My take on the NSA

This is not a safe world and an organization with collects information and keeps secrets is absolutely necessary for the existence of a great nation.

That said, abuse by such an organization can be conducted easily without great oversight.

This is why the Legislative and Judicial branches of government must keep a close eye upon such an organization and must rein them in constantly.

There is a balance between the three branches and that balance was broken with the introduction of the USA PATRIOT Act and it must be done away with. Intelligence agencies abused their powers before that act, but this law enshrined abuse of power into the very essence of such organizations.

That's all I have to say about that.

A special note from Henry Winkler on "Jumping the Shark"

Boy Scout Leaders Get Booted for Knocking Over Ancient Rock Formation

Occasionally, the boy scouts will do the right thing:

Boy Scout Leaders Get Booted for Knocking Over Ancient Rock Formation (And Recording It, Obviously)

Two Boy Scouts of America leaders were booted from their leadership positions in the organization on Monday. The two men, David Hall and Glenn Taylor, had been involved with the Boy Scouts until they did this. And took a video of it.

Not very scout-like indeed. The mushroom-like rock in the video is part of a formation at the Goblin Valley State Park in Utah that is thought to be 145 to 170 million years old. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the decision to remove Hall and Taylor “came from the council leadership, which referred to the men’s behavior as ‘reprehensible’ and a violation of the Scout principle of ‘leave no trace.’”

Stuff Jimmy Carter never actually said

R.I.P., Tom Foley

A great statesman has passed:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former House Speaker Tom Foley has died, according to House Democratic aides.

https://twitter.com/JakeSherman

Edited to add: Link from down thread. Thanks, joeybee12!

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/Former-Speaker-of-the-House-Tom-Foley-dies-at-age-4751086.php

A point about the South...

Virginia, where the capitol of the old Confederacy is located, went blue in 2008 and 2012, has two Democratic Senators, and is on the brink of electing a Democratic governor.

Kentucky could well replace the Senate minority leader with a Democratic woman, the latest PPP poll shows Grimes slightly ahead of McConnell.

Georgia may end up sending a Democratic woman, Michelle Nunn, to the Senate because only crazy people are running in the GOP.

North Carolina went blue in 2008 and is moving closer to the Democratic side all the time.

Florida was blue in 2008 and 2012.

Texas will continue moving blue as well.

Demographically, the South becoming blue is inevitable.

We progress.

GOP Rep Looks To Next Showdown: 'We’re Going To Start This All Over Again'

John C. Fleming (R-Insane) is pushing for Shutdown 2: Electric Boogaloo

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-rep-we-re-going-to-start-this-all-over-again

I'd like to take this moment to remember those who were hurt the most by the shutdown.

Contractors were hurt the most as they lost all pay during the shutdown and they won't see that money ever.

Here's to insourcing ALL government services again.

Don't look now, but the Dow is up over 181 points and it's still rising.

I just called both of my Senators, and you should too!

Both offices LOVED The idea of the Senate taking up a resolution to eject any Senator foolish enough to object to unanimous consent today. One is Republican, the other is Democratic.