Merit-bound Alley

The first votes of the NewHampshire primary have been tallied in the small town of Dixville Notch. A small graphic in the article shows some exciting statistics which, if they remain unchanged, show promise for a decisive election.

(graphic courtesy of Associated Press)

Look at that! Barack Obama has seven votes to Clintons zero. I’m not the strongest mathematician, but that looks like an infinite lead to me! We see the same occurrence with McCain/Pyle. Now, I’m not a huge fan of McCain, but Huck is a straight-up nutcase who will ruin this country if he gains the office of the President.

Very heartening numbers from the first results of the primary!

Republicans

John McCain will come in first with a healthy lead with votes from the NH Republicans reinforced by the large percentage of Independents who figure that a guy that they haven’t heard anything about lately must be pretty good. In second place, we will have Mitt Romney, nursing wounds from Huckabee’s “unofficial” attacks. Huck himself would have been third, but he didn’t make it to the primary because Sgt. Carter put him on mess hall duty, peeling ‘taters. Shazam! Third place will instead be taken by Ron Paul, whose impressive internet support will not be sidetracked by the release of the new World of Warcraft expansion which is luckily due out later this year (hopefully not on Election Day).

Democrats

Hillary will come in first after a newly-forged contract with Satan, Prince of Lies but will give up her place by default when it rains and lacking an umbrella, she melts. Barack Obama will take 1st, 2nd, and third place when Kucinich is a no-show due to the zipper on his wife’s purse getting stuck, foiling his escape and John Edwards will be attacked by a small group of amorous women and devoured. Governor Bill Richardson will watch the proceedings from Mexico City, having been deported on an anonymous tip to immigration called in by Bill O’Reilly.

This from the CNN covers an ignoramus department:

“I don’t want a president who’s an atheist.”

Lucky her, since it seems a two-headed donkey with chlamydia seems to have a better chance of getting into office than someone who doesn’t believe in god.

[digg=http://digg.com/political_opinion/Founding_Fathers_and_Separation]

This being my first day off for the week, I got some more study done this morning. In my first hour after waking, before I even finished my first cup of coffee, I found yet another writing by Thomas Jefferson, supported by James Madison, which supports the Wall. It’s getting more and more plain to me that Rep. Paul is not the scholar that he professes himself to be, and anyone who denies that at least some of the Founding Fathers had intense interest in Separation is just plain ignorant, fooling themselves, or trying to fool others.

In 1777, Thomas Jefferson drafted an act called “An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom“, which he then proposed to the General Assembly of Virginia after becoming Governor of Virginia in 1779. This bill predicts the future Establishment clause and gives yet more clues as to how these two Founding Fathers (Jefferson and Madison) felt about the separation of civil and religious themes. Section I of the bill has a lot of good stuff:

Well Aware that:

• the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds;

…

• That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness

…

• our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions

This Act resolves that:

SECT. II. WE, the General Assembly of Virginia, do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

The Act for Establishing Religious Freedom has one other telling aspect: it was the first time that a western government put into law an act to protect the religious freedom of all of it’s citizens, it it did that by ensuring a wall of separation between religion and civil government. Not only did Jefferson believe in and write favorably on the separation of church and state, he pioneered this worthy cause by bringing it into law in Virginia.

The Act for Establishing Religious Freedom is one of the reasons why the government of Virginia was a template for the Federal government, and is it not surprising that it found a partner in the First Amendment when the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.

Due to a trackback from Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer, I’m having an unprecedented number of hits.

To all the newcomers, I invite you to stick around, comment, check the archives, and add me to your rss readers. Also, though profanity is allowed here and creative profanity encouraged, please try to play nice. Anything that I consider too unkind towards another commenter will not be deleted, but will be replaced with a comment avowing your love of certain members of the animal kingdom.

Thanks to Phil for the shout, and to all of you for coming around!

This has been a hell of a year in politics, both national and local, as well as personally. The Delaware bloggers have had a landmark year with some blogs gaining prominence while others have faltered. DE bloggers have had record activist exercise  and publicizing of scandal. It has been a great year for reading. In the nation, we’ve had resignation upon resignation upon resignation, a complete mess of Presidential candidates, two shambles of wars, and a flailing President. Heartening stuff.

Personally, this has been a pretty rollercoaster year. Started off great with the birth of my second daughter, and went downhill with work defeats and health issues including sleep apnea, horrid back problems, and high cholesterol. However, at the very end of the year, I can always count on a high note. See, it was six years ago on the 12/31 that I met my wife and began what can only be described as the beginning of my real life. No matter what issues I have during the year, I can ponder how wonderful my life has become because I went to a party that I didn’t really want to attend in the first place. All the bad things dissolve on the last day of the year because I can reflect on a chance meeting that forever changed my life for the best.

I love you, Meggie, more and more every day.

I hope everyones New Years are as amazing as mine are every single year.

[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A2Jt4WOxN8]

(h/t to PZ Meyers for the video idea)