Meet the Dems’ 60th vote
From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
“The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that Democrat Al Franken won the U.S. Senate election and said he was entitled to an election certificate that would lead to him being seated in the Senate.
“Affirmed,” wrote the Supreme Court, unanimously rejecting Republican Norm Coleman’s claims that inconsistent practices by local elections officials and wrong decisions by a lower court had denied him victory.
“Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled [under Minnesota law] to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota,” the court wrote.
But the court did not grant Franken’s bid to make its ruling effective immediately, possibly leaving a window for an appeal by Coleman before Gov. Tim Pawlenty is required to issue an election certificate.
“The bottom line is that the Court says that Franken is entitled to an election certificate, but there is no direct order to the state’s governor to sign one,” said Loyola Law School professor Richard Hasen, who has followed the case closely. “We’ll see what the governor does, if Coleman does not concede, as he well may at this point.”
In recent weeks, Pawlenty has talked about how he would not hold up an election certificate if ordered by the court to issue one.
“I’m going to do whatever the court says,” Pawlenty said at a news conference a couple of weeks ago. “When the court decides that issue, as soon as I’m directed or required to sign that certificate, I will. I am not going to hold it up or delay it in any fashion.”
In other words, with the court not “directing or requiring” the governor to issue the certificate of election, there’s just the slightest bit of wriggle room for Pawlenty. I doubt he would take it at this point, but….
UPDATE: Norm Coleman has conceded the race; Al Franken will now be seated.
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387 comments Add your comment
josef nix
June 30th, 2009
9:00 pm
DUSTY–Ah, what do I think of “to be or not to be…” Remind me later and I’ll tell you! I do have a story on that! Right now have to run…
NORMAL–since you ain’t said much today, I’ll close out to you with this: my family’s gonna be on National Geographic channel at 9:00 and am opening a bottle of Chateau Cadillac to sip and navel contemplate in regards to Granddaddy’s lesson in “staying one step ahead of the inquisition…”
jewcowboy–let’s talk further…I’m interested in what you have to say…
I’ll check back in during commercials….
al franken at your service
June 30th, 2009
9:02 pm
Anyone who has listened to Franken on Air America knows that, whether or not you agree with his views, he is a very thoughtful person with a deep knowledge of the issues.
If the right wants to believe their own talking points that Franken is some lightweight “comedian” from “Hollywood,” they might be in for a rude shock. It’s also ironic that they apply these labels to Franken, who graduated cum laude from Harvard with a political science degree, and who runs intellectual circles around the likes of Sarah Palin,
Kamchak
June 30th, 2009
9:02 pm
josef
Sometimes one is better off with the devil he knows. There is no reason to believe that you won’t find the same kind of tribalism anywhere on this planet. I recommend a book by David Berreby entitled “Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind”.
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
9:11 pm
md,
Quite frankly, the blogs are an international affair, and have little to do with my choice. Yes, the claptrap spewed on this blog was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back, but in the last 12 months I’ve been to England 22 times. Though they may differ in opinions, there is civility sadly lacking in America. That is what draws me away from my home.
GayGrayGeek
June 30th, 2009
9:13 pm
jewcowboy – The crap spewed by, and laws passed by, the Fundagelical Talibaptists who control most of the southeastern U.S. political system is why my hubby and I now reside less than 12 km. from where he and I were married two years ago.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:14 pm
Jewcowboy…..I have only NOW stopped laughing!!! Merry old London, the capital of civility!!! Yeah, the newspapers, blogs, politicians there are sooooooooo……genteel—-oh stop it, you’re killing me.
Enjoy going back to your home country. One less socialist in this country to deal with.
josef nix
June 30th, 2009
9:15 pm
Kamchak–thanks for the suggestion. The older I get,the more tribal I find I become.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:16 pm
GayGreek, beware…the jihad against your kind has begun!!!
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
9:17 pm
GayGrayGeek,
Exactly. That is what this country is has become, and I will no longer subjugate my humanity for others’ religion.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:17 pm
BTW jewcowboy, I thought you checked “out” already…second thoughts about the 60% income tax rate in your communist,er I mean, civilized society?
Dusty
June 30th, 2009
9:18 pm
Dear jewcowboy,
I am sorry you are feeling lower than low. Worse than MacBeth.
But, really, when you are tired and sick with a cold is NOT a good time to make big decisions. Tomorrow, you may have better ideas.
Don’t give up on this country. There is no perfect country, but this one is top of the line. Surely you know that deep down.
These blogs are such a small percentage of the American public I would not attempt to size it. Bloggers represent nothing but themselves. I admit, much of it is not a pretty sight, but do not let the sick and unretsrained change anything for you. There are better influences.
So stick around, cowboy. We need some GOOD arguments. Anyway, best of luck and all that stuff! I still think you will feel better tomorrow.
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
June 30th, 2009
9:20 pm
Jboy- Delta is ready when you are, freak!
GayGrayGeek
June 30th, 2009
9:20 pm
Sam – No, it started several years ago. In 2004 in Georgia, in 2006 in South Carolina, etc. It’s really wonderful to live in a place where folks are polite enough to not care about, nor pry into, others lives – much less to try to dictate how those others are to live their lives.
There’s far too many supposed Christians south of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi who need to remember something about “Judge not, lest ye be judged”. Oh, and that thing about casting the first stone. The theocrat-wannabes who run the southeastern U.S. have cast so many, I’m surprised that Stone Mountain still exists.
Then again, I’m not surprised Stone Mountain still exists. Gotta keep that shrine to The Old Ways, of course. “Fergit Hell!”, right?
IC Atlanta
June 30th, 2009
9:21 pm
Well Get A Life – the Democrats have declared a war of choice on productive Americans in the end will cost more misery, unemployment and tough days ahead.
This whole house of cards will fail in the end, and as long as the Democrats don’t move to Stasi tactics and it wouldn’t surprise if they do, the entire thing is going to fall apart.
372 metro areas just hide an increase in unemployment – thanks Democrats. To borrow from the old GA democrat bumper sticker = “Enjoying the Economy – Thank A Democrat”
md
June 30th, 2009
9:21 pm
Jew,
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been “across the pond” many times and enjoy it greatly when I go. But on a daily basis, I find it no different than here. They “hate” their politicians as much as we “hate” ours, referring to Blair as Bliar, etc. As a matter of record, I have yet to find anywhere as friendly as the southern US as we have no problem exchanging pleasantries to strangers on a daily basis. When I do that overseas, I get blank stares and funny smirks.
I did move out of ATL after 45+ years to a slower lifestyle, but can’t beat the “southern hospitality”.
My Kind
June 30th, 2009
9:22 pm
…the jihad against your kind has begun!!!
Please, Brother Sam, enlighten your brethren regarding those that you have labeled as “your kind” for we must learn before we can join in the jihad against those of the “your kind” persuasion.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:22 pm
Dusty, Jewcowboy, GayGreek……..get a room!!!
Rightwing Troll
June 30th, 2009
9:23 pm
Well I’ll be darned, there goes our last chance to seat that 5th godly conservative Supreme. We’ll just have to fall back on finding unhinged conservative fanatics to carry out gods work…
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:23 pm
My Kind, use your imagination……
My Kind
June 30th, 2009
9:26 pm
I prefer to not leave things open for mis-interpretation, Sam.
josef nix
June 30th, 2009
9:28 pm
Southern is one of my tribal identities. I do not like hearing it so freely and gratuitously bashed. The problem is that going against the tribe often can lead to expulsion and there is a tremendous loss of identity which comes from that. It is far too complex to go into here, but still, there seems to be an inquistion at work against my tribe and my tribe is reacting by becoming increasingly introspective and that is not healthy…
Kamchak
June 30th, 2009
9:29 pm
jewcowboy
The interwebs is an international thing. I’m going to regard your departure not as “goodbye” but as “sometime again”!
getalife
June 30th, 2009
9:29 pm
IC,
“Enjoying the Economy – Thank A Democrat”
Ah yes, that Clinton economy was fantastic. Giving away cars to come to work and the gop just gave away the jobs.
Chin up IC, one day your party will win to destroy the economy again.
The gop are experts on destroying economy.
Why any American would vote for that is beyond me.
clyde
June 30th, 2009
9:30 pm
Government in Britian is into people’s lives way more than it is here.I don’t believe the avarage American would like their brand of snoopiness.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:33 pm
getalife, of course “it’s beyond you”…that’s why you voted for Ayatollah Hussein Obama.
My Kind
June 30th, 2009
9:35 pm
So, Sam must be one of those American Taliban given his familiarity with Ayatollahs and such.
Kamchak
June 30th, 2009
9:36 pm
josef
The southern tribe has been too reactionary since The War of Northern Aggression. The Klan and the Southern Baptists were reactions to Reconstruction. If anything, introspection is long overdue.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:38 pm
My Kind…..Absolutely!!!!! Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. Make no doubt about it, liberals are America’s enemy
getalife
June 30th, 2009
9:39 pm
Not much of a choice Sam.
When your party did not see another depression coming and ran an old, insane by torture, warmonger with a not ready for prime time, cartoon character, the choice was only one person.
You lost loser.
Get over it.
@@
June 30th, 2009
9:39 pm
Good grief, Kamchak!! You and AmVet sound like a couple of girls.
Had to go back and find this incriminating post you mentioned.
Toads? You (croak) better than the rest of us.
AmVet:
Step one – Admit you are powerless over Bookman’s blog — that your life has become unmanageable…
I’m workin’ on it, buddy.
Day started at 5:30 with housework.
6 miles at the track.
An hour of water aerobics.
Picked up the dead limbs that I removed from the trees yesterday, hauled them to the burn pit where my neighbor plans to torch ‘em tomorrow.
Bathed “My Buddy” (dog)
Assembled a cheesecake and popped it in the oven.
Answered some e-mails from parents at school.
Hauled some stage props to church for VBS.
Picked the garden.
Went to the market.
Picked up three bushels of corn, shucked, washed and put in the fridge until tomorrow when I will cut, scrape, microwave and freeze.
Took the cheesecake to a church member.
Started dinner.
Vacuumed the pool and then laid out on a float for 2 hours.
Blogged in between all ^^^ that.
You?
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:41 pm
that’s right “Getalife”…do you feel better now? Glad I was here to help out.
TnGelding
June 30th, 2009
9:44 pm
Dusty
June 30th, 2009
5:48 pm
Not to mention the evil Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and the deserter Arlen Specter.
Reagan and Bush are responsible for over 90% of the current debt, and Bush will be responsible for at least half of what is accumulated over the next 4-8 years.
http://reaganbushdebt.org/
http://www.examiner.com/x-2134-DC-Ethical-Issues-Examiner~y2009m1d30-Abu-Greed-How-ReaganBush-created-a-debtor-prison-without-walls
Dusty
June 30th, 2009
9:45 pm
Dear Sam,
I have a home so I don’t need a room.
Have you ever heard that old saying “Don’t kick a men when he’s down?”
Maybe you ought to give it a thought.
Jewcowboy and I have disagreed on many things. SOOOOOO what? You want a duel or something?
TnGelding
June 30th, 2009
9:46 pm
North Korea blinks?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPE2T6srY36AqSumfp9KStLWUnAQD9956V482
Doc
June 30th, 2009
9:46 pm
Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:47 pm
@@….very funny! Some people actually take this blog seriously!!
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
9:48 pm
Hi Dusty,
Not feeling lower than low, actually quite the opposite. I’ve not given up on this country, it has given up on me. This has been a slow burn, but the ignition was quick. I really opened my eyes on this last trip, and it was an eye opener.
getalife
June 30th, 2009
9:48 pm
You American taliban Sam?
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:48 pm
Oh Dusty…lighten up and take a bubble bath or something….there, there…it’ll be alright
My Kind
June 30th, 2009
9:48 pm
The American Taliban is the GOP base’s reaction to being losers.
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
9:49 pm
I Report (-: You Whine )-: ,
“Jboy- Delta is ready when you are, freak!”
Thanks, but Continental is a better deal.
Sam
June 30th, 2009
9:49 pm
Jewcowboy, Don’t go away sad or angry…..just go away!
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
9:51 pm
md,
” But on a daily basis, I find it no different than here.”
I can see where you are going with this, but my expirience has been different.
Kamchak
June 30th, 2009
9:51 pm
You had to search to remember what you posted? I’ll try to contain my shock and awe.
Frederick Douglass
June 30th, 2009
9:55 pm
@@ I hope you washed your hands between bathing your dog and assembling
that cheese cake, I’m just saying.
DB, Gwinnettian
June 30th, 2009
9:55 pm
Somewhere Up There, Senator Wellstone is beaming.
GayGrayGeek
June 30th, 2009
9:57 pm
Dusty – Are you giggling as hard and as loud as I am at Sam’s 9:22?
josef nix
June 30th, 2009
9:57 pm
Kamchak–I am not opposed to the introspection per se, I am opposed to the forced nature. It is coming as the result of an attack on the culture itself and not just its more negative aspects, and as such it is being met in return by a fear, within the tribe, of questioning that identity and how to take it into the future. The “action” of the anti Southerners is being met by a “reaction” within the culture, the tribe as it were. There is a lot to be said here, but it is now late at night and I need to catch a few zzs. Foregive me if I am not coherent here.
@@
June 30th, 2009
9:59 pm
Well Bon Voyage, jewcowboy!
At least the weather over there isn’t hotter ‘n
Helloooooooo.
Make sure to get your dental work done before you go.
J/K!!! Good luck.
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
9:59 pm
Kamchak,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls
or more light hearted;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfM9gQkfwyg
jewcowboy
June 30th, 2009
10:02 pm
@@,
Thanks! I actually told y’all before i told mr. nonjewcowboy. He’s gonna be mad if if finds out.
josef nix
June 30th, 2009
10:05 pm
Good night all…
IC Atlanta
June 30th, 2009
10:07 pm
Get A Life – the dems run everything. Reality will judge them and the myrmidons who voted for them. Not doing so hot yet, but you still have 18-months. Meanwhile the dem run states are a complete disaster – CA, NJ, NY, etc so I don’t expect much but a mess from DC. It is your show and the bumper sticker travelers who run with your group.
GayGrayGeek
June 30th, 2009
10:08 pm
IC – Gee, I coulda swore that the Governator had a “-R” after his name. So much for your little 10:07 rant!
Kamchak
June 30th, 2009
10:09 pm
josef
Forced? By whom? A century and a half is a loooooong time to go without taking stock of the situation. Conservatism, by definition is an attempt to hold on to the old ways and customs. Change, however is the universal constant.
getalife
June 30th, 2009
10:18 pm
IC,
Lets give it more than 6 months to clean up the gop disaster shall we.
It took 8 years to destroy our country, so it will take more than 6 months to fix it.
The Clinton team is back so there is a good chance of a repeat performance.
@@
June 30th, 2009
10:28 pm
Kamchak:
I kept seeing you post it, knowing it was from my original but all the while wondering what your point was. As it turns out, ’twas nuthin’ I didn’t already know.
Put us all in a “croaker” sack and….
Outta here so you can croak alone.
Paid In Full
June 30th, 2009
10:28 pm
I wonder how many of the Georgia Republicans that voted for that almost vote blocker, Saxby, are now wishing for a make-over. The GOP deserves Saxby and he’ll bring Georgia nothing but grief for his entire term, thanks to the way he mis-treated his opponents in the races.
Demming
June 30th, 2009
10:32 pm
Let’s get on with the Nation’s business! All of this backbiting is juvenile.
@@
June 30th, 2009
10:40 pm
Whoa Nellie!
Kamchak @ 10:09:
Don’t try to pull that classic definition of conservatism to define who we are. It’s outdated and way to broad. Holding on to the “old ways”….”old customs”????
Whose and what?
It’s too easy to be vague….try specifics!
Now I’m O-U-T!!!!!
IC Atlanta
June 30th, 2009
10:43 pm
Gay Greek – the dems have run the CA house and senate for years. The governator is a RINO. Get A Life – the dems took control of the US Congress (where all bills are written-FYI) in 2006.
GayGrayGeek
June 30th, 2009
10:50 pm
IC – Even if the Governator is a “RINO:, that still ain’t a “-D” after his name, so your little rant at 10:07 still earns Total Fail.
@@ @ 10:40 – Kamchak nailed it. Y’all RightWingNuts are still frothin’-n-foamin’ that one of Those People is POTUS. Maybe, someday, the Republican’t platform will resemble something later than a 50’s fantasy combo of “Donna Reed” and “Father KNows Best” with an all-Caucasian world…
getalife
June 30th, 2009
10:51 pm
Yes IC but w set the agenda.
You know, if the gop will get out of the way, a new green bubble will create jobs.
Perhaps they will give away cars to come to work again.
AmVet
June 30th, 2009
11:39 pm
jewcowboy, I too found the Englishmen very real and unpretentious. But then I lived in the farm country of East Anglia and having been raised in the farm country of America, I easily related. A loverly people. And our awkward allies always. Notwithstanding their witty, vibrant, vulgar sense of sensibilities and rude humor. Even in politics. I have a connection to that island that transcends any cute stereotype or canned Yank presumption. They mistake in the English their sense of privacy (pronounced with a short i sound, of course) with aloofness or uncaringness. ( is that a word?) And as md notes, passerbys don’t say howdy much over there. But to compare Atlantans to Londoners, in any regard, is really silly, don’t you think?
And josef, my connections to the south are even greater. And love her near as much as my own jayhawker heritage. Even though I abuse her. But then we only f&<k the ones we love, true?
And speaking of bumper stickers I saw the best one ever (well, maybe) on Peachtree today, “I was Born OK the First Time.”
@@, I made more money in a few hours than you will in a week or a month. (Granted a helluva presumption). I work the new fashioned way. Smart. While you verbally jousted after welching on your claim to a swan song. So you tell me, who wins?
DB, at 9:55, a nice sentiment. More good karma from a state of many good liberals. (Withal the notorious Ms. Bachmann.)
kamchack, I find this brilliant: Conservatism, by definition is an attempt to hold on to the old ways and customs. Change, however is the universal constant.
It explains the dichotomy in us all.
And maybe the oneness in us all. E pluribus unum…
godless heathen
June 30th, 2009
11:58 pm
Franken (D) in the Senate. Best thing that ever happened for the GOP.
ken
July 1st, 2009
12:31 am
He fits right in with all the other clowns. Maybe he and Barney can do a show.
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
12:41 am
Franken is not Frankenstein. He’s Harvard educated and knows the issues. I suspect he’ll represent Minnesota very well, as did Coleman and Jesse (the body and mind) Ventura.
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
12:52 am
We’ll take him!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnwJ5KIcKX4&feature=related
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/schiff/schiff102907.html
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 1st, 2009
5:15 am
Atlanta homeowners angry about Monday’s City Council vote to raise property taxes have another reason to be unhappy with City Hall.
Starting July 1 — Wednesday — water and sewer bills are going up 12.5 percent.-Urinal/ A Pee/ Obozo
Read my lips! No new taxes!
Allah Akbar!
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
6:10 am
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 1st, 2009
5:15 am
Just gonna raise the old ones! You wealthy folks are going to have to start paying your “fair share.”
What’s ATL thinking?
A U S T E R I T Y !
Swami Dave
July 1st, 2009
6:17 am
It is unfortunate that Franken has now been declared the winner of this race and delivers yet another vote for the collectivists another vote for higher taxes and unrestrained, uncontrolled spending. It does make the current battles over higher taxes under “cap & trade” and managed statists solutions that will undermine our health care system.
Basically, another vote will be seated in the Senate for someone whose philosophy rationalizes theft from achievers to acquire power from beneficiaries of redistributed wealth.
It is another case of what happens when you let three wolves and a sheep vote on dinner! It is just another unfortunate day for supporters of freedom and opportunity.
-Swami Dave
Rightwing Troll
July 1st, 2009
6:19 am
What? I don’t check in for a minute and some civility breaks out???
You people feelin alright?
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
6:26 am
Swami Dave
July 1st, 2009
6:17 am
Wouldn’t Franken be stealing from himself?
Some wealthy folks are altruistic.
Swami Dave
July 1st, 2009
6:29 am
TNGelding:
America’s achievers already pay more than their “fair share”. The reality is it is time for America’s beneficiary class (aka the freeloaders expecting others to support their wants that they themselves are unwilling to provide for themselves and their families) to live up to their currently unmet obligations of life. It is truly time that this group quit acting like cabooses on our economy (expecting others to pull them along) and take the initiative to act more like the engines that drive and build it.
America’s problems are not that its “rich” do not pay enough; our problems are that too many of its “not-rich” expect others to do for them what they should do for themselves.
Speaking frankly, it really matters little whether you steal from your neighbor at the point of a gun or elect legislative proxies to do it with the point of a pen. Taking that which is earned from one individual against their will under threat of force or incarceration without an exchange of value is called theft. Unfortunately, another thief who will use confiscated wealth to further acquire power through transfer payments will be added to the US Senate soon.
-Swami Dave
I Report :-) You Whine :-(
July 1st, 2009
6:44 am
Earlier this year, Obama released his budget with great fanfare about how it would supposedly reduce the federal deficit in half in five years. Hidden in the fine print was the awful truth that his budget, now passed by the overwhelmingly Democrat Congress, explodes this year’s deficit to a record busting $1.8 trillion, four times bigger than Bush’s largest deficit, and seven times bigger than Reagan’s largest, which caused so much caterwauling among liberals. The deficit in the last budget passed by a Republican controlled Congress was $162 billion, less than 10% as much.AmSpec
I rule.
DeborahinAthens
July 1st, 2009
6:44 am
To all of you who make remarks about Franken being a “stooge” , etc. Have you ever once in your narrow-minded lives listened to the man on his own radio show? When Air America could be heard here in Atlanta, I listened to him every day. What a relief from the bloviators, Limbaugh and Hannity! My God, he actually had real guests on his show. Real people that sometimes disagreed with him, but his questions were thoughtful and his discussons were respectful of their ideas. He will be a far better Senator than our own Saxby, who can do nothing now that his puppet-master Dubya is no longer around to make him dance.
Swami Dave
July 1st, 2009
6:44 am
TNGelding:
Al Franken is free to use his own money in any way that he sees fit. If he wishes to use hiw own money for activities that he (or you) would consider “altruistic”, then I fully support his right to exercise that free choice.
However, it is not -Al Franken’s- money that we are discussing. It is the money of others who earned it through their own efforts and achievement. -You- did not talk about “Al Franken’s” money in your 6:10; it was the money owned by the other amorphous group “the wealthy”.
They too have the right to use the money that they earn in a fashion that they see fit. Unfortunately, Franken’s vote (as a suspected supporter of the upcoming statist health care solutions or increased energy bills (aka taxes) via “cap & trade” will serve to diminish -their- rights on how -they- would choose to direct -their- money. Even more isidious, Al Franken will be using -their- money via these transfer payments and services to other beneficiaries to acquire more power for himself and his party of collectivist thieves.
The reality remains; if Al Franken and the rest of the collectivists wish to spend -their- money to fund these transfer payments and programs, then I fully support their right to do so. Interestingly enough as has been clearly shown time and again, it seems that all too many liberals (like Joe Biden) are much more “altruistic” with the money conficated from America’s taxpayers than they are with their own! Apparently, -their- definition of “altruistic” has been expanded to include all the “good things” you can do with -other people’s- money too!
I support Al Franken’s (and all collectivists) right to do with his property and earnings what he or they see fit; I simply expect the same courtsey extended in my freedom and opportunity to do the same.
-Swami Dave
josef nix
July 1st, 2009
6:46 am
kamchak–just in case you do check in here, I am not talking about just that 4 year blip 140 years ago. In the introspection you suggest, and which I feel forced into, there are two and one-half centuries of Southern history before that pivotal moment and much of who we are is bound in what we were at that time. Though it will probably never see the light of day given the nature of the publishing industry, that is what one of the manuscripts I am working on deals with, “Dereconstructing History: a revisionist view of the American South starting with Columbus.”
As for 140 years being a long time, I suppose within some frames of reference, particularly the Euro-American, it is, but when you view the human condition from some 6000 years of recorded history, it is merely a blink of the eye.
A Yankee friend of mine once said, “there are two types of Southerners. One doesn’t know the war is over, and the other doesn’t know it has been fought, either way it’s not finished.”
As I said last night, I know I was not being coherent and was speaking more from the heart than the mind. The point I wanted to make on the attack on the tribe and the tribal reaction thereto can be related and compared to how a member may feel when someone says “Jew you down” or “Gypsy thieves,” or “drunken Indian.”
When I asked my grandfather why he was so the way he was in making sure I knew what being a Jew meant and why hold on to “all that,” his comment was, “it matters very little what you call yourself when others are in the definition business for you.”
Finally, you ask forced? By whom? Read over the posts here and the general use of the term Southern to blanketly apply to anything one may disagree with in a negative fashion. Every time such appears, and especially from the outlander, it requires some recognition that at some level or another it applies to self.
Tribal societies are by their very nature exclusionary which sets them up for just such. But that is another topic for another time and place.
Just some thoughts on the way out the door…
josef nix
July 1st, 2009
6:50 am
AmVet–as for only the ones we love, how true! Get me started intra tribu when “they” are not listening and you ought to hear what I have to say about my various tribes and their shennanigans!
ken
July 1st, 2009
7:31 am
TnGelding, so he is educated at Harvard. It shows two things; he had money to go and he can learn. It does not show that he has common sence or integrity. He is a ludicrous figure.
clyde
July 1st, 2009
7:44 am
Over the years I have come to realize that one doesn’t need much for credentials to become a politician.America doesn’t elect their representatives based on achievement.
DB, Gwinnettian
July 1st, 2009
7:46 am
Only difference being, this time, instead of a wrestler, they got a clown.
Actually, Al Franken was a wrestler.
From 1966 to 1969, Franken was a member of the varsity wrestling team at his high school in Hopkins, Minn. Six years after graduation, when he showed up in New York to begin work as a writer on the first season of ”Saturday Night Live,” he was still almost as much an athlete as a comedian. ”He seemed like a total jock,” says the comedian Laraine Newman, who was a member of the original cast. ”He always had a football in his hands when they were writing. And he had this very defined musculature. His butt was like a cut basketball. Which, you know, you don’t normally see in comedy writers.”
DB, Gwinnettian
July 1st, 2009
7:51 am
Good grief, Kamchak!! You and AmVet sound like a couple of girls.
Is that a bad thing to sound like?
Wow. Just when I think you can’t be any more sadly self-loathing…
Bob
July 1st, 2009
7:52 am
I don’t see any mention of Franken being a tax cheat in any of these articles, is it because since he is a dem it is not news. I wonder if the Conyers family paid taxes on her bribes ?
FinnMcCool
July 1st, 2009
7:59 am
I wonder if Sanford would have offered to pay back the state of SC for his Argentine trip if he hadn’t been caught?
Paid In Full
July 1st, 2009
8:00 am
I don’t think these whining losers from the ultra conservative right wing sect even know what the truth is. Their words certainly don’t prove that they actually know anything about this country’s economy or taxes or government, etc. Your right wing losers are really pathetic.
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
8:02 am
Swami Dave
July 1st, 2009
6:29 am
The “achievers” have 10 times as much “invested” in tax free municipal bonds as they do U. S. securities. If they were paying their fair share then the government wouldn’t be running such huge deficits. I’ve expressed here many times that we all are going to have to start paying more, even if just a dollar a week for the poorest among us. The top 1% of households could pay off the national debt with about half of their wealth. It would only take a fourth if the rest of us pitched in the other half.
True, they’re paying a higher percentage of total income taxes than ever because so much of the money needed to run the government is being borrowed.
Of course we need to reduce or just freeze spending, starting with the military once the troops are safely out of Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s way past time to get them out of Korea as well, and there is no need to have them in Japan. Bring them home to stimulate our economy. Of course with all the base closings, there might not be any place to assign them.
That welfare money spends, just like the corporate welfare does. That said, entirely too many are receiving SS disability. I’d bet you know someone that is but is able to work around the house and might even be working for pay as well. That said, there are many others that aren’t receiving it that should be.
FinnMcCool
July 1st, 2009
8:02 am
Ken wrote: He is a ludicrous figure.
Ken, I bet you voted Palin to be your Vice President? Second in line to being “Leader of the Free World?”
Thought so…
Doggone/GA
July 1st, 2009
8:03 am
“I wonder if Sanford would have offered to pay back the state of SC for his Argentine trip if he hadn’t been caught?”
Of course not. If he HAD, then he would have been caught. Until he WAS caught, his one main theme in life was to NOT be caught. Ok, now I’m confusing myself!
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
8:04 am
I Report
You Whine 
July 1st, 2009
6:44 am
How much would this year’s deficit be without the Obama “explosion?”
Paid In Full
July 1st, 2009
8:05 am
Good grief, Kamchak!! You and AmVet sound like a couple of girls
That’s right. Now grow some like @@ or take more from another of those conservative males. Those whining losers don’t need them. Just look at Sanford. “Wah! Wah! Wah! I feel so bad because the Supreme Court of South Carolina told me that I have to help those poor people when all they have to do is marry into money like it did.” Put a sock in it, Sanford.
Doggone/GA
July 1st, 2009
8:10 am
Heard on the news this AM that Coleman is eyeing another run for MN governor. Wouldn’t it be FUN if Ventura would run against him, again…and win, again?
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
8:12 am
Swami Dave
July 1st, 2009
6:44 am
I was only pulling Andy’s leg with the 6:10, but seriously, would Bill Gates be any less rich if he was only worth $1 billion instead of 40? Why should Warren Buffett, Ross Perot, Barbara Bush, John McCain and the aforementioned Biden be receiving SS benefits? It’s the wealthy and middle class entitlements that are the real problem, not what’s being spent on the children, poor and afflicted. Would we need to, and would we, earn as much as we do if we didn’t have the tax burdens?
DB, Gwinnettian
July 1st, 2009
8:13 am
I can’t claim to have read every comment in this thread, but I must say I’ve yet to hear anyone from the conservative side offer a single specific reason to imagine that Al Franken will not represent his MN constituency capably.
Mostly what I hear is a lot of regurgitated talking points about his past professional endeavors, although there’s been scant attention paid to what he’s done in the past ten years or so.
I won’t be the first to point this out, but his AAR show was among the best of its kind, at least in its first year or so (it lost something when he moved back to MN and sidekick Kathrine Lanpter didn’t come along). Along with the very funny comedy bits (and yeah, some serious groaners) were genuinely challenging discussions.
Oh, and Paul (and to a lesser extent J-Nix), from way back @ 4.52pm–are you seriously holding Franken to account for his views on the LGBT community as they were expressed over 33 years ago? Seriously?
For the record, my own attitudes at the time… well, I was going to call them “Neanderthal” but that’s not being fair to actual Neanderthals.
TnGelding
July 1st, 2009
8:15 am
ken
July 1st, 2009
7:31 am
Let’s see how he conducts himself on the floor of the United States Senate. You might be surprised, but then again, I might be.
Bob
July 1st, 2009
8:15 am
Ventura was a failure.
Paul
July 1st, 2009
8:15 am
Latest Gallup Poll:
Number of Americans who think Republican Party is too conservative: 43%, no change
Number of Americans who think Democratic Party is too liberal: 46%, up 7 points, a one-year increase Gallup terms statistically significant. “This is the largest percentage saying so since November 1994, after the party’s losses in that year’s midterm elections.”
Note the operative word “too.” Seems Americans, as a group, don’t like too much of either party’s ideological outliers.
Doggone/GA
July 1st, 2009
8:17 am
“Ventura was a failure”
At what?
FinnMcCool
July 1st, 2009
8:18 am
TNGelding wrote: It’s the wealthy and middle class entitlements that are the real problem, not what’s being spent on the children, poor and afflicted.
How true. Tax breaks are basically just handouts to people who make money. It’s government dole. So, it’s no coincidence that Swami Dave wimpers about tax heights at least twice in his post.
Folks making money don’t want to lose their handouts, either!
If the amount of money the public coffers lost to tax-break handouts for people who make money was matched with money for the poor and disabled someone would find a way to tax the handouts to the poor in order to up the handouts to the wealthy.
FinnMcCool
July 1st, 2009
8:19 am
ooops, only the first paragraph of my 8:18 was a quote of TNGelding.