May 05, 2009
In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?
At a state level, it’s up to them. I don’t want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it’s wrong. People don’t understand the dictionary—it’s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we’re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.
I won’t even begin to get into the level of ignorance displayed in that answer. There are good arguments to be made against gay marriage, but he puts out none of them. And to then resort to the slur – and to justify it as not being a slur – is offensive to me and to most Christians I know.
But what especially hurts is to see the argument that he has gay friends, and that he will not allow them near his children. First, it is completely wrong-headed to say that he is loving towards gay people while asserting that this is the correct path. But even more significant, I have seen how destructive that approach is in my own family, where one relative has rejected her own sister over her sexual orientation and attempted to ensure that her children have no relationship with their aunt and her partner – all in the name of Christianity. I have a number of terms I could use for that, and none of them is “love” or one of its synonyms.
But beyond that, there is even another issue. Is this guy someone we want to have as a face of the GOP? Do we want him defining our “brand”? And I ask that as a conservative who is a Christian – but who definitely is not a “Christian conservative” in the sense that term is so often used to discredit the Christians, conservatives, and the GOP.
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In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?
At a state level, it’s up to them. I don’t want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it’s wrong. People don’t understand the dictionary—it’s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we’re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.
I won’t even begin to get into the level of ignorance displayed in that answer. There are good arguments to be made against gay marriage, but he puts out none of them. And to then resort to the slur – and to justify it as not being a slur – is offensive to me and to most Christians I know.
But what especially hurts is to see the argument that he has gay friends, and that he will not allow them near his children. First, it is completely wrong-headed to say that he is loving towards gay people while asserting that this is the correct path. But even more significant, I have seen how destructive that approach is in my own family, where one relative has rejected her own sister over her sexual orientation and attempted to ensure that her children have no relationship with their aunt and her partner – all in the name of Christianity. I have a number of terms I could use for that, and none of them is “love” or one of its synonyms.
But beyond that, there is even another issue. Is this guy someone we want to have as a face of the GOP? Do we want him defining our “brand”? And I ask that as a conservative who is a Christian – but who definitely is not a “Christian conservative” in the sense that term is so often used to discredit the Christians, conservatives, and the GOP.
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The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
That John Murtha is corrupt is a given. We’ve known it since Abscam. And evidence of his steering defense funds to his own benefit and not that of the country. That Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats continue to protect him is a disgrace – and business as usual for the Donkey Party.
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The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
That John Murtha is corrupt is a given. We’ve known it since Abscam. And evidence of his steering defense funds to his own benefit and not that of the country. That Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats continue to protect him is a disgrace – and business as usual for the Donkey Party.
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The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
That John Murtha is corrupt is a given. We’ve known it since Abscam. And evidence of his steering defense funds to his own benefit and not that of the country. That Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats continue to protect him is a disgrace – and business as usual for the Donkey Party.
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The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
That John Murtha is corrupt is a given. We’ve known it since Abscam. And evidence of his steering defense funds to his own benefit and not that of the country. That Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats continue to protect him is a disgrace – and business as usual for the Donkey Party.
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The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.
Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
That John Murtha is corrupt is a given. We’ve known it since Abscam. And evidence of his steering defense funds to his own benefit and not that of the country. That Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats continue to protect him is a disgrace – and business as usual for the Donkey Party.
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n Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans claim it was the sword attack, not Van Gogh's madness, that led him to commit suicide two years later.
The prevailing theory is that the Dutchman, who painted Sunflowers and the Potato Eaters, almost bled to death after slashing his own ear with a razor in a fit of lunacy on the night of December 23, 1888.
He is said to have wrapped it in cloth and handed it to a prostitute in a nearby brothel.
However, the new work from experts in Hamburg offers a very different version.
Gauguin, an excellent fencer, was planning to leave Van Gogh's "Yellow House" in Arles, southwestern France, after an unhappy stay.
He had walked out of the house with his baggage and his trusty épée in hand, but was followed by the troubled Van Gogh, who had earlier thrown a glass at him.
As the pair approached a bordello, their row intensified, and Gauguin cut off Van Gogh's left earlobe with his sword – either in anger or self-defence.
He then threw the weapon in the Rhône. Van Gogh delivered the ear to the prostitute and staggered home, where police discovered him the following day, the new account claims.
Of course, the only thing lacking with this theory is something called “evidence” – aside from a couple of obscure references to silence and the timing of the ear being cut off, there is nothing there. But it does go to show how some academics can make a career out of the most absurd of claims – and get published, too!
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AUSTIN — Texas legislators want Congress to right a wrong that they say was caused by bigotry — denial of the Medal of Honor to an American war hero with roots in Mexico.
Marcelino Serna served valiantly in World War I and returned to Texas a military legend, but his advocates say he was bypassed for AmericaÂ’s highest military decoration because of his heritage and the fact that he spoke little English.
State Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, last week presented a resolution on SernaÂ’s case to the Texas House Committee on Defense and VeteransÂ’ Affairs. The resolution would ask Congress to reconsider a Medal of Honor for Serna, who died in 1992 at age 95.
The resolution has already cleared the state Senate and the House committee. It needs final approval from the full House to be presented to Congress.
Serna spoke almost no English when he enlisted in the Army. After three weeks of training, the Army shipped him across the Atlantic.
“Can you imagine that? A native of Chihuahua, Mexico, then Colorado, sent to England,” Pickett said.
When Army officers realized that Serna was a Mexican national, they offered him the chance to return home. A friend translated his answer — a firm “no.” Serna decided he would stay and fight for the United States.
He carried out his duties with uncommon valor. Army records stated that Serna killed three dozen enemy soldiers and captured nearly the same number.
Serna received a medal for bravery from the French government, the Croix de Guerre, the British Medal of Honor, the Italian Cross of Merit and two Purple Hearts, among other awards. But the U.S. Medal of Honor, the rarest and most prestigious military decoration, eluded him.
After being discharged in 1919, Serna settled in El Paso and became a U.S. citizen five years later.
Now let’s get this on the table – Marcelino Serna appears to have been one hell of a man. He appears to have been an exemplary soldier, and to have performed acts that are justifiably called heroic. However, the criteria for receiving this award requires that the recipient engage in an act of
"[conspicuous] gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against any enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party."
And it is the phrase “above and beyond the call of duty” that leaves me stuck on this one. Did Serna rise above the call of duty in his actions? I’m not sure. I’d love to know more about the man and his deeds. Could someone direct me to more information?
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Blatant affirmative action always entailed a disturbing and ex post facto changing of the rules -- oops, you're white. Sorry, not what we wanted. As a consequence, it was not racists who were punished but all whites. There is no need to cling to such a remedy anymore. There is, though, every need to retain and strengthen anti-discrimination laws, especially in areas such as fire departments, where racial discrimination was once endemic. Sufficient progress has been made to revert to treating individuals as individuals. After all, it is not some amorphous entity called "whites" who will suffer: It is un-lieutenant Ricci.
Now Cohen takes this position in the context of discussing Obama’s upcoming nominee to the Supreme Court. Oddly enough, the position he takes is quite akin to that taken by a current member of the Supreme Court – Chief Justice John Roberts. Has Cohen come to recognize that it is, indeed, a sordid business for the government (any government, whether federal or city) to divide and classify its citizens by race and to award benefits and burdens based upon that classification? Will Obama – who arguably achieved his current position based upon merit, not an affirmative action quota – recognize the same truth that conservatives have long embraced, and make an appointment based upon that truth?
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May 04, 2009
In a video obtained by Al Jazeera and broadcast Monday, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him.""The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.
"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."
The translated Bibles appear to be the New Testament. According to Al Jazeera, US soldiers "had them specially printed and shipped to Afghanistan." On the tape, one soldier describes how his church in the US helped raise money for the bibles. Al Jazeera reports that "What these soldiers have been doing may well be in direct violation of the US Constitution, their professional codes and the regulations in place for all forces in Afghanistan." The US military officially forbids "proselytising of any religion, faith or practice.
As I see it, the terrorist supporters at A-Jazeera may have it exactly backwards. Chaplains are not forbidden to preach the Gospel, and soldiers retain the right to practice their faith. Indeed, any attempt to restrict either would constitute a serious violation of the US Constitution – and for the US government to seek to restrict sharing the Gospel with locals in Afghanistan or any other country constitutes a material cooperation with the violation of human rights.
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Newly-minted Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter would whip old Republican rival Pat Toomey 53 - 33 percent if the 2010 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race were held today, but if popular former Gov. Tom Ridge becomes the Republican candidate, he trails Specter by just 46 - 43 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.Independent voters, who back Sen. Specter over Toomey 45 - 36 percent, switch to Ridge 47 - 37 percent if he becomes a candidate. The former Republican Governor also gets 14 percent of the Democratic vote, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.
In the Specter-Toomey matchup, Republicans back Toomey 74 - 18 percent while Democrats go with their new convert 85 - 4 percent. Men back Specter 47 - 41 percent, as do women 59 - 26 percent. Union households go Democratic 62 - 27 percent.
In a Specter-Ridge face-off, Republicans go with Ridge 82 - 10 percent, while Specter takes Democrats 78 - 14 percent. Men shift to Ridge 50 - 41 percent, while women remain Democratic 51 - 37 percent. Union households back Specter 57 - 34 percent.
Does the GOP want to keep that senate seat in Pennsylvania? If it does, then it needs to find a candidate who can beat Arlen Specter among more than the GOP faithful. Such a candidate exists in Tom Ridge – and Pat Toomey clearly does not have what it takes to get rid of the defective defector.
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The two-time Democratic presidential candidate acknowledged Sunday that investigators are assessing how he spent his campaign funds — a subject that could carry his extramarital affair from the tabloids to the courtroom. Edwards' political action committee paid more than $100,000 for video production to the firm of the woman with whom Edwards had an affair.
The former North Carolina senator said in a carefully worded statement that he is cooperating.
"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter."
While Edwards focused his comment on campaign funds, he also had a range of other fundraising organizations — including two nonprofits and a poverty center at his alma mater — that have come under scrutiny.
Chief among them was the PAC that paid Rielle Hunter's company for several months in 2006 for Web videos that documented Edwards' travels and advocacy in the months leading up to his 2008 presidential campaign. The committee also paid her firm an additional $14,086.50 on April 1, 2007.
Edwards acknowledged the affair with Hunter last year, months after dropping his presidential bid.
At the time of the 2007 payment, the PAC only had $7,932.95 in cash on hand, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. That day, according to the records, Edwards' presidential campaign paid the PAC $14,034.61 for what is listed as a "furniture purchase."
Well, Johnny, I hope you look good in orange. You ought to go away for a very long time.
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"If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved or prolonged many lives, including mine."
Frankly, that is reckless, ghoulish speculation. That he was not slapped down – and slapped down hard – by Bob Schieffer is but one more sign that in today’s America there is little decency left on the Left or in the media. And for all of Arlen Specter’s professed respect for Jack Kemp, his abuse of the memory of a man not yet dead a whole 24 hours speaks volumes about his lack of character – especially since the GOP increased spending for cancer research a full 46% beyond the rate of inflation while the GOP controlled Congress, almost the same rate at which defense spending was increased.
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The hero of my youth passed this weekend.
Jack Kemp, the former tax-cutting Republican politician and American footballer, who ran for the White House in 1996 as Bob DoleÂ’s running mate, died of cancer on Saturday at the age of 73.
As a Republican congressman, Kemp latched on to supply-side economics and advocated sweeping tax cuts as a means to stimulate production and growth. Initially stymied in Congress, his legislation found a sympathetic supporter in Ronald Reagan, who put forward a fiscal revolution as a campaign pledge in 1980 before his victory in the presidential election.
Kemp’s influence on Republican politics reached its zenith with “Reaganomics” but his voice as a conservative libertarian, who aimed to broaden the party’s appeal among black voters, continued to be heard after Reagan’s presidency.
KempÂ’s vision was and is mine, though I at times took issue with his stance on illegal immigration. I admired him greatly, and regret that it was Newt Gingrich, not Kemp, who became the face and the voice of the GOP in the 1990s.
I have a particular memory of Jack Kemp, one which has stayed with me for over two decades. One of my college buddies was an intern in Kemp’s congressional office, and arranged to get a group of our fellow College Republicans a private meeting with the presidential candidate before he addressed a gathering of Republican activists at a presidential forum in the Chicago area. Being a rather arrogant college student, I confronted Kemp on his unwillingness to support right-to-work laws – and questioned how, as a conservative, he could fail to do so. His response is what has stayed with me for years – that it is unrealistic for conservatives to expect every candidate and every officeholder to check every box on what it means to be a conservative. In his own case, he noted that he represented a blue-collar district in the northeastern US with a high percentage of union members. While it might be more pure for him to take the right-to-work position, it would also doom his electability in that district – and the electability of any similar candidate in any similar district. It was therefore better to prioritize what was truly important and to elect candidates that would pursue those goals, and leave other, less important, principles and platform planks for another day. Failure to do that, he noted, would likely lead to the ultimate failure to accomplish even the goals that were important.
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May 02, 2009
Well, never mind -- it looks like military commissions for jihadis may be back on, despite Obama promises to the contrary.
The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration’s system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.
Personally, I oppose anything other than drumhead courts martial for jihadis, followed by immediate execution. But if these swine are to be afforded treatment as POWs like the Left wants, they should be treated as POWs -- held for the duration of the conflict between the civilized world and Islamist barbarism, just as POWs during WWII were held for the duration of that conflict. Following the conclusion of hostilities, those believed guilty of war crimes may then be subjected to war crimes tribunals in which they have access to surviving documents from both sides, as well (and all are guilty, as irregular combatants).
Ain't the fecklessness of Barry Hussein and the rest of the Obama Regime absolutely stunning?
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“One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House….that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation”
Excuse me. I thought that dissent -- and opposition to White House policy -- was the highest form of patriotism. And I thought that the press was supposed to be an independent watchdog, not the lapdog of the regime in power. I could observe which twentieth century regimes were known for controlling the press and using it to vilify and destroy their opponents, but I wouldn't want to offend liberals by dumping on left-wing leaders from Russia, Germany, China and Cuba as I attack their spiritual heir.
H/T Hot Air
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Well, I know one thing: When Jesus brought a little girl on her deathbed back to life, He said, "Wake up," not "Move over..."
Remember Muhammad's policy on little girls -- married at six, mated at nine. And you wonder why some of us lack respect for the false prophet of Islam. In today's world he'd be in prison for a good long stretch, and live out his life as a registered sex offender.
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1. Make Sure You Stand a Chance: If you want to accomplish anything with a legislator (as opposed to simply voicing your opinion), make sure you're not far afield from the core constituencies and principles of the legislator you are hoping to influence. In other words, you don't stand a chance of convincing Jason Kander to abandon the Missouri Plan, and you're not going to get Jolie Justus to eliminate support for childcare. Go ahead and vent if you disagree, but don't think you're influencing change.
2. Visit Your Legislator: If there's an important issue pending, get in your car and visit Jefferson City, or find out where you can meet with the legislator during a break, and do it. Nothing is as influential as a face-to-face meeting. If you have written materials, bring a couple copies so the legislator can review them and give a copy to a staff person. Legislators listen to visitors, so, if you can find the time and the gas money, go visit our Capitol City, and treat yourself to some ice cream at Central Dairy on your way home.
3. Write a Real, Personalized Letter: If you can't visit Jefferson City, let the postal service do the work for you. Send a real, personalized letter expressing your thoughts and enclosing any supporting information. I'm not talking about signing your name to a pre-printed post card or a cut-and-paste from an action alert. Those are a waste of time, trees and postage. But a persuasive letter on real stationery signed by a constituent will make a legislator take notice.
4. Pick up the Phone and Call: At this point in the session, where action on bills is happening at a fast and furious pace, calling is probably more effective than writing. Even if you only get to talk to a legislative aide, your voice will be heard. A lot of legislators are pretty generous about sharing their cell phone numbers, and don't hesitate to use them. If you wind up in voice mail, be prepared to leave a clear and short message, including the fact (if true) that you reside in his/her district. Leave your number, and you may get a call back.
5. Send an Email: Email's easy, and that is the problem with it. With a few clicks of the mouse, you can contact every legislator in Jefferson City, and hundreds of others can do the same thing. The result is a deluge that simply drowns out even your well-crafted, reasonable missive. If you care enough to write, care enough to put it on real paper with a stamp, pick up the phone, or drive to Jefferson City. Email is a decent way to communicate with a legislator once a dialog is started through one of those means, but, especially at this time of the session, don't expect to accomplish anything by writing an email.
Well done, Dan! Here's hoping lots of folks use your suggestions -- and more importantly, that they use them to get conservative policies enacted.
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May 01, 2009
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Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is prompting his campaign donors large and small to demand their money back, including several Republican senators whose political action committees gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Pennsylvania lawmaker.
Sen. Johnny Isakson didn't waste any time putting himself at the front of the refund line. The Georgia Republican asked Mr. Specter for a return of his leadership political action committee's $5,000 contribution Tuesday on the Senate floor - just hours after Mr. Specter announced he was changing his political stripes.
"Senator Specter readily agreed to return the contribution," said Isakson spokeswoman Sheridan Watson, adding that the exchange was cordial.
While not legally bound to refund any legitimate campaign donation, Mr. Specter has pledged to honor requests for refunds - and the requests are pouring in.
It seems to me that this is the right thing for Republicans to do – they gave money in an effort to keep the seat Republican (a misguided idea, given that Specter was hardly a reliable Republican vote). And while Pat Toomey may or may not be the best candidate who can beat Specter, that money needs to go to a Republican who can.
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Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term.
The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction.
At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court. In fact, he is in the younger half of the court's age range, with five justices older and just three younger. So far as anyone knows, he is in good health. But he has made clear to friends for some time that he wanted to leave Washington, a city he has never liked, and return to his native New Hampshire. Now, according to reliable sources, he has decided to take the plunge and has informed the White House of his decision.
Of all the justices of my lifetime, it is Souter for whom I hold the least respect. A non-entity whose contributions to our nation’s jurisprudence have been negligible, he seems to have been singularly unqualified. Indeed, his appointment ranks up there with George W. Bush’s abortive nomination of Harriet Miers in terms of its weakness – and Justice Souter exemplifies the sort of judge referred to by one senator regarding a failed Nixon Nominee – "[T]here are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos."
But what will we get from Barack Obama? I tend to agree with the assessment that it won’t be a white man – even if that white man has the qualifications and character of a Brandeis, Frankfurter, or Cardozo. It would appear that the top candidates are Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Diane Wood, Harold Koh, and Seth Waxman. To my thinking, Waxman is likely out of the running as simply another white guy – and given that Kagan and Koh are recent Obama nominees to top executive branch positions, I doubt that they are serious candidates fro the position. While Wood has Chicago connections, my money is on Sotomayor – and as a Bush 41 appointee, she would have the advantage of somewhat soothing some elements of the GOP while checking both the female and Hispanic boxes on the quota checklist. Wood, Kagan, and Sotomayor are already targeted for attack by some on the Right, so expect this to be a contentious battle for confirmation.
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The United Automobile Workers union has agreed to accept company stock for 50 percent of what Chrysler owes its retiree health care fund.
Now the union has an obligation to look out for the best interests of the employees. But management has an obligation to look out for the profitability of the company and maximizing shareholder return. Since the UAW will be in the driver’s seat with regard to management, it there fore has two mutually exclusive obligations. If it chooses higher wages for workers, it harms the pension fund and the interest of the owners of the other shareholders. If it honors those obligations, then it must adopt a less aggressive stance in negotiating wages and benefits for the workers. Indeed, this sets up the situation that would have existed if Henry Ford had insisted that he would be the exclusive bargaining representative of workers at Ford Motor Company in their negotiations with management – AKA Henry Ford.
And while union leadership tries to downplay the conflict of interest, it is impossible to ignore the very real problem that exists in having an arm of the union control over half of the company.
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The number of confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus stands at 331 people, the World Health Organization said Friday.Confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide were 257 Thursday.
The virus, commonly known as swine flu, has spread to 11 countries, but the hardest hit areas were in the western hemisphere, the organization said.
"We have not seen sustained human-to-human transmission anywhere outside the Americas region," said WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had confirmed 109 cases of the flu with one death.
The largest outbreak was in Mexico, which had 156 confirmed cases, according to the WHO. It added that Mexico had nine deaths attributed to the virus.
However, Mexican officials said the death toll had risen to 12 and they suspect more than 150 deaths in the country are linked to the virus.
And friends, let’s remember that over 36,000 people die in the United States of regular influenza – which breaks down to about 700 a week. There are not even that many confirmed cases worldwide. So would someone explain the hysteria to me?
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Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
So that claim that 95% of us are getting a tax cut from Barry Hussein is nothing but a lie – and you should be expecting a hefty tax bill next year if you are one of those Americans who is legitimately classified as “productive”.
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The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.
Gee, I wonder what they would make of my position – that the jihadis should be subject to any and all interrogation methods until we wring the last shred of information from their brains and then summarily executed with a single shot to the back of the head, using a bullet that has been dipped in bacon grease.
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The spirit behind this un-American persecution has never been that of justice tempered by mercy. It is the same satanic brew of hate and revenge that drove another innocent Man up Calvary that first Good Friday 2,000 years ago.
Excuse me? Trying this participant in one of the greatest crimes of world history with the Son of God? Not only is this anti-Semitic, it is explicitly anti-Christian. There is, dare I say it, no longer any legitimate place for this bigot on the right today, and has not been for a long time. He has had no serious constituency in the mainstream of conservatism for at least a decade.
Indeed, as pointed out by the guys at GayPatriot, it is the liberals at MSNBC that give him his largest media outlet – sort of fitting, given the type of hate we have seen regularly spewed by hosts like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow and others on that network. So maybe his presence is part of a policy of “all hate, all the time”.
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April 23, 2009
During an interview with FOXNews.com, [Miss USA Kristen] Dalton said: "In short, I would say everyone should be able to enter into a civil union, where they're legally recognized as a couple and earn the same rights as a married couple."
Asked if she supports gay marriage, Miss USA replied, "I'm not going to say whether or not I think it should be defined as marriage because that's up to our politicians and our elected officials."
And precisely where, Kristen, do you think the power of those politicians and elected officials is derived. It is derived from the people – you and I. For you to say “that's up to our politicians and our elected officials” is to reject your birthright as an American and relegate yourself to the status of subject rather than citizen.
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MSNBC show host Rachel Maddow has suffered some steep audience erosion in recent months, down more than 40 percent in viewership from her peak last fall during the election.According to the Los Angeles Times, Maddow's audience has gone from a high of 1.9 million viewers in the fall to just over 1.1 million in March. That's a big drop.”
Is it any wonder, then, that the stockholders of MSNBCÂ’s parent company are angry about the product being put out, and its harm to their stock values?
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It was not necessary to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, because members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002. We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to keep our nation safe. After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses.
* * * Any investigation must include this information as part of a review of those in Congress and the Bush administration who reviewed and supported this program. To get a complete picture of the enhanced interrogation program, a fair investigation will also require that the Obama administration release the memos requested by former Vice President Dick Cheney on the successes of this program.
More to the point, is it really appropriate for Senators and Representatives who knew about these programs and supported them to turn around and investigate them? After all, there were some 30 meetings that included the leadership and other members of both parties. ShouldnÂ’t they be subjects of the investigations rather than the investigators? After all, if these techniques really violate American values, and if they really did authorize them, donÂ’t they share at least as much responsibility for them as the Executive Branch officials who the Left now wants to pillory?
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The Indiana House of Representatives has passed a bill to require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges.The House voted 73-20 for the bill April 15. The legislation also would mandate that a doctor inform a woman that her unborn child may feel pain during an abortion, according to The Indianapolis Star.
The measure will return to the Senate, which previously passed it on a 44-6 vote but will need to act on the new version containing House-approved amendments, according to LifeNews.com.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana said only one of the seven doctors in the state who perform abortions has admitting privileges, The Star reported.
Supporters of the bill said it was needed in order to protect women who have problems after abortions.
"This bill is about patient safety," said Rep. Matthew Bell, R.-Avila. "I think it's the right statement to make when we care about the quality of care received by the patients."
Sadly, IÂ’ve seen ambulances leave abortion facilities with a woman inside of them. DoesnÂ’t it benefit them for the doctor who was doing that procedure to be able to admit them and oversee their care? And isnÂ’t it disturbing that so few can?
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That said, there are others who disagree – but still believe that waterboarding might be appropriate. One, Deb Saunders, makes this important observation.
Some maintain that the CIA might have learned what it needed to know without waterboarding. But as one memo reported, before the questioning got tough, "KSM resisted giving any answers to questions about future attacks, simply noting, 'Soon you will know.'"
The questioning got tougher. As the memo noted, the CIA believes that "the intelligence acquired from these interrogations has been a key reason why al Qaeda has failed to launch a spectacular attack in the West since 11 September 2001."
And: Once "enhanced techniques" were used on KSM, interrogations "led to the discovery of a KSM plot, the 'Second Wave,' Â… to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner' into a building in Los Angeles."
Do I like waterboarding? No, but it is not life threatening; in extreme cases, I can live with it. And I'll take waterboarding over a 9/11 in Los Angeles any day.
So, my friends, ask yourself this – which city are you willing to see destroyed in order to protect the purported rights of terrorists? How many of your fellow Americans are you willing to sacrifice in order to avoid troubling your conscience? And do you truly believe that those whose decisions differed from what yours would have been on this matter merit criminal punishment? Indeed, let me ask it more explicitly – when confronted with a choice between American patriots and America’s enemies, why do you side with the latter?
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The father of Sarah Palin's grandchild said Wednesday night that he might pursue legal action against the Alaska governor's family, who he says has cut off communication with him and are no longer letting him see their son Tripp.
Levi Johnston said during an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" that he has hired an attorney in hopes of compelling former fiancé Bristol Palin to honor his visitation rights.
Johnston last saw his four-month-old son "a couple weeks ago," he said, adding that going over to the Palin household to see Tripp is "an uncomfortable thing."
Despite his threat of legal action, Johnston insists that he does not "want to stir anything up."
Dude, you stirred things up when you went on Tyra and all the other shows. You stirred them up more with the Larry King interview. In what strange alternative universe do you live that you believe that giving those interviews (in which you did trash-talk the Palin family) did you believe that the relationship would be improved?
Now do I think that there needs to be some custody and visitation agreement made? Yeah, I do – as well as child support arrangements, too. After all, have you been supporting the son you so want to visit?
NOTE TO LARRY KING: Asking where the baby was conceived is a new low for your show, which is already among the trashiest on television. Have you no sense of decency, sir?
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April 22, 2009
Justice Breyer elaborated on what children put in their underwear. “In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day,” he said. “We changed for gym, O.K.? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear.”
Stephen, get help. Please.
And protect the right of students to not be strip searched by school officials on the basis of nothing more than the word of another student.
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10:11 AM
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A federal judge tentatively ordered the Department of Homeland Security to reopen the cases of 22 people who were denied green cards because their American spouses died during the application process.
U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled the so-called widow penalty doesnÂ’t necessarily require that immigrantsÂ’ permanent residency applications be denied when their American spouses die. Citing a 2006 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Snyder ruled this week that applicants donÂ’t lose their status as spouses of U.S. citizens if the death occurs before the government rules on their applications.
The decision, if made final, would be a victory for more than 200 people across the country who have been affected by the widow penalty, said attorney Brent Renison, who filed the class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles.
“This case is very significant because it’s the first that follows the circuit court decision and gives guidance to the agency on what it can and cannot do in these situations,” Renison told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has argued the law requires that residency applications be rejected for immigrants whose American spouses die within two years of being married.
Now I realize that there could be fraudulent marriages with sick old folks that might qualify under these standards, but those should be easy to screen for. What is more common is for folks to die unexpectedly – perhaps in an accident – with the result that their immigrant spouse (who may have American citizen children) would no longer be eligible to stay in this country. The result is an injustice that compounds the tragedy of a family being rent apart by death. This decision goes a long way towards correcting that injustice.
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Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday demanded Pope Benedict XVI apologize ahead of his Mideast tour for his previous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad that many Muslims interpreted as insulting their faith.The controversy centers on a speech the pope made in September 2006 about Islam and violence in which he quoted a Medieval text that characterized some of the teachings of Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
"The pope insulted Islam and deeply hurt our feelings back in 2006 and he must apologize now to clear the air with Muslims worldwide," said Brotherhood spokesman Jamil Abu-Bakr. "We expect a written or verbal apology now or right before he visits Jordan."
Excuse me, but given the fact that the Quran is full of blasphemous statements about Jesus Christ. It claims that Jesus was not the Son of God, was not crucified, and did not rise from the dead. It further claims that Jesus was a Muslim. None of this is true, and in the eyes of any true Christian constitutes blasphemy. Add to that multiple other insulting and blasphemous teachings (from a Christian perspective) that are part and parcel of Islam, and the allegedly insulting comment of the Pope ranks as nothing.
Apologize? Never! Call Muslims to repentance and conversion to Christianity? ThatÂ’s the ticket.
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An Ohio union organizer has been fired after he was caught forging documents to deduct money from public employees' wages to pay for political activity, the Service Employees International Union said yesterday.Becky Williams, president of the SEIU District 1199, said she thinks this is an isolated incident, but the union is continuing to investigate.
"There's not another organizer or group of members that were affected," she said.
The organizer, whom Williams declined to identify, had forged about 40 "PAC cards," which are documents that allow the union to deduct about $14 per month from employee wages to pay for the union's political activity.
Now in this case it was merely stealing a few bucks from employees – but imagine if a few unscrupulous folks simply forge the signatures of enough workers to get the union declared the official bargaining unit at a particular workplace. Will workers even know that they have been signed up for a union without their knowledge – or will a simple declaration that “we’ve got a majority” from the union be sufficient to entrench the union as the representative – with any attempt by the employer to help the workers undo the fraud labeled as an “unfair labor practice”?
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10:06 AM
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“Clean coal is a dirty lie,” says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it “indentured servants” of the coal industry.
Come on, Junior, you pathetic shadow of a great father. Just come on out and use the term you really wanted to direct at Obama. Call him “boy”, “Stepin Fetchit”, “darkie”, “coon”, or the one you were probably looking for -- you know, the one that starts with "N".
RFK Jr. is, like the rest of his generation of Kennedys, but a pale shadow of the three great young men of the last generation who died for this country. They are, instead, disgraces to the family name, just like their Uncle Teddy.
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10:04 AM
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