Commission asks: “The Constitution–Is it Still Right For America After All These Years”
February 9, 2009 | Filed Under LOL News Shorts or Briefs? (satire), Blog | Leave a Comment
President Obama’s administration has appointed a blue ribbon commission to study the viability of seemingly 
dated ideas like the 14th Amendment, freedom from government eavesdropping, and the right to a fair and speedy trial. Taking as its theme, “The Constitution–Is it still Right For America After All These Years,” the Commission begins convening on March 1. The aptly named Constitutional Propriety for Our Nation Commission, dubbed the ConstiPation commission, will be composed of Constitutional scholars, including members of Ms. Celia Prendergast’s 7th grade Civics class at the Elkhart (Indiana) Middle School. The administration believes that we should consider all views and take “however long is necessary” to examine “the ancient document from all sides.”
Public comment has already come pouring in to President Obama’s Web site for interacting with Americans: oneway.org. The Web site takes a novel approach to the old idea that you can tell the government what you think on issues that are critical to your lives, but the government is not obliged to deliver change. Only now you can do this on the Web. This saves time, although it does little to boost revenues for the troubled US Postal Service.
One radical idea gathering weight among progressives and other god-hating Americans is that we should consider separating church and state. Atheists Are People, Too (APT) is urging its members to support a groundbreaking idea. APT wants to divide the nation literally into Church and State.
Their proposal is to either mark off a large section of the south or just the entire state of Texas as a homeland for Christian Extremists, while retaining godless states like California for the United States itself. Their second proposal is to create Christian reservations enclaves along the lines of the one founded by Warren Jeffs in West Texas where women and girls handle housework, child care, quilting and gardening in home-sewn dresses and really bizarre hairstyles, freeing up their God-fearing men to pursue light industry and molest children.
The second APT option could be helped along by new technology that combines GPS technology with the CIA’s ability to 
track all of our conversations. The new Christometer™ measures not only the degree to which a person, or groups of persons, accept Jesus Christ as a personal saviour, but also the frequency with which they knock on doors, colonize third world nations, or otherwise attempt to “save” other people(s). The new device replaces the dated Christowatts metering technology which proved to be inaccurate as it confused many people in Wisconsin who had brought “cheeses” into their lives with those who had accepted Christ.
Conservative members of the ConstiPation Commission show strong signs of giving the APT proposals some serious thought. To them, the idea of enabling their fundamental ideas to blossom in isolation from the decaying influences of notions like the universe is constantly changing, the earth is round, and dinosaurs did not roam the earth with man, has its merits.
Millions of Californians have already begun organizing a ballot initiative to move the 11,000 square miles of Saddleback Church land into the Church zone, leaving countless millions in the rest of the state free to engage in a wanton indulgence of their 14th Amendment rights. Such an initiative depends on whether or not the Commission does decide that the Constitution is indeed still right for America, a prospect that many view, in light of recent trends, to be highly doubtful.
Tonight – “The Accidental Activist” : Jim Peterson presentation at the Library
February 9, 2009 | Filed Under Events, Seriously/Real Stuff, Around town | Leave a Comment
Tonight at the Library, listen to Jim Peterson talk about, and show images from, his journey to India last year. Jim took part in the march for Tibetan human rights. He is passionate and dynamic on this important topic. I remember him sharing this incredible story during an interesting and animated conversation over breakfast at Pinky’s Cafe when he came back from that first trip to India, and I look forward to hearing more, and seeing the photos tonight. Jim is headed back to India in a couple of days.
From the flyer for the event:
How one Montana man went to India and ended up marching 750 miles with Tibetan nuns and monks.
Jim Petersen left Livingston last January to go to India for the first time. He wanted to learn some cultural aspects of the Tibetan people in exile. He took cooking lessons, tutored some young Tibetans in English and attended the spring teachings from the Dalai Lama. He learned of the Tibetan Peoples Uprising Movement and the planned march from Dharamsala to Delhi and on to the border of Tibet. He invites you to come to the audio visual presentation documenting the events of this noble march for Tibetan human rights.
Tonight, February 9 at 7:00 PM in The Bev Steveson Community Room at the Livingston Public Library.
Click the image below to see the flyer. Peterson is at right in the photos.
Park County Cares “Food for All” program
February 5, 2009 | Filed Under Seriously/Real Stuff, Around town | Leave a Comment
Livingston based civic organizations, churches, businesses and non profits are joining together to help combat hunger in Park County. The Livingston Food Pantry will be the beneficiary of money collected during the “Food for All” drive January 19th – February 19th, 2009.
Created to serve as a community service project in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday, this month long initiative will enable the Livingston Food Pantry to reach more families in need.
A group of supporters assembled Monday in front of the Food Pantry to kick off the project, which originated with a meeting at Dr. Laurel Desnick and Jim Baerg’s home to discuss a focus for community outreach and support. Since that meeting, a new floor has been installed and a dishwasher provided by the Crazy Mountain Ranch at Livingston’s Loaves and Fishes.
“We’re all in this together, those with very few resources and those with many. This a community that cares about ALL its members,” said Laurie Francis of Community Health Partners. CHP is joining together with the Chamber of Commerce, Vision Livingston, Wheat Montana, Montana Women For, Livingston Schools, and several local churches, groceries, growers and businesses to help support “Food for All.”
“What started as a service day has grown into an important project with far reaching potential,” said Margie Kidder, of Montana Women For. “The ‘Park County Cares’ idea is something we will keep going with all year. Literally every person we’ve contacted has said, ‘How can I help?’ ‘Food for All’ can use money, time and energy from everyone in the community. There are so many ways to get involved and we want to urge everyone to do just that.”
“The need is great,” reports Michael McCormick of the Livingston Food Pantry. “At this moment, I’m looking at my shelves and see an empty hole where powdered milk should be. Your donations can help us help this whole community. I want to thank all of these business owners and neighbors for coming up with this great project.”
In addition to providing food for families with economic hardship, there will also be information and classes to help all of Park County manage during tough economic times. “This affects all of us. We all need to stretch our food dollars these days,” said Joni Kresich.
All public representatives from Park County – Bob Ebinger, John Esp and Joel Boniek support this initiative and have agreed to lend their names to the project. The Livingston City Council is discussing the project at tomorrow evening’s meeting. Others at Monday’s event included Lou Ann Nelson from the Livingston Chamber of Commerce, Livingston School superintendent Hannibal Anderson, Vision Livingston’s Karyle Frazier, Michael Sanders of the Environmental Adventure Tour Company, Hebbard Blesius, Jon Ellen Snyder and Amanda Knuchel of ERA/Landmark Real Estate, Joni Kresich, Joanne Gardner and Margie Kidder of Montana Women For, Edie Linneweber who (along with Katherine Dunlap) is coordinating the churches in Livingston to participate, Laurie Francis of CHP, Jim Baerg and his daughters Nastia and Larisa and Michael McCormick of the Livingston Food Pantry.
Dorothy Bradley of Clyde Park attended Monday’s meeting to offer game to the Livingston Food Pantry and to discuss how Clyde Park can get involved with it’s own program. Leaders of this program plan to reach out to Gardiner, Clyde Park and Wilsall in the next few days.
The public can get involved by making monetary donations to the Food Pantry. Volunteers are also desperately needed to help at Loaves and Fishes and the Livingston Food Pantry.
Watch for donation jars in local businesses and in churches, and join Park County Cares for a neighborhood walk during the month. Families will be going door to door to raise money for this project. A $39.95 donation can feed a family of four for one month through the Livingston Food Pantry.
Other focus projects already underway include interacting with all elementary schools to ensure children are getting enough nutritional food daily, a “crockpot” program, outreach to seniors and special needs citizens and the Livingston Shoveling Brigade. For more information contact Michael McCormick at the Livingston Food Pantry - 222 –5335, Margie Kidder at 222-7040, Bonnie Hyatt Murphy at 222 – 2302 or the Livingston Chamber of Commerce.