect the CONSTITUTIONAL GOD GIVEN RIGHTS of every citizen of Georgia. Even your pathetic self.
Your outrageous claim that they are stating that criminals should go free is testament to your childlike attempt to slander the value of individual liberties. Obviously crimes that you mentioned, i.e. “Michael Vick” would be punished by the states individually, not let free. You moron. The move to nullify the tyrannical and ILLEGAL legislation of the Feds is the most righteous and courageous move this senate has ever made and 37 states have already made the same ruling. So on behalf of every hard working, God fearing citizen in the U.S. may I say to you, ” go to hell”.
If not for the courage of men like the Georgia Senate and other sates we would all become slaves to a handful of criminal elite that have publicly announced their intentions to turn over the USA to a one world government in which we would all be cast into extreme poverty with every aspect of our lives tracked and controlled like slaves. The recent G2 summit was held for this very purpose.
You either have no idea what you are talking about or you have been bought and paid for by these same criminals.
old salt
April 20th, 2009
4:51 pm
A Short Citizen’s Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax Day-Robert Third Reich, Obozo’s Labor Sec
Oh yeah, that’ll make us go away.
We elected a disease to run this country.
=======================================================================
Do you really believe Robert Reich is labor secretary?
SuperDave
April 21st, 2009
2:38 am
I think we should just go ahead and burn the Constitution, It seems none of the politicians uphold it anyway. It is just a dream from long ago. The federal government will take care of us all, they know what is best.
KnightHawk
April 21st, 2009
10:36 am
This author’s take is a joke, it’s almost as funny as the AJC’s sales, or lack there of I should say.
The One With Aldacron » Georgia On My Mind
April 21st, 2009
12:05 pm
[...] it. I’m thinking the latter, most likely because they were busy, as Jay Bookman points out, laying the groundwork to secede from the Union. It wasn’t quite the firing on Fort Sumter that launched the Civil War. But on April 1, your [...]
Keith Jorgensen
April 21st, 2009
4:27 pm
So will there be 2 countries named Georgia?
Bethrox
April 22nd, 2009
4:31 pm
I think it’s a great idea, if the far-left extremists continue to down-grade AMERICANS, Our Country,& make radical left-wing decisions that are outlandish. The far-left extremists don’t seem to understand that not only have the ” RED ” states had enough, but this is happening all over the country. Obamas ratings are sinking low very fast. And there is a reason for this. We want our MORALS back,& we want a President that puts AMERICA 1st! Obviously, according to Rasmussen ratings, which are always on top; Obamas approval rating is only 51% this week. He is by far the WORST PRESIDENT EVER!!!!
Everett Bennett, Jr
April 26th, 2009
9:56 am
This is exactly why I don’t buy the Atlanta Rag newspaper!
We gave the Dems and the Reps a chance, and they both have blown it.
For those of you who can read and understand what you are reading:
I suggest: Mark Levin – Liberty and Tyranny
Also, a good response to this idiot’s blog:
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/04/25/the-constitution-a-radical-cause/#more-1449
Ron Paul: Secession, the Ultimate States’ Right | Red Pills
April 27th, 2009
4:04 pm
[...] certainly another shot across the bow. Jay writes in blogs.ac.com dated 04/16/2009 entitled “Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA“: It wasn’t quite the firing on Fort Sumter that launched the Civil War. But on April 1, [...]
Bill Wilson
April 28th, 2009
9:50 am
If the limits of the federal government is proscuting treason then lets start with the 43 Georgia senators that voted for this treasonist legistion. They have comited treason against the United States and should be tried and if found guilty, put to death….
WE’D Be Better Off, For Sure | Reconstitution 2.0
May 1st, 2009
4:47 pm
[...] Senate Resolution 632 in support of the state sovereignty movement, by a vote of 43-1; an act Atlanta writer Jay Bookman characterized as accidentally threatening the state’s ties to the United [...]
Publius
May 1st, 2009
6:07 pm
If you don’t like it, you can get out. What do you thing we were doing when we fought against England to form the United States in the first place, if not seceding from the British Empire? If you think secession is “wrong” maybe you ought to go over there & leave this to the real Americans.
One Penny Sheet » Poll: almost half of Georgia GOP think state would be better off seceding
May 1st, 2009
8:56 pm
[...] Senate Resolution 632 in support of the state sovereignty movement, by a vote of 43-1; an act Atlanta writer Jay Bookman characterized as accidentally threatening the state’s ties to the United [...]
George P. Burdell
May 1st, 2009
10:43 pm
First, do you really think that Georgia leaving the Union is going to dismantle the United States? Of course, if you do really believe that, then the next logical question is that if the US is so close to disintegration and so many other states are ready to leave, why are you advocating prolonging the inevitable. Is it not the responsible thing to let the chips fall as they may and reorganize the government as the population of states sees fit. Is that not what democracy and popular determination are all about?
By the way, just to amend your “nasty history” on nullification, it was Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who published the first proclamation arguing for nullification, something called the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which were in response to the Adams administration’s banning of speech that was critical of government (but I guess you have no problem with that either). Of course, what would Thomas Jefferson and James Madison know about the Constitution and our laws anyway, oh wait, they wrote our two founding documents…….So, next time you might want to have a little more compelling argument against nullification and state’s rights than the Klan likes it, so we should not.
jefft452
May 2nd, 2009
12:17 pm
Bring the good old bugle, boys, we’ll sing another song;
Sing it with a spirit that will start the world along,
Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong,
While we were marching through Georgia.
[Chorus]
“Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the jubilee!
“Hurrah! Hurrah! The Flag that makes you free!”
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea,
While we were marching through Georgia.
How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound!
How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found!
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground,
While we were marching through Georgia.
[Chorus]
Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears,
When they saw the honored Flag they had not seen for years;
Hardly could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers,
While we were marching though Georgia.
[Chorus]
“Sherman’s dashing Yankee boys will never reach the coast!”
So the saucy Rebels said, and ‘twas a handsome boast;
Had they not forgot, alas! to reckon with the host,
While we were marching through Georgia.
[Chorus]
So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain,
While we were marching through Georgia.
[Chorus]
Bring back the real GA flag
May 4th, 2009
2:35 pm
I would vote YES after reading this whole thing. I am obviously not being represented when the Federal Law Makers wish to introduce a Ban on assault rifles. Criminals have plenty of guns, why can’t the good guys? I think we all know how the United States came to pass when its overbearing government put PENNY taxes on things like rice and sugar. Now I am paying 36% tax on MY INCOME. Not the goods i decide to buy but what we are bringing home to the family.
eusebius
May 6th, 2009
11:16 pm
jefft452: I don’t know who you are, most likely a coward who would never say such things in a Southerner’s presence. But I would have gladly given my life to fight against the terrorist Sherman to stop what he did to this land. He was no soldier, just a college educated thug following the orders of a dictator who used race or whatever other means at his disposal to exert power and control over free states. It was no joyous occasion for Georgians when he marched through this state, black or white. Nor is it today. There was no Southern treason in those times: only fighting for freedom, which many in the South and elsewhere might do even today, and of which you haven’t a clue. You do the South a great service by helping it to remember the truth of what the Union became in the years leading up to that war between the states and what the Union has become today both at home and abroad: we all get “freedom” looking down the barrel of a gun.
Adam
May 8th, 2009
1:41 pm
I’ve yet to read a journalistic account of this legislation that was not chilidishly mocking this issue, and it’s quite unprofessional to skew this as lunacy.
Also, Mr. Bookman, your statement regarding Michael Vick and Bernie Madoff should be exposed as a complete falsehood. Were Georgia to discontinue its membership in the United States, Georgia itself would be responsible for the prosecution of criminals and detetntion of those offenders. In no way should anyone be lead to believe that we would empty the prisons in Georgia, and your assertion to that in this article is shameful.
The issue of States’ Rights is as important now as it was when the Constitution was adopted, and we need to stand together as Americans to preserve these rights.
I can only pray that, as a journalist, you can adopt a more mature attitude regarding this.
(Also, for the record, I’m from NY State).
So Embarrassed
May 9th, 2009
6:17 pm
Georgia — and the entire South — are the laughingstocks of the entire country when their idiot legislators attempt to burnish their bubba credentials with moronic moves like this. As a former Georgian, I am hideously embarrassed for all of you.
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One: The Civil War Was a Battle for States’ Rights – The Blogs at HowStuffWorks
May 13th, 2009
1:17 pm
[...] why the sound of silence? Well, from what I’ve observed on other news sites and blogs, it’s nearly impossible to discuss the resolution and get intelligent feedback. [...]
Secession, nullification … Is Georgia this crazy? | Jay Bookman
May 14th, 2009
2:06 pm
[...] while back, I wrote about an absolutely wacky, downright neoConfederate resolution adopted 43-1 by the Georgia Senate at the end of its most recent [...]
Steve
June 2nd, 2009
12:39 pm
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
Charles Eavenson
July 9th, 2009
6:08 pm
Our federal government has so overstepped its bounds, as outlined in the Constitution, that there is no turning back. Our founding fathers would never believe what a joke we’ve made of their “grand experiment”. If they could observe one day in the this Nation, they would never believe that it is the Nation that they founded 233 years ago. We really do need another option. We need at least one state to secede and let’s see how well this new nation does, as it begins anew with the ideals of our founding fathers. Give everybody 1 year to either get in or get out of this new country. I think Georgia would be a good choice. I think we could make it just fine. We need someone to take this seriously.
Obamarang.
August 4th, 2009
12:47 am
Jay Brookman might want to considering laying off the sauce for a few hours.
At no time did the Senators even remotely suggest that criminals shouldn’t be punished as criminals, only that the fed gov’t has overstepped its constitutional authority (which it is has in countless ways and by any standard) while further undermining and usurping individual state’s rights.
Need I remind Mr. Brookman (hiccup!) that the founders intended that state’s rights have sovereignty — “that in the United States the ultimate source of political authority lay in the separate states.”
Founders Jefferson and Madison’s Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions asserted: The Federal government had been formed by a “compact” or contract among the states. It was a limited government, possessing only specific delegated powers. Whenever it attempted to exercise any additional, undelegated powers, its acts were “unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” The parties to the contract, the states, must decide for themselves when and whether the central government exceeded its powers. The state legislatures must serve as “sentinels” to watch out for unconstitutional acts. And “nullification” by the states is the “rightful remedy” whenever the general government went too far.
Enough said.
Ben
August 5th, 2009
4:31 am
well Georgia couldn’t do much worse than the fed is doing now. I think that Georgia has enough guns to hold its own. You ever seen a bunch of drunk rednecks go at it? now that’s a force to be reckoned with.
Facts Please
September 28th, 2009
2:00 pm
Dear Angry Black Man
With Obama in the Whitehouse and his democratic half-wits backing his every desire, its only a matter of time before you are no longer living in the great US of A but a country more like Mexica or worse. Only the richest have food, money, electric and even water.
Keep thinking there is a difference and you will soon find that your not living your dream of freedom, but once again fighting the Civil War. Only this time we will all be fighting Washington. Thats really what we are doing now with the tea parties, but Washington is hell bent on playing the race war and keeping working minds from working together. Join or not, tea party people will continue to fight for this UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OUR FREEDOM.
Evans Politics » Blog Archive » April 2009 Part 6
October 2nd, 2009
2:54 pm
[...] April 1 of this year, the Georgia Senate passed a resolution affirming their belief that the U.S. government is on the verge of nullifying the [...]
Kevin
December 3rd, 2009
9:29 pm
I live in Dahlonega. We have a local paper called the Dahlonega Nugget. We’ve always wanted to have a newspaper that was the size of the AJC. Now we do. I wonder if those liberal idiots like Bookman, Tucker, et all, will ever realize that your paper is disintegrating because of it’s liberal content. When you finally cease to exist it will be a most pleasant day for Georgia. I’m glad for one, as I quit reading its dribble a good number of years ago.
Ben Cooke
December 15th, 2009
10:10 pm
I see nothing wrong with this Bill. Is this journalism the joke? Because I don’t get it. I have read the document in it’s entirety and it is founded on Constitutional Principles. This is neither a Republican or Democratic document, it is a Constitutional document founded on freedoms and liberty. This is the United States, a union of completely different states, not the Federal Government. What is contained in it is the truth and is what the founders of our country believed in. The fact that most of the people on this board do not support or otherwise want to have anything to do with this bill, tells me that this country is in more trouble than we know. If you do not agree with this document, then it is fair to say that you have not made a very good choice in staying in this country to begin with.
Atlanta would then have to secede from Georgia | IdyllopusPress Presents
December 27th, 2009
2:17 pm
[...] Georgia Senate Threatens Dismantling of USA [...]
JFM
February 21st, 2010
6:24 pm
This article, along with some of the comments, just add more evidence that many people, regrettably, either haven’t the foggiest idea of what the Constitution is and does or have some idea but just don’t care. That many of these live in Georgia, one of the 13 original colonies, is truly a shame. I hear that Vermont is a nice place to live. Massachusetts, too. We used to be able to say with confidence, “Delta is ready when you are”, but, now that it’s run by a bunch of liberals, that’s probably no longer true.
And as to those of you who just love to use the word, “teabagger”, we know why you are so fond of it. Keep it up.