A Constitution Only the Tea Party Could Love
If, that is, you view Jefferson Davis as one of the Founding Fathers.Kind of odd the tea nuts think of themselves as patriots. Their real alliance seems to be with a bunch of 19th century traitors.
In their perpetual war against President Obama, the Tea Partiers turn to the Constitution. Just not, TPM pointed out, the one you think. Under the Constitution of the Confederate States of America:
Language promoting "the general welfare" was omitted, while the right to own slaves was explicitly guaranteed although foreign slave trade was forbidden).
The president, serving a single six-year term, was given line-item veto power over the budget, and his cabinet awarded nonvoting seats in Congress. To guarantee Southerners their much-desired states' rights, the federal government had no authority to levy protective tariffs, make internal improvements, or overrule state court decisions, while states had the right to sustain their own armies and enter into separate agreements with one another, and were given greater power in amending the constitution.
When it comes to the Constitution, Tea Baggers want to party like it's 1861.
From their inflammatory rhetoric to their resurrection of discredited Confederate notions of secession, nullification and states rights, the GOP's fans of Dixie constantly remind Americans that the old times there are not forgotten.
BP used oil industry tax break to write off its rent for Deepwater rig
Former Republican Senator Fred Thompson has found the perfect profession. Swindling people via "reverse mortgage(s)". Fred Thompson pitches government-backed reverse mortgages
Money quote:Christian Adams' case continues to implode: Bush-era DOJ declined to charge Minutemen for voter intimidation
THOMPSON: A government-insured reverse mortgage allows seniors stay in their own home and to turn their equity into tax-free cash without any monthly mortgage payments. They ought to call my friends at AAG. They can help you or your parents. To find out more is absolutely free.
Unfortunately, it's not like Thompson has suddenly become a progressive on economic policy. As Gawker points out, the company he's pitching for has been sued by attorneys general in Massachusetts and Illinois for deceptive marketing practices.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is currently looking into the Justice Department's decision in 2009 to dismiss civil charges against three members of the Black Panthers Party for alleged voter intimidation stemming from a 2008 incident outside a Pennsylvania polling center. The Justice Department obtained default judgment against a fourth member, Minister King Samir Shabazz, who was carrying a nightstick outside the polling station. Adams is claiming that the decision not to pursue any additional charges is evidence of "a pervasive hostility" at DOJ to pursuing voter intimidation cases against black defendants. As Hot Air put it the decision amounts to "compensation for historical injustices. After more than a century of black voters being intimidated at the polls, it just wouldn't seem fair to prosecute a black group for voter intimidation."The wing-nut site Hot Air is called hot air for a good reason.
In May 15 testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Thomas Perez, assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, refuted the charge that the decision was a political one, testifying that the decision not to pursue charges amounted to "career people disagreeing with career people," which Perez said "happens very often."
To illustrate his point, Perez highlighted the Department of Justice's decision in 2006 not to pursue charges against members of the Minutemen for allegedly intimidating Hispanic voters in Pima, Arizona -- with one member of the group allegedly carrying a gun:
