By A.J.(Tony) Powell
Would you read a column about the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
Probably not. It is interesting that anyone and everyone has an ‘opinion’ about ‘Freedom of Religion’ and ‘Freedom of Speech’ but have never bothered to read up on it. So I thought I’d take a look.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Not that complicated – Is it?
–“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. That seems simple enough. But, for whatever reason, the US Supreme Court claims it to mean that the government can OUTLAW religion.
This contradicts the next line “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Why then cannot our children pray in school? Why can’t our local Commission Meetings, or any group meeting, start with an invocation?
-Next line says, “or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press”. Doesn’t that mean that you can write or say what you want to, wherever you want to, whenever you want to?
-If an American Citizen wants to say a prayer here, there or anywhere, why is it any business of the government?
-Next line says, “or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” Doesn’t that mean that the police should not attack an individual, a group or a crowd who are walking down the street with a bunch of dumb signs claiming their ‘rights’? Stupidity isn’t illegal. If it was, most of our Congress and Senate would be in jail!
–“and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”– That means only that American Citizens can legally ‘Petition-The-Government’ BUT, the government is not obligated to listen.
Their answer is, ‘next election’ But, that doesn’t work either, because the new candidates turn out to be as crooked as the ones just voted out.
Apparently, when the First Amendment was drafted, it applied only to the U.S. Congress and not State and Local Governments. Then, in 1940, the US Supreme Court used the Fourteenth Amendment, (The Free Exercise Clause) to override States Rights. Continue reading
- A four-way stop is any intersection with a stop sign in each direction, a flashing red light in each direction, or an inoperable traffic light. Traffic lights that are not working should be treated as a four-way stop sign.
- Four-way stops are usually (but not always) labeled as such, having a rectangular sign below the octagonal shape which reads something to the effect of, “4-Way Stop,” “Four-Way Stop,” or “All-Way Stop.”
- Each driver arriving at a four-way stop must first come to a stop, then one driver proceeds at a time.
- If turning, as you approach a four-way stop, use your turn signal about one hundred feet prior to reaching the stop sign. The four-way stop is one of the most crucial places for using your turn signal compared to almost any other driving situation.
- Four-way stops always operate in a clockwise direction. So, the car furthest to the right always has the right of way, and then cars take their turns in a clockwise direction.
- If multiple cars approach a four-way stop at about the same time, the driver who comes to a complete stop first proceeds first.
- If two or more cars arrive at a four-way stop simultaneously, the driver furthest to the right always proceeds first, and each next driver in the clockwise direction follows.
- If four cars arrive at a four-way stop simultaneously, drivers going straight should proceed first. If all four are turning right, they may all proceed simultaneously. These aside, there is no distinguishable way to see who should go first, so the intersection is at a standstill until one driver gets up the nerve and begins to inch forward, alerting the other drivers of his or her intentions, and proceeds through the intersection (thus starting the clockwise rotation from that driver).
- If two cars opposite each other are proceeding straight, both turning right, or one proceeding straight with the other turning right, they may go at the same time. The turn then goes to the adjacent cars at the stop, who may follow the same rule if applicable.
Dunnellon used to be a Boomtown back in the old days. They were mining Dolomite, a land sweetener sorts. It was used as a fertilizer to make things grow better and faster. As the mining slowed down the population shrunk. They also use the river to transport Dolomite and goods. The Town of Dunnellon celebrates its Boomtown days once a year. Now Dunnellon is Booming again. I had a great Italian sausage Hoagy at a food truck call Ely’s Cuisine. As you can see a great time was had by all.
Photo credit info:
*Stacey Anjanette Photography
352-220-3256
shasty71@gmail.com.
Covering Marion/Citrus/Levy
The following column was originally published in the Florida Chamber of Commerce magazine to focus on the important role local chambers play in economic development.
Jobs. Investment. Wages. Taxes. Entrepreneurship. Incentives. Construction. All of these terms have been used to define economic development. Depending on where one lives, all could be right, some could be right, or none could be correct. Defining economic development is different for every one of Florida’s 67 counties. While defining economic development is hard, knowing who is responsible is pretty easy.
At its heart, economic development is the ultimate local issue. What is an appropriate and goal-worthy definition of economic development for Ocala (my home) will be very different than the definition in Miami which will be equally different from Pensacola’s definition. Even more important than the definition is the implementation. Whatever your definition, how are you going to practice economic development? Again, this is really a local issue but one in which the state and federal governments play a tremendous part. Continue reading
Each year for the eight years of Obama we have hung our heads, ate humble pie and have been taken advantage of by Russia, China, Mexico and more.
The argument today is between Trump, the media, the Democrats and a few Republicans in a power struggle. In my opinion the media other than Fox News and a few others is owned by the Democrats backed billionaires. The real money behind the media is Socialism which believes in taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor even if they are not working and not trying to better themselves. These people have gotten very wealthy with this system. They bought up media to spread their propaganda. When they can’t find something bad about the opposition candidate they make it up, FAKE NEWS! Continue reading
Youth Fair Dog Show Every year Ocala DownTown newspaper supports a class in the Dog Show at the Youth Fair. The young lady that won that class was Hannah McCallum, a tenth grader at North Marion High School. She sent me a letter thanking me for being a sponsor. She says by doing what I did I help her do what she loves, working with animals. That it means so much to her. Hannah, if your reading this “Thank You for the nice letter”. TomL
PLEASE BE AWARE OF THESE FOLLOWING SCAMS RELATED TO THE NEW MEDICARE CARDS THAT WILL BE SENT STARTING IN APRIL 2018 UNTIL APRIL 2019. PLEASE SEND THIS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO ARE ON MEDICARE OR WILL BE SOON.
Five Tips To Avoid The New Medicare Card Scams
Perhaps you haven’t heard, but starting in April 2018, Medicare will issue new cards to all Medicare recipients. The new cards will no longer use Social Security numbers. Instead, members will be identified by a unique, eleven-character ID composed of numbers and letters.
The reasoning is sound. The old cards contained social security numbers and getting rid of those numbers should help reduce fraud. According to Medicare, the new cards will be sent automatically, so there’s no need to do a thing. Unfortunately, that’s the end of the good news. Continue reading
The Marion County Genealogical Society will meet Thursday May 24, 2018 at 2 PM at the Marion County Public Library located at 2720 E. Silver Springs Blvd. in Ocala. A brief business meeting will be followed by the May program “Chasing Uncle William Through the Wilds of Cyberspace” by Annette Burke Lyttle.
For further information, contact Joel Swanson at (352)897-0840 or president@mcgsocala.org.
By TomL
Once in a while you will see a person emerge that is special. He or she will have the energy of many people, sleep very little, work very smart and very hard. There is one very visible at the moment Donald Trump, President of the United States and he is walking tall. Some of the little weasels are scurrying around in the underbrush and some are standing on a stump telling lies trying to bring him down to their size. As long as he is alive he will never do that. I hesitate to use the words United States. Right now our states are not united. Usually you can tell the good guys from the bad guys. Today it’s hard to tell. The people that investigate the bad guys have used illegal methods, so what do we do now. We do the right thing. We follow truth and justice no matter where it goes. We follow our laws and those who broke them must be punished by our laws. Continue reading
TomL
The shooter, Bouche was a nineteen year drop out from Forest High School. It started out by Bouche saying his first memory was of violence. Bouche was also Baker Acted at age 14. He wanted to join the military but could not because of the Baker Act. He bought the gun from an online source and met someone to pick it up. It was a 1930’s model shotgun. He said when he actually got the gun home and he put a shell in the chamber, he got an adrenaline rush. Sources say Bouche wanted to shoot up the school on Friday the 13th but backed out. Continue reading
