You can have our federal money along with a new state motto: "Michigan - The Slave State". n

• Why? - TechSupport
  • That being said, what they fail to remember is this..... - MT and worn out
    • You can have our federal money along with a new state motto: "Michigan - The Slave State". n - HomeAlone
      • Actually, we DO have a saying here in MI...... - MT and worn out
        • I sympathize with you MT from MI sm - MT 30+ years and running
        • Ah, but will you be able to afford the electric bill? - HomeAlone
          • Just wait until they - Trigger Happy
  • Just another example - Trigger Happy
    • We can start in 2010 by yanking his Democratic majority in Congress away from him. SM - HomeAlone
      • I want them out now before - Trigger Happy
        • Used to be only the 'mob' made offers - Mythbuster
        • We can't be quick enough. You've seen how they're passing enormous bills - - HomeAlone

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Many people were confined against their will just because someone wanted them "out of the way." These were normal people with no mental illness - that is why it is so difficult - don't blame the liberals. Blame your state.

CONFINING THE MENTALLY ILL


In the legal space between what a society should and should not do, taking action to restrict the liberty of people who are mentally ill sits in the grayest of gray areas.

Our notions about civil and constitutional rights flow from an assumption of "normalcy." Step beyond the boundaries and arrest and prison may legally follow. Short of that, government's ability to hold people against their will is severely and properly limited. Unusual behavior on the part of someone who is mentally ill is not illegal behavior. Freedom can't be snatched away on a whim, or on the thought that a person is hard to look at, hard to hear, hard to smell.

It was only a few decades ago that the promise of new medications and a change in attitude opened the doors of the mental hospitals and sent many patients into society. There, they would somehow "normalize" and join everyone else, supported by networks of out-patient facilities, job training, special living arrangements and regular, appropriate medication. But the transition has been imperfect, long and difficult.

In some parts of urban America there is little professional support for those with mental health problems. A new generation of drug and alcohol-fueled mental illness has come on the scene. People frequently end up on the street, un-medicated and exhibiting a full range of behaviors that are discomforting at the very least and threatening at their worst.

Written last Thanksgiving:  "Some would argue that two different nations actually celebrated: upright, moral, traditional red America and the dissolute, liberal blue states clustered on the periphery of the heartland. The truth, however, is much more complicated and interesting than that.

Take two iconic states: Texas and Massachusetts. In some ways, they were the two states competing in the last election. In the world's imagination, you couldn't have two starker opposites. One is the homeplace of Harvard, gay marriage, high taxes, and social permissiveness. The other is Bush country, solidly Republican, traditional, and gun-toting. Massachusetts voted for Kerry over Bush 62 to 37 percent; Texas voted for Bush over Kerry 61 to 38 percent.

So ask yourself a simple question: which state has the highest divorce rate? Marriage was a key issue in the last election, with Massachusetts' gay marriages becoming a symbol of alleged blue state decadence and moral decay. But in actual fact, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country at 2.4 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. Texas - which until recently made private gay sex a criminal offence - has a divorce rate of 4.1. A fluke? Not at all. The states with the highest divorce rates in the U.S. are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. And the states with the lowest divorce rates are: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Every single one of the high divorce rate states went for Bush. Every single one of the low divorce rate states went for Kerry. The Bible Belt divorce rate, in fact, is roughly 50 percent higher than the national average.

Some of this discrepancy can be accounted for by the fact that couples tend to marry younger in the Bible Belt - and many clearly don't have the maturity to know what they're getting into. There's some correlation too between rates of college education and stable marriages, with the Bible Belt lagging a highly educated state like Massachusetts. But the irony still holds. Those parts of America that most fiercely uphold what they believe are traditional values are not those parts where traditional values are healthiest. Hypocrisy? Perhaps. A more insightful explanation is that these socially troubled communities cling onto absolutes in the abstract because they cannot live up to them in practice.

But doesn't being born again help bring down divorce rates? Jesus, after all, was mum on the subject of homosexuality, but was very clear about divorce, declaring it a sin unless adultery was involved. A recent study, however, found no measurable difference in divorce rates between those who are "born again" and those who are not. 29 percent of Baptists have been divorced, compared to 21 percent of Catholics. Moreover, a staggering 23 percent of married born-agains have been divorced twice or more. Teen births? Again, the contrast is striking. In a state like Texas, where the religious right is extremely strong and the rhetoric against teenage sex is gale-force strong, the teen births as a percentage of all births is 16.1 percent. In liberal, secular, gay-friendly Massachusetts, it's 7.4, almost half. Marriage itself is less popular in Texas than in Massachusetts. In Texas, the percent of people unmarried is 32.4 percent; in Massachusetts, it's 26.8 percent. So even with a higher marriage rate, Massachusetts manages a divorce rate almost half of its "conservative" rival.

Or take abortion. America is one of the few Western countries where the legality of abortion is still ferociously disputed. It's a country where the religious right is arguably the strongest single voting bloc, and in which abortion is a constant feature of cultural politics. Compare it to a country like Holland, perhaps the epitome of socially liberal, relativist liberalism. So which country has the highest rate of abortion? It's not even close. America has an abortion rate of 21 abortions per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44. Holland has a rate of 6.8. Americans, in other words, have three times as many abortions as the Dutch. Remind me again: which country is the most socially conservative?

Even a cursory look at the leading members of the forces of social conservatism in America reveals the same pattern. The top conservative talk-radio host, Rush Limbaugh, has had three divorces and an addiction to pain-killers. The most popular conservative television personality, Bill O'Reilly, just settled a sex harassment suit that indicated a highly active adulterous sex life. Bill Bennett, the guru of the social right, was for many years a gambling addict. Karl Rove's chief outreach manager to conservative Catholics for the last four years, Deal Hudson, also turned out to be a man with a history of sexual harassment. Bob Barr, the conservative Georgian congressman who wrote the "Defense of Marriage Act," has had three wives so far. The states which register the highest ratings for the hot new television show, "Desperate Housewives," are all Bush-states.

The complicated truth is that America truly is a divided and conflicted country. But it's a grotesque exaggeration to say that the split is geographical, or correlated with blue and red states. Many of America's biggest "sinners" are those most intent on upholding virtue. In fact, it may be partly because they know sin so close-up that they want to prevent its occurrence among others. And some of those states which have the most liberal legal climate - the Northeast and parts of the upper MidWest - are also, in practice, among the most socially conservative. To ascribe all this to "hypocrisy" seems to me too crude an explanation. America is simply a far more complicated and diverse place than crude red and blue divisions can explain.

they are adding police and only in the big cities do they have paid firemen. The rest are volunteers.

I look at it this way: If a state can't stay in the black, then they have to cut spending some place that wouldn't jeopardize the safety of the citizens. Threats of cutting essential services like Barney Fife stated today are unjustified. Cut the non-essential services first.

Our governor talks about cutting back on services, laying off government workers, which I think is a good idea because government is too big anyway, but then he turns around and spends more money on non-essential items. Doesn't make sense.  

So very very sad.

 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0704-04.htm

go off on your own fantasy with nothing to support it!!!  DailyKos is merely a website where people go to express liberal opinions.  The AIP is a radical group that is involved with weapons.  There leader was MURDERED or he would be on the govt terrorist list.  Research, research, research.  Or else clearly label your posts "my fantasy about what ...... probably. said or did or thought  ......"

Good grief!!!  "CHANGE??"  I think not!!! and Hilly for SECRETARY OF STATE -- well, we transcriptionists are in deep poop -- we have a new Prez -- NO track record and I have been involved with "Illlinois politics" all of my life  -- what people don't realize and it is this way in ANY major city, is that THAT particular city RULES -- look at the "print media"  -- I come from DeKalb, which last Valentines Day was the LAST massive campus shooting  but the media reported "downstate Illinois"  while we are 60 miles to the west  ---

Regressing and living in Laramie WY when Matthew Shepard was MURDERED -- I typed his preliminary reports  -- I could not go out and get groceries without the press HOUNDING  -- the day after Matt died, I was watching Dateline and here was MY apartment with my curtains open on NATIONAL television  -- thing of it was, I found out they took shots from I-80  -- FIVE miles from my home!!!!

Think about it and the press and SENSATIONALISM!!!!

Many people were confined against their will just because someone wanted them "out of the way." These were normal people with no mental illness - that is why it is so difficult - don't blame the liberals. Blame your state.

CONFINING THE MENTALLY ILL


In the legal space between what a society should and should not do, taking action to restrict the liberty of people who are mentally ill sits in the grayest of gray areas.

Our notions about civil and constitutional rights flow from an assumption of "normalcy." Step beyond the boundaries and arrest and prison may legally follow. Short of that, government's ability to hold people against their will is severely and properly limited. Unusual behavior on the part of someone who is mentally ill is not illegal behavior. Freedom can't be snatched away on a whim, or on the thought that a person is hard to look at, hard to hear, hard to smell.

It was only a few decades ago that the promise of new medications and a change in attitude opened the doors of the mental hospitals and sent many patients into society. There, they would somehow "normalize" and join everyone else, supported by networks of out-patient facilities, job training, special living arrangements and regular, appropriate medication. But the transition has been imperfect, long and difficult.

In some parts of urban America there is little professional support for those with mental health problems. A new generation of drug and alcohol-fueled mental illness has come on the scene. People frequently end up on the street, un-medicated and exhibiting a full range of behaviors that are discomforting at the very least and threatening at their worst.

I think first and foremost, you should look into the history of the Trail Maids.  I'm not so sure they have anything to do with slavery or racism.  That being said, I doubt too many people will actually look any further than the costumes, which, as you have pointed out, reek of the plantation era.  I agree they need to be pulled from the parade because of the image it gives Alabama as a whole.  I can't wait to see TN's contribution.  It wouldn't surprise me one bit if there was a rebel flag in there somewhere.  ARRRRGGGG!!!!

http://www.johnstrange.com/edm310summer07/hinds/history.html

Maybe this is like the preacher issue for the inauguration.  First, he picks a preacher that is about as far right as you can get, and then picks a gay bishop.  I think he's trying to appeal to all people across the board.  However, I don't really see how he's going to fix the trail maid thing.

Let's not forget why we really voted for Obama.  Yeah, there are some who voted for him simply because he's black, but the majority of America (including myself) voted for him because we believe he represents the change this country needs and can deliver that change.  The preacher thing as well as this issue are hard pills to swallow, but there will be many more important things to worry about than a parade or a prayer, and those are the things that will count.  Hang in there.

house in the county about 15 years ago. We have 2.5 acres and they put the value at $25,000 an acre. We also had a trailer on it for DH's mother.  So, the home we built for $25,000 plus the acreage and trailer took our assessement up to $125K from $55,000.  We appealed because the appraisal for the trailer was $0. (It was a 1967 trailer). Still, because it was liveable, they wouldn't accept the appraisal, but we did manage to get it down to $100K.

Our county taxes have not gone up in a while, but that will probably change this year....BUT, the school taxes go up every year and we don't have kids in school. Right now, school taxes are 3x the county taxes. We also pay $252 per person a year for the priviledge of living and $50 per person for the priviledge of working.  

We tore down the trailer last year. County said it would take $500 off the bill. Sure enough, the school taxes went up $500 more. It's a losing situation with the school, and now they want to remodel 2 of the schools to the tune of $150 million.

Relief from property taxes was supposed to start LAST YEAR, but no one, in this county at least, has seen any difference in the amount they pay, except that they always go up.

the illegals if only 1 or 2 are caught. They let them go. Half the time, ICE doesn't even show up to verify if our police catch are illegals.

We have a whole town being populated by Hispanics, unknown if illegal or legal, opening businesses catering to their foods and lifestyle. The town has a population of around 6,000, and there are 2,400 Hispanics now living there.

the money to the casinos and sports arenas. PA, believe it or not, is off the "50 Worse Roads in the Country" put out by Overdrive magazine every year. We're #3 this year. That's because they rebuilt part of the turnpike.

BTW, roads need tri-axles to do the work. Tri-axle owners have to go through a broker. If the broker has his own trucks, his trucks work, the owners don't. Although a broker is not supposed to use his trucks because of prevailing wages on these jobs unless he pays prevailing wages, they get away with it somehow...one broker used to make up fake lease/owner papers so his trucks could work.  Theyall leave the owner/operators in the dust and cut them out of the jobs. I'm talking from experience.