Rally Round the Flag Pole

Yesterday, September 17, was Constitution Day and all federally funded education institutions were required to hold a celebration of sorts to honor it. At Central Alabama Community College, where I attend classes, the day was marked by a rally around the flag pole.

In the SGA meeting the day before I had volunteered to deliver an address on what Constitution Day is. The following is the text of the 2 1/2 minute speech I gave while wearing my 4th Amendment shirt. It was video taped but the dean asked me not to share it due to privacy concerns of other students. I will try and separate the audio and make my own video to go with it.


Constitution Day

On September 17, 1787 the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the document they had created. The constitution provides the basic law of a body politic. The constitution defines the government, describes how it is organized and how the people who make it up are to be chosen and specifies what powers the government can and cannot exercise.

Additionally, the Constitution contains a group of special freedoms called the Bill of Rights. These special freedoms were enshrined in the Constitution by the founders of the country in order that they always form a back-bone of liberty for America's citizens.

Of course, it is important to remember that the bill of rights was never intended to be a list of all the rights we have. As pointed out in the 9th amendment, the Bill of Rights is a list of certain things the government is not allowed to do to you. Just because a right is not listed does not mean you don’t have that right.

Included are freedom of speech, assembly, press freedom, the right to bear arms, freedom from unlawful search and seizure, freedom from having military troops quartered in your home just to name few.

Can any of you name another right enshrined in the Bill of Rights?
* Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.
* Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel
* Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.
* Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.
* Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
* Tenth Amendment – Powers of States and people.

Many of the rights that make up the bill of rights are infringed upon or outright violated every day by the government, both local and federal. For example, every time a police officer uses the words of a confidential informant in a drug case the 6th Amendment is violated. Drug defendants are never given the right to face their accuser because in drug a case police can claim that a confidential informant told them something but, because the informant is confidential, they are never identified and never have to testify under oath thereby denying the accused the Constitutional right to face their accuser.

The right to peacefully assemble is violated every time a government official requires you to acquire a permit to have a gathering.

The right to own a gun has been infringed upon in Washington DC, New York City and Chicago. The DC case recently went to the Supreme Court and was overturned and the right to own a gun was reinstated for those living there.

In Jefferson and Shelby counties the Eighth Amendment has been violated in an ongoing manner for some time. In those counties people have been held in jail with no bond on misdemeanor charges. Some were held over six months with no hearing before the judge. Some were told that if they didn’t pay thousands of dollars they would not get a hearing before the judge. One woman who was jailed on unpaid traffic tickets went through a 14 month ordeal in and out of jail. She lost her home, her job and she and her young children had to move to a homeless shelter. Some of my lawyer friends have now filed class action lawsuits in those counties.

And, rather ironically, this ‘celebration’ we are having today is unconstitutional. Constitution Day: (n.) Observed on September 17, the day on which federally funded American educational institutions, themselves unconstitutional, are unconstitutionally required to teach about the Constitution.

However, I see this day as a teaching opportunity to enlighten young Americans about the Constitution, how to exercise the rights enshrined in it, and I strongly encourage all of you to become intimately familiar with this incredible document. Yes you have rights but if you don’t know what they are or how to exercise them then they are worth no more than the paper they are written on. I’ve brought pocket Constitutions for all of you. Please read them and keep them handy.

HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY

The audience was stunned silent for a moment and then started clapping. A number of faculty and a few students complimented me on the speech. The SGA sponsor noted that I had done a lot of homework.

I have to say though, that the setting was bizarre. The attendees were mostly fortunate, comfortable white kids who have probably never had a hard day in their life, standing by the flag pole and worshiping the flag and the government and all of the wonderful freedoms we have, while in the background and all around us were state work release prisoners, all black, dressed in white prison clothes, raking leaves and planting flowers. It reminded me of the old South and made me uncomfortable. I wonder what the prisoners performing slave labor thought about all the freedom praise going on around them? I hope they took note of my part of the speech about the 6th Amendment and how it is violated in every drug case where a confidential informant is used to get a conviction. I assume some of them were in state custody on drug charges.

Anyway, it was an interesting day. I enjoyed speaking to my fellow students and faculty and am even happier some of the prisoners were able to hear what I had to say. I look forward to shaking things up even more as time goes by.

DIGG this!

SGA Update

Today was the first Student Government Association Meeting at central Alabama Community College. The entire group, with the exception of myself and my husband, appear to be members of the golf team and cheer leading squad. The SGA sponsor is the golf coach.

At this meeting nominations were made for officer positions. For some strange reason the President position is already filled even though no one got to vote on it. My speech teacher asked about that and someone in speech class said that the person was Vice President last year and automatically moved into the President slot. That's not very democratic if you ask me...but, oh well.

The Vice President position was still open so I nominated myself for that. I have one opponent who also nominated herself. I don't know how the elections take place. Either the SGA members vote on it or the entire student body votes on it. I have asked for clarification and hope to have some soon.

Tomorrow is Constitution Day and we were asked to volunteer for one of the following duties.

1) Lead the Pledge of Allegiance.....No thanks
2) Lead a prayer.....No Thanks
3) Sing God Bless America....No Thanks
4) Read aloud a description of what Constitution Day is....Now we're talking

When I volunteered to read the description the President suggested I read the one sent out with the original email announcing the celebration. The coach who sponsors it asked me, "Are you the lady who sent me the email about Constitution Day?"

"Yes, that was me...sorry if I came across as a bit harsh."

Coach: "No, don't apologize I was actually proud of you."

Then he announces to the president and the rest of the attendees that they need not worry about me because I am well versed on the subject, know exactly what I am talking about and that I could read whatever I wanted to describe Constitution Day.

That was pretty cool.

So, tomorrow at 12:35 I will be gathered around the flagpole with my fellow members of the SGA and I will educate them about what Constitution Day is. I also ordered 50 pocket Constitutions and tonight I plan to write on the inside of every front cover...


VOTE LORETTA NALL FOR VP of SGA

I hope I get elected. If I do the very first thing I will do is set up a book swap. We need a little free market competiton because the bookstore prices are OUTRAGEOUS!!! Plus they ripped me off for $223. I bought one book but then dropped the class and returned the book the next day. Instead of refunding my money the goobers charged me twice for the same book. Now I am having to fight with them to get it back.

I'll keep y'all posted on how the SGA elections work. The election is October 7th. Wish me luck!

The Constitution, The Pledge, and SGA

You know...I thought when I got to college the instructors would be folks who held college degrees and would be well read in things like the Constitution, the history of our country and so forth.

Sadly, I was mistaken.

A couple days ago I got this email from a Coach at CACC concerning celebrating Constitution Day on September 17.


Constitution Day...

okay, I've never heard of this day before either, but someone here at CACC has and
******** felt that it would be a good idea if we celebrated this day by visiting the CACC flagpole and saying the Pledge of Allegiance. The A/C SGA will sponsor this event and possibly we can have one of our new young members start us all on God Bless America.

Date: September 17th

Time: 12:30 pm

Location: In front of the Administration Building, surrounding the US Flag. For
those out of touch, it's the one with Red & White stripes, and in one corner a navy
blue background with 50 stars in white. It'll come back to you when you see it.

Thanks

Needless to say, after reading that I was very disappointed. I was sure that higher education had evolved past the point of having coaches conduct any kind of educational activities that involve history or government or social studies. In high school I expect to see a coach in one of those positions. I've never understood it as most coaches I've encountered teaching those subjects wouldn't have known what the Constitution said/meant even if it was tattooed on the back of their eyelids. In this case the coach admits he had never even heard of Constitution Day. My question is why in the hell is he leading the parade around the flag pole then? I can name at least two instructors who would have been far better suited to conduct a Constitution Day gathering than this guy.

I was also astounded that the recommended way to celebrate Constitution Day was to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance has absolutely nothing to do with the Constitution. It was written over 100 years later by a man named Francis Bellamy who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy. The original Pledge which read "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all" was published in the September 8th issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day. The event was conceived by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, in a campaign to sell American flags and American nationalism to public schools.

Even scarier than the plot to sell National Socialism (NAZI Party in Germany) to American public school children is the original salute that went with the pledge. from Wikipedia


Swearing of the pledge is accompanied by a salute. An early version of the salute, adopted in 1892, was known as the Bellamy salute. It ended with the arm outstretched and the palm upwards. It eventually evolved to palm downward. Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in the United States, instead of the Bellamy salute.

I'm one of those 'weird' people who thinks making children say the Pledge of Allegiance in school is wrong. It is complete government indoctrination. Making school children pledge allegiance to the government is just fundamentally wrong in so many ways. Children don't have a clue what government is or what it does and public schools certainly don't teach children the real role of government. In fact, public schools only teach what the government wants them to teach. And what does the government want them to teach? That the government is wonderful, all powerful and that no individual can exist without the government.

I'm also not down with a possible rendition of "God Bless America". I don't believe in the Christian god nor any other gods. And, for those that do believe, isn't asking God to bless America kind of selfish? It's like praying before a football game. What is being prayed for? Victory over the other team? You really think the same God that Christians believe created and controls the entire universe and everything in it has time or even interest in the outcome of a football game? Or that this country should be blessed over all the other countries in God's infinite creation?

But what really pissed me off was the coach's insulting remark at the end of the email...

Location: In front of the Administration Building, surrounding the US Flag. For those out of touch, it's the one with Red & White stripes, and in one corner a navy blue background with 50 stars in white. It'll come back to you when you see it.

WTF? How insulting can one be? Insinuating that those who might be interested in joining in a celebration of Constitution Day wouldn't know what the US flag looks like? The same flag that each and every one of those possible participants was made to pledge allegiance to for 12 years of their life in public school? Really?

This whole thing made my blood pressure go up. After I calmed down I sent the coach a reply email informing him of how fundamentally wrong he was about the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America being the proper way to celebrate Constitution Day. I proposed that a more proper way to celebrate it would be to have a program educating students about the Constitution, what it says, what it does, how to exercise the rights granted by it and so forth and also a discussion on how the government (both Democrats and Republicans) are destroying it each and every day. I also told him his quip about the flag was completely inappropriate and insulting. I also asked him how to go about joining the Student Government Association (SGA). He is apparently in charge of it. YIKES!

He wrote me back and acknowledged that I am better educated in this area than he is, that he hopes to see me at the flag pole and that the first SGA meeting is next Wednesday. During this meeting new members will be accepted and officers will be nominated. I plan to throw my hat into the ring for an officer position. Possibly the president of the SGA.

I also plan to attend the flag pole event. I'll be wearing my 4th Amendment t-shirt which reads...

Morning Joe on MSNBC

Joe Scarborough, who is the main anchor on MSNBC's Morning Joe, drives me ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT CRAZY!!!! I don't know how many of you watch this show early in the morning, but those of you that have watched it or do watch it will know exactly what I am talking about.

Why can't Joe shut up when it's Mika's turn to talk? He'll ask her a question and then talk over her while she is attempting to answer. She can be introducing the next segment or talking with a guest and there's Joe running his yap so you can't understand anything anyone is saying.

Sometimes Mika looks at him like she wants to whack him, and frankly I don't see how she refrains from it. If I were the co-anchor sitting in that chair beside Joe and he started blabbing when it was my turn to talk or while I was talking to a guest, I would stuff his damn tie down his throat. Or even better...rig his chair up to a shocking device and zap his rude ass whenever he cut me off.

I don't get show formats where things like this go on. News and talk shows on FOX are the worst for this kind of behavior. O'Reilly screams his guests down and cuts their mic's when he doesn't like what they have to say. When Hannity and Colmes were still doing a show together it was the same way. One would ask the guest a question and then both would proceed to answer the question over the guest who was trying to answer it. I know because I was on the show. I didn't participate in their little game though. They'd ask me a question, then they would holler at each other about the answer, and when they were done, I would answer it. I got hundreds of emails from viewers thanking me for not jumping in their verbal fray and waiting until they were done so viewers could hear what I was saying.

I guess my point is why have guests or co-hosts when you do not intend to let them participate? Another question would be why do so many people watch shows done in that format? I'm not a regular viewer of any morning news shows (except watching Tim Lennox anchor the CBS 8 Morning News ) which comes on it 2 minutes.

Class Action Lawsuit Aganist Shelby County

Late last week a story broke about a man named Terrance Datcher, who was arrested on March 18, 2009 by the Harpersville police, on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Datcher then spent the next six months in jail and was told by Shelby Co. officials that he had to pay $6,000 in fines before he would be allowed a hearing before the judge.

According to the Birmingham News "Judge Hub Harrington said Datcher's nearly six months in jail was longer than any sentence had he been convicted of the misdemeanors. Harrington said he will set a hearing to determine whether Datcher's civil rights were violated and whether to grant an injunction to keep Harpersville from holding indigent inmates for jail terms similar to Datcher's".

Sadly stories of indigent people being held for outrageous amounts of time in jail on misdemeanor charges are becoming all too common in Alabama. There have been at least two cases recently in Jefferson County and one in Mobile County. In the Mobile Co. incident the inmate was mentally ill and was beaten to death in an argument over the television. In one Jefferson Co. case the city of Birmingham has agreed to stop jailing indigent inmates on misdemeanor charges simply because they are unable to pay. There has been no verdict oin the Irondale case.

They never should have been holding indigent people on misdemeanor charges to begin with. Our Constitution prohibits that. Why is it that when we break the law we are jailed but when the people who jail us break the law and nothing happens to them? They don't set a very good example do they?

I heard from sources close to the case that Mr. Datcher is also mentally ill. I also know that a Class Action lawsuit is in the works against Shelby County because of Mr. Datcher's treatment. If you have ever been through Harpersville and your rights were violated please contact the law firm of Pino and Associates.

Harpersville is a very small town on the Shelby Co./Talladega Co. line on HWY 280. It is a speed trap like no other anywhere in Alabama. Harpersville also likes to set up traffic stops on 280 in the wee hours of the morning and harass unsuspecting motorists. I went through one in 2008 on my return trip from Vancouver, Canada. As far as I am aware that traffic stop was illegal because police cannot impede the flow of traffic on a major 4 lane highway. In other word they cannot set up license checks on 280 at any time. I escaped my encounter unscathed. Many others have not.

I've heard from more than one reputable source that if you get caught with marijuana in Harpersville they will drop the drug charge and charge you will possession of paraphernalia because the fine is higher.

Anyway, if you have been stopped going through Harpersville or anywhere else in Shelby Co. and you feel your right were violated then contact Pino and Associates and get in on this class action lawsuit. Likewise, if you know anyone who has experienced injustice in Shelby Co. have them contact Pino and Associates.

My First Egg!

Today one of my hens laid an egg! It is the first egg I have seen from any of my 10 hens. I am so excited! I have been waiting for months for them to start laying. Now they will be paying for their keep!


While I am posting pictures I thought I'd post one the baddest rooster on the yard.


He is only about 5 months old and he is HUGE. He is a Black Giant or Jersey Giant. They build their frame for six months and then put on weight. He'll be around 15 pounds when he is fully grown. He is absolutely stunning. When the sunlight hits him he is as green as a glass sprite bottle.

Georgia Drug Cops Murder Innocent Preacher

There is a horrific news story breaking out of Northwest Georgia. A young preacher who was not the target of a botched drug raid was shot while in his car trying to get away. The preacher had just dropped off a woman who was the target of the drug raid.

The preacher went into the store and used the ATM after dropping the woman off. He then went back outside and got in his car to leave when plain clothes cops jumped out of an SUV and opened fire on him. They shot him through the liver and he crashed his car and died. The cops told his 4 month pregnant wife that he died in an accident. They failed to mention they shot him and caused the wreck.

Here is the video.

My husband and I will be traveling to the preacher's church in Toccoa, Georgia on Sunday to talk with the members.

Troy King Jumps on "Keep Kids Home on Obama Speech Day" Bandwagon

I first heard about this "Keep Your Kids Home From School So They Won't Be Exposed To Obama" trend last night as I was flipping through the news. I think I heard that it was started by Glenn Beck.

Now Alabama Attorney General Troy King has jumped on this bizarre bandwagon. Troy isn't keeping his kids out of school though. He's told the school that he doesn't want his children to participate.

Troy King for Attorney General Obama is to address students across America on September 8th. Parents, be ready to unindoctrinate your kids when they get home!

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Troy King for Attorney General

I have to disagree with those who think we should keep our kids home. I do not believe my kids should have to lose a day of their education over this. Instead, parents should call the school, voice their displeasure, and insist that their kids not be made to participate. I did.

What the hell is wrong with these people? It reminds me of a story my husband told recently. He was at work and happened to overhear a conversation where a woman said, "If any of my kids ever come home a speakin' that Mexican shit I'll pop'em in tha mouth."

I don't get this anti-intellectual mentality. It's like people want to be against something purely for the sake of being against it. However they don't want to listen to or know anything about what they are against...don't want exposure to it...not even so that they can formulate a reason and articulate why they are against it.

This mentality reminds me of the scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when the dwarfs first find Snow White lying asleep across their beds, Grumpy gripes, "Angel, huh? She's female, an' all females is poison! They're full o' wicked wiles." When Bashful asks, "What're wicked wiles?" Grumpy admits, "I don't know, but I'm agin 'em."

If I'm against something I want to know all I can about it so as to be able to effectively argue against it. Don't you?

Now, I agree with parents rights to not have their children indoctrinated in public schools. For instance, I never allowed my children to participate in DARE...because that really is indoctrination. I knew what was taught in DARE, having been exposed to it in school and through my work in drug policy reform. And DARE is an ongoing class, complete with a trip to the local jail where children are locked in a cell and treated like criminals. Complete indoctrination. When you think about it all public education is indoctrination to some degree. I've been deprogramming my children from day one of their public school education. But a Presidents speech? I don't think that counts as indoctrination.

I can remember seeing Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan on TV in my first grade classroom. Presidents are on TV almost daily. They give news conferences, State of the Union speeches, interviews and so forth and so on. During elections their campaign ads air around the clock on every channel. They read books to kindergartners and try to be seen with children as often as possible. There's probably even been one or two on Sesame Street. It is nearly impossible to not be exposed to the President of the United States...unless you live in an underground cave and have no contact with the outside world.

Besides, if you're really that afraid of what President Obama might say, shouldn't YOU WATCH the speech and discuss all the reasons you disagree with its content with your children?

PS - Be sure to visit Troy King's Facebook Page and read all of the fascinating and sometimes downright frightening thoughts of our Attorney General. He even has a "Star light Star Bright" poem.

All A's

Yeah....that's me I'm talking about!

Yesterday I took my first big biology test. It covered the first four chapters and included the terminology of anatomy and physiology, cells, tissues and the integumentary system. It was 28 pages of notes and two labs. 150 questions. I studied my butt off and thought I would do well.

However, that test was HARD because of the way things were worded. After I took it I knew I had passed but wasn't sure I had gotten the A I so desperately wanted. I thought I would be lucky to have a C.

The grades have now been posted online in their entirety and I made a drumroll please............. 94 on the test, got all my points except one on the labs and homework and I currently have the highest average in the class, which is a 99!

I feel like doing back flips!!

I am doing very well in speech class. I have all of my points there and aced a quiz yesterday. I don't know the average but I know I have an A. Every day the instructor, who is an extremely liberal Democrat, and I have a discussion about politics. We're both junkies and we both enjoy batting the latest political news back and forth. He also likes to discuss very controversial topics with the whole class and I just adore that. Most of the people in class are just out of high school and have no life experience. I like to see them shocked and their beliefs challenged. Two of the best topics so far have been religion and homosexuality. During the discussion about homosexuality one little girl who just graduated high school was spouting off incredibly hateful and ignorant shit about gays. I mean serious self-righteous indignation bullshit. "Oh it's a sin, an abomination, a choice cause God wouldn't make anyone be born gay." She mentioned that she had a two year old child. I thought but didn't say..."Well fornication is a sin and having a bastard young'un is a sin...so where is your righteous indignation for yourself and your bastard child? Doesn't the bible say that all sins are equal and that no sin is worse than any other sin?" Anyway it is a fun class and I know some students leave fuming after nearly every class.

English 101 is awesome. On Tuesday we had to turn in three introductory paragraphs about the subject we picked to write on. I chose Troy King because he has provided such an abundance of material to write about in his 6 glorious years in office. After I read my first paragraph in class my instructor said "EXCELLENT!" She told us at the beginning of the term that she was going to keep us in a tight box until we learned the basics and would try and let us get out of that box some as the term progressed. After she read my paragraph she said I was already waaaaaay outside the box.

Last week my English instructor commented on how well laid out my arguments were for the article in the Talladega Daily Home The Marijuana Debate. I told her that I have been writing for a few years and that I would like to send her some of my stuff. She said she would love to read it. So, I sent her The Great Prison Panty Rebellion of Alabama. I was a little scared of what she might think....thought she might look at me funny in class. However, I had nothing to worry about. After she read it she told me in front of the whole class that she LOVED it and more importantly she said, "I've spent 38 years of my life trying to teach people to write like that." To me that is a HUGE compliment.

I am really enjoying the college experience. A weird thing is happening though. In every class someone asks me for help. Now, they don't know what my grades are. They know that I am involved in politics, promote drug policy reform and that I ran for Governor in 2006. It never fails that before English class someone will ask me to read their paper and make suggestions. Same thing in speech class and even in biology. I'm not sure what it is that draws people to me. Maybe they see me as an authority figure...which is really weird because I hate authority figures. Or maybe it is something else entirely. Whatever it is it's neat.

I am so very happy that I enrolled in college. Should have done it years ago.

Do What?

I read the following sentences in my local newspaper this morning in a story about the traffic blitz (fleecing of the public)going on right now.

“It’s a stepped up effort to educate and inform the traffic laws,” Capt. William Kennedy said. “I can tell that it does have an impact on their driving behavior.”


How does one go about educating and informing the traffic laws? Do traffic laws drive? Do they have driving behavior?

Sadly, police officers who lack even rudimentary communications skills are abundant in Alabama. But, hell, why do cops need communications skills when they can just point a gun at you and order you to obey their authoritah? Still, it would be very nice if they were coherent and could string together a proper sentence.

Alabama Gubernatorial Forum Recap

Lost in Montgomery has an excellent and entertaining recap of the first Alabama Gubernatorial Forum leading up to the 2010 election.

After reading it all I can say is the field of candidates is just sad.

Marc Emery Farewell Tour

Marc Emery and Loretta Nall

My mentor and very close friend Marc Emery is on a farewell tour of Canada before he turns himself in at the US/Canada border on September 19 and pleads guilty to trafficking marijuana. He is expected to spend at least five years in a US Federal prison.

For those of you unfamiliar with the case The Drug War Chronicle has a great piece on it today. Please read and leave your comments.

Marc never actually sold marijuana in the US and, for all practical purposes, never sold actual marijuana at all. He sold seeds. From Canada. And was arrested by our wonderful "Land of the Free" government, courtesy of your US tax dollars. Don't that make you proud to be an American? We have so few real problems and dangerous criminals here in the good ol' USofA that we can afford to expend our resources arresting citizens of other countries for selling seeds. It's political and Marc Emery will be a political prisoner.

With the millions of dollars Marc made selling seeds he funded the marijuana movement all across the globe. And that's why the DEA arrested him. For being an outspoken advocate for changes in the marijuana law and for pumping millions of dollars into agitating the government in a peaceful, non-violent way. DEA chief Karen Tandy admitted as much in the press release about Marc's arrest in 2005.

I am planning to organize a Free Marc Emery gathering on Sept. 19, possibly in Birmingham. I'll post more details about that as things come together. I'll also be writing more in the coming days on my relationship with Marc through the years, how much he means to the movement and to me and what we can all do to try and get the Canadian government to let him serve his time in a Canadian federal prison instead of a US federal prison.

Vote Roy Moore Or I'll Kick Your Ass With A Bible

Chuck Norris Endorses Roy Moore for Governor of Alabama

Norris endorsed Mike Huckabee for President in 2008. Huckabee didn't win. Let's hope that trend continues.

Troy King as Forrest Gump

Finally some action in the Attorney General race.


Luther Strange said: Attorney General Troy King should reimburse the state for any tax money spent on private lawyers to represent his office in a federal grand jury investigation.


Troy King responded: "My father always told me you never make yourself any bigger by tearing another man down."

Good grief TK this is politics...all y'all do is tear each other down in order to distract the public from the very real problems we have and to keep from having to address those problems.

This is going to be a fun race. I can't wait to see Troy get stomped! I see helium-filled sex pigs in Troy King's campaign trail future.

Loretta, You Leave Kay Ivey Alone You Mean Old Atheist !

Back a couple of years ago State Treasurer Kay Ivey and I had a small skirmish about the Separation of Church and State. My son was attending an event with other high school kids from across the state and Mrs. Ivey was one of the speakers. She touted her faith as important to her and gave it credit in her success in life.

I had no problem with that. Everyone in this country is free to express their religion. Unfortunately, Mrs. Ivey decided to go further than simple expression of her faith and ridicule non-believers referring to them as 'ooze that needed to crawl back under the rock it came from'.

And as you can probably guess that really pissed me off.

I wrote her office and demanded an apology. And I got a half-assed non-apology apology from Mrs. Ivey.

Now, every so often someone will post a comment on the original post and say things like the following...

Stop making such a big deal and being a baby. Those are here beliefs and she was just stating them. She doesn't owe your son anything. If you don't like her don't vote for her next election.. but stop bitching it's not a big deal.

And those comments leave me wondering what planet the person posting it might hail from. It's like they can't understand the difference between someone expressing their beliefs and someone attacking others for their beliefs or lack there of. There is a big difference. As I stated in the opening of this post, if Kay Ivey had stopped at expressing her faith that would have been fine. But when she ridiculed every kid in the audience who didn't share her faith, going so far as to call them 'ooze' she crossed a very serious line. And she admitted guilt because she "apologized".

These same people who post comments like that would go absolutely ape shit if an Atheist in a position of power and presiding over a captive audience of public school students had dared even express their lack of faith much less ridicule others for having a faith. Can you imagine the uproar? Alabamians would have the poor Atheist stoned to death in the public square.

Yet, they will defend with their last breath their right to ridicule others for not sharing their faith. They think they can run over everyone else because there are more of them. I'd like to remind them that might does not equal right and that my freedom to not believe in their imaginary sky wizard is the same freedom they exercise to believe in the sky wizard. Tinkering with or encouraging suppression of my freedom is doing the same thing to their own freedom.

What about that concept do these kinds of "Christians" not get? I mean it's a simple concept right? It's not rocket science.

Argentina Decriminalizes Marijuana

Argentina Court Ruling Allows for Personal Possession

This is the third Latin American country to see the light this year. Brazil was first, followed by Mexico and now Argentina.

They keep this up and they just may see white people streaming across the other way at the border. I doubt they would build walls to keep us out either.

Mexico Legalizes Personal Possession of Drugs

Mexico legalizes small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin


The maximum amount of marijuana for "personal use" under the new law is 5 grams—the equivalent of about four joints. The limit is a half gram for cocaine, the equivalent of about 4 "lines." For other drugs, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams for LSD.

Mexico has emphasized the need to differentiate drug addicts and casual users from the violent traffickers whose turf battles have contributed to the deaths of more than 11,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006.

Now if only Americans were as smart as Mexicans. Alas, I'm afraid we are not.

What Luck!

Yesterday I wanted to drop a class I didn't need and try to pick up one I needed. Most of the classes I needed were full before I registered, so I had to fill my schedule with other stuff in order to attend full time. The class I wanted to drop was a computer class taught in the evening...and I did not want to be in class until 8 pm. I wanted to either drop it and pick up English 101 or Psychology and, if that wasn't possible, I wanted to at least try and take the computer course online.

Well wonder of wonders...not only did I get to drop the computer class and pick up English 101, I found out the instructor is the same one I had for the Summer term. She wasn't supposed to be teaching a 101 this term but as luck would have it she is. She is a wonderful instructor and I am thrilled to be having her again.

Classes have gone well this week. I love the speech class. The instructor of that class is also very good. And he is an Agnostic to boot! Next Monday all students have to do a three minute introductory speech about who they are and what their background is. I'm really looking forward to that. I've always enjoyed public speaking.

Biology class is a different matter altogether. That stuff is challenging! It's like learning a whole new language and the complicated mechanisms of an incredibly complex machine all at the same time. And the instructor flies through it. I get the feeling this class will be one of rote memorization and hours and hours and hours spent with my nose in my notes. I also have to dissect a cat, which I am not really looking forward to. I love kitties. I have no interest in knowing what they look like on the inside though.

Audio: Loretta Nall on Cultural Baggage

For those of you who may have been unable to listen to me co-host Drug Truth Network's Cultural Baggage on Sunday evening here is the audio file .

Emails from a Canadian in Singapore

You'll all remember last week when it came to light that Georgia Rep. Tommy Benton (R-Jefferson) told a constituent that he would like to see marijuana users caned (like they do in Singapore) and marijuana businesspeople executed. Rep. Benton then forwarded his email conversation with his constituent to the local sheriff's office in an attempt to intimidate and frighten his constituent.

Yesterday I received two emails from a Canadain living in Singapore and teaching at an International School. I thought I'd share them with you. I have removed the name for privacy reasons.

Hi,

I currently teach at an international school in Singapore, the place your wacko politico Tommy Benton wants to emulate, and I can say that in the international high schools weed is certainly available, albeit not cheap (US$40/gram).

Singapore is hardly a model to borrow from, a society of docile, brainwashed drones who live in constant fear of speaking out against their government.

Tommy Benton is a war criminal, or at the very least he aspires to be
one, so on that note perhaps we should cane him first to set an example
to others who would chain the herb and hurt the people.

And here is the email our friend in Singapore sent to Rep. Tommy Benton.


As an international school teacher currently living in Singapore I can
say with certainty that at the high school level cannabis IS freely
available to students here, and while there is no significant "drug problem" per se,
that is a function of local culture, not of gov't policy, since cannabis
would not be in widespread use even were it legal here (the problems
here are general, widespread fear of speaking out on political
issues, and a living in a society of docile, brainwashed drones who are
amongst the most selfish, inconsiderate, unhappy people I have ever encountered in
my 11 years of overseas living)

Furthermore, their use of caning is a punishment that requires no justification from the gov't here since it is a fairly intolerant and cruel dictatorship, giving uncritical military and political support to the Burmese generals who educate their children here as well as deposit their billions in stolen $$$ into Singapore banks.

That said, criminal prohibition is a clear risk factor for youth, and leads to increased harm, as you will realize if you are intellectually capable of following the argument made in the attached document.

As a committed member of his local church it is clear that he has not actually read the bible much, as Genesis 1:23 unambiguously asserts that all plants
are given to us from our maker.

Death penalty and caning? Perhaps the rep. would consider being amongst
the first test cases...

As for passing along the names to police of any who oppose him, I would
suggest he refer to the final pages of the attached paper, which clearly
indicate that he is associated with and highly supportive of some very
deep and systemic professional teaching ethics violations, but reason
and ethics don't appear to matter much to a man who has already ignored
the very first book of the bible he claims to worship, do they...?

Tommy Benton is perhaps best at illustrating the bigotry and
intellectual sloppiness inherent in American society today, and if he
were to get a passport and see Singapore for himself he would see that
it ranks about 140th of 160 countries in terms of press freedom, a place
where, similar to his own values, the wet cane and the truncheon take
the place of reason and wisdom...

What a frightening farce you people are.


I am still working to get an action going in Georgia. Will post here when things are confirmed.