The following story from the HuffPo is hilarious. Please note, the secessionist filed his petition (which is incidentally NOT the process by which states could legally secede) on the White House web site for petitions.
This man filed his petition to secede because he is angry that the government of the state of Alabama closed his topless car wash under STATE obscenity statutes.
So his response is.... to blame the FEDERAL government for his business closing down.
This makes sense to Tea Partiers and Secessionists and other tin foil mad hatters. These people are laughable; they are sincere, but they are stupid. Alabama has some odd prudish tendencies; this is the south, the stupid Bible belt. They prohibited the sale of ribbed condoms and/or sex toys. Secession is NOT going to help revive a tackier version of Hooters inspired car wash. The FEDS are not the problem here - his fellow Alabamians are, and their entrenched view of anything sexual or sex-related as dirty is the real problem. I'd argue this ignorance comes from their poor general education, and especially their abstinence only sex ed program that results in a bad understanding of normal human sexuality. To the extent that the feds funded the abstinence only sex ed, on those grounds he might have a legitimate beef with his fellow state citizens -- but that was their choice, and is still the state-level opinion. I think you have an uphill argument to blame the federal government for the state being full of ignorant prudes; that was true long before 1996.
Poor Derrick Belcher; he needs some serious remediation to his understanding of civics, and critical thinking, as apparently do all those other petitions signers.
From the HuffPo:
Meet Derrick Belcher, a 45-year-old from Chunchula, Ala. Belcher is a truck driver, knife collector, "absolute Libertarian" and previously owned a topless car wash -- that is, until the government shut down his business, he claims.
According to Alabama.com, Belcher is so upset with the government, he's petitioning for Alabama to secede from the United States.
“I don’t think any one state can stand alone. But if we’ve got 20 of them, then that starts to be something,” Belcher said of the secession movement. “If you look at a map of the red states, we have all of the oil and we produce all of the food. We’re the ones that are carrying the rest of the nation.”
The Alabama native blames the federal government for shutting down his topless car wash, Euro Details, which he claims was successful for a decade in Mobile, according to Alabama.com. In 2001, Belcher was arrested and charged with obscenity. “The government ripped my business away, and now they’re choking America to death with rules and regulations,” he said.
Alabama enacted its anti-obscenity law in 1998, prohibiting private businesses and clubs from allowing breasts, genitalia and buttocks to be shown for entertainment, the Chicago Tribune previously reported. Although legislators claimed the law was instituted to stop nude dancing, "opponents argue the statute is so broad that it could be used to censor any type of entity that shows nudity," the Tribute explained.
Belcher's topless car wash fell under this umbrella.
So, last Friday, he started the Alabama secession petition in hopes that his state will be granted the right to secede from the Union, according to WKRG, a CBS News affiliate. Petitions to secede from the U.S. have been filed in all 50 states.
“The American people are being mistreated by the federal government and there is absolutley no reason why we shouldn't end this treatment from the federal government,” Belcher told WKRG. “And I guess there is a part of me that is angry because my government has mistreated me year after year after year and I am fed up with it and I know there are several other people in this state and all across the country that are fed up with it as well.”
As of this writing, the Alabama secession petition had garnered 29,113 signatures on the White House's "We The People" online petition tool. According to the petition, 25,000 signatures are required for the White House to review it.
This man filed his petition to secede because he is angry that the government of the state of Alabama closed his topless car wash under STATE obscenity statutes.
So his response is.... to blame the FEDERAL government for his business closing down.
This makes sense to Tea Partiers and Secessionists and other tin foil mad hatters. These people are laughable; they are sincere, but they are stupid. Alabama has some odd prudish tendencies; this is the south, the stupid Bible belt. They prohibited the sale of ribbed condoms and/or sex toys. Secession is NOT going to help revive a tackier version of Hooters inspired car wash. The FEDS are not the problem here - his fellow Alabamians are, and their entrenched view of anything sexual or sex-related as dirty is the real problem. I'd argue this ignorance comes from their poor general education, and especially their abstinence only sex ed program that results in a bad understanding of normal human sexuality. To the extent that the feds funded the abstinence only sex ed, on those grounds he might have a legitimate beef with his fellow state citizens -- but that was their choice, and is still the state-level opinion. I think you have an uphill argument to blame the federal government for the state being full of ignorant prudes; that was true long before 1996.
Poor Derrick Belcher; he needs some serious remediation to his understanding of civics, and critical thinking, as apparently do all those other petitions signers.
From the HuffPo:
Derrick Belcher, Man Behind Alabama Secession Petition, Mad About Losing Topless Car Wash (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post | By Cavan Sieczkowski Posted: 11/16/2012 9:14 am EST Updated: 11/16/2012 11:26 am EST
Meet Derrick Belcher, a 45-year-old from Chunchula, Ala. Belcher is a truck driver, knife collector, "absolute Libertarian" and previously owned a topless car wash -- that is, until the government shut down his business, he claims.
According to Alabama.com, Belcher is so upset with the government, he's petitioning for Alabama to secede from the United States.
“I don’t think any one state can stand alone. But if we’ve got 20 of them, then that starts to be something,” Belcher said of the secession movement. “If you look at a map of the red states, we have all of the oil and we produce all of the food. We’re the ones that are carrying the rest of the nation.”
The Alabama native blames the federal government for shutting down his topless car wash, Euro Details, which he claims was successful for a decade in Mobile, according to Alabama.com. In 2001, Belcher was arrested and charged with obscenity. “The government ripped my business away, and now they’re choking America to death with rules and regulations,” he said.
Alabama enacted its anti-obscenity law in 1998, prohibiting private businesses and clubs from allowing breasts, genitalia and buttocks to be shown for entertainment, the Chicago Tribune previously reported. Although legislators claimed the law was instituted to stop nude dancing, "opponents argue the statute is so broad that it could be used to censor any type of entity that shows nudity," the Tribute explained.
Belcher's topless car wash fell under this umbrella.
So, last Friday, he started the Alabama secession petition in hopes that his state will be granted the right to secede from the Union, according to WKRG, a CBS News affiliate. Petitions to secede from the U.S. have been filed in all 50 states.
“The American people are being mistreated by the federal government and there is absolutley no reason why we shouldn't end this treatment from the federal government,” Belcher told WKRG. “And I guess there is a part of me that is angry because my government has mistreated me year after year after year and I am fed up with it and I know there are several other people in this state and all across the country that are fed up with it as well.”
As of this writing, the Alabama secession petition had garnered 29,113 signatures on the White House's "We The People" online petition tool. According to the petition, 25,000 signatures are required for the White House to review it.
I'm guessing nobody informed this man that the Federal Government had nothing to do with shutting down his car wash. It might be wise to inform him that secession is not a Right guaranteed under the Constitution. Birthers 2.0 I guess.
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