Who gives a rip about local news in an already-decided state?

• Way to go John - Good job! - ermt
  • 7online.com - sw
    • Obama definitely won and it will be a landslide - These people who want McCain are angry losers
      • How about the people who just don't want Obama - MSMT
    • Good news if you want to believe a liberal - opinion - and NY nonetheless (nm)
    • Wow - local news from NY - how unbiased. - gimmeabreak
      • New Yorkers are very smart people for the most part - Where are you ? In a shack somewhere?
        • Yes, I live in a shack. On the oceanfront with 5 bedrooms. - gimmeabreak
      • Well, then post a link to YOUR local news! - (preferably one without a virus, pleeze)
        • Who gives a rip about local news in an already-decided state? - huh?
          • Hofstra debate - sw
          • How do you know 'gimmeabreak's' state is - 'already decided?'
            • Read the thread. It's about a local - - NEW YORK news channel
              • Sorry, got tripped up in the thread... the ol' - eyes are starting to glaze over!
                • Maybe you should put down the weed then, Mr Obama. - nm
                  • pothead beats an alcoholic, any day . - they kill a lot fewer people, too.
                    • Well Obama did both and admitted to doing too much - of both...wonder how much he does now
                    • Obama was a lush in college, huh? - figures
                      • Now there's a perfect example of true - Republispeak: fact-twisting is the key.
                        • And the Dem's tactic of - - bash and run
                          • Fact-twisting: It's key. -
                            • thank you - I learned it from Obama - - king of denial
                              • Yep, by cracky - it's KEY. - .
  • Voting for McCain too, even if I have little hope of - him winning. He is a good man.nm
    • He WAS a good man. But his best days - are 'way too far behind him.
      • Oh you are so wrong. You left-wingers are just so whacked. - MSMT
        • That's right - 'go down with the ship'. - Valiant perhaps, but not practical.
          • I for one would rather go down with the ship than - BE THE WHO WHO HELPS SINK IT!!!
        • Shhhh! That's supposed to be a secret. - sm
        • Change - sw
          • I agree. Nobody vote for Bush this year. - nm
            • Problem solved - sw
              • Brainwashed. Rinse. Repeat. - Obama=Stalin
          • I'm just so glad I live in a BLUE state, and not - a red one.
            • blue:red - sw
              • Can you imagine living in a red state, and - SM
                • What exactly are you trying to say here? - Zville MT
                  • Poster is making a racist comment as you well - know which is no doubt
                  • So you must live in one of the good - neighborhoods.
                    • I still don't get it. - Zville MT
                      • sometimes you have to read between the lines, and - not take everything literally.
                        • Must also be hard for some people to give direct answers after making a statement like that. - Zville MT
                          • No, what's hard is not getting banned from - the forum. Gotta 'nice it up'.
                  • They cry racist every time somebody points out - the truth.
                    • That's because that's all you know....they've been - taught if you don't like the message sm
                    • Anyone who gets upset about that would probably be: - a RACIST.
                      • You proved my point. - Thank you, Rev Wright
                        • Let's talk about McCain and the Keating Five or his - involvement in Iran Contra and
                          • I agree to a certain point..... - MSMT
                        • Ayuh. - sheesh
  • Good job? - sw
    • I guess you think lying to the American is good???? - ermt
    • How come any time someone points out the TRUTH... - sm
      • you people wouldn't know the 'truth' if it hit - you over the head with a hammer.
        • Like Ayers and Wright and ACORN? - Dems can't handle the truth
          • That's pathetic. (where's my hammer?) -
            • Sidestep. Just like your Barry. - big surprise
              • Goldwater? - ?
                • As in Barry Hussein Obama. - Don't you know your own candidate?
      • Bottom line - sw
        • Majority wanted Hitler, too, moron. - gimmeabreak
          • no, majority was INTIMIDATED by Hitler. - huge difference there
            • And Dems are FOOLED by Obama - - Dems are suckers
              • Bush turned out to be a socialist and you were fooled by him - you probably voted for BUSH
            • majority is charmed and brainwashed by Obama - just as bad -country is going down.nm
              • No, Majority knows O could use those qualities - to deal with difficult nations/leaders.
                • hahahahahahahahahahahaha - are you serious?
                  • Whatever you say is the truth, then I guess it must - be written in stone somewhere, huh.
                  • Scary, huh? I think they are serious. - lets hire friend of ACORN and Ayers,,sad.nm
    • JM was slurring some of his words, too. - (loose dentures?)
      • McCain was having trouble speaking - and calls Obama eloquent as if it's an insult
      • Nah, we have to hold our mouth in a - Nanaw
      • I think it was all the BULLSH!T Obama was trying to shove - - down his throat.
        • I think JM was up past his bedtime. - ;p
          • I think you have daddy issues. - nm
            • ????? -
          • And I think Obama forgot his pacifier. (nm) - :-o
        • You said it. Glad we weren't the only ones. - no message
    • Obama is a talker, that is all. Tell me something - he has accomplished...TALKER.nm
      • Exactly, he never gave a definitive - Nanaw
  • LOL !!! Time for shuffleboard, John. - Maybe you can win at that.
    • So let me get this straight - sm - ermt
    • Agreed ermt... very nice post, but please - ignore the haters. Some of us see O the phony.nm
      • Thx - now I could see how frustrated - ermt
      • I'm a HATER, alright. I hate the ol' boy's club - in Washington. And I do mean OLD.
        • Yes, he's too old. Let's vote in an inexperienced boob.. - nm
          • The 'inexperienced boobs' belong to - Sarah Palin.
            • I guess this makes you a stupid loser - Nanaw
        • Yeah, and you hate Sarah P, but love Hillary? - You hate boys, girls, unless are liberals.nm
          • The only thing Palin and Hillary have in common - is their genitals
          • exactly where is it that i said i loved hillary? - 'Out with the Old - In with the New!'

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it looks like they may have changed some of the voting locations..not sure when.  Check out website below to make sure she went to the right place.

http://www.azsos.gov/election/polling_places.htm

Hope this helps.

US is deploying anti-missle weapons to Hawaii in case N.Korea aims their newest long range missle towards Hawaii on July 4. Hopefully, Alaska is armed to the hilt.

That maniac needs to go.

who waited outside for 5-6 hours in freezing temps just to save maybe $50.  Lord have mercy.  I guess I'm thankful I don't need or want anything enough to do that!!

You're right about the me-me-me and it makes me sick.  People will kill each other for a dollar!! 

Two Border State Governors Declare Illegal Immigration State of Emergency

SIGN THE PETITION!
CLICK HERE!

THANK YOU!

Many people were confined against their will just because someone wanted them "out of the way." These were normal people with no mental illness - that is why it is so difficult - don't blame the liberals. Blame your state.

CONFINING THE MENTALLY ILL


In the legal space between what a society should and should not do, taking action to restrict the liberty of people who are mentally ill sits in the grayest of gray areas.

Our notions about civil and constitutional rights flow from an assumption of "normalcy." Step beyond the boundaries and arrest and prison may legally follow. Short of that, government's ability to hold people against their will is severely and properly limited. Unusual behavior on the part of someone who is mentally ill is not illegal behavior. Freedom can't be snatched away on a whim, or on the thought that a person is hard to look at, hard to hear, hard to smell.

It was only a few decades ago that the promise of new medications and a change in attitude opened the doors of the mental hospitals and sent many patients into society. There, they would somehow "normalize" and join everyone else, supported by networks of out-patient facilities, job training, special living arrangements and regular, appropriate medication. But the transition has been imperfect, long and difficult.

In some parts of urban America there is little professional support for those with mental health problems. A new generation of drug and alcohol-fueled mental illness has come on the scene. People frequently end up on the street, un-medicated and exhibiting a full range of behaviors that are discomforting at the very least and threatening at their worst.

post on their precious board any more, even though they won't like it.  They thrive on hatred and attacks.  They've been baiting people all week with their constant, unrelentless, vicious attacks on liberals.  When someone gives them a taste of their own medicine, they run to the monitor.

You know, the whole concept of "their" thinking the three of us is only one person is very interesting.  A very intelligent person told me a long time ago that if someone accuses you of doing something, it's probably something they are themselves doing.  Maybe all three of these "people" is really only just one person with a severe personality disorder.  The more outlandish things I read that "they" write, the more I'm inclined to think that might be true.  One thing for certain, there are some very sick people out there, and they probably deserve pity more than disdain.  "They" certainly do have some startling, somewhat scary traits, and I kind of wish now that GT hadn't put her email address out there for some of these nuts to have access to.  I hope they don't begin to stalk her, but hatred is a very strong emotion, and some of these "people" clearly don't seem to be very stable.

Like I said, I'm staying away from their board.  It's much easier to breathe on this board, and the intellect is certainly better.

I have been an ardent supporter of Senator Obama since February of this year.  I have donated $25 a month to his campaign since then.  First time in my life that I have felt that level of committment to a candidate for any office.  If I were still undecided at this point, the thing that would sway me to vote for Obama would be the tone of his campaign.  As in the primary, Senator Obama makes it very clear what his policies are.  He is able to uplift his ideas without constantly talking in a negative manner about his oponent.  He does not get personal in his attacking of his opponents' ideas and stances.  His way of waging his campaign makes it possible for him and his opponent to come together and work for the benefit of our nation when all the politicking is over....as he and Senator Clinton are now doing.  Senator McCain is so harsh and personal in his attacks on Obama.  Senator McCain has said things that he knows are not true of Senator Obama; he has allowed Governor Palin to utter comments that would made it very difficult for them to work with a Congress and Senate that is composed of both Democrats and Republicans.  I know that his back is to the wall, but he should be mindful (as it appears to me Senator Obama is mindful) that the end goal here is successfully governing our nation.  Senator McCain's torched earth policy on the campaign trail would make it impossible for him to govern in cooperation with others.  So, if I were still undecided at this point Senator Obama would have my vote because he is playing the election game with dignity, respect and the realization that whoever wins, we all still must be able to work together.

on the birth certificate.  I believe any reasonable person can examine the birth certificate at this website and conclude that Obama's b/c is authentic.  http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

Maybe you could stop trashing him until you see what he actually does and please....quit reading all those blogs that have not a shred of useful information in them.  Learn to reason for yourself.....please!

to run for president anyhow? There were candidate s much more qualified than O that could have run away with the votes if they were "chosen" by the party...but they chose someone who was only a senator for what, less than 2 years? Why? I would love to know how the party choses their candidates to run for president. Something doesn't smell right here.

...to attack on 9/11.  Likewise, it will be the TERRORISTS who will decide when and how to attack again.

I don't believe this has anything to do with WHO the President is, so while Bush shouldn't take the blame, he also shouldn't claim the credit for what the TERRORISTS HAVEN'T done.  It's the timetable of the TERRORISTS that controls what does or doesn't happen.

The Republicans felt that another terror attack would be helpful to McCain's campaign (they came out and said so).  I don't recall any Democrat uttering anything so UGLY in regards to Obama.

paper that our wonderful governor (who has almost bankrupted our state) thinks he may be chosen for the Secretary of Transportation or Energy. But have no fear....he promises us he will remain our governor until 2011.

Please, beg the O not to offer the job to him or he will do the same thing to the country as he did to our state. Our state is in worse shape than before he took over. He has not kept 1 promise to us except that he would get casinos in here to help with property taxes and yet, we have yet to see our taxes lowered.

(Yeah, you know, ‘’flyover country.’’

As part of the stimulus package, President Obama rescued our recent police academy graduating class.  The City had run out of bucks and Mayor Michael (Don’t Question My Manhood*) Coleman threatening to lay these 25 recruits off – one week short of graduation.   The stimulus package provided the money to let them graduate and to let them enter their probationary period on the street.

The president even spoke at the graduation ceremony 03/06/2009 and said in part:

So for those who still doubt the wisdom of our recovery plan, I ask them to talk to the teachers who are still able to teach our children because we passed this plan. I ask them to talk to the nurses who are still able to care for our sick, and the firefighters and first responders who will still be able to keep our communities safe. I ask them to come to Ohio and meet the 25 men and women who will soon be protecting the streets of Columbus because we passed this plan. (Applause.) I look at these young men and women, I look into their eyes and I see their badges today and I know we did the right thing.

These jobs and the jobs of so many other police officers and teachers and firefighters all across Ohio will now be saved because of this recovery plan -- a plan that will also create jobs in every corner of this state. Last week, we announced that Ohio would receive $128 million that will put people to work renovating and rebuilding affordable housing. (Applause.) On Tuesday -- on Tuesday I announced that we'd be sending another $935 million to Ohio that will create jobs rebuilding our roads, our bridges, and our highways. (Applause.) And yesterday, Vice President Biden announced $180 million for this state that will go towards expanding mass transit and buying fuel-efficient buses -- money that will be putting people to work, getting people to work. (Applause.) 

There was much more self-congratulatory oratory, the link is: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/03/obamas_remarks_at_columbus_pol.html

What’s wrong with this picture?  Well, the City is still broke.  A 25% income tax ballot proposal was defeated in the May primary.  Mayor Coleman now says that unless it is passed when it is put back on the ballot in August, 250 public safety jobs (police and fire) will be eliminated.   So much for saving the recruit class of  2009!

Why is it that the first thing a politician (and I include Republicans along with Democrats - Coleman just happens to be a Dem) does when he wants money is threaten vital services?  Coleman insists that this is not a power play.  But, of course, whenever a politician says he is not lying I have only to watch his lips.  If they are moving, I know he is full of it.  We all can think of dozens of  less-crucial departments or programs that could more easily be cut, but that would not have the emotional appeal that jeopardizing citizens’ lives by cutting police and fire services. 

Another issue on the ballot was for the parks system, a bond issue to operate existing parks as well as acquire lands and  build several new ones.   The issue passed, but should we really be spending money on new parks when THE CITY IS OUT OF MONEY??  No accident that both expenditures were on the same ballot issue.  Had we been given the choice of voting on the operating and construction funding separately, the outcome may have been different.  Had the issue been defeated, the City could have threatened to close existing parks and put the issue back on the August ballot. 

*Don’t Question My Manhood/ great moments in radio

In spring 2005 Columbus made national news (difficult as that is to imagine) over the story of a mentally-challenged girl who was sexually molested by several boys in a public school.  What made this a scandal, is that the school and school system, rather than report this to the police, covered it up.  When the story broke, Glenn Beck gave it lots of air time, asking why Michael Coleman, as mayor of Columbus, had done nothing about it.  Coleman (foolishly) agreed to go on the air to discuss it.  (Operating strictly by memory here, I am not sure if a transcript of the full interview can be obtained anywhere, but it really was a side-splitter.)  As I recall, Coleman said running the school board was not in his job description....

Beck, 41, said he wanted to talk to Coleman because he assumed the mayor would be as ''outraged as I am.'' Instead, he said, when Coleman got on the air, ''all I heard was blah, blah, blah. He was being a politician. . . . I wanted to talk to him as a dad, not as a politician.''

In the interview, Coleman and Beck continually talked over and past each other. The result was verbal chaos.

As Beck began one question by saying, ''I’m asking you as a man and a father...'' Coleman cut him off and said, ''Don’t question my manhood. Don’t you ever question my manhood.'' Coleman later said he misheard the question.

Link to Columbus Dispatch article:

http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2005/04/22/20050422-A1-05.html

HIDDEN  ENEMY :

HSUS – The Humane Society of the United States

Reptile breeders should feel pride in the progress they’ve helped achieve over the past several decades.  We’ve unraveled many of the mysteries of inducing our animals to reproduce in captivity, and have made ‘Captive-Bred’ ( = 'CB' ) a common adjective in the hobby and industry.  CB applied to herps is now understood to reflect ‘quality’ and ‘hardiness’ as pets.  The percentage of CB herps available today dwarfs what we had just ten years ago, and is already making up a significant proportion of herps sold in pet shops. 

Just as it seems obvious to us close to the herp industry that this natural evolution is proceeding well, new threats to our freedom to keep herps looms in the form of three ‘new’ enemies – the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), The Fund For Animals, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).  The PETA are presently under scrutiny by the F.B.I. as a terrorism network because of their admission of funding extremists who have destroyed several facilities by fire.  These closely-aligned organizations have remained largely hidden from our notice until recently.  They have now set their sights on the reptile hobby and trade, their ultimate goals being to stop it completely. 

The HSUS is a familiar group to most people.  Its name seems to imply it all – humane treatment for animals.  In the past, the group took in abandoned cats and dogs, prosecuted farms that allowed livestock to starve, and went after people who mistreated animals in some way.  It created animal shelters, promoted spay-neuter programs, and developed modern euthanasia protocols.  We all applauded the old HSUS efforts and supported it with our donations.  We believed in what it stood for and helped make it a huge and powerful organization. 

The HSUS was wildly successful in its efforts.  The public was educated and abuse cases dwindled.  Nowadays, it’s headline news when a rare case of neglect or other atrocity against animals is uncovered and prosecuted.  Anyone who may have allowed care of an animal in their custody to become substandard is now frightfully aware of the consequences of such unacceptable behavior. 

Why is this seemingly worthy organization a problem now?

Since 1954, the HSUS has grown into a huge bureaucratic organization with 200+ employees and well over $200,000,000 (by 2005) in their bank accounts.  The money is stock-piled, and not one dollar of it is used to help the many ‘Humane Society’ shelters in cities across America .  The HSUS long ago separated itself from all the smaller regional societies around the country, sharing no funding at all with them now.  You are doing nothing to help your local community animal shelter by donating money to the Humane Society of the United States ! 

The HSUS got fat and prosperous capitalizing on our concern for the plight of homeless animals by bombarding us with tear-jerking fundraising campaigns.  Its assets naturally attracted humaniac extremist groups like PETA that wished to tap into the war chest of funds.  Radical animal rights proponents thoroughly infiltrated the HSUS and instilled their idealistic views as representing the whole organization’s doctrine.  Then a subtle ‘coup’ occurred in 1973, warranted by the changing leadership because “the costs of running a local animal control operation [was] drawing off funds needed elsewhere”.  (< That quote is from the HSUS’ own website!)   They literally declared that supporting the small Humane Society shelters across the U.S. was 'stealing' the money needed to pursue their own new humaniac agendas.

The HSUS split away completely, dropping financial support of all the smaller state ‘Humane Society’ groups.  But they did it quietly to leave everyone with the logical impression they were now just the national headquarters coordinating all ‘their local chapters’.  They have purposely done nothing to erase that illusion of ‘umbrella organization’ to insure receiving all the same donation monies you thought were still supporting your home town animal shelters.  The HSUS’s coffers swelled because they didn’t have to share the wealth anymore.  It was a pretty sneaky and wildly successful move on their part!

The HSUS grew into a rich monster that basked in the glory of its past accomplishments of conquering cruelty to animals.  But with that war largely won, the ‘new’ HSUS had a different agenda to set its sights on.  Most importantly, it had to continue evoking sympathy donations from the public to keep the money flowing in.  Creating a new, visible enemy became a necessity.  They chose to refocus on non-traditional pets largely because the ranks of people in the bird, reptile and fish hobbies / industries were less unified, easier targets.  This is why reptile-keeping has come under attack.  We’re the new excuse – the new bad guys – to keep their paychecks coming in steadily.

In its distorted view (and the published rhetoric it distributes to back it), reptiles are totally unsuitable as pets.  The HSUS preaches that nearly all reptiles suffer shortened life spans when kept in cages.  It goes so far as to include all captive-bred herps in that appraisal, but not through sheer ignorance. 

The HSUS’s clever strategy is to focus the public’s attention on isolated problems it can capture in pictures or on video to invoke sympathy, then imply that those disturbing images represent the norm in the entire industry.  Recognizing the huge progress in herpetoculture over the past couple decades would not strengthen the gloomy ecological scenario it wants people to remember when filling out those donation checks.  The HSUS purposely ignores captive breeding success and how it is rapidly replacing the need for some wild-caught herps.  It's crucial the public stay duped into believing that stopping reptile-keeping is the only way to protect animals in nature.  The HSUS needs this manufactured image to focus public condemnation and thus assure continued funding of their efforts.

Another HSUS approach is to scare us into believing that reptile-related Salmonella has reached plague proportions.  Its well-paid advertising staff uses the craftiest psychology to twist facts and statistics and to publicize the ‘huge’ health threat herps pose.  It knows such tactics weigh heavily on parents’ minds, hoping those frightened parents will prohibit their children from having herps at all. 

Just how big a problem is Salmonella anyway?  Bill and I do not know, or even know of, anyone who has ever contracted Salmonella from reptiles in their entire lives.  We don’t even personally know of any Salmonella cases, period, and we know and meet lots of herp keepers!  We don't doubt that it happens occasionally, but the HSUS is blowing public health fears all out of proportion to achieve their animal rights goals.

Unlike the old HSUS, the new PETAphile leaders have declared total war on all pet keepers, intending to end the practice of owning pets completely.  They’ve stated that goal repeatedly, though they try to subtly disguise the true, hidden agenda so not to scare away contributions from cat and dog owners.  On their website’s home page (http://www.hsus.org), they state “Promoting the protection of all animals”.  What they mean is to protect ALL animals from any use by humans - as pets, as food, as leather, for medical research --- EVERYthing!   Don’t let them fool you --- HSUS and PETA are essentially synonymous today.

The HSUS is presently trying to make virtually every act of pet keeping an offense by emphasizing every imperfection in our ability to draft new species into captivity / domestication.  They subtly bombard schools with free 'animal information' that carries their propaganda, preaching their private agenda to children so their 'conservation message' is taken to heart early.  When indoctrinated while young and impressionable, they hope those children will support the HSUS as future voters / donators.  The HSUS is no longer composed of soldiers for a noble cause.  They’re more like mercenaries who must create an enemy to assure their continued employment.  The modern HSUS is an animal rights organization masquerading as an animal welfare organization.  Supporting them is like supplying terrorists with money to hurt us.

The HSUS published this book {>>>} in 2001 - a persuasive political ploy disguised as a 'scientific report'.  It was freely distributed to all U.S. governmental regulatory bodies to sway them to help their cause.  This is how donation money sent to the HSUS is put to 'good' use.  The last paragraph of the entire 'study' sums up their position:      "Finally, we recommend that [government] regulatory bodies put an end to the reptile trade:  State and local authorities are encouraged to ban the commercial collection of reptiles to protect wild populations of reptiles and ban the sale of reptiles as pets to the general public in order to protect human health..."

For more info on the dark side of the HSUS and PETA, go to http://www.animalscam.com .  Or read the book The Hijacking of the Humane Movement: Animal Extremism by Patti & Rod Strand.

IMPORTANT NOTE:   Don’t abandon the local Humane Society animal shelters in your own community – they’re still doing their commendable work as always. 

We have not suddenly become political activists.  This exposé is just an honest response to the attack the HSUS initiated upon all herp keepers.  We hope it may convince you to spread the word to friends and family.  Avoid doing anything that benefits the Humane Society of the United States, the reptile hobby and industry's new sworn enemy.  

- - -  Kathy Love / CornUtopia   &  Bill Love / Blue Chameleon Ventures

Written last Thanksgiving:  "Some would argue that two different nations actually celebrated: upright, moral, traditional red America and the dissolute, liberal blue states clustered on the periphery of the heartland. The truth, however, is much more complicated and interesting than that.

Take two iconic states: Texas and Massachusetts. In some ways, they were the two states competing in the last election. In the world's imagination, you couldn't have two starker opposites. One is the homeplace of Harvard, gay marriage, high taxes, and social permissiveness. The other is Bush country, solidly Republican, traditional, and gun-toting. Massachusetts voted for Kerry over Bush 62 to 37 percent; Texas voted for Bush over Kerry 61 to 38 percent.

So ask yourself a simple question: which state has the highest divorce rate? Marriage was a key issue in the last election, with Massachusetts' gay marriages becoming a symbol of alleged blue state decadence and moral decay. But in actual fact, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country at 2.4 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. Texas - which until recently made private gay sex a criminal offence - has a divorce rate of 4.1. A fluke? Not at all. The states with the highest divorce rates in the U.S. are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. And the states with the lowest divorce rates are: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Every single one of the high divorce rate states went for Bush. Every single one of the low divorce rate states went for Kerry. The Bible Belt divorce rate, in fact, is roughly 50 percent higher than the national average.

Some of this discrepancy can be accounted for by the fact that couples tend to marry younger in the Bible Belt - and many clearly don't have the maturity to know what they're getting into. There's some correlation too between rates of college education and stable marriages, with the Bible Belt lagging a highly educated state like Massachusetts. But the irony still holds. Those parts of America that most fiercely uphold what they believe are traditional values are not those parts where traditional values are healthiest. Hypocrisy? Perhaps. A more insightful explanation is that these socially troubled communities cling onto absolutes in the abstract because they cannot live up to them in practice.

But doesn't being born again help bring down divorce rates? Jesus, after all, was mum on the subject of homosexuality, but was very clear about divorce, declaring it a sin unless adultery was involved. A recent study, however, found no measurable difference in divorce rates between those who are "born again" and those who are not. 29 percent of Baptists have been divorced, compared to 21 percent of Catholics. Moreover, a staggering 23 percent of married born-agains have been divorced twice or more. Teen births? Again, the contrast is striking. In a state like Texas, where the religious right is extremely strong and the rhetoric against teenage sex is gale-force strong, the teen births as a percentage of all births is 16.1 percent. In liberal, secular, gay-friendly Massachusetts, it's 7.4, almost half. Marriage itself is less popular in Texas than in Massachusetts. In Texas, the percent of people unmarried is 32.4 percent; in Massachusetts, it's 26.8 percent. So even with a higher marriage rate, Massachusetts manages a divorce rate almost half of its "conservative" rival.

Or take abortion. America is one of the few Western countries where the legality of abortion is still ferociously disputed. It's a country where the religious right is arguably the strongest single voting bloc, and in which abortion is a constant feature of cultural politics. Compare it to a country like Holland, perhaps the epitome of socially liberal, relativist liberalism. So which country has the highest rate of abortion? It's not even close. America has an abortion rate of 21 abortions per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44. Holland has a rate of 6.8. Americans, in other words, have three times as many abortions as the Dutch. Remind me again: which country is the most socially conservative?

Even a cursory look at the leading members of the forces of social conservatism in America reveals the same pattern. The top conservative talk-radio host, Rush Limbaugh, has had three divorces and an addiction to pain-killers. The most popular conservative television personality, Bill O'Reilly, just settled a sex harassment suit that indicated a highly active adulterous sex life. Bill Bennett, the guru of the social right, was for many years a gambling addict. Karl Rove's chief outreach manager to conservative Catholics for the last four years, Deal Hudson, also turned out to be a man with a history of sexual harassment. Bob Barr, the conservative Georgian congressman who wrote the "Defense of Marriage Act," has had three wives so far. The states which register the highest ratings for the hot new television show, "Desperate Housewives," are all Bush-states.

The complicated truth is that America truly is a divided and conflicted country. But it's a grotesque exaggeration to say that the split is geographical, or correlated with blue and red states. Many of America's biggest "sinners" are those most intent on upholding virtue. In fact, it may be partly because they know sin so close-up that they want to prevent its occurrence among others. And some of those states which have the most liberal legal climate - the Northeast and parts of the upper MidWest - are also, in practice, among the most socially conservative. To ascribe all this to "hypocrisy" seems to me too crude an explanation. America is simply a far more complicated and diverse place than crude red and blue divisions can explain.

they are adding police and only in the big cities do they have paid firemen. The rest are volunteers.

I look at it this way: If a state can't stay in the black, then they have to cut spending some place that wouldn't jeopardize the safety of the citizens. Threats of cutting essential services like Barney Fife stated today are unjustified. Cut the non-essential services first.

Our governor talks about cutting back on services, laying off government workers, which I think is a good idea because government is too big anyway, but then he turns around and spends more money on non-essential items. Doesn't make sense.