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It’s summer vacation time.  I’m off to New York City tomorrow morning to watch my Yankees pummel the Red Sox on Saturday.  Have really awesome seats.  Then I’m off to Boston to hang out with some friends for a few days.  I need a break from everything.  See you in a week or so.

Happy 4th of July!

As I do every year at this time, I’m posting the Declaration of Independence for your reading pleasure. Reading this marvelous document really puts all the fireworks, parades, and over-mayonnaised potato salads into perspective.

Read what Thomas Jefferson wrote about the dangers and abuses of a government has become too large and too overbearing. Then read about what he says all men must do when a government becomes too large. Has our government become too large? Has our government needlessly taken away our freedoms? Do you think the politicians in charge even give a damn what Thomas Jefferson wrote 234 years ago? How many of them do you think are reading this document today?

Our Founding Fathers did not sacrifice their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor only for America to end up as what it now is.  

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

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I’ve installed a plugin that will allow nested comments now.  This means if you want to reply to a comment somebody made under one of our posts there will now be a reply link you can click on and your comment box will appear under there’s, slightly indented.  This way it’s easier to keep track of who is replying to you.  You should also get an option to notify you by email if you want to know when someone replies to your comment.

Yes, we’re tweeting now.  I’ve finally gotten around to it.  If you want to follow us on Twitter you find us at http://twitter.com/CarolinaPolitic

This is a test post to test the Twitter uplink

John McCain watches Jersey Shore.

In a preview for the show’s next season, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi laments that she doesn’t use tanning beds anymore because “Obama put a 10 percent tax on tanning.”

She says, “McCain would never put a 10 percent tax on tanning, because he’s pale and he would probably want to be tan.”

McCain, a skin cancer survivor, replied Wednesday on Twitter, saying “u r right, I would never tax your tanning bed! Pres Obama’s tax/spend policy is quite The Situation. but I do rec wearing sunscreen!”

Snooki replied: “Haha Yes!!”

KPHO

I’ve finally gotten with the times and put us on Facebook.  I am also trying to set up a direct feed to Twitter as well, but still trying to figure that one out.  Anyway, you can join our Facebook at the link below:

Carolina Politics Online Facebook Page

On this festive occasion that sadly comes only once a year, I wish thee all a Happy 420!

Every time I post something like this, I always get some some response that’s bloated with anger and righteous indignation.

How DARE you say people shouldn’t be allowed to vote! You’re un-American!

But as long as I see people who shouldn’t be allowed to vote actually voting… well, I can’t help but point it out.

Today’s example comes from a undisclosed location. You see, I’m visiting Ma and Pa Celtic at their secret underground survival bunker that we plan to use in case the Democrats take over for good or in the event of a zombie apocalypse… but I repeat myself. Our generator-powered TV was set to the local news, were the big story was the mayoral run-off election in the local city. Early voting had just started and the local news crew interviewed a woman who had just voted. Now, I don’t have the exact quote, but this is a pretty accurate paraphrase of what she said:

“I didn’t vote the first time around, and I didn’t know there was a run-off. I was just walking down the street today and saw the sign for early voting and thought, ‘Hey, as long as I’m here maybe I should go in and vote. So I did’”.

Apparently, according to the local news, this woman is awesome- an example of a true American patriot performing her civic duty. Would that we were all like her.

I think she’s an idiot. And idiots like her are the reason the Celtic Clan invested all the gold G. Gordon Liddy told us to buy in this snazzy new underground bunker.

In case I need to explain to any of you why I feel this way, here we go:

HOW THE HELL DID SHE KNOW WHO TO VOTE FOR?????
HOW THE HELL DOES SHE KNOW WHAT THE ISSUES ARE?????
WHY IS HER VOTE, PRESUMABLY ARRIVED AT BY COIN FLIP, ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS, OR PICKING THE FUNNIEST-SOUNDING LAST NAME, WORTH AS MUCH AS THE VOTE OF SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY GIVES A DAMN AND KNOWS THE ISSUES??????

WHY?????????

This idiot would have done her entire community a great service if she had kept on walking. And this country would be a lot better off if we started passing laws keeping clowns like her out of the voting booth.

Yes, that’s right- I think laws should be passed to prevent some people (the uninformed) from voting. I think that before people vote, they should have to pass a brief civics test with simple questions- simple for people who pay attention, that is. Questions like: name your congressman. Name both U.S. Senators. Which party controls the U.S. House? The state house? Name four freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights (anyone who answers “health care” is automatically disqualified). If you don’t know the answers to these questions, YOU SHOULDN’T BE VOTING! Stay home. Watch American Idol and vote for that instead.

Voting is not a game, folks. Elections have consequences. I know that seems obvious, but we too often forget it. And these consequences are far, FAR too important to allow clowns like that lady to vote.

It’s the most wonderful day of the year!

…but has been very busy. 

Never fear though, fair readers. For I have heard your cries, and I will proceed as promised with a candidate questionnaire. I’ve also got a few other projects up my sleeve. More about those this weekend.

Also, St. Patrick’s Day is almost here, so I need to clear next week schedule for a full seven days of drinking. So if you don’t hear from me all next week… well, you know.

I finally succeeded at installing a new widget on the Web site that will allow us to create polls which is something I’ve been wanting to try out for some time now.  I’ve played around with it a bit and it seems to work so I’ll probably try it out in the coming days.

I received this in an email from one of our readers who sent this letter to the editor to several of the local newspapers.  I told him I would post it here since I wrote about a similar incident that I disapproved of involving the City of Charlotte city manager about a month ago.

With reference to The Herald’s Dec 15 article “Rock Hill City Manager gets new agreement” as the city deals with a tight budget in a down economy, the city manager with a $171,683 annual salary, the highest paid public County official, get’s a $4,200 bonus. In 2002 the starting salary was $128,000.

Now the concern with reference to the Herald’s Dec 27 article “Probing the causes of Rock Hill’s job crisis” of 23.3% unemployment, basically one in four are out in the unemployment line.

When everyone else has been forced to hunker down, lay off or get laid off, cutback, or go out of business, where does this money come from to give public officials these kinds of raises and perks?

PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND!

Jim Harper
Fort Mill,SC

2009 has been a tough year for a lot of us. Having jackasses in powerful and influential places didn’t make things easier, did it? But here is your revenge; your chance to tell those jackasses that they’re… well, jackasses. That they aren’t as awesome as they seem to think they are. That the world would be a lot better and brighter if they just went the hell away.

After gathering your nominations, I asked you to vote for who you considered to be the biggest jackasses of 2009. And boy, did you ever. I’ve collected your emails and your comments, counted the votes, and am pleased to give you the results. It was real tense towards the end, with a surprisingly close vote between #1 and #2.  There’s also a holdover from last year’s Jackass contest. Unlike last year, when the top 5 jackasses were from N.C., this year we have a good mix between the two states. And of  course, jackassery knows no party- there is a good mix of Democrat and Republican.

As always, thanks for voting. Have a great 2010 and keep watching out for those jackasses trying to make your new year miserable. 2010 Jackass nominations are just 11 months away!

Today: Your Jackass also-rans. In no particular order, the jackasses who didn’t make the top 5, but who can rightly claim the mantle of “jackass”:

-”Gosh” (aka: “Giggles”) and other Trolls
-Hugh Holliman
-Tony Rand
-The Wake County Schools Status Quo Crowd
-Cal Cunningham
-Lindsey Graham

Tomorrow: Your choice for the 5th Biggest Jackass of 2009.