New Hope for the Rule of Law: Justice Ginsberg

The Federal Government's handling of the Chrysler bankruptcy is unconstitutional. Flat out unlawful. What they are trying to ram through is in fact against everything this nation has said about contract law for over 150 years.
Secured bondholders are being told they have to wait at the back of the line for money that is owed to them, while the unsecured are being allowed to walk up to the front of the line in the interest of political favors.
This is illegal. It's also immoral.

I have avoided commenting much on our Government's intensified path to Mussolini style Fascism lately because I just don't have the time to do it justice. This Government is using it's executive and congressional powers to expand itself at a pace that makes President Bush look like a boy scout. The government along with the Federal Reserve has made it's biggest power grab in history in the name of solving an economic bump in the road. It's moves have made Hugo Chavez look like an amateur, as he implied when he told Fidel Castro "Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right".

But there is hope. Justice Ginsberg has halted the sale until she reviews the case. She just may decide to let her fellow Supreme Court Justices look at the case. And I am hopeful that they will do the right thing, and restore the rule of law to this nation. There is precedent for a decision going all the way back to Truman's seizure of US Steel in the 1950's. That Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the Truman administration.

We need some checks and balances here.

It looks like it is finally possible.

Torture News

Just released by the CIA, a list of Congressional Leaders who were briefed on enhanced interrogation techniques:

http://www.humanevents.com/downloads-pdfs/EIT%20Briefings.pdf

It appears that the entire Oversight Committee, including many of the Democratic leaders running congress today, should be prosecuted for their part in overseeing this torture.
President Obama has clean hands in this matter, since he was a mere state representative at the time. He didn't become a freshman Senator until after the initial briefings, and never had any clout during his brief career there. That may explain his naive manner in going after those he felt may be responsible.

I am wondering how MSNBC will spin this. Rachel? Keith?

WITCH HUNT!

I have no problem with the current administration deciding that the US will not use certain interrogation techniques, including water boarding, when questioning enemy combatants. I don't think it is torture, but they do, so they have a right to redefine the law according to their own perception.
I am somewhat disgusted with the possibility of extending that new definition back into time in order to go after the last administration. It's a witch hunt.
Another reason I am disgusted is because this administration is weak and petty. Within a 24 hour period, the President and his Press Secretary both flip flopped 180 degrees about this subject.
It also makes me wonder where President Obama is getting his marching orders. Why did he flip flop so dramatically in 24 hours? Who spoke to him? Who is it that is so powerful that their thirst for blood has whipped the President of the USA into obedience?

This has never been done before, by any administration. They are telling everyone that advised these techniques were not illegal that they are investigating them, from the president all the way down the slippery slope to the lawyers who advised the CIA and every person in between. They are being investigated for war crimes that were demonstrated to members of the Hill in 2002 without objection. This includes leading Democrats of that time such as Nancy Pelosi. Are you going to prosecute a standing Speaker of the House too? What about Jane Harman or John Rockefeller or Bob Graham, all who had oversight and were briefed during 2002 and 2003, the only time when these techniques were employed? The Daily Kos thought they should all be held accountable. Does President Obama?

Imagine the precedent this will set.

Can you imagine a future administration declaring that current government involvement in the banking industry is illegal and then prosecuting everyone involved, from President Obama down to the lawyers that might have advised it was legal? Will they be able to investigate every congressman that went along with it? Is this the "Change" YOU voted for? Is this the "hope" that YOU voted for?

Do you remember what it was that you were expecting when you pulled the lever for Obama?

On an unrelated subject:

Now is a VERY good time to get out of the stock market if you are still in it. I have the feeling the bear market rally is about to end pretty soon.

Lisbon Tea Protest

I don't think the "big business" media understand what is happening under their noses as far as the tea parties that recently took place. Instead of reporting what happened, they are making crude sexual jokes about the participants, calling us names, crying racism, etc.
I recently went to a "small" tea party in Lisbon, Ohio. This is not exactly the hotbed of conservatism. It is a strong union area that religiously re-elects democrats into office election after election. I was expecting maybe 100 people to be there. It was raining, it was chilly, and it was a weekday. Much to my surprise, the village square was filled with 5 times more people than I expected.
500 is not exactly a giant get together in comparison to the near 30,000 that protested in front of the Alamo, and the bigger cities that drew over 10,000 each....but if one keeps it in perspective to population, 500 is huge. Lisbon is a village of approximately 2,800 residents. That's almost 20 percent of the Villages population. I wonder how many more would have come if it had been sunny and warm?
No one there made a racist comment. There were in fact white and black people in attendance. I have been trying to figure out exactly what is racist in these tea parties anyway. If you are for freedom and liberty and a small federal government you are somehow a racist hater?
What twisted logic.

I included this video below that I found on Michelle Malkin's web site because I thought it said what many of us feel.

LEFTWING HITJOB: an example from the looters at Daily Kos (and CNN)

From the tedshubris's diary

The great thing about owning professional video equipment is that armed with it, you can pass yourself off as being a professional news crew pretty easily.

So tomorrow, [Fake Station Name Redacted] is going to send a cameraman and on air news personality out into the field to cover this "teabagging" phenomenon.

We're going to ask open ended questions that seem to have a slight conservative bent to (hopefully) get them to open up and just start ranting. Then, we take any examples of racism, hatred, ignorance, and stupidity that we catch on camera and make a little movie out of it. Probably a YouTube special.

Here's the list we have so far

* What are you celebrating (The Boston Tea Party), and can you explain its historical relevance? [We're hoping to get some hilarious flubs from this one]
* Is this your first time teabagging? [OK, so, a juvenile one, but worth it] (apparently, we're the only ones who have connected tea parties to teabagging. Or, for that matter, the sociological study "Tearoom trade". Removed for the sake of keeping covert)

* Do you approve of Michael Steele's plan to expand the GOP through a "hip-hop urban-suburban marketing strategy"? [hoping to get some juicy racist stuff from this question]
* (as an intentional misunderstanding/follow up, presuming that someone complains about wasteful government spending) "So you disapprove of your tax dollars going to the Iraq War?" [should elicit some confusion]
* Do you approve of the direction in which this country is headed? [With thanks to Bob Love]
Anyways, it's a start... but I'd love to have some suggestions for questions that sound fine, but should prompt an outpouring of crazy.

FROM CNN. A Totally "real" reporter following the Daily Kos strategy.




Why are you looters liars? Oh wait, that's a really really dumb question. You are looters, why would anyone expect an ounce of decency or honesty?
Can you imagine a whole society based on the ideals of these kinds of people? Why it would resemble Mussolini's Italy.....wouldn't it?

Sister Toldjah on the DHS Tactic

Calling it right - way ahead of time

 

-SNIP-

Far lefties are getting a huge thrill out of this, of course, but let’s not forget how they repeatedly foamed at the mouth over a similar Bush-era DHS policy as it related to ultra-left wing groups, except in those instances the DHS was very specific in the types of groups it felt posed significant threats to not just the President, but to the security of the general public (and in fairness they didn’t get it 100% right). Today’s DHS document was quite different in that it seemed deliberate in its vagueness, essentially classifying those who favor more state than federal control as “right wing extremists” and portraying those who are strongly anti-illegal immigration in a similar fashion. It’s one thing for the DHS to write about its concerns about the few on the extreme fringe right who have the potential to be violent and destructive, but its another altogether to characterize legitimate opposition as somehow threatening. The liberals hailing this document don’t seem to get that, and neither, apparently does President Obama’s DHS.......More

Yes, we were warned ahead of time, long before this administration was elected. The problem is that the media has been getting thrills up and down their legs every time our leader steps up to a teleprompter. They have given up all journalistic integrity in order to bring us back in time to the early twentieth century progressivism that laid the groundwork for propaganda via information engineering and silencing the critics of their policies. They invented the Jim Crow Laws that held African Americans in "their place". They are still doing this today! (If you want to see what progressive policies will do for all of America, just look at our inner cities. They have one thing in common there. They always vote for liberals.) They also were instrumental in forming the worthless Utopian League of Nations. Now they are shoving the Utopian U.N. down our throats and admitting that they believe our Constitution is trumped by international law.

And we law abiding respecters of the US Constitution are to be considered Radicals?

BIG SISTER IS WATCHING YOU! The right wing extremist quiz.

1 Are you a Christian?
2 Are you pro-life?
3 Are you against ILLEGAL immigration?
4 Are you one of our military heroes, returning from Iraq or Afghanistan?
5 Are you in favor of a smaller Federal Government?
6 Are you concerned that we may be printing too much money?
7 Do you prefer that government spends less of the taxpayers money?
8 Do you feel that public welfare programs do more harm than good?
9 Do you support the constitutional RIGHT to own a firearm?
10 Are you living during a recession?
11 Do you consider yourself a Conservative or a Libertarian?

According to the Department of Homeland Security, if you answered yes to any one of the first 10 in conjunction with a yes to number 11, you may be a right wing extremist and must be watched. 

I could not believe my eyes when I read THIS DOCUMENT produced by the Obama Administration.

Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment

Some key findings in the report?

The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.

Rightwing extremists are harnessing this historical election as a recruitment tool. Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearms ownership and use. Rightwing extremists are increasingly galvanized by these concerns and leverage them as drivers for recruitment. From the 2008 election timeframe to the present, rightwing extremists have capitalized on related racial and political prejudices in expanded propaganda campaigns, thereby reaching out to a wider audience of potential sympathizers.

Over the past five years, various rightwing extremists, including militias and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruiting tool. Debates over appropriate immigration levels and enforcement policy generally fall within the realm of protected political speech under the First Amendment, but in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent.

Open source reporting of wartime ammunition shortages has likely spurred rightwing extremists as well as law-abiding Americans to make bulk purchases of ammunition. These shortages have increased the cost of ammunition, further exacerbating rightwing extremist paranoia and leading to further stockpiling activity. Both rightwing extremists and law-abiding citizens share a belief that rising crime rates attributed to a slumping economy make the purchase of legitimate firearms a wise move at this time.

Weapons rights and gun-control legislation are likely to be hotly contested subjects of political debate in light of the 2008 Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller in which the Court reaffirmed an individual’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but left open to debate the precise contours of that right. Because debates over constitutional rights are intense, and parties on all sides have deeply held, sincere, but vastly divergent beliefs, violent extremists may attempt to co-opt the debate and use the controversy as a radicalization tool.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS/I&A) assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists including lone wolves or small terrorist cells to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.

Antigovernment conspiracy theories and “end times” prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition, and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement.

DHS/I&A will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months to ascertain with greater regional specificity the rise in rightwing extremist activity in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the political, economic, and social factors that drive rightwing extremist radicalization.

I am a Veteran who participated in conflict with a muslim nation. I am a Christian. I beleive in the right to bear arms (and ammunition) even though I have not owned a gun for decades. I'm not pro abortion. I'm not happy with the course our Government is taking us on at all (nor the LAST administration). You see, I beleive in a smaller government. Shall I go on?

This is the most blatent example of how progressives operate. In one giant brush, they have painted millions upon millions of Americans as potential right wing radicals.

The radicals seem to be on the left. You know...Code Pink, the Weather Underground, Bill Ayers, animal rights terrorists, enviro-terrorists, etc, etc.

I was not actually planning to attend the local Tea Party, but now I have simply had enough. I am going to rearrange my schedule so I can do my bit.

THIS IS WHY WE ARE HAVING TEA PARTIES. It's not all about taxation. It's about a federal government that has become too large and oppressive.  An honest history of the genesis of these tea parties can be found on Michelle Malkin.com, just in case you get all of your news from MSNBC or other leftwing propaganda instruments.  It really is a grass roots phenomenon, not a Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh thing. In fact, it's not even a Republican thing.