Regardless of their campaign rhetoric, judges, DAs, sheriffs & police chiefs need a *high* crime rate to justify their bloated budgets. Add in all the peripheral beneficiaries (court clerks, bailiffs, jailers, construction companies building prisons, etc) and you have what I call the "judicial-industrial complex," which is perhaps even more pernicious than its military counterpart.

. . . Ministry of Truth (lies)
Ministry of Peace (war)
Ministry of Love (torture)
Ministry of Plenty (starvation)

Orwell had it nailed.

Check the financial pages lately? The euro isn't in much better shape than the dollar. Ditto the pound. I'll take my interest in Swiss francs or Brazilian reals.

Mr. Parks, *please* move to Florida ASAP. Our RINO governor (Charlie Crist) is running for the Senate -- God willing, he will be crushed in the primary by a *real* Republican. We need someone like you to replace Crist as governor. And as an added bonus, you'll never have to shovel snow again!

Simmons also gave an excellent performance as a 24th-century McCarthyist in an episode of "Star Trek: TNG".

There could be another agenda at work here. Yesterday I heard an online radio interview with a retired Army officer, who predicted ending DADT would spark a mass exodus from the military, which in turn would require restoration of the draft. Perhaps that's the ultimate goal.

AAR, no one of any sexual inclination has a "right" to join the military. All sorts of physical, mental, intellectual & other disqualifiers are already in place. In the mid-1980s single parents were barred from enlisting, and those already serving (like my unit CO) were not-so-subtly persuaded to leave. Until the 1970s any female becoming pregnant -- married or not -- was automatically discharged.

Unfortunately, spooking the geezers works. In 1994, Democrat "Lyin' Lawton" Chiles narrowly won re-election as governor of Florida thanks to an 11th-hour phone blitz claiming challenger Jeb Bush would take away their Social Security checks. (How a state official might derail a *federal* welfare program conveniently went unexplained.) But God has a great sense of humor -- four years later Bush easily defeated the term-limited Lawton's hand-picked successor, then Chiles keeled over dead a few weeks before the inaugural.

"will they kill us? "

To quote Samwise Gamgee, not if we kill them first. That, after all, is what the 2nd Amendment is all about. The massive re-arming of average Americans over the last 2 years is the best news our side could have asked for. Our enemies are ultimately cowards at heart -- they assume we will roll over for their dictates because that is what they would do in the same situation. Just the *threat* of armed resistance may be enough to keep them in line.

No, you're not a sexist, you're a realist. Whether as a result of genetics or indoctrination, the vast majority of women will surrender their freedom for security at the drop of a hat. (That applies socially as well as politically -- witness how many women marry chiefly for money.) And we all know what Ben Franklin had to say about that particular deal with the devil. Lesley Swann, Claire Wolfe, Star Parker & Liz Michael are the exceptions, not the rule.

Note that the nanny state started in earnest after women were given the vote in 1920. (Women's groups also played a large role in getting Prohibition ratified the previous year.) In an earlier post here I advocated repealing the 17th, 23rd and 24th Amendments to help restore the 10th Amendment. If this female bias for security over liberty is indoctrinated, then it can be reversed with education -- something a lot of feminized men equally need. But if it is grounded in genetics, then the 19th Amendment also must go.

"Voter's fee" = poll tax. That would require repeal of the 24th Amendment. Then make the fee/tax proportional to govt. spending (example: $1 per $1 billion) and credit income tax paid against it. How long would Leviathan last if those who paid little or no tax had to cough up >$2000 every 2 years before casting a federal ballot? (Note: Contact me at strider1955@gmail.com to see a document I've created along these lines.)

Also repeal the 23rd Amendment, which gives 3 electoral votes to the parasites infesting Rome-on-the-Potomac. The Founders never meant for anyone to permanently live in the federal capital; it was to be a place for govt. offices, foreign embassies and the President's *temporary* residence. If DC can't be depopulated, require all residents to be legally domiciled in their home states and vote absentee there. Such a system works just fine for military personnel, the President and VP.

Agree 100% with scrapping the 17th Amendment. Before that abomination, the Senate was the states' main check on federal power. Not to mention the billions of $$ that would be saved by not having campaigns for that chamber.