BryanP

Wow. Usually the "this President won't leave office, he'll manufacture some emergency and establish martial law" conspiracy crap doesn't come out until at least a year or so before the election. I'm trying to think, how many presidents have I heard this about? I'm pretty sure every one of them since Reagan. They might have said it about him too, but I was still in high school and wasn't paying as close attention to politics.

[quote name='101' timestamp='1353014625' post='846169'] Don't burn me too bad. I'm not saying he was right, I'm just saying maybe he wasn't entirely wrong. [/quote] He was entirely wrong. It was a friggin min-pin. He might as well have been afraid of a teacup poodle. If you have a problem with the neighbors dog in your yard, as long as it isn't attacking anyone you have any number of options. Call animal control. Pop it with a frickin BB gun. You don't go shooting a gun in a residential neighborhood for a non life-threatening situation.

My wife makes a killer Apricot Nectar Cake. Darn good stuff. Amusingly enough, we found her mother's "secret recipe" copied from the beat-up index card that's older than I am, is widely available online. I compared it, and it's the exact recipe, point for point. 1 18.25oz packaged lemon cake mix. 1/3 cup white suger 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup apricot nectar 4 eggs 1 cup confectioner's sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Combine cake mix with sugar, cooking oil, and apricot nectar. Beat for two minutes with mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a plate. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice with confectioners' sugar until you reach desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over sides of warm cake.

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By way of Marko Kloos at this blog posting I found an interesting take on the story: [url="http://www.munchkinwrangler.com/2012/11/13/the-surveillance-state-eats-its-own/"]http://www.munchkinw...e-eats-its-own/[/url] [indent=1] [i]“Having the career of the beloved CIA Director and the commanding general in Afghanistan instantly destroyed due to highly invasive and unwarranted electronic surveillance is almost enough to make one believe not only that there is a god, but that he is an ardent civil libertarian.”[/i][/indent]

[quote name='JayC' timestamp='1352817072' post='844785'] Boy, how we gloss over history of our first despot [/quote] If you're going to go back to people who ignored the Constitution, you have to go further. Jefferson had absolutely zero constitutional authority to make the Louisiana Purchase, but he went ahead and did it anyway. It seems to have worked out for us in the long term, but it was still unconstitutional as hell.

[quote name='enfield' timestamp='1352816789' post='844782'] The government is REQUIRED to care about the petitions - it's in the Constitution. Read it some time. [/quote] The rights outlined in the Constitution allow the people to petition their government for redress of grievances without fear or reprisal. It doesn't mean they actually have to do anything about your petition.

She's introduced some variation of this every single year since the old one expired. Every year it goes nowhere. This is not to say that we shouldn't be vigilant and make sure our reps (even the ones with a D next to their name) know how we feel, but I don't think it's a reason to start panicking just yet.

This guy up at the University of Michigan did a series of maps in 2008, and he's now updated them for 2012. He starts with the basic Red State Blue State, then starts distorting the map to allow for population density. Then he shows the red counties vs blue counties layout, and then distorts that map based on population density. Then lastly he uses color gradients (blue/purple/red) to show how split we really are. Even in the "deeply red" and "deeply blue" sections of the country, we are split more than you'd think. Fascinating stuff. [url="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/"]http://www-personal..../election/2012/[/url] [img]http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/countymappurple1024.png[/img]

[quote name='QuietDan' timestamp='1352424287' post='842171'] What's an inn-u-endo? Sounds painful! [/quote] That's when you try to put your gun in a holster it wasn't designed for.

For a pure home defense model I'd pick up a Mossberg or Remington 20 ga "Youth" model. Shorter overall length, easier to handle for people of smaller stature.

Here we go. I knew it was out there somewhere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid_v._Covert [i]Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the Constitution supersedes international treaties ratified by the United States Senate. According to the decision, "this Court has regularly and uniformly recognized the supremacy of the Constitution over a treaty," although the case itself was with regard to an executive agreement, not a "treaty" in the U.S. legal sense, and the agreement itself has never been ruled unconstitutional.[/i]

[quote]any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.[/quote] That would appear to be the key phrase. A treaty cannot override the Constitution.

[quote name='Steelharp' timestamp='1352372183' post='841696'] [url="http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/11/military-absentee-ballots-delivered-one-day-late-would-have-swung-election-for-romney/"]http://www.duffelblo...ion-for-romney/[/url] [/quote] Heh. Duffleblog - it's like The Onion for the Armed Forces. Great satire/humor site.

[quote name='OhShoot' timestamp='1352312974' post='841156'] Only a couple or three states that require that, I think all in NE. There is no federal "adjoining state" law. - OS [/quote] Thanks. Learned something new today.

He is wrong. You can buy a long gun such as your rifle from an FFL in another state. For all other inter-state firearms transactions you must have the gun sent to an FFL in the buyer's state. Scenario 1: You buy a rifle from Joe's Gun Shop in Kentucky, but you life in Tennessee. Status: perfectly legal. Scenario 2: You buy a handgun from Joe's Gun Shop in Kentucky, but you life in Tennessee. Status: illegal. Scenario 3: You buy a rifle OR a handgun from Bill the guy you know in Alabama, but you life in Tennessee. Status: illegal. edited to correct misinformation, thanks OhShoot for correcting me

Honestly, I don't think we'll see much. They've got much bigger fish to fry. Given a choice between fighting for Obamacare and fighting for a new AWB, he'll spend his political capitol on the former. I'd be more worried about the long term implications of two more Supreme Court appointments.

Nope. Next question?

[quote name='CZ9MM' timestamp='1352254403' post='840524'] Fox is currently reporting that Florida has Romney with 3,000 more votes than Obama...76% reporting. Can we say [i]close[/i]? [/quote] Flipping back and forth, NBC just had Romney ahead of Obama by a whopping 193 votes in Florida.

[quote name='gjohnsoniv' timestamp='1352235326' post='840276'] Yahoo! is reporting ballot machines automatically selecting Romney, even have a video of it. True or not who knows but they're hinting at the idea of Romney owning the machine company thereby writing in some code that would only choose him. [/quote] If it's anything like this, it's probably just a glitchy machine. Unfortunately we've become so polarized now that anything odd is automatically seen as fraud. And it's both sides doing this. "Ohmagawd! They're gonna steal the election!!!!! Our guys would never do that, but THEY WOULD!!!" *sigh* [media][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=QdpGd74DrBM[/media[/media]]

[quote name='CZ9MM' timestamp='1352231867' post='840215'] Just got back to work from voting the first time around. Something that I was surprised was how the electronic machines work. I think I understand that different precincts use different machines, but in mine the "administrator" swiped a card on the machine to "activate it, and then you just vote. I assumed you would have to enter some unique ID that could only be used once into the machine, and then vote. In the current setup (assuming that their was a band of corrupt administration at the location), could they not allow the same person to go through line multiple times and continue to swipe the card authorizing them to vote? Then again I suppose they take your manila card and theoretically make sure the total number of votes equals the total number of cards? Of course it is a flawed system, but it just makes me grind my teeth thinking about how flawed it actually is. [/quote] This is why you have volunteer pollsters who hail from both sides of the political spectrum. They watch one another. The only way we could ever have 100% accountability would be to give up the anonymous vote. Are you ready to do that?

[quote name='TLRMADE' timestamp='1352231205' post='840197'] Is it illegal to take a pic of your ballot? [/quote] Depends on where you live. Looks like you're okay in TN. http://www.citmedialaw.org/state-law-documenting-vote-2012 It would appear that the possibility of doing so actually invalidating your vote is only if you live in Michigan or Hawaii. http://www.salon.com/2012/11/06/it_may_be_illegal_to_instagram_your_ballot/

[quote name='OhShoot' timestamp='1352230447' post='840184'] I'm still looking around to verify, but seems that really most any ID with address on it would suffice, but we have always had to show something that verified address. At least since I was a young man. - OS [/quote] Yes, and for most of us that would have been a photo ID - a driver's license generally. But technically you could show non-photo ID that had your name and address. It's only this year that we are required by law to show a .gov issued photo ID. Don't worry, I'm sure voter ID laws will be used to backdoor a de facto national ID card system.

[quote name='OhShoot' timestamp='1352228605' post='840154'] Dunno, but NY doesn't require any kind of ID to vote, photo or otherwise. [b]Does that mean they have to have voter registration card? Well, that would be an ID.[/b] [/quote] [quote name='BryanP' timestamp='1352229111' post='840162'] It wasn't all that long ago (last year) that we were one of those states [/quote] [quote name='OhShoot' timestamp='1352229383' post='840166'] I've been voting since the 60's, [b]seems I've always had to show something? At least voter registration card?[/b] I don't recall ever showing up and simply being able to announce my name? Isn't our newest law only about official picture ID? - OS [/quote] Exactly. Prior to 2012 you only had to show a voter registration card in Tennessee. Making people show a government issued photo ID card is relatively recent.

[quote name='OhShoot' timestamp='1352228605' post='840154'] Dunno, but NY doesn't require any kind of ID to vote, photo or otherwise. Does that mean they have to have voter registration card? Well, that would be an ID. How the frig does that work in those states, people just show up and claim to be themselves verbally only? According to Wiki summary, about 20 states require no ID whatsoever: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_ID_Laws_in_the_United_States"]http://en.wikipedia....e_United_States[/url] - OS [/quote] It wasn't all that long ago (last year) that we were one of those states. Do you think we were a hotbed of voter fraud right up until this election? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with requiring identification, but I don't think it's going to be a huge problem. Besides it's New York. We already know who will take NY, just like we all know who will take TN.