United States of America

For the 12th year running, Bartlesville's White Rose Cemetery hosted a Memorial Day Service. … Bill Teal from the American Legion spoke about the flag and the meaning behind the folds of the flag before a 21 gun salute honored those who gave all in service of their country. …

And now comes word that Border Patrol agents in the most heavily-trafficked area of the surge, the Rio Grande Valley sector of Texas, recently questioned 230 illegal immigrants about why they came. The results showed overwhelmingly that the immigrants, including those classified as UACs, or unaccompanied children, were motivated by the belief that they would be allowed to stay in the United States -- and not by conditions in their homelands.

President Barack Obama's administration is knowingly allowing illegal immigrant gangsters from Mexico and Central America into the United States, and some are even being reunited with their family members.

The gang members reportedly belong to some of the most dangerous gangs in Central America and Mexico, like MS-13, but Border Patrol agents are handcuffed, especially if the illegal immigrants are deemed to be "minors."

[E]verything had to go perfectly… The majority leader does not get resoundingly defeated for the first time in American history any other way. … The cameras were already there, Brat just had to show up to get his first national attention, for free. Without spending a penny, Brat convinced the 7th District that Cantor was a liar. Of course, it was true.

“Madam chairman, we don’t normally have hearings requiring the witnesses to fill in bubble test forms,” Vitter interrupted, as Boxer gaveled him down.

“Excuse me,” she responded. “When you have this gavel, you make the rules.”

Even the pundits at CNN had to agree – President Obama’s reception at West Point was nothing short of “icy.” … Compare that to the speech President George W. Bush gave to the corps of cadets in 2008 in his last military academy speech as President… [Videos at link]

NBC Washington’s Angie Goff revealed a “presidential selfie” with George H.W. Bush, who was clearly “ahead of his time,” as Ms. Goff remarked. February 5, 2014

What is the true state of our union? Though this may sound harsh, I’ll speak the truth here. We are a country going bankrupt to fund a bloated, distant, and often corrupt federal government led by venal politicians more concerned with paying off their campaign cronies and consolidating their own power than in preserving the constitutional republic that so many have fought and died for (including our brave men and women in uniform who were barely mentioned last night).

How many Americans have died to protect this country and to keep us united? But what… because we lost a couple of elections and gained an ObamaCare we're going to grab our marbles and crybaby all the way home to Texahomastan? Wanting to cut and run from the fight for your country is cowardice.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has reportedly demoted the former head of U.S. Africa Command, who was accused of spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and other unauthorized expenses. …stripped Gen. William 'Kip' Ward of a star, which means that he must now retire as a three-star lieutenant general. Ward must also repay the government $82,000.

Speaking of crawling over shit, I suggest next election we don't spread all that broken glass around that we were so certain republicans were going to crawl through to get to the polls. Maybe replace it with boy scouts, helping walk them through freshly swept pavement? Just throwing that idea out there.

In the aftermath of the 2012 election, the vast majority of states are either entirely blue or entirely red, their entire legislatures and governors of one party or the other. As the Wall Street Journal reports, “In 46 states, the same party now controls both chambers of the legislature, creating distinct divisions between red and blue states.” That’s the highest number in 70 years. When governors are counted as well, there are just 12 states across the country with divided government. A full 38 states are of a single party.

If this continues, we are watching the end of America as we know it.

Red states are governed very differently from blue states. Of the 22 right-to-work states, which have provided 72% of the jobs under the weak Obama recovery, only Iowa (which has a non-partisan unicameral legislature) and Nevada (Democrat-controlled legislature) are not solid red. Meanwhile, the bluest states – states like Michigan and California and Illinois – are totally bankrupt.

What we are seeing is a complete divide throughout the country on the state level. We only get to elect one president. But on a state-by-state basis, it’s clear that the American people have two very different ideas of which way they want this country to head.

If the blue states hold true to form and the red states continue to grow, it will not be long before the red states are largely subsidizing the blue states.

Less than a week after a New Orleans suburbanite petitioned the White House to allow Louisiana to secede from the United States, petitions from seven states have collected enough signatures to trigger a promised review from the Obama administration. By 6:00 a.m. EST Wednesday, more than 675,000 digital signatures appeared on 69 separate secession petitions covering all 50 states, according to a Daily Caller analysis of requests lodged with the White House’s “We the People” online petition system. A petition from Vermont, where talk of secession is a regular feature of political life, was the final entry.

A recent rush of petitions to the White House’s website from anti-Barack Obama partisans hoping their states will secede from the U.S. has produced its first backlash: online petitions asking the Obama administration to exile anyone who signed them. [Makes me want to rush out and sign the petition... to secede, I mean.]