Today a group of 80 Conservatives are meeting in Mount Vernon, VA to sign what is being called “Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century”:

The Mount Vernon Statement

   We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.

   These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.

   Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The selfevident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.

Would that these Conservatives could get their facts straight, the Constitution was penned in 1787. Do they even know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Details aren’t important to these guys, nor is history, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their agenda, the continued corporate strangle hold on America and the government.

H/T to Demonsheep who is “off to sign the Mount Vernon Statement, in your blood.”

Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness.

I will be traveling most of today. As time permits and access allows, I’ll be “popping in”. I leave Haiti reluctantly but in a few months I will return, mostly in an administrative capacity. I’m headed for New Orleans for a short vacation and then back to NYC. I want to thank everyone here for their support for the Haitian people in there time of extreme need. This is going to be a very long road for recovery if they ever do.

Jerry is seven years old. On January 12, he was seriously injured in the earthquake that devastated his hometown of Port-au-Prince, suffering a severe open fracture to his femur when his house collapsed.

Jerry’s mother, Louismerre, lost two of her five children in the quake. Determined not to see a third child die, she immediately brought Jerry to a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital for emergency medical care.

MSF staff started Jerry on antibiotics to prevent the spread of infection. He was then taken to an operating theater, where an MSF surgeon performed a debridement of the wound, cleaning it out and removing dead tissue. A few days later, the doctors brought Jerry back so they could examine and clean his injury again. They discovered the infection had not abated and they became extremely concerned that it would spread to the rest of his body, putting his life at risk. They were forced to make a difficult choice. “The wound was very near the groin,” said MSF’s Dr. Karin Lind. “If the infection went above it, there would have been very little we could have done to save him. We knew we had to amputate if we wanted to keep him alive.”

While waiting for my ride to the air port, I read this about air port check in from tigerwater @ Dependable Renegade, I thought maybe I should just hop a cargo flight to Miami.

Douchemook #1: Yes, I understand you paid a pretty penny for that fine Corinthian leather carry-on bag. That doesn’t mean you should stroke it and pet it and call it “George” while the line behind you multiplies like bunnies fucking. Throw the fucking thing on the conveyor belt; it will be fine. The cow managed to wear it all those years without worrying about being rolled over a few metal bars, so you shouldn’t either.

Okay, now for douchemook #2: yes, you, young bankstress, future Master of the Universe (assuming you can break the glass ceiling – good luck with that). You, with the three carry-on bags and little regard for the fact that there are other passengers on your flight who might need the overhead compartment space. You who were too fucking busy texting to notice that the line was leaving without you, stranding those of us unfortunate enough to be stuck behind you, while you made plans for dinner at some ludicrously expensive restaurant. Fine, I don’t know that the restaurant is expensive, but you were acting like such a entitled twatwaffle that I can only assume the worst.

And just in case you are drinking and/or eating any thing while reading the rest of this, PUT IT DOWN. Asthmatics have your inhalers handy.

Welcome to Sunday Weekend Edition and Open Thread. Ek hornbeck is busy with Super Bowl and America’s Cup essays, so today the news is hosted by me, TMC.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A blizzard dumped two feet of snow across much of the U.S. mid-Atlantic on Saturday, paralyzing travel, leaving tens of thousands without power and creating a winter wonderland in a region not used to big snows.

Snowfall totals of 20 to 38 inches blanketed a crescent from West Virginia to southern New Jersey by early evening when the flakes stopped falling after more than 24 hours.

More than 230,000 homes lost power in the Washington area, according to The Washington Post, after the snow felled trees, brought down power lines and damaged utility poles. Pepco electric company said its workers were scrambling to restore power, but said it could be a few days before everyone was back up.

Traffic was at a virtual standstill in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas as the sun set on many deserted, unplowed streets. Up to 32 inches of snow had fallen in suburban Washington in the biggest snowfall to hit the city in decades.

ISTANBUL — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, whose gloomy assessment of the war last summer prompted the White House to boost troop levels, said Thursday that conditions are no longer deteriorating and predicted further improvements this year.

“I am not prepared to say that we have turned the corner,” Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal told a group of U.S. reporters during a NATO conference here. “I’m not prepared to say we are winning. I am prepared to say we are very much engaged, and I’m confident we’re going to see serious progress this year.”

snip

Asked why he thought the situation had improved, McChrystal said he could not point to specific measurements, but rather a general sense that security was better in some areas and that the mood among Afghan leaders was more optimistic.

My favorite quote from the comments