Quote of the Day

"Do they not know that the Yankees have got the atomic bomb now?"

-- Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D), quoted by the Athens Banner-Herald, on Georgia Republicans threatening to secede from the United States.

I say let them go. Via Taegan.

Mother uses Bible verse on modesty to fight Texas school dress code requiring tucked-in shirts

Paging Governor Perry..... on that secession thing? I may have changed my mind.

Dyker Neyland says she fought for her daughter's right to attend Irving's Thomas Haley Elementary School wearing an untucked shirt because of her religious beliefs as a Christian.

The Irving school board agreed with her this week and overturned decisions by the principal and district administrators, who had told Neyland that her daughter, Javé, must attend school with her shirt tucked in.

Neyland says Javé, a 7-year-old second-grader, has the right to wear her shirttail out because of a Bible verse, 1 Timothy 2:9, which dictates that "women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing."

"I don't want her behind showing," Neyland said. "I don't want her body being exposed."

I don't want to write this post

By GottaLaff

Photo by Angela Rowlings

Sometimes I am too optimistic. And unrealistic. After Ted Kennedy's Senate appearance when he voted on the stim bill, I had this little, tiny, weensy shred of hope that he'd be around forever. Sadly, my wee shred is now a micro-wisp:

Sen. Ted Kennedy, wintering in an undisclosed location in Florida, may never return to the Senate, friends say, as his battle with brain cancer enters its final rounds.

“He’s someplace sunny, near the water, where he can rest and sail,” said a pal of the senior senator. “Time is of the essence. It’s very sad.” [...]

“He’s very sick,” said another Kennedy associate. “He’s actually done well to get to this point.” [...]

Because of Kennedy’s condition, off-the-record speculation about the future of his Senate seat has been rampant this week - especially in light of a seven-part Boring Broadsheet opus that is being widely viewed as a premature obituary. And yesterday’s installment was interpreted by some close to the matter as the first step in a torch-passing to Kennedy’s wife, Vicki.

“It appeared to be setting up Vicki’s senate campaign,” said one insider.

The story described the former Victoria Reggie as “a great lawyer” with “tremendous political skills” and “great sense of humor.” [...]

Should Kennedy be unable to finish out his senate term, which ends in 2012, a special election must be held within 145 to 160 days of the seat becoming vacant. The big question is: Will Kennedy make it known that he wants his wife to succeed him - a move that would almost assuredly guarantee Vicki the seat?

My heart is breaking.

H/t: Hilz

Sarah Palin still thinks she has the power to appoint

By GottaLaff

To anyone out there who still believes Grandma Also (did Bristol ever give birth?) has any clue whatsoever about anything whatsoever also too, including how her very own Alaskan very own government works, this should finally give you pause:

GIZZI: You made it clear in our interviews earlier this year that you were not close to fellow Republicans Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young from your state, both of whom you said had a different vision of Alaska’s dealings with the federal government than you did. Were you pleased with the election of Democrat Mark Begich who defeated Stevens and with the re-election of Rep. Young?

PALIN: I met yesterday with Sen.-elect Begich to see that we are on the same page as we move forward as he starts his new job representing Alaska.

I thought that Sen. Stevens was going to be re-elected, and it was so close, and that if he were to step aside because he was convicted [on corruption charges], then I would get to appoint a Republican. So I was kind of surprised at the outcome there.

Did you get it? It’s in the second paragraph of her answer; “then I would get to appoint a Republican.” Wha…? Wh-wha…? [...]

If you didn’t get it, I’ll remind you of the background. And keep in mind while I recount, that Sarah Palin was Frank Murkowski’s immediate successor. She ran for Lt. Governor in 2002 when all this started. She was not living in the woods, subsistence hunting, and cut off from civilization. [...]

[Frank] Murkowski decided that he was going to run for governor. So he ran, and he won. Now came the question of who would succeed Frank in his Senate seat. [...] Frank chose his daughter, Lisa Murkowski to fill his seat. [...] Republicans and Democrats alike across the state were seeing red. It was a huge, big, fat, major deal. [...]

And to make a very long story short, the issue made it to the ballot. Should Alaskans continue to allow Senators to appoint their replacements, thereby assuring the continuity of representation in the Senate? Or should voters hold a special election, foregoing the continuity, in favor of keeping control over who actually gets the seat.

The special election won hands down. The governor was stripped of the power of appointment. [...] [A]nd everybody who wasn’t living in a cave knew it.

Apparently Sarah Palin was living in a cave, because she just told the planet how bummed she was that Ted Stevens didn’t win, and then get convicted, so she could appoint a Republican to his seat.

Shortly after Palin’s Human Events interview was released, Shannyn Moore talked to Senator Elect Mark Begich on Air America. She asked him what he thought of her misperception, and complete lack of understanding about what she does and does not have the power to do.

King of the diplomatic understatement, Begich said he was “a little surprised” when he read it. He went on to say, “You and I both know, as do thousands of people who voted. I don’t know what that all meant. It was a little odd.”

I’ll tell you what it all meant. It meant that Sarah Palin has not been paying attention to some incredibly basic aspects of Alaska government, and hasn’t been since at least 2002 when Murkowski the Younger was appointed to the Senate. She also wasn’t paying attention in 2004, when the law was changed. She also wasn’t paying attention in 2008 when every national news media was asking whether she had the power to appoint, and the answer was no.

In addition, to anyone out there who still insists on equating Grandma Also's "experience" with Obama's, this should prove once and for all that it's not merely one's experience, but how one applies it, that matters. That and a minimum of judgment. And logic. And awareness. And intelligence. And intellectual honesty. And ability. And not being an utter ditz with the attention span of a gnat.

Sarah Palin: See, Peter Principle.

Main Entry:

Peter Principle

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Laurence J. Peter †1990 American (Canad.-born) educator

Date:

1968

: an observation: in a hierarchy employees tend to rise to the level of their incompetence

Does BushCo have a secret succession plan?

By GottaLaff

Now that my computer is gone forever, and until I can load a new one (or even buy one), I can't upload videos. Go here to see a clip of Jane Mayer on CNN, and to read the rest of this piece:

Mayer's book contains myriad shocking revelations about the Bush administration's war on terror policies, but it also lets some questions linger. For example, has President Bush issued a secret order cutting Congress out of the line of succession in case the Bush and vice president Dick Cheney were simultaneously killed.

Slate's Bruce Ackerman lays out the possibility.

Apparently sometime in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan issued a "secret executive order" that in the event of the death of the president and the vice president "established a means of re-creating the executive branch." Reagan's order violated the express terms of the Constitution and governing statutes.

Does a similar order exist today? We aren't told. But we do know that Dick Cheney participated in the secret "doomsday" exercises under the Reagan order, and given his central role at present, it is imperative for Congress to find out.

Can we keep the pressure on John Conyers please?