The secrecy relates more to the member companies than to ALEC itself. This is not unique to ALEC, but no one is proud of having ALEC lobby for them. It’s kind of a dirty stigma. ‘Secretive’ is a fair adjective. I’ve seen stickers for the Nature Conservancy on the windows at Whole Foods. Or the World Wildlife Federation at Disney World. I don’t see ALEC stickers on the windows at McDonald’s. “ALEC Member since 2008.”

Not gonna happen.

Who are you to tell me to move? I was born here and this is my country. The American Constitution defines MY rights, not YOU.

I have NO intention to give up my right to a peaceful life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness so an ever increasing number of undisciplined sociopaths that feel entitled can snatch purses, rob, burgle, intimidate and kill at will to support unwise and unsustainable life style choices. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the “look like me”.

If you don’t live in Europe, I suggest YOU move there.

I live in Ohio where we have a duty to retreat unless it is your own home. That truly seems like a better standard. Pursuing trouble with a gun is problematic. That being said we still don’t know what happened in those final seconds and that is what counts and that is what determines if there was cause to shoot.

Bag of skittles means nothing. You can’t assume people have no weapon because the weapon is not in hand. We also don’t know if Trayvon tried to grab the gun in which case you have to shoot or be shot. Fianlly it is better to bu judged by 12 than carried by 6.

What we do know here is that regardless of the what the law allows it is not smart to go looking for trouble with a gun. However, it may be leagal in this case.

I am SO GLAD I do not live in a such a place. Or maybe it’s that I’m just not scared of people that don’t look like me

You said: “The Modern Left – highly emotional, reactionary, unprincipled, jumps when the whip is cracked.”

In reality, you have actually described the Modern Right. In all my 60+ years I’ve not seen a group more controlled and in mindless lockstep with its masters than the Modern Right. Right Wingers, especially Tea Partiers, bring to mind the jack-booted brownshirts goose-stepping in unison to the maniacal exhortations of their so-called leaders. And all the while it is the puppet masters, such as ALEC, secretively pulling the strings in the background led by their chief propagandist, Karl Rove. Mussolini and Franco would be delighted.

Well, he’s toast either way. His life will either be spent in deep hiding, or in prison. Either way, the delete button has already been hit for Zimmerman. This trial is not so much for him, it is for the law itself. Personally, I would like to see him acquitted and turned loose to the wolves so that we can get on with the re-write of the law. Because you can be sure that who ever that vigilante is will cite the same law that Zimmerman is now citing. “I was scared so I shot him.”

Let me be clear that I, too, don’t think Zimmerman is the brightest light in the harbor, nor do I “support him”. I can imagine myself in some of the circumstances he put himself in as these have been described.

While I fully agree that the sequence of events is tragic as it apparently unfolded, we have to accept there was a death that, strictly speaking was unnecessary. Yes, Zimmerman was initiating a sequence of events he should not have when he got out of his car. Was that a crime? I’ll leave that to judge and jury.

When he lost sight of Trayvon, gave up the search, and headed back to his car, he ceased to be an aggressor. If Trayvon then approached Zimmerman quickly without warning and proceeded to knock him to the ground, breaking his nose and then commenced to try to beat his brains out on the concrete, Trayvon under no circumstances would be a victim.

I’m confident that it will be established as to (1) whether Zimmerman broke any law and, if he did, what penalty will be assessed. (2) whether Zimmerman was the victim of an assault, (3) if so, whether his use of deadly force was in self defense or not, and (4) if not, what penalty will be assessed under laws then in effect.

I will wait and watch with interest to see what happens to Zimmerman and to the law. My fear is that Zimmerman may eventually die at the hands of some self-serving vigilante that will never be publicly identified. Who then will cry for “justice”? All of America, I would hope.