"The same liberties that ensure a free society make the innocent vulnerable to those who prevent rights and privileges and commit senseless and cruel acts. Those precious liberties include free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of liberties, access to public places, the right to bear arms and freedom from constant surveillance. We are not willing to sacrifice these rights because of the acts of maniacs."
We are not willing to sacrifice these rights because of the acts of maniacs."
"Punishment of wrongdoers should be swift and sure. Only then can the criminal justice system serve as an effective deterrent. Those who would choose a rule of man rather than the rule of law must not escape fitting penalty......
"We all can be active in some way to address the social issues that foster criminal behavior, such as: lack of self-esteem or hope in some segments of our society, poverty, lack of health care (particularly mental health care), lack of education, and family dysfunction."
"....the social issues that foster criminal behavior, such as: lack of self-esteem...."
Folks, I have to admit I get MoveOn.org newsletters and email alerts. It's certainly not because I have turned to the "Dark Side", rather I subscribe to the old adage of knowing one's enemy. Today in my spam folder of Gmail, as happens once a week like clockwork, I received the latest hot off the presses dispatch from the nut bags of MoveOn.org. Truth be told, I was eagerly awaiting this one. Seems the MoveOn.org people feel the need to launch a petition or a fundraiser anytime the President and his administration do something they don't like.
As some might guess, today's email from the far, far left was about the President's naming Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. I will post the full text of the email below and take it apart piece by piece for your amusement. Naturally the MoveOn.org text is in blue and my responses are in red.
Dear MoveOn member,
This morning, President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Miers is a long-time political appointee, campaign counsel, personal lawyer and Bush loyalist who has never served as a judge.
The point I guess is that you have to have been a judge before to be a good Supreme Court Justice. I guess they failed to realize that the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist was never a judge before his appointment to the Supreme Court as Chief Justice. Last I checked, most on the left thought he did a pretty good job so this is an invalid point to make about Miers.
Ex-FEMA Director Michael Brown taught us that vital national positions must be filled with qualified candidates, not political friends with limited experience. With such a thin public record, how can Americans know Harriet Miers' approach to critical issues like corporate power, privacy and civil rights?
Hmmm, not really sure if this comparison holds water. After all Miers is a long time lawyer so she has mostly had to interact with a few judges and might actually have a good idea of how a judge should act. Let me try my hand at a similar comparison for the sake of illustrating the warped thought process of the left. I am not a politician but I have watched and studied them for years. In fact I have even stooped to the level of a politician on that rare occasion when I have had to be less then forthcoming with the truth, Slick Willie style for those on the short bus. Following the logic of the left, I should never be a politician even though I possess the one quality that a politician can’t be without. The ability to lie to the masses with a straight face. By the way, my wife thinks I can’t lie worth a damn so I guess I am just stuck in my day job. The point is that just because someone has never held a job before does not mean that they will be a poor choice for that job. Hell, the presidency is a great example of that. Certainly, the person should be qualified for the position but all accounts Harriet Miers is an accomplished lawyer and a dedicated student of the law. By dismissing Miers out of hand because she has never been a judge is closed minded and short-sighted by those on the left and once again shows exactly how they are not open-minded unless it involves a cause or person close to their own black hearts.
Right now we urgently need more information, and we need your help to get it. In the next few hours the Internet will fill with facts, anecdotes and rumors about Harriet Miers. We need your help to sort through it all, select the relevant and important details, and let us know what you find—decentralized, grassroots research.
We've set up a simple web form where you can post facts and sources that will fill out the picture on what kind of Supreme Court justice Miers would be. We'll get your research to the media, the Senate and our partner groups. This info will also be crucial in setting MoveOn's course for this nomination. Even if you just have a few minutes to spare, it could help a lot at this crucial time.
You can post facts right now at:
http://www.political.moveon.org/judgefacts?id=6078-5284862-af3R4u65AxBKqE9wNi9MBA&t=3
Here is a quick chronology of Harriet Miers' career, courtesy of the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary, to help jump start your research.
1970—Graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School
1970-1972—Clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Joe Estes
1972-2001—Joined Texas law firm, Locke, Purnell
1985—Elected president of the Dallas Bar Association
1986-1989—Member of the State Bar board of directors
1989-1991—Elected and served one term on the Dallas City Council
1992—Elected president of the Texas State Bar
1993-1994—Worked as counsel for Bush's gubernatorial campaign
1995-2000—Appointed chairwoman of Texas Lottery Commission by Gov. George Bush
1996—Became president of Locke, Purnell, and the first woman to lead a major Texas law firm
1998—Presided over the merger of Locke, Purnell with another big Texas firm, Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, and became co-managing partner of the resulting megafirm, Locke Liddell & Sapp
2000—Represented Bush and Cheney in a lawsuit stemming from their dual residency in Texas while running in the Presidential primary
2001—Selected as staff secretary for President Bush
2003—Promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
2004—Selected as White House Counsel
This whole section cracks me up. Does MoveOn.org really believe that its mindless followers are going to do any kind of meaningful research? I seriously doubt it. The only information that is going to be collected by these far left wackos is rumors, untruths, and lies. If MoveOn.org was serious about presenting the record of Harriet Miers, they would do the normal information searches like everyone else, Google, Nexus Lexus for example, and then wait for the confirmation hearings. I suspect they really are just looking for any thing that they can pass to the Democrats in the Senate to be used against Miers. It will be interesting to see what the feeble minds of the left conjure.
There are many important questions that need to be addressed, including:
If
Her record was spotless but you can’t expect MoveOn.org to tell you that. I did a little digging on the Internet like anyone with half a brain would do and I found the following. In 1997 there was a scandal involving the company that ran the
Why is it that groups such as MoveOn.org and the ACLU that trumpet the right to privacy completely disregard others right to privacy when it stands in the way of them getting their grubby little hands on that private information? Court cases are a matter of public record in most cases and I am sure that MoveOn.org has a membership to Nexus Lexus and other resources that would provide this information. The other reason that they are making the request here in their lovely newsletter is so that the groundwork can be laid for the violation of attorney-client privileges.
Again, anything said or written inside her “private” law firm is going to be off-limits to anyone including the Senate. Once again the double standard of privacy rears its ugly head courtesy of MoveOn.org. I would certainly agree that any public documents are fair game regardless of who the nominee is.
Man they can not let the torture issue go can they? Given that the “torture” issue was settled before she started as White House Counsel it would be a fair assumption that she had little if anything to do with the White House’s position on torture.
Why on Earth would this matter? Is MoveOn.org trying to say that she is incapable of forming her own thoughts and would be talking marching orders from President Bush? My oh my, that certainly sound like one of those conspiratorial theories that floats around on the Democratic Underground website. Again, I stomach wallowing in the mud with these leftist freaks because I want to keep tabs on my political if not mortal enemies. She like every other member of the Bush Administration is an independent, person capable of forming her own opinion. Contrary to the widely held belief by the left, Karl Rove does not have mind control powers and Dick Cheney is not quite the puppet master that some would have you believe.
It's important that we move quickly in answering these questions. The Bush spin machine has been prepared for this nomination for some time and is already cranking at full speed. The strategy is to move Miers through as an enigma. We need to make sure the facts about her views are known.
This kind of decentralized research may never have been tried before at this scale. But a Supreme Court nominee with a record only the president really knows is a new national challenge. If we act quickly, we can meet that challenge together.
Please pitch in by taking some time to research today, and post what you find at:
http://www.political.moveon.org/judgefacts?id=6078-5284862-af3R4u65AxBKqE9wNi9MBA&t=4
Thanks for all that you do,
–Ben, Marika, Rosalyn, Joan and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, October 3rd, 2005
What can further said about this latest attempt by MoveOn.org to cloud a simple process with their left-wing propaganda, nothing I guess. We will just have to wait and see but I am sure they will flood my spam folder with more of their efforts. By the way, on a personal note to Ben, Marika (commie?), Rosalyn (Carter?), and Joan, do you not know how to use spell check before you send a mass emailing? I left all of the mistakes they made to further illustrate how devoid they are of reality. Have a great day everyone.
I write quite a bit about the dangers of illegal immigration and often in comments and email I am bluntly told that illegal immigration is a problem of the
News has started to filter out via the MSM about illegal immigration issues outside the American southwest. Many states and cities are now passing laws that enable local law enforcement to actually assist the border patrol by actually detaining, charging, and holding illegal immigrates. Seems the folks in Danbury, Connecticut have some cause for concern since the latest estimates have 10,000 to 15,000 illegal immigrates within the city limits. Folks, the city of
In many ways, we are all to blame because we have become as complacent as every politician and every business that looks the other way while the system feds on itself and further fuels the cycle of illegal immigration. Mexico does not even bother to hide the fact that they encourage their citizens to come to the United States illegally so that they might send money back to Mexico, in fact as far as Mexican television is concerned Los Angeles is already part of Mexico. Money flowing south from illegals in the
The spread of illegal immigrates is costing Americans billions of dollars and after you take a look at the numbers below, think about what it’s going to cost you and your community.
Cost of Illegal Immigration to Texas: 4.7 billion a year or an extra $725 to each resident in the form of taxes, higher education costs, higher law enforcement costs, and higher health care costs.
Cost of Illegal Immigration to California: 10.5 billion a year or an extra $1,183 to each resident in the form of taxes, higher education costs, higher law enforcement costs, and higher health care costs.
Cost of Illegal Immigration to Arizona: 1.3 billion a year or an extra $700.00 to each resident in the form of taxes, higher education costs, higher law enforcement costs, and higher health care costs.
A couple of good sites for real information on illegal immigration are the Federation for the American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies. Currently there is a movement to force the government to address illegal immigration; you can read about it here and here. The “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” event runs from April 23rd thru the 28th in
Folks, this issue is not going away and if you care at all about this country I urge you to educate yourself and others to the issue and then help us hold the government accountable for their lack of border security and immigration reform. Have a great day everyone.
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Two residents of a New Mexico town are suing to remove three crosses from the official town seal. The suit says "the crosses serve no governmental purpose other than to disenfranchise and discredit non-Christian citizens" and accuses the city of violating the plaintiff's constitutional right to religious freedom, invading their privacy, and violating the civil rights act of 1964. The mayor says he plans to fight the lawsuit since, he says, the crosses have a historical reason for being in the logo. After all, the town in question is Las Cruces, which is Spanish for "The Crosses."
TIJERAS, N.M. - The village council of Tijeras agreed Thursday to be represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund in their battle against a lawsuit threatened by the ACLU. The ACLU claims the village logo violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it depicts a small cross.
"We have carefully reviewed the ACLU's allegations and believe the seal is entirely constitutional under the law," said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. "The main feature of the city seal is not the cross but the Zia, which is a Native American religious symbol. The symbols of the seal reflect the history and culture of this ancient village. Many of the same design elements, such as the Zia, are found in the state flag. Why isn't the ACLU suing against the state flag?"
The seal, which depicts a conquistador's helmet and sword, the Native American Zia symbol, and a small rosary, was designed in 1973 to accurately reflect the village's history and not to further any religion.
"The ACLU is once more specifically targeting a cross while it ignores Native American religious symbols. It reveals their desire to target all things Christian, regardless of the fact that the cross in the Tijeras seal is clearly an historic symbol and not an attempt to endorse any particular faith," McCaleb said.ADF
I’d like to talk a little bit about how John Kerry betrayed his brothers–the POWs who are still in Vietnam–whether they’re dead or not. He strove to “normalize” relations with Vietnam and in the process, buried the records of over 300 POWs who could still be alive.
Of all the things I’m aware that John Kerry has done in his lifetime–opposing every single conflict we’ve ever been involved in since he was an adult–this is the lowest of the low.
Michael D. Benge, a former POW in North Vietnam (1968-1973), has this to say about Vietnam at this interview at Frontpage Magazine:
Our politicians lost a winnable war. You are at a great disadvantage in getting the truth out of the enemy when you lose, instead of winning — rather like being a eunuch. The American and Vietnamese military were not defeated by the NVA, but were betrayed and defeated by politicians in the United States. These same politicians, such as John Kerry, and later, John McCain, as U.S. senators in 1993, swept it all under the rug when they were members of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs and issued their final report that there was no evidence that any POWs were still alive in Vietnam. Neither was there evidence that they were dead. Our government gave the North Vietnamese a list of over 300 POWs that were last known to be alive and in the hands of the North Vietnamese. To this date, only a handful of remains of these POWs have been returned. This begs the question, “What is the fate of those not yet accounted for?” Yet Senators McCain and Kerry, apologists and advocates for the North Vietnamese communists, claim that they are fully cooperating in the accounting process. I beg to differ with them.
You could easily compare what’s happening now to what happened then. But what’s most disturbing is this:
I cannot tell you accounts of POWs still in Vietnam after the war, but I can tell you that there was evidence that POWs were still alive after the war. In 1991, we had two satellite images of two Americans in North Vietnamese who has stamped out their pilot authenticator codes in the grass in the compound where they were being held. Although Marine Pvt. Garwood testified in close session of congress to a number of American POWs he saw while in North Vietnam after the war, this information has never been declassified. The U.S. gave the North Vietnamese a list of over 300 Americans who were known to have been captured alive and were in the hands of the North Vietnamese, but only a handful of remains of these POWs have ever been returned. Of the remains returned, several were “green” showing signs that they were of POWs alive several years after the war. Senators John Kerry and John McCain parsed the summary of the 1993 report by the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs so that it implied that although there was evidence that some Americans had been left behind, there was no compelling evidence that were alive at that time. What they deliberately forgot to say is that neither was there evidence that they were dead.
link
“When he became a senator, Kerry continued to stab Vietnam soldiers in the back. Kerry began pushing normalization of trade with Vietnam. To that purpose, he founded the Senate Select Committee for POW/MIA Affairs. Kerry became chair of the committee. In order to normalize trade, the Vietnamese government would have to prove that its hands were now clean with regard to POW/MIAs.
Kerry tried to erase the possibility that prisoners of war were still alive in captivity in Vietnam. I spoke Monday evening with Mike Benge, a POW/MIA activist. Benge was a civilian POW held from 1968 until 1973 by the North Vietnamese Army; he spent 27 months in solitary confinement, one year in a “black box,” and one year in a cage in Cambodia. Benge accuses Sen. Kerry of shredding key papers documenting “live sightings of POWs in Vietnam and Laos” during the POW/MIA hearings. According to Benge, Kerry attempted to shred all copies to prevent leaks and future declassification of the materials.”
In “Reckless Disregard, Buzz Patterson talks about what Kerry did in order to normalize relations with his commie Vietnamese comrades:
Kerry refused to interview key witnesses and ordered committee staff to shred important intelligence documents….The committee’s final report…concluded there was “no compelling evidence that proves” that American POWs were still alive in Vietnam….Kerry and his committee…made no attempt to identify those who had been abandoned, how they had died, who killed them, or where their remains might be. As he had done twenty years earlier, former naval lieutenant Kerry turned his back on those with whom he had served. (p. 63)
In his book “Reckless Disregard”, Buzz Patterson talks about making an official trip to Vietnam to collect the remains of some of these poor men who were left behind, tortured and murdered by the VC…and how absolutely humiliating it was to go to Vietnam and have the communists sneering and smiling when they turned over small boxes of “remains” and actually put their hands out to get paid for them.
It appears as though John Kerry not only wrote up his own commendations to get medals under highly disputable and questionable circumstances, sided and met with the enemy (Madame Binh in Paris), but years and years later, in order to “normalize” relations with Communist Vietnam, he AGAIN turned his back on his brothers–the POWs who might still be alive.
The gloves are off, Senator Kerry–release your records entirely, otherwise your calls for Roberts’ records, O’Neill’s records, the Swift Boat Veterans’ records and everyone else’s indicate that you operate by a devastatingly obvious double standard–as if the rules and regs that are in place apply to everyone else but you.
Join the blogbursts to help FREE Kerry’s 180 every Tuesday!
We’ve formed a blogburst group and here are the bloggers who are contributing so far. If you want to join the blogroll for Free Kerry’s 180, click here to email me, include the url for your blog. The blogburst is every Tuesday, so don’t forget to blog about it. All you have to do is encourage Kerry to set his 180 FREE, I’ll send you the code for the blogroll.
The more people we have, the merrier!
