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KillerB

"Thank you for bringing to our attention the fact that Congress in 1860 outlawed Polygamy as they felt it was an affront to Christian Values. The Supreme court didn't challenge the law so it was never declared unconstitutional."

janmara -- what? boftx didn't say anything close to all that. And it wasn't up to the court to challenge the Congressional act, only rule on it when brought within that court's jurisdiction. As to what boftx intended I can't speak, but as a descendant of Mormon polygamists, I can speculate he could very well have meant Missouri Governor Boggs' 1839 executive order to exterminate all Mormons within that state.

The U.S. Supreme's explained it in its first major decision on the issue in 1947's Everson v. Board of Education: "the Establishment Clause forbids not only practices that aid one religion or prefer one religion over another, but also those that aid all religions."

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient allies." -- James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, addressed to the Virginia General Assembly, June 20, 1785

"The only two presidents in the modern era with CEO experience were Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush..."

Kerns -- Herbert Hoover was never a CEO, his pre-politics background was as a mining engineer and humanitarian. The U.S. economy tanked during his term largely because of the famed Wall Street Crash of 1929. Anyone can check that out @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoo...

Otherwise I disagree with your premise -- it's career politicians and bureaucrats that got us into this mess and fight tooth and nail to preserve the status quo. For all practical purposes they're unaccountable. Try suing anyone in government to prove that.

CEOs by the nature of their jobs tend to be the reverse -- turning a profit is a prime consideration, and they can be fired.

Personally I'd like to see a small business person get the job. But they don't have the money to buy the office -- they're usually too busy just trying to survive the government parasites like the rest of us.

"...Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them." -- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in a TV interview for Thames TV "This Week" on Feb. 5, 1976

"I specifically avoided engaging my bride in the political aspects of the controversy because she has very little patience for anyone who thinks they are better able to decide what is best for her than she is. That includes the government and anyone else who would use the government to enforce their will on her and her body."

Greenspun -- right there is what the late Frank Zappa used to call "the crux of the biscuit." Her kind of attitude is sorely lacking among our elected. Can we get your bride to run for office?

"It is the fact that the far right has elevated religious concerns above fiscal concerns that alienates so many moderates from the Republican Party as it exists today."

boftx -- amen to that

"In Roe v. Wade, the Court held that the "right of privacy, * * * founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action * * * is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy." ... Central among these protected liberties is an individual's "freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life." ... The decision in Roe was based firmly on this long-recognized and essential element of personal liberty." -- Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 462 U.S. 416, 427 (1983)

SUN -- I see you mentioned nothing about that $62 million in water ratepayers' money the Supreme Court made the state give back to the local water authority. What happened to it, and how should it be factored in here?

"The time has long passed for California to accept responsibility for supplying its own water instead of raping Nevada and Arizona."

boftx -- we've been over this recently. There's an interstate pact about a century old covering how the Colorado is divvied up. Every time it goes to court it's basically a big can of worms.

"I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically." -- Henry David Thoreau 1849 "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience"

"Hold on now folks, I certainly hope these officers were required to pay for malpractice insurance so the taxpayer is not held accountable for their actions. Just like the ice cream lady..."

Bob_R -- show me one hint anywhere any individual officer's insurance or bond paid a claim. It's the public body that pays, like here. Meaning it ALWAYS comes down to what it always is when dealing with government -- the taxpayers end up paying.

"The first thing new DA Wolfson needs to do is fire this idiot."

desertfox -- and the first thing you need to know is your local government. The DA isn't empowered to fire anyone outside his office.

"...the Sun needs to go deeper. Why is Seekatz still employed? Why no criminal charges? Who is covering this up? Why?"

westvegas -- the answers are mostly in the article. When a city councilperson doesn't even know the job she is elected to, and won't even make any inquiry, and the mayor brushes it all off, nothing will change. Basically Henderson covered its butt and expects the rest of us to move on like the good sheep we're expected to be. It's ultimately up to that city's voters whether or not they like it.

The suggestion from boftx of an independent people's review is sounding better all the time, no? Who else is going to spank the cops for their abuses like this? Obviously no one.

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." -- Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address, 1861