You know, we could give Alaska back to Russia while we're at it!

Frankly, since the repugs/neocons/assholes hate liberty and free speech and separation of church and state so much, I think every damn one of them who actually voted for and support Bush and his lies and his oppressive BS and his age of war ought to be shipped out to the most oppressive Muslim countries, let them fight this religious zealotry ideology crap out amongst themselves, and let the rest of us live in peace.

Failing that, your plan sounds appealling. Or the original idea of seceding from the Union...and we'd charge them out the ass for airspace access for their flights, for access to our ports, and sue for repayment of the billions of taxpayer dollars they owe everyone else. Seems only fair, don't you think? ;)

As I said before:

If you voted for George Bush
&
You are not fighting in Iraq,
You are a
HYPOCRITICAL COWARD!

Lyndon Johnson, dismayed while signing civil rights legislation, said 'We just gave the south to the Republicans for a generation'.

The following are excerpts from American History - Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase

This land deal was arguably the greatest achievement of Thomas Jefferson's presidency but also posed a major philosophical problem for Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson was strongly anti-federalist. While he might have written the Declaration of Independence, he definitely did not author the Constitution. Instead, that document was mainly written by James Madison. Jefferson spoke against a strong federal government and instead advocated states' rights. He feared tyranny of any kind and only recognized the need for a strong, central government in terms of foreign affairs.

By completing this purchase, Jefferson had to put aside his principles because the allowance for this type of transaction was not expressly listed in the Constitution. Waiting for a Constitutional amendment might cause the deal to fall through. Therefore, Jefferson decided to go through with the purchase. Luckily, the people of the United States basically agreed that this was an excellent move.

But one wonders if he might regret the means in which he earned this fame.

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Oh, right, we're in the Humor Section. Sorry for being serious. Read on .........

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Taken from Daniel Boorstin on TJ :

"Jefferson, in my opinion, was the apostle of experience. In other words, he was the person who believed that everything had to change. He thought that every generation should have the opportunity to have its own revolution, to write its own laws, and that was his vision of the past and the future." "Well, you know, he was not perfect, unlike many of us, of course. He had limitations. For example, he had practically no sense of humor."

So what is the legacy of Thomas Jefferson?
"Well, the legacy of Thomas Jefferson is that we can always learn something new and that his ideas, like those of others, will be subject to revision."

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Now for the humorous portion of this otherwise dry installment ; TJ was a Head that really knew the meaning of getting stoned.

In closure, my favourite TJ quote ;

1787 Nov. 13. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." (to W. S. Smith, B.12.356)

Hmmmm.....

What a tangled web....consider, if you will, the fact that the Civil War was about more than the simplified reason taught in school, i.e. slavery. It went further than that. Northern businessmen were incensed that the South was able to undercut their prices over and over, specifically because of slavery, which equalled nearly free labor, leading to lower overhead, leading to lower prices (sidethought..kinda like Wallyworld having lower prices due to slave labor wages paid to far eastern countries).

They couldn't beat 'em in the market place...enter the gov. Petition after petition to Congress to ban slavery, NOT because northerners weren't prejudiced, but for the most ancient of reasons...money. The south fought back, on Jeffersonian terms, quoting state rights over federal rights. Of course, those who TRULY cared about the plight of African slaves joined in the fray, welcoming the opportunity to push for freedom for the African slave population.

We all know too well where it eventually wound up, on battlefield after battlefield, states rights versus federalism, slavery versus freedom. And here we are, a hundred and fifty odd years later, still battling in words the war between the states that never really ended. Reader's Digest version of the war, granted, but a decent summation.

So what is the solution? Should states rights trump federal rights, as believed by the Confederacy, in the spirit of Jefferson, thus leading to states being able to impose slavery, abolish abortion, enforce one religion on all, making life possibly intolerable within each state's borders with no federal oversight? Should federalism trump states rights, leading to record deficits, an old confederate style mentality being imposed on all with the systematic elimination of civil rights and affirmative action, the ability of a select group of powerful businessmen and corporations to dictate what we see on our media, control our votes, and every aspect of our lives, with the feds able to violate every civil right we have under the Bill of Rights?

If neither of those options seems reasonable in the twenty first century, what do we do then? Fight another civil war, with poorly armed citizens lined against the federally controlled military? I doubt that scenario would ever take place in our age, people are frankly too spoiled with modern conveniences to make the sacrifices that would entail. The corporations have done their job very, very well, of 'domesticating' the unruly unwashed masses.

Hell, who cares anymore? We can just switch on the boob tube and lose ourselves in the mindless corporate controlled pablum and forget all this stuff! Ooops, gotta go, Jon Stewart is coming on, don't wanna miss his biting commentary on our insane world! Hey, at least you get SOME nuggets of truth there, while the carpetbaggers are bleeding us dry! And I really need a good laugh today, don't you? ;)

Geoff,

I don't think France would take the red states back. Even if we gave it to them, they wouldn't want them!

Lynn