I'm willing to think outside the box on nationbuilding.

A while back I laid out my plan for U.S. improvement, and it was a simple plan. The intervening months have only strengthened my position, making it readily apparent that much pain, suffering, and sheer idiocy could be reduced in the U.S. if we simply allowed the Confederacy to secede. Florida in particular is a hotbed of idiots. I have here a few examples:

1. Man beats family to death on Thanksgiving [cnn.com]

MYAKKA CITY, Florida (AP) -- A 20-year-old man was arrested Sunday in the slayings of his parents, younger brother and elderly grandmother, whose bodies were found bludgeoned to death in the family home, authorities said.

2. Teacher/student sex! [cnn.com]

(CNN) -- In a last-minute effort to keep herself out of prison, a 25-year-old middle school teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to having sex with a 14-year-old.
Debra Lafave, a former remedial reading teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida, pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior, and was sentenced to three years of house arrest followed by seven years probation. She also must register as a sex offender.

3. An inordinate amount of child abductions/murders [cnn.com] [bbc.co.uk]

Item 1. SARASOTA, Florida (CNN) -- It took five hours of deliberation Thursday for a jury to return guilty verdicts on murder, kidnapping and sexual battery charges for Joseph Smith in the February 2004 abduction and slaying of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia.

Item 2. An eight-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted and battered has been found alive in a Florida rubbish bin. [bbc]

4. Children shooting children [cnn.com]

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A teenage girl suspected of shooting a classmate on a school bus Tuesday morning has turned herself in to Miramar, Florida police, a spokesman said.
Police are not naming the 17-year-old but said her mother helped police find her safely, spokesman Bill Robertson said. He added that the girl was accompanied by two friends when she surrendered.

5.The Terri Schiavo Debacle. [bbc.co.uk]

But Kenneth W Goodman, an ethics professor at the University of Miami, says religious conservatives are pushing laws that would make it difficult to withdraw care even when a patient's wishes are clear.

• The Kansas state House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure that would require a guardian to obtain court approval for the withdrawal of care. The law was championed by abortion opponents and disability advocates.


• The Alabama state legislature has drawn up the Starvation and Dehydration Prevention Act, which prevents the removal of a feeding tube without written instructions from the patient.


• A Michigan state legislator has proposed a law that would bar adulterers from acting as a guardian for an incapacitated patient.
  

And in addition to proposed changes in state law, legal experts say that the intervention by both the Florida legislature and the United States Congress
could set a precedent for cases in the future.

6. The Future Bush the Third.

7. Some of the dirtiest dirtbags in all of college football.