for crist's sake

Charlie Crist will run as an independent in Florida, bailing on the Republican Party that was clearly (unless Marco Rubio was found in bed having sex with a dead boy who worked for Castro) about to kick Crist to the curb.

Republicans are shocked, shocked, that somebody would betray the people and switch parties before running. Some headlines call this an "unprecedented" move.

My, memories are short - or more realistically, memories are selective. How many Republicans are former Democrats, especially in the South? Ask Senator Richard Shelby, for one, who switched parties back in '94 when the going was good. This isn't anything new. Republicans seemed to like the idea a few years back when Joe Lieberman bailed on the Democrats after he lost that primary and ran as a GOP lackey I mean independent for Senate (and won).

court martial

Gosh, do you think the American Patriot Foundation would have supported a soldier who tried to argue that an order from de facto President George W. Bush was illegal because he wasn't actually elected?

Nah. He was one of theirs.

It is a curious thing, a soldier demanding that the President do something (in this instance, produce a birth certificate) before said soldier deigns to carry out an order. Lt. Col. Lakin should rot in the brig.

preparing for the insurrection

So maybe Oklahoma would like to be the South Carolina of the second Civil War? Some right-wing legislators in that state along with whacko tea party leaderrs (pardon the redundancy) are apparently considering creating a new volunteer state militia. Purpose? "(T)o help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty."

It isn't exactly clear how they propose to do this. The what, however, of such a proposal is clear. The what is treason, or perhaps insurrection.

How else to describe people taking up arms to resist by force the legitimate acts of a legitimate government? That's what these embittered loons are implying, though for sure they will resent the implication and will try to back off and say this isn't about treason or insurrection or intimidation of their political opponents. The fact that they are trying to do it at a state level doesn't change the basic equation. South Carolina and the rest of the Confederate state also committed treason in 1860-65.

Not all Oklahoma Republicans are drinking this Kool Aid. Republican state Senator Steve Russell said that the existing Oklahoma National Guard can handle disaster relief, and "Anything beyond that purpose should be viewed with great concern and caution." But at least two state legislators - Randy Brogdon and Charles Key, both Republicans - have made positive noises about this prospect.

I guess they would rather contest the issues of the day by armed intimidation, instead of using legislatures, courts, and the polling booth. A new twist on the modern yet half-baked tea party concept of nullification.