I'm expecting some cool stuff from my BF for Christmas and I've never been a fan of exchanging gifts early, but since the earth won't exist on Christmas I think you should all start thinking about an early Christmas......I've got a 90 minute deep tissue massage scheduled the 21st at 9:00 a.m. will I be able to make it or is this an afternoon apocalypse?

I have told everyone to expect incredible Christmas gifts but the joke is on them, I haven't bought anything because we will all be dead by then

In a moment of Stoney smoke, messing around with Old Toby, I came to this conclusion about the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy, hundreds upon thousands of people all over the planet will die for various reasons on this day, old age, accidental, violence, etc, for those people, the Mayan Propecy will have been correct to a certain degree, for it will be the end of the world to them.

Never heard that reference before.....hilarious.

That's how you know I'm a huge nerd, Old Toby is one of the many forms of pipe weed in Tolkien's works.

Sorry for the delay in responding. Work has a nasty habit of getting in the way.

I don't see that pointing out the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is splitting hairs. One, the Declaration, was essentially a declaration of war and the other, the Constitution, was -- and still is -- the framework for a Federal government. And the Declaration of Independence was a precursor to the Constitution, but it was not the precursor; that document was the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation don't specifically reference slavery and the only possible reference is found in Article 4, Section 1 of that document that extends the privileges and immunities of citizenship to all "free citizens."

I find it interesting that you refer to the Divine Right of Kings in your defense of the constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation mostly because it's my argument that Lincoln overreached his power -- that is, acted despotically -- in issuing the Emancipation Proclamation (and suspending the writ of habeas corpus, see below). It seems to me that your argument is that the ends justify the means. To put it in a more modern context, would you today favor an Executive Order that abrogated the Second Amendment and outlawed private ownership of firearms thereby preventing another massacre similar to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School?

Lincoln also overreached his power in suspending the writ of habeas corpus. You are correct that the suspension of the writ is authorized by the Constitution. However, you cite the wrong article. The provision for suspension of the writ is actually found in Article 1, Section 9. Article 1 defines the powers of Congress, Article 2 defines the powers of the Executive and Article 3 defines powers of the Judiciary. Check it out here: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html So, Lincoln, acting on his own power, usurped power specifically granted to another branch of government and, by implication since those arrested did not have to be brought in front of a magistrate, usurped the power of the Judiciary also. Sort of sounds despotic to me.

Interesting (at least to me) side note: I learned today, while hanging out in the courthouse in St. Charles Parish, that Lincoln wrote only once about potentially granting suffrage to blacks and that was in a private letter to Louisiana Gov. Michael Hahn, Unionist governor of the state during the Civil War. See the text here: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1072 Interesting to wonder what his position would have ultimately been had he not been assassinated.

not even remotely the same, owning a human doesnt equate to Sandy Hook. Thats an isolated horror. But Slavery was a policy for 100s of years.

After your advice, I have decided to purchase a walther p22. Guns are not legal in NYC so I intend to buy at ashop in Philly, maybe make a day trip out of it. Don't mean to sound paranoid but I kinda do feel like the time to buy is now.

Buy all you can and all the ammo too, went to a big hunting store this weekend in Stuttgart AR, they are predicting 30-40% increase in the cost of ammo this fall, my bf loaded up with all kinds of stuff.........thanks B.O.

No shit, if Obama wants rednecks to drop their guns all he has to do is go hunting and bring the press, they'll get rid of em just because Obama has em.

All joking aside, what pisses me off is everyone getting all up in arms (punny huh) about gun rights, but don't say anything about all the other rights that are being stripped and shredded by this government.