Stand Your Ground

"Stand Your Ground" or a get out of jail free card?  The Trayvon Martin tragedy has raised many questions in the state of Flordia.  Was this a true case of stand your ground, the law enacted in 2005 in Florida that became a model for twenty-five other states?  Was this racially motivated?  Is there a history of trouble with either Martin or Zimmerman?

There has been leaks out of the Sanford Police Department in the past few days trying to tarnish the reputation of seventeen year old Trayvon Martin.  The news is saying that he had been suspended from school for a carrying a baggy that was found to have marijuana residue.  Stories that he had swung on a bus driver, and a claim of vandalism.  So why  are the police trying so vigorously to smear this young man's reputation to protect George Zimmerman?  It seems to us that it is to cover up their ineptitude in not arresting Mr. Zimmerman and detaining him until they could understand what transpired.

Zimmerman is claiming that Martin punched him in the face then slammed his head on the concrete.  Was this self defense by Martin?  The 911 call by Zimmerman paint him as the pursuer. He confronted Martin and instigated the confrontation. Martin was running from this man to avoid confrontation and bring his cousin the promised "taste the rainbow" of a bag of Skittles. Even if Martin had struck Zimmerman it seems that it was in self defense, which does not give Zimmerman a right to pull his gun on an unarmed teenager.

Florida State Representative Dennis Baxley was the primary sponsor of Stand Your Ground had this to say in an interview on NPR, "Well, simply because if you carefully read the statute, which most of the critics have not, and read the legislative analysis, there's nothing in this statute that authorizes you to pursue or confront other people. If anything, this law would have protected the victim in this case; it could have."  With this being the case why has Zimmerman not been arrested?

Does a hooded sweatshirt or "hoodie" as the kids like to call them, make someone look suspicious?  Or is it just an African American male in a hoodie that looks suspect?  This seems like a minor detail in the whole situation, but it has become the symbol that is being used to show support for Trayvon's parents and family. 

People have come forward in defense of George Zimmerman to say that he is not racist and that this was not racially motivated, but one has to wonder if it was after hearing the words out of Zimmerman's mouth on the 911 tapes.  Zimmerman sounds confused in this call, he states at once that he's wearing a dark sweatshirt, maybe gray, wearing sweatpants, maybe jeans.  Sweats and jeans are completely different, if you can't identify the difference you may have a problem.  He's trying to give directions for the dispatcher, and he is having trouble doing that.  The question now would be is Zimmerman drunk or of low intellect, and if so why the hell does he have a fire arm?

Everywhere you look there seems to be a glaring problem with how the Sanford Police have handle this whole situation.

Stay The FRACK Out Of Our State

There has been talk for decades now that Maine is in need of an east/west highway.  As it stands now the only highways in Maine run north & south, with Interstate 95 being the major route.  The east/west corridor would connect the Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec with a single highway.  In our opinion the real benefit of this highway is for our neighbors to the north, the Canadians, but not as much for Mainers.

The current talk is that the highway will be privately funded, and paid for with tolls. If you are from the woods you know that you don't pay tolls past Augusta, where the "real" Maine begins.  Peter Vigue the CEO of Cainbro has been the appointed the go-to man for this highway.  The state has approved a $300k  economic feasibility study, which as of right now the tax payers are paying for, but if the highway is built will be repaid by the contractor who builds the highway.  The question here is how the state has the $300k to initially do this study, yet the governor would like to cut all funding to MPBN, and has talked about schools not having enough money to finish the year and LePage gutting funds if you cross him.

Let's talk about environmental and property issues.  Is this land that is going to be used going to fall under the eminent domain?   A private venture should not be able to fall under this provision.  We envision the governor doing everything in his power to help this highway get constructed which would include using the power of eminent domain to snatch the land from it's owner's for pennies.  Environmentally what is going to be the bulk of traffic on this highway?  It's going to be 18 wheelers hauling LNG fuel from the fracking fields of New Brunswick and Quebec. Stay the FRACK out of our state.

The potential of this highway to damage the Maine economy is real.  Sure it will provide jobs, but those jobs are not permanent.  The lumber mills in Quebec will no longer rely on Maine lumber as it will be able to get lumber from New Brunswick much easier than it is able to now. Border crossings will need to be upgraded to handle the influx of trailer trucks using these crossings. 

If Maine is the way life should be, why are they trying to gut up our lands and give access to LNG fuel truck full o' FRACK?! 

Woof Saturday

With the tragedy of Trayvon Martin filling us with fury over the sad state of affairs down there in Florida and the rest of the country for that matter. It is time to have a lil' smile. What better way to put a smile on your faces then the smoooosh faced Pug?

This is a dapper pug because snorting to high heavens = class

The police officer sees ALL sides of the law.. seriously, can she see on both sides of her head? 

Groucho Marx?

Hot Sh*t

You know you were thinking it

The Maine Pug

Who doesn't LOVE a Pug? Check out these great RESCUE resources!!

Maine GOP Hot Mess

Olympia isn't gone a hot minute and the GOP is vying for her seat like maple syrup at a pancake breakfast. Time to tap those trees folks, let's take a look at the players. Bruce Poliquin ; Rick Bennett ; Bill Schneider ; Charlie Summers ; Deborah Plowman ; Scott D'Ambroise 

Lto R : Bruce Peliquin; Rick Bennett; Bill Schneider; Charlie Summers

We'll start with Bruce "tree Growth" Poliquin.  Mr. Poliquin has run for office in Maine before, most recently he vied for the republican nomination for governor.  As we all know he did not get that nomination as it went to Supreme GOP Ruler LePage.  However, LePage appointed Poliquin to be the Treasurer of the State.  

Treasurer? This is ironic that he is being charged to manage billions of dollar$, while he is avoiding paying full taxes on a ten acre piece of property he owns in Georgetown.  By claiming his land was in "tree growth" he was paying $30 a year in property taxes, on a parcel of land that the average bub would be paying $30,000 a year on.  He has since removed his property from being in tree growth, to "open space".  This raised some serious ethical violations from the House and Senate Democrats.  When claiming tree growth on property you must show a plan to harvest some trees. It is reported that no such plan existed for Mr. Poliquin's property, which sounds pretty shady to us, not tree shady, but creep shady.

Also on a side note this is man that enjoys hearing himself speak.  After witnessing him in person at a town hall meeting, no other state officials could get a word in edgewise with him speaking.  Even when a question did not involve him, he found a way to inject himself into the answer. Fine, he is worse than Biden.

Next up, Charlie Summers who is the current Secretary of State in the LePage administration.  He served as State Director to United States Senator Olympia J. Snowe (1995 to 2004). He has served in the military in the Navy Reserves.  He has been deployed in Iraq and in Afghanistan.  

During this past election period Summers was in the center of the "voter fraud" allegations  by GOP chairman Charlie Webster.  The claim was that college students living in other states had voted in the Maine election in violation of the law, thus committing fraud. After the investigation was conducted, Secretary Summers found zero fraud.  He sent a letter to each student involved to inform them the investigation was complete, but did not inform them of their vindication.  He instead informed them they were in violation of not have Maine ID's and vehicle registration.  Instead of including forms that could allow these students to register their vehicle in Maine, he sent them unenrollment forms for voting.  This to us says it is easier for them to unregister to vote, then to register their vehicle.  This was a ploy of voter suppression that was soundly rejected by the state in last Novembers election.

In the bullpen we have William Schneider, who is the current Attorney General for Maine.  He has managed to stay above the fray of the LePage administration.  He refused to sign a letter by state Attorney Generals claiming that the birth control mandate was unconstitutional.  He did however sign on with the AG's that claimed "Obamacare" was unconstitutional, so 1:1 odds there.

Scott D'Amboise is running as a Republican, however he is a Tea Party Patriot.  The quotes on his campaign page say all we need to see, have a gander at the lead to his about me section: "Family Man, Patriot, and Small Business Owner". Oh another gem smack in the middle of his homepage: "Freedom is the most important of human possessions, and I think we may be in danger of losing ours.  If elected I shall do everything in my power to restore and protect freedom, for the people of Maine and for our great nation." This does not sound like a man who is going to be moderate and willing to work on both sides of the aisle in Washington.  This sounds like typical rhetoric from the far right Tea Part Zealot.  D'Amboise has been the candidate that has been in this race the longest, willing to force a primary against Senator Snowe had she stayed in the 2012 race. Before Olympia announced her retirement D'Amboise was the last Republican challenger.

For the X chromosome Debra Plowman is currently serving her fourth term in the Maine senate.  She is a business woman from Hamden, who along with her family run PDQ doors, a garage door company.  Here is a list of some of the legislation she has sponsored or co-sponsored . There is some great stuff in there where she sponsored a bill to collect child support.  This bill became a national model. 

Lastly, Senator Richard A. Bennett (R-Norway) alternated with Senator Michael Michaud as President during the 120th Maine Senate, under the State Senate's unique power sharing arrangement resulting from a first-ever partisan tie. Currently, Bennett serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporate Library, LLC, a Maine-based independent research firm which focuses on corporate governance and director/executive compensation. He is an honors graduate of Harvard University(1986).

That is a break down of the current crop of republicans vying for Senator Snowe's seat. Currently Charlie Summer's has an 8 point lead on his closest challenger, Scott D'Amboise. The Primary will be held on June 12th. 

Maine : The Way Life Should Be (minus LePage)

Late February came the announcement that senator Olympia Snowe (R- Maine) was retiring from political service after serving the people of Maine for 16 years in the House of Representatives, (1979-1995) and then the United States Senates for 17 years (1995-2012).  This spans Mabel & Salty's ENTIRE life time, like saying goodbye to Mr. Rogers, this is going to be weird. Her departure caused  a firestorm of uncertainty for the political landscape of the state and nation.

Olympia, thanks for making us think the GOP was cool while writing book reports in grade school

Once the dust settled a little bit the number of candidates taking out papers for the senate bit began to stack up.  It started with Congressman Mike Michaud (D- Millinocket), then it went on to Congresswomen Chellie Pingree (D-North Haven), former Governor John Baldacci (D-Bangor) threw his name in the ring, as did former Governor Angus King (I-Brunswick).  These were the heavy hitters as far as Maine politics are concerned. After a week Congressman Michaud decided that he was better served to continue his bid for re-election to the House of Representatives.  Last week Angus King confirmed the rumors that he was going to make a run and announced his intentions while giving a speech at Bowdoin College.  At the end of last week Chellie Pingree also made her decision to continue her bid for re-election into the House of Representatives.  Yesterday former Governor Baldacci also decided he was not going to run.

It appears that with Former Governor King's decision to run has scared off these well known politicians and with reason.  Governor King has been one of the more popular governors in the state of Maine. He won his second term as governor with over 60% of the vote (unlike our current governor which 61% of the state did not vote for).  He has not however scared off everyone, March 15th was the deadline for all papers to be turned into be reviewed for the 2000 necessary signatures.

In the line up for the GOP : Rick Bennett (former Maine Senate President), Scott D'Amboise (businessman), State Senator Debra Plowman, Treasurer Bruce Poliquin, Attorney General William Schneider and Secretary of State Charlie Summers.

On the Democratic side, State Senator Cynthia Dill, Matt Dunlap (former Secretary of State) and State Representative Jon Hinck are in the running.

In the coming weeks we will highlight each candidate on both sides of the aisle and and former Governor King, to bring to light each candidates accomplishments and back ground politically.

"As Maine Goes So Goes The Nation" no, seriously bubs...

What Religion Was Thomas "Separate That Sh*t" Jefferson?

The GOP campaign to "claim" the 2012 presidential election has some very hot topics, but none seems to be hotter than the issue of religion and the separation of church and state. Red hot, like boiling hot, because they are morons who clearly never read a snitch of Jefferson.  

So we have found a complete list of The US presidents and their respective religions. Major props to the following for not having a specified denomination (clearly devil worshippers by today's standards) : Thomas "separate that sh*t" Jefferson ; Abe "free 'em" Lincoln ; Andrew "I do what I want" Johnson. 

Eisenhower was a River Brethren?
 

I come of Quaker stock. My ancestors were persecuted for their beliefs. Here they sought and found religious freedom. By blood and conviction I stand for religious tolerance both in act and in spirit." -- New Day, 1928--Herbert Hoover


In my opinion, Church and State should be separate, not only in form, but fact -- religion and politics should not be mingled." -- from a series of campaign speeches, Summer of 1856 - Millard Fillmore

"I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office -- and by personal conviction -- I am sworn to uphold that tradition." -- Interview, Baptist Standard, October, 1964  --Lyndon B. Johnson

Woof Saturday

It has been a crazy week with more and more GOP candidate idiocracy. While someone gets back to us on when Ron Paul will drop the hell out, let's take a break and enjoy the fantastic & husky American Bullmastiff.

Just got back from a GOP debate, looking for something to pee on

Notice the majestic Mastiff as he sits like people, is this Dog Fancy footage?

"Everyday I'm shufflin'"

Try to fit this on your roof rack Romney.

Want to find a gentle giant for your very own? Do they make harnesses that big so you can ride it into the sunset? Is that even legal? Anyways, check out this national RESCUE group.

* Ms. Mabel & Mr. Salty do NOT advise putting a harness on dogs and riding them off into the sunset.