Saturday, July 26, 2008

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Zogby Poll: One in Five Americans Believe States Have the Right to Secede


Middlebury Institute/Zogby Poll: One in Five Americans Believe States Have the Right to Secede Survey finds 18% would support a secessionist effort in their state

July 23, 2008

UTICA, New York – One in five American adults – 22% – believe that any state or region has the right to “peaceably secede from the United States and become an independent republic,” a new Middlebury Institute/Zogby International telephone poll shows.

"I believe any state or region has the right to peaceably secede and become an independent republic:" Agree 22% Disagree 73% Not sure 5%

The level of support for the right of secession was consistent in every region in the country, though the percentage was slightly higher in the South (26%) and the East (24%). The figures were also consistent for every age group, but backing was strongest among younger adults, as 40% among those age 18 to 24 and 24% among those age 25 to 34 agreed states and regions have secession rights.

Broken down by race, the highest percentage agreeing with the right to secede was among Hispanics (43%) and African-Americans (40%). Among white respondents, 17% said states or regions should have the right to peaceably secede.

"I believe the United States' system is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections": Agree 44% Disagree 53% Not sure 3%

Politically, liberal thinkers were much more likely to favor the right to secession for states and regions, as 32% of mainline liberals agreed with the concept. Among the very liberal the support was only slightly less enthusiastic – 28% said they favored such a right. Meanwhile, just 17% of mainline conservatives thought it should exist as an option for states or regions of the nation.

Asked whether they would support a secessionist movement in their own state, 18% said they would, with those in the South most likely to say they would back such an effort. In the South, 24% said they would support such an effort, while 15% in the West and Midwest said the same. Here, too, younger adults were more likely than older adults to be supportive – 35% of those under age 30 would support secession in their state, compared to just 17% of those over age 65. Among African Americans, 33% said they would support secession, compared to just 15% of white adults. The more education a respondent had, the less likely they were to support secession – as 38% of those with less than a high school diploma would support it, compared to just 10% of those with a college degree.

"I would support a secessionist effort in my state:" Agree 18% Disagree 72% Not sure 10%

To gauge the extent to which support for secession comes from a sense that the nation’s current system is not working, a separate question was asked about agreement that “the United States’ system is broken and cannot be fixed by traditional two-party politics and elections.” Nearly half of respondents agreed with this statement, with 27% who somewhat agree and 18% who strongly agree.

The telephone poll, conducted by Zogby International, included 1,209 American adult respondents. It was conducted July 9-13, 2008, and carries a margin of error of ± 2.9 per cent.

The sponsor of the poll was the Middlebury Institute, a think tank for “the study of separatism, secession, and self-determination,” based in Cold Spring, NY. Their website address is: MiddleburyInstitute.org. Also at Zogby Poll page.

For content, contact: Kirkpatrick Sale, Director, Middlebury Institute, at 845-265-3158 or Director@MiddleburyInstitute.org

For methodology, contact: Fritz Wenzel, 315-624-0200 ext. 229 or 419-205-0287 or fritz@zogby.com

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The evil that males do.... a photographic essay...

...with far too much female emotional support for, or fear of resisting, their brutal acts...just some un-filed images from My Pictures folder.

Prompted by a reading of Israeli historian Benny Morris NY Times reality-based opinion piece pretty much recommending nuking Iran. My letter to the editor in response?


Since we're all being so "realistic" about what to do about nuclear weapons in the middle east, how about this as a solution? The United States does a first strike on Israel's nuclear delivery systems- air, missile and submarine. And invades and captures its nuclear depots. Then the Iranians won't have a reason to build a nuclear bomb because the US will then be able to persuade Israel to give up all the land it has stolen from the Palestinians, permit the right of return and become a democratic state of all its members. Then Americans could stop worrying about $12 a gallon oil and world nuclear war.

If you can't beat 'em, join em??






Sunday, July 13, 2008

Ron Paul Revolution Rally Great Turnout

The Ron Paul Revolution March and Rally got a great turnout - at very least 3,000 - on the west side of the capitol building on Saturday, July 12. It was too darn hot to drag my old bod down but lots of energetic liberty-loving young people were there and put up videos so we can all see how it went. So I'll make up for my absence by posting the best ones I saw so far. The big news from dozens of mainstream media outlets was that Ron Paul had - sort of - dropped out of the race. Good blog entry about event here. See Ron Paul speech and Naomi Klein speech and Michael Scheuer speech defending our civil liberties.

Here crowd is chanting "Ron Paul Revolution"! Just as loud as lefties chant - "Who's streets? Our streets!"


LeakTheTruth has a bunch of good ones, including marchers booing the I.R.S. building:


OneVisionProductions has a few videos of the march itself. Some other good photos here and photos and video here.

Someone interviewed Iraq Veteran against the War Adam Kokesh talking about impeachment and includes Ron Paul's speech.


See "Fascist Cops" versus Free Speech Profanity in this video. See short one on cops versus Guy Fawkes masks here.

Search July 12 Revolution March on Youtube.com for more!

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Pick up your phone and yell F*** Bush Three Times

See relevant article about this Washington Post ad - before the Senate passed the FISA "compromise" telecom SPYING bill. Oh, well. The good news is that if Obama really is a Muslim plant, he'll have full power to spy on, prosecute, imprison and execute all the neoconservatives and other war mongering racist imperialists who deserve it. Including Bush himself.
Update: if you want to support the people who brought the original suits and intend to bring more to stop all this unconstitutional wiretapping, go to the relevant Electronic Frontiers Foundation page.

Monday, July 07, 2008

July 4th Protest of Bush at Monticello -While Iraqis kick us out?

I don't know what makes me happier, the beginning of this video where Bush gets protested for being a war criminal on July 4, 2008 at Thomas Jefferson's home - or Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki talking about requiring (or is it demanding) United States troops to leave on the Iraqi's time table, not on the U.S.'s time table.

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Is Senator Joe Lieberman an Israeli Spy??

I was half listening to Senator Joe Lieberman on an ABC Sunday Morning talk show yap about bombing Iran for the good of Israel, oh, yeah, and America, too. (Lieberman, of course, is the defeated 2000 Democratic V.P. candidate who turned Independent when Connecticut Dems rejected him for his pro-Israel pro-war mongering in 2006. The one some think would be John McCain's ideal V.P.)

Suddenly it occurred to me, could Lieberman be an Israeli Spy? Could that be an undercover Mossad Agent contact to Lieberman's left in the photo?

After all, two "vetted" Bush administration officials, Douglas Feith and Richard Perle, got fired in their younger days for passing along information to Israelis, and they still got high level access to government secrets under Bush. So why not a NON-vetted elected official?

And there have been enough Israeli spies infiltrating the American establishment in the news the last few years. (See here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here, just for starters.) And Lieberman has complete access to all sorts of classified information in his positions on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Armed Services committees.

If I was a reporter I'd go and find out. Living in DC, I guess I could always go make and appointment as a "prominent blogger" (heh heh) with a Lieberman aide and start spending a couple hours a day making contacts, searching down leads, etc. etc. til I found out or gave up.

But I think I'd rather spend the time working on my Secession Blog and my Secession.Net web page. After all, swat down one congressional spy, and two or three will just take his place.

UPDATE: Sign the Lieberman Must Go petition - and watch excellent video. 43,000 signatures already and a very energetic crew promoting it.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

July 4, 2008 Fire Works Shortage Dramatized

So maybe I sound like I'm doing a Rush Limbaugh b.s artist imitation, there's a grain of truth here! Governments steal our liberty and export our jobs - not to mention engage in blood sucking and blood letting wars - so we can't even find or afford fire works to celebrate the Declaration of Independence and our Right to Alter or Abolish Government.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

July 4th Commentaries on our “Right to Alter or Abolish Government”


A few commentaries about the Declaration of Independence - celebrated today, July 4th - excerpted from my much longer list just posted at my Vermont Commons "Secede & Survive" blog.

My News.Google search for “the right to alter or abolish” resulted in a couple of editorials of interest.

The Baltimore Chronicle, the Hawaii Reporter and doubtless other publications, printed an editorial by radical libertarian columnist Jacob Hornberger "The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July" which includes question:

What happens if a government that people have established becomes a destroyer, rather than a protector, of their rights? The Declaration provides the answer: It is the right of the people to alter or even abolish their government and establish a new government whose purpose is the protection, not the destruction, of people's rights and freedoms.

In the American Spectator Lawrence Henry celebrates the recent “DC vs. Heller” Supreme Court decision. (Dick Heller was a past officer of the Libertarian Party of DC.) Henry emphasizes that issue, writing: Fourth of July weekend, here's as good a time as any to review what the American idea really means. And how far we have fallen away from that idea.

Conveniently, we find a news hook: The Supreme Court's recent 5-4 ruling affirming that the Second Amendment to the Constitution really does assure citizens the right to keep and bear firearms. Along with many another commentator, I find that close decision frightening. How can there be any doubt? How can there be any argument?

Let's review:

Our Founders said, explicitly, that when a people found their rulers had usurped the rightful reach of their powers, it was the people's right to "alter or abolish" that government. And no mistake, our Founders, being realists, knew that "alter or abolish" might mean "change the government by violent means, if necessary."

And not to beat around the bush, conservative writer J.J. Jackson gets to the heart of it in his article “Alaska should just secede.” Quoting the Declaration, he writes: I think that it is high time some states start taking the issue seriously once again and using it as leverage against an out of control federal government that has expanded beyond the limited powers we agreed to give to it in our Constitution. While I would like to see all the states start pushing back against the gluttonous federal government and begin warning, that if it does not start acting as prescribed, they will leave the Union, one state in particular that should be seriously considering it, perhaps more than most others, is Alaska.

Al-Jazeera makes a telling comment in an article "Before July 4th, the U.S. must confront July 3rd." It reminds readers about the July 3, 1988 attack on an Iranian commercial airliner that killed 290 men, women and children. And writes about talk of a U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities: As the U.S. readies itself to celebrate another Independence Day on July 4th, I cannot help but think how the U.S. Government has become enslaved to hatred, revenge, retaliation, belligerent policies, nuclear weapons, and of course, Middle Eastern oil.

If the U.S. confronts the July 3rd massacre before celebrating July 4th, it may then be a true celebration! U.S. citizens may also want to recall the patriots’ purpose in signing the Declaration of Independence was not a call to alter and abolish a foreign country, but to change and abolish their own Government, which had become destructive and repressive.

Of course, potential tyrants also can quote the Declaration, as does Iranian Maryam Rajavi, head of the Islamic Marxist cult best known as “MEK” which seeks to overthrow the current Iranian government. At a gathering of 70,000 Iranians in Paris she said: And I quote the Declaration of Independence, "Whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government." (MEK is considered a terrorist group by the State Department, but it is likely that it has received money for covert purposes, as approved by Congress last years and revealed recently in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh.)

I can't help but comment on politicians who can’t talk about the Declaration of Independence without bringing in that great enemy of altering and abolishing government, Abraham Lincoln. More specifically Barack Obama in his recent speech on “Patriotism.” He starts with an interesting statement about American revolutionaries fighting the British on April 19, 1775. “They did so not on behalf of a particular tribe or lineage, but on behalf of a larger idea. The idea of liberty. The idea of God-given, inalienable rights.” (Something those itching to engage in violent revolutionary secession for the sake of THEIR tribe or lineage might keep in mind.)...(And I go on for a couple more paragraphs, recommending people debunk his assertions about Lincoln's beneficience by seeing a bunch of anti-Lincoln articles here.)

Ed Quillen updates the Declaration in the Denver Post. Noting that it “has this seditious-sounding stuff about how it ‘is the Right of the People to alter or abolish’ their government, he offers this version:

"When in the Course of human Events it becomes necessary for the Unitary Executive to dissolve the Political Restraints which have constrained him from assuming, among the Powers of Earth, his proper role as the Decider, a total Disrespect for the Opinions of Mankind means that no Explanation is required.

"Nonetheless, the Unitary Executive holds this Truth to be of divine Origin, that the Executive Branch of Government enjoys certain unalienable Rights, that among these Rights are Spying upon Citizens without a Warrant, the Rendition of Captives unto foreign Despotisms, the Invasion and Occupation of other Nations upon false Pretenses, and the Employment of Torture to gather Evidence to be used in secret Courts.

"And that to secure these Rights, the Unitary Executive has been instituted among Humankind, and if the Citizenry becomes destructive of these Ends, then it is the Right of the Unitary Executive to alter the Citizenry, and to institute an improved Citizenry, in such Form as shall seem most likely to effect the Safety and Happiness of the Unitary Executive.

Finally, Kirkpatrick Sale of the Middlebury Institute sends out an email wishing us all “Happy Secession Day.”

July 4 marks the day when the American colonies declared their secession from the British empire and their right to “institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles…as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

And thus began the War of Secession—not a revolutionary war, for there was no intent to overthrow the British government—that led to the free Confederation of American colonies and ultimately the United States.

It is in that great tradition that the modern secessionist movement in America takes its inspiration, hoping to dissolve the imperial government of the present United States and institute new governments, at state or regional levels, that will positively effect their safety and happiness.