If you're like me, you've been hearing all over the news lately how lousy the economy is. But in all of the gloom and doom it sure is nice to know that our government is fully aware of what's going on - I mean, after all, just this past week they "officially" declared the economy to be in a recession.
Well, ain't THAT just a great big BFO - that's Blinding Flash of the Obvious. Nice to see our tax dollars at work, isn't it? The government also said that we've BEEN in a recession for nearly a year...and we wonder why it takes Congress forever to get anything done!
On top of that, the Big Three automakers are going back to Washington, hat in hand and without the corporate jets this time, begging for the federal government to bail them out. Now, I don't know about you, but I sure as hell saw this coming. When the feds bailed out Wall Street and then Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, I told my wife right then and there that this was starting what was going to be a dangerous trend, and that the parade of "penniless" businessmen was soon going to start. And sure as hell, it has. Part of me says bail them out, and part of me says let them drown. If we bail them out, I'd insist on ALL THREE of the corporate big wigs - the CEOs - being kicked to the curb. I'd also insist on a VERY severe salary cut on the part of ALL corporate executives, the TOTAL ELIMINATION of ANY bonuses at any level higher than shift supervisor, and I'd want the money PAID BACK WITHIN TWO YEARS.
The part of me that says "bail them out" is motivated by two thoughts: the hundreds of thousands of Americans who would be out of work if we didn't do it, and the thought of America being populated by nothing but foreign cars. Somehow the idea of the State Police driving Toyotas just sits wrong with me, ya know? So as much as I hate to say it, it looks like the only recourse is to bail them out, but I sure as hell ain't happy about it.
Changing gears, today is the 143rd anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment. That's the one that officially outlawed slavery and indential servitude in the United States. (No, my Yankee-educated friends, the Emancipation Proclamation did NOT end slavery in the United States, only in the Southern states over which Lincoln had no legal jurisdication at the time - but that's another story for another time.)
For those of us who are students of true American history and not the politically-correct, Northern version currently being taught in our school systems, this amendment is known as the "Illegal Amendment." Why, you ask? Simple. And I'll try to keep it short as well.
1) After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Johnson administration declared that the Southern states were no longer a part of the Union (funny, I thought that's what the war was all about - keeping the Southern states IN the Union) and would have to be re-admitted.
2) A condition of re-admission to the Union was that the Southern states ratify the 13th Amendment.
3) In order for an amendment to be ratified, you must have a two-thirds majority vote. According to the Constitution, only states which are members of the Union can vote to ratify an Amendment. This would exclude territories and states in secession or otherwise not part of the Union.
4) Therefore, the Southern states - who had been declared "non-members" of the Union by the Johnson administration - had no legal right to vote for the amendment, and their votes for ratification should not have been counted.
And without the Southern state's votes, the Amendment would not have gotten the needed majority vote in order to pass!
An interesting little point in American history that the Yankee history books don't teach, huh? Now, before some narrow-minded little Yankee-educated moron jumps up and accuses me of being in favor of slavery, all I can say is maybe you should try reading my profile before opening your mouth.
Last but certainly not least for this morning, I see that O.J. "I Really Did It" Simpson is finally going to jail. Well, well, well, the American judicial system finally got it right. In all fairness, it wasn't the judicial system that screwed the pooch on that the first time, it was Marsha Clarke, that incompetant DA who totally botched the case from jump street. All I can say is if Vincent Bugliosi had been prosecuting O.J. the first time around, his ass would have been in jail way back in '95 serving two life sentences.
But justice has finally prevailed, so I guess I can live with that.
Time for some more coffee.
2 comments:
I see the point you're trying to make, and I agree that the bribery involved smells mighty bad, but if the Southern states were not part of the Union, their affirmative votes would not have been needed to pass the amendment, provided 2/3 of the states who did not leave the Union ratified.
It's not really bribery, Ernie, it's more like 'coercion.' The Southern states were not going to be re-admitted unless they ratified the amendment. And without the Southern states, the ratification would not have had the needed 2/3 majority in order to pass - not enough of the remaining states voted for it.
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