What Do You Expect From A Kennedy?

The wife of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been photographed at least twice using her cell phone while driving. This might not seem like a big deal except that hubby Arnold signed a bill into law that required drivers to use hands free devices starting in the year 2008. Since it is now 2009, Maria Schriver is violating the law.

This should surprise no one. Shriver is a Kennedy and that clan believes itself to be above the law. Laws are for the little people, not the elitists who have money or run the country.

Governor Arnold said that there will be swift action now that this has been brought to his attention.

A spokesperson said that this means Arnold will ask her not to do it again.

Isn’t that nice? How many Californians have been ticketed and paid fines for driving while talking on a cell phone simply because they were not related to the Governor of the state?

These are photographs and she was not stopped by the police, that we know of. How many officers would give the Governor’s wife a ticket anyway?

The elitists don’t think the laws apply to them and Shriver is no different. She comes from a privileged, elitist family and she does not believe the laws apply to her. She might be a decent person but you just can’t break old habits when you feel entitled…

She was also born in Chicago so you know that she does not know what obeying the law means.

Sources:
WCBS 2
TMZ (photo)

Big Dog

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Once More, With Feeling

Immigration reform is a joke- but no one is laughing, at least in Texas, where the crimes of illegal immigrants and Hispanic on Hispanic crime is ballooning despite the “Sanctuary” Police Chief, Harold Hurtt’s repeated denials. One can turn the pages of the newspaper, which, even if liberal, still must cover the news- and glean from these pages the fact that these crimes outnumber those of any other group by far. An example:

Police issued a search warrant at the home of a gunman who fatally shot an Houston police officer last week before being gunned down during an undercover sting, authorities said Saturday.

According to KHOU, officers discovered a large amount of stole merchandise — including refrigerators, washers and barbecues — at the northwest Harris County home of Roberto Pedroza Carrillo.

The 37-year-old shot and killed Houston Police Officer Henry Canales in the parking lot of a Walgreens drugstore at Hillcroft and Bellaire Tuesday night. He was then shot and killed by another officer.

Authorities searched the home Friday night, said Houston Police Department spokeswoman Jodi Silva, adding that the search was part of the ongoing investigation and declined to give further details.

Canales was part of an undercover team investigating stolen televisions. Money was exchanged with undercover officers when Carrillo shot Canales, authorities said.

Another officer tried to take the gunman into custody when Carrillo fired at him. The second officer, who was not hit, then shot Carrillo, who died at the scene.

Andres Nava Maldonado, 41, of Mexico, and Xiomara Mendez Rosales, 36, of Honduras, who were with Carrillo at the time of the shooting, allegedly fled the scene. They were later arrested and charged with capital murder, authorities said.

A juvenile female was also arrested.

No further information was immediately available.

chron.com

This is but one example in a paper that can spew forth at least five other examples in a day- this one unfortunately involved the death of a police officer doing his duty. The last three officers who died in the line of duty did so at the hands of illegal aliens- people who should never have been here, but were allowed to stay because of misplaced “feelings” and “sympathies” on the part of liberals who feel there should be no borders at all.

I feel there should be a tight wall, and armed guards, especially on the southern border, but eventually on the north as well. Good fences make good neighbors, it is said, and at the very least, this would funnel people more towards legal ports of entry, and we could better control who is coming here. 

Sen. Chuck Schumer has the idea of Biometric cards (ID cards- imagine that!) that these people could carry around so we know that they are who they say they are. This idea is meeting some resistance.

For example, New York Sen. Charles Schumer’s proposal to require a biometric-based employer verification system as part of a comprehensive compromise has strong business support, but it would be a deal-killer for some on the left.

“An overhaul of the broken immigration system is unacceptable if it trades fundamental civil liberties for quick fixes,” said Joanne Lin, the American Civil Liberties Union’s legislative counsel.

On the flip side, any plan that offers a path to citizenship for people illegally living in the U.S. today will lose the votes of a wide swath of Democratic and Republican conservatives.

“It just doesn’t make any sense at a time of record deficits and high unemployment … to give amnesty,” said Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston.

At the moment, these conflicting crosscurrents have created a toxic political brew on Capitol Hill, where the White House does not have the votes for any comprehensive plan that would try to secure the border, give businesses continuing access to immigrant labor and provide some sort of legal residency to currently undocumented immigrants.

chron.com

This conflict , of course, has Rahm Emmanuel, the Resident’s Chief of Staff, in a snit over the difficulty of trying to pass a lie off as the truth-

“If the votes were there, you wouldn’t need to have the (White House) meeting,” said Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, “You’d go to a roll call (vote). OK?”

chron.com

Well, Okay there, doncha know- It seems that Hussein’s “goodwill” is rapidly running out among even the people who do not keep up with the news. Somehow, they are coming to the conclusion that Hussein might not have our best interests at heart, or really even care about the average citizen, and they are beginning to have concerns about keeping their money, and their jobs. 

Immigration reform means different things for different people, but it should NEVER mean fewer jobs for the citizens of this country. Anything that happens should solve, not create problems in the system, and so far, nothing on the table seems to do this.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees immigration reform, said the administration should be more concerned with enforcing current immigration laws.

“Especially now, with 14 million Americans out of work and President Obama himself predicting that unemployment will rise above 10 percent, we need to ensure that citizens and legal immigrants are not forced to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs,” Smith said.

chron.com

I am tired of writing about immigration reform, but I will not cease until this, or another administration does the right thing. 

1)- Complete the wall- no excuses, this wall is needed for several reasons.

2)- Arm the guards- the drug smugglers, and indeed the human smugglers are armed- level this playing field.

3)- All immigrants MUST be positively identified, and a foolproof card of some kind should be issued, for their benefit as well as ours

4)- Immigration must be strictly controlled, with jobs going to citizens first, and immigrants second. Our citizens should ALWAYS come first.

It’s really not that hard, we do not need to over think this- and in the end, this will be a net benefit to all concerned. The immigrants, armed with this card, will not need to fear the authorities, and the employers will know who they are hiring. Taxes can be properly paid, and social security can be collected and disbursed, all as it should be.

Drugs will have a harder time getting into the country, and Mexico can begin to take care of its own problems, instead of exporting them here.

This is a win- win situation.

All you need to begin with, is enforcing the existing laws.

That’s always a good start.

Blake
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Obama Looks For Quick Confirmation

Now that Obama has selected the anti gun, empathetic, racist Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court he is asking the Senate to make quick work of her confirmation. There is no doubt in my mind she will be confirmed because the Republicans do not have the numbers to stop her. She will only be stopped if there is a major issue or she stumbles. This means that Republicans need to be diligent and take a long hard look at her and her record. They need to do this slowly and deliberately. Obama wants it done quickly before more negatives pop up. We need to take our time and dig as deep as we can.

This judge does not belong on the Supreme Court. Justice is supposed to be blind but she has already admitted that she uses her life experiences to guide her. She does not interpret the Constitution and apply the law, she allows her emotion to dictate her decisions. It is also true that she believes that policy is made in the court which means she lacks an understanding of our system of governance or she does not care about it.

I have demonstrated that she does not understand the Constitution by showing that her view of the Second Amendment is incorrect. The right to keep and bear arms is an individual right and that is indisputable. Only people who lack intelligence or wish to rewrite history or enact a personal agenda see it otherwise.

Sotomayor is also a racist. People have been accused of taking her comment out of context but I have read the entire quote. It is racist. The assertion is that she will understand the downtrodden before the court because of her background and because she is a person of color. Does this mean that she could not get decisions right if the dispute involved privileged white men? I mean, if she had been on the court in 2000 would she have to recuse herself from Gore v Bush because she did not live their lives and could not understand their issues?

Or is it more accurate to say that justice is supposed to be blind and that it does not matter what color, nationality, sex, or ethnicity a judge is, the law should be applied equally across the spectrum and that the only experience required to get it right is a thorough understanding of the Constitution? Her comment was racist and those who deny it are the same ones who see racism when a noose is hung at a house on Halloween or when someone says that welfare recipients should get off their lazy butts and get a job. The immediate assumption is that the speaker was talking about minorities. I would ask; who is the racist, the one who made the statement or the one who made the assumption?

Sotomayor seems to think that because she is a Latina with a humble beginning that her experiences will allow her to make better decisions and to get it right more often than some white guy who did not live her life. So did her life experiences lead her to mess up Ricci v. DeStefano? Did she have such a loathing for white people that she decided that they did not deserve the same protection against discrimination as a minority group would? Is there any doubt that if this had been reversed and the blacks were suing that she would have sided with them?

This is the heart of the issue. The law was ignored in Ricci and several very serious Constitutional issue were ignored. Evidently, her life issues did not allow her to get it right and the Supreme Court will likely overturn her decision in the case.

That should not be surprising since 60% of her cases that have gone before the Supreme Court have been overturned. This is but one more indication that she does not understand the law or the Constitution and it puts a big dent in her assertion that she would get it right more often than some white guy. 60% of the time she was wrong and this is just in cases that went to the SCOTUS. How many of her lower court decisions have been overturned?

Sotomayor does not belong on any bench much less the Supreme Court. Republicans need to aggressively push her and dig up all the things that she has done that run counter to the way good law is practiced. She might end up being confirmed but the detailed analysis will demonstrate what Obama is and what he is doing to this country.

We also need to target Democrat Senators from red states who have a fairly conservative base. Make sure the gun issues are well played and ensure the gun owners know. Tell these Senators they will be in danger of losing if they support this person who does not understand our rights.

As for you liberals who are whining that she was attacked from the start, Ted Kennedy attacked Bork within 45 minutes of his selection by Reagan and what Kennedy said was not very nice. Democrats have been nasty and played lots of games with nominees of Republican presidents. Now it is time to ensure this nominee is asked tough questions and that she is asked to explain law and her statements.

Let’s see if she can do it like John Roberts, without notes.

But be careful how you discuss her because the White House is warning to watch what you say about her. Gibbs, the Obama butt boy, said that people who are criticizing her intelligence probably did not graduate number 2 in their classes. I don’t question her intelligence but being smart does not mean she knows the law or is not an activist. There are really smart people who passed law school and they are terrible lawyers.

The National Black Republican Association is not happy with the pick either.

Ann Coulter has a great article up.

Big Dog

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I Don’t Have To Wait On Sotomayor

After years of having Bush judicial nominees hammered by Democrats in the Senate as soon as they were nominated the Republicans decided they would wait to pass judgment on Obama’s first judicial nominee. They pretty much have to because Obama selected a Latino who happens to be a woman so if the Republicans jumped all over her right now they will be painted with every brush in the liberal arsenal. Racist, sexist, blah, blah.

I don’t have to wait because, despite Obama’s claims about her qualifications (which seem to be only her ethnicity and her sex) I have already determined she is not qualified based upon several things.

First she is an activist judge and she is a racist. Obama did say he wanted someone who would empathize with those before the court. Empathy is an emotion and the courts are supposed to base decisions on the law and not emotions. Sotomayor is on record as saying that the court is where policy is made. This is absolutely untrue in our system. I am not saying it does not happen but her acceptance of that premise disqualifies her.

That statement is not the only place she disclosed that life experiences dictate rulings. Sotomayor stated; “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” New York Times

In one fell swoop she managed to show that her rulings are guided by life experiences (empathy or sympathy depending on the circumstances) and that she is a racist. Her comment about white males is out of line. Imagine if Justice Alito had stated; “I would hope that a wise white man with good family values and experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion that a Latino woman who has not lived that life.” (Sotomayor was also involved in a case where whites filed a discrimination suit. She was not in favor of their rights)

The liberals would go nuts. Ted Kennedy would have stroked out with his “concern” for women. Alito would have been labeled a misogynist pig and Borked out of contention. But I am willing to bet this issue will be left untouched by Republican Senators and if they address it the left will attack. Remember, you can only be a racist or sexist if you are a Democrat. One only needs to see how Kennedy or Clinton were treated compared to Justice Thomas. A murderer and an adulterer were defended and a man who had unfounded allegations thrown at him was slammed.

It is obvious that Sotomayor is fuzzy on how the judicial system works and though she claims to be in favor of staying in line with the Constitution she is either lying or does not understand the document. It is obvious from her statements of making policy and life experiences that she is an activist but the icing on the cake for me is her position on the Second Amendment.

Sotomayor does not believe that the Second Amendment is an individual right and believes it only applies to the federal government so the states can do what they want which would make it different than any other Amendment in the Bill of Rights and runs contrary to the equal protection clause. I know there are many anti gun zealots out there who believe the same thing but the reality is that gun ownership is an individual right and the right existed before the Constitution and before we were a country. The Second does not say the government gives the right, it states that THE RIGHT (meaning it already exists).

How is it that the Bill of Rights is a list of INDIVIDUAL rights but the Second Amendment is not one? How can that be? How is it that the Founders are on record as stating that gun ownership is an individual right but our activist judicial system has ignored that? A list of Founder’s quotes on the Second Amendment is here. Here is a sample:

“Whereas civil-rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as military forces, which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.”
— Tench Coxe, in Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution [emphasis mine]

The quotation states the people which is the phrase that means all of us and private arms. This means the people and the arms do not have to be part of the militia especially when the first part discusses raising military forces to pervert power and injure fellow citizens (not members of the militia). The words of the Founders echo this sentiment. The Bill of Rights contain individual (civil) rights. To say the Second is not an individual right like the rest perverts the Constitution and demonstrates a misunderstanding of it.

I know that the argument has been made that the issue is settled law and gun control advocates point to the Miller decision. This is what was decided:

In the case of U.S. v. Miller, the 1939 Supreme Court ruled there was no Constitutional basis for Miller to own a sawed-off shotgun without registering it under the National Firearms Act (GPO 1193). Miller’s argument was based upon the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” and as such, was not required to register his shotgun (ibid). After reciting the original provisions of the Constitution dealing with the militia, the Court observed that:

“[w]ith obvious purpose to assure the continuation and render possible the effectiveness of such forces the declaration and guarantee of the Second Amendment were made. It must be interpreted with that end in view” (1194).

Continuing, the Court defined the militia as a force consisting of “civilians primarily, soldiers on occasion” and that it was “comprised [of] all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense,” who, “when called for service . . . were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time“ (emphasis added) (ibid).

Whereas the Court had ruled that the firearm in question was not exempt from registration, it also highlighted two key points that reinforce the notion the Second Amendment provides for private firearm ownership. First, the Court states that the militia was composed of “civilians primarily,” which is contrary to gun-control activist’s views that the militia of the Constitution equates to the National Guard (i.e. “professional soldiers”) of today. Second, the Court states that those civilians, when called into service, “were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves,” which is only possible if private firearm ownership is permitted. Lythosants

People claim that this is the only definitive adjudication of the Second Amendment (until Heller) but that is not true. If one looks at the Dred Scott decision then one can see the court acknowledged that carrying a weapon was an individual right. The merits of the case and whether they got it right is a subject for another time. The important thing here is this argument against granting Scott’s petition:

“It would give to persons of the negro race, …the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, …the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.

~snip~

The Territory being a part of the United States, the Government and the citizen both enter it under the authority of the Constitution, with their respective rights defined and marked out, and the Federal Government can exercise no power over his person or property beyond what that instrument confers, nor lawfully deny any right which it has reserved.

A reference to a few of the provisions of the Constitution will illustrate this proposition.

For example, no one, we presume, will contend that Congress can make any law in a Territory respecting the establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people of the Territory peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for the redress of grievances.

Nor can Congress deny to the people the right to keep and bear arms, nor the right to trial by jury, nor compel anyone to be a witness against himself in a criminal proceeding. [emphasis mine] Cornell Law

This is case law and it is an opinion by the Supreme Court. It clearly states that firearm possession is an individual right and this is affirmed by discussing a negro (not a militia member) would be allowed to keep and carry a firearm. Dred Scott is not brought up in the gun debate as anti gun forces work very hard to deny us our basic right. The same people who will fight to the death to protect a “right” that is NOT in the Constitution (abortion) will fight just as hard to deny one that IS in there and is clearly defined.

Sonia Sotomayor is not fit to serve in the Supreme Court. She rules by empathy rather than the rule of law, is a racist and lacks a fundamental understanding of the Constitution.

Maybe she sat in on one of Obama’s lectures. I hear he was a Constitutional law professor.

The Republicans in the Senate need to do their homework and come prepared to batter her on the Second Amendment. She needs to be beaten as hard and as badly as Alito and Roberts were with the issue of abortion. She needs to be hammered on her racist views just as Sam Alito was for his membership in the Concerned Alumni at Princeton (CAP). Kennedy portrayed Alito as a racist for belonging to that group. The Republicans need to hammer on Sotomayor for her racist views as well. If any Democrat objects, take him out back and shoot him (a tongue in cheek remark clarified for the benefit of Meathead).

Drudge has a headline asking if Republicans can vote against a Latino nominee. Why not? They are not voting on Miss Latin America or for an ethnic issue, they are voting to put someone on the highest court in the land. What they are is of no consequence; what they believe and how they administer the law is.

Besides, it is not like the Republicans are going to get much of the Hispanic vote. That demographic is captured by the promise of Democrats to give away other people’s money and to give them amnesty. They will vote for the party that gives away what is not theirs and enslaves people in the name of diversity and the common good.

So hammer Sotomayor because it won’t make one bit of difference with regard to election day.

Besides, it is better to lose an election doing what is right than to win one while selling out the country.

Big Dog

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Barack Obama Is Misleading America

Today marks the 100th day of the Obama Residency and he marked the occasion by holding a prime time press conference. I did not watch it but I have read about it. I did not watch because I have had enough of him and I knew what he was going to say. He basically told everyone how wonderful he is, what a great job he is doing, how much hard work is left to do, and that George Bush is to blame for any of the bad stuff.

I have written before that Obama does not really understand the Constitution and that he has stated that it has too many restrictions that he wanted (and wants?) the Supreme Court to remove. This guy is a lawyer and he was reported to be a Constitutional scholar but he knows very little about the Constitution except what Bill Ayers told him while they were passing a bong around. One thing is also clear from the speech tonight and that is; Barack Obama lies through his teeth or he does not understand the law, or both.

Specifically:

President Barack Obama said Wednesday night that waterboarding authorized by former President George W. Bush was torture, and the information gained from terror suspects through its use could have been obtained by other means. “In some cases it may be harder,” he conceded at a White House news conference marking a whirlwind first 100 days in office. Breitbart

I want you liberals to read this carefully and I want you to try to understand. Waterboarding is not torture under the definition of torture established by the Congress, an august body to which Barack Obama once belonged. It does not matter how you FEEL about waterboarding and it does not matter if you THINK it is torture, the fact is that Congress has decided that it is not.

The memos that Obama released are very lengthy and contain a great deal of legal opinion on the issue and they reference Congresses’ definition of torture and use it to come to their conclusions. Waterboarding is not torture which might explain why Nancy Pelosi voiced no objection to it when she was briefed on it at the time. Yes boys and girls, despite her objections and denials, Nancy Pelosi was at the meetings and she was told about waterboarding and the plans to use it. She told the CIA to do more (more work to get information).

The Bush administration allowed these enhanced interrogation techniques to take place because they were in accordance with the law. It does not matter that Obama says waterboarding is torture. What matters is the law and what real lawyers who actually practiced it had to say about it. I imagine if Obama insists on prosecuting the legal folks who rendered the opinions they might end up at the Supreme Court. It would be interesting to see what they have to say about the law Congress wrote.

In any event, Obama is continuing to blame Bush for things that are in the past. He was merely applying blame and mentioning torture to justify his stupid release of classified memos, and act that many have criticized. The release will have a chilling effect on how our intelligence gathering efforts move forward and function. Obama had to make it look like he did the right thing so he called waterboarding torture so he could claim to have brought it all to light.

He is, after all, all about transparency. He had to release those memos and it was all about transparency. Let me clear that up as well. Obama released those memos for political gain. He has not released any of the memos that show how successful enhanced interrogation was because it would not allow him to score points by claiming to be the one who stopped torture. If Obama were so interested in transparency he would release his original birth certificate. The REAL one that is hand or type written with ink signatures from a doctor. The REAL one that contains all the pertinent information. If he really believed in transparency he would do that.

He is not in favor of transparency. He only wants you to see what he decides you should see. It seems to me that if you claim to be transparent then it means you are transparent in everything.

Interestingly, the release of the memos might hurt him in the future. If he prosecutes those who rendered the opinions then those lawyers in his administration who will be asked to render opinions might be a bit gun shy if they think the next administration can come after them for doing their jobs. They might not give good opinions or ones that he wants because of fear, a fear he will have created through his stupidity.

Obama is still on this kick that he can blame everything on Bush and get away with it. That will work for a while with the moonbats who follow him but it is already wearing thin to those of us who believe he is full of excuses and an apologist for American greatness.

Barack Obama is only interested in remaking America. He wants to make it into a Socialist nation where government is huge and takes care of everyone by taking from those who produce and giving it to those who mooch off them. He does not understand the Constitution or he ignores it (either is bad) and he puts politics above what is good for this country.

He is a political hack and he is amounting to one huge failure.

Big Dog

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