Archive for March 28th, 2010

Propaganda, pure and simple…

March 28, 2010

The Gray Lady aka New York times is well known for being a leftist mouth piece, and, in spite of a revenue stream that resembles a person hell bent on flowing over Niagara Falls continues to amuse and entertain.

Op-Ed columnist Frank Rich makes a case for the debate of whether the Times uses Saul Alinsky’s Rules for radicals or Goebbels Principles of Propaganda. Filled with misconceptions and untruths, but just enough substance to make his insane accusations believable he continues the NYT tradition.

Read that HERE.

As always, the devil will be found within the details, and? This is what I think. The New York Times is bleeding revenue, therefore, it stands to reason that they will back the obama to the hilt. Can you say another bailout?

I knew ya’ could!

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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Law, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 5 Comments »

Just the facts mam: Don’t allow pesky things like facts get in the way…

March 28, 2010

Yet another Federal Judge chooses to ignore the facts… Read on.

Today, District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, dismissed Heller v. District of Columbia, NRA’s case challenging D.C.’s prohibitive firearm registration requirements, and its bans on “assault weapons” and “large capacity ammunition feeding devices.” Mr. Heller was, of course, lead plaintiff in District of Columbia v. Heller, decided by the Supreme Court in 2008.

Judge Urbina rejected Heller’s assertion that D.C.’s registration and gun and magazine bans should be subject to a “strict scrutiny” standard of review, under which they could survive only if they are justified by a compelling government interest, are narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and are the least restrictive means of achieving that interest.

In support of that rejection, Urbina opined that in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) the Supreme Court “did not explicitly hold that the Second Amendment right is a fundamental right,” and he adopted the argument of dissenting Justices in that case, that the Court’s upholding of a law prohibiting possession of firearms by felons implied that the Court did not consider that laws infringing the right of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms should be subject to a strict scrutiny standard of review.

Judge Urbina also rejected D.C.’s contention that its laws should be required to pass only a “reasonableness test,” which would “require the court to uphold a law regulating firearms so long as the legislature had ‘articulated proper reasons for acting, with meaningful supporting evidence,’ and the measure did ‘not interfere with the “core right” the Second Amendment protects by depriving the people of reasonable means to defend themselves in their homes.'”

Instead, Urbina purported to subject D.C.’s registration, gun ban, and magazine ban to an “intermediate scrutiny” level of review, in which he first considered whether those laws “implicate the core Second Amendment right” and, if they do, whether they are “substantially related to an important governmental interest.”

Urbina agreed that D.C.’s firearm registration scheme implicates the “core Second Amendment right,” which, based upon the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), he described as the right to have a firearm at home for protection. But, he noted that the Court “suggested in Heller that such requirements [as registration] are not unconstitutional as a general matter,” and he concluded that D.C. had adequately articulated a compelling governmental interest in promulgating its registration scheme.

Based upon the Supreme Court’s statement in Heller, that machine guns might not fall within the scope of the Second Amendment because they are not commonly owned, and relying heavily on error-ridden testimony provided by D.C. and the Brady Campaign about the use of semi-automatic firearms in crime, Urbina concluded that D.C.’s “assault weapon” and “large” magazine bans do not infringe the right to have a firearm at home for protection.

Regrettably, Urbina uncritically accepted all of the “factual” claims in the committee report of the D.C. City Council and ignored hard evidence that “assault weapons” and “large” magazines are in “common use,” the standard Heller adopted. As we have detailed in other Alerts, of course, such firearms and their standard magazines holding over 10 rounds are owned by millions of Americans and their numbers are rising rapidly with every week that passes.

Stay tuned. Word about whether Judge Urbina’s decision will be appealed, or whether a legislative remedy will be sought in Congress, or both, will certainly be forthcoming.

SOURCE

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Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hoplophobia, Law, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 4 Comments »

Recess Appointments: Here we go again…

March 28, 2010

Recess appointments are indeed authorized by the Constitution. I fully understand the need for them, and, when used properly they can fill positions that are critical to the national well being.

What I seriously dislike is when a President uses them in a purely political manner. BHO has just done exactly that. To be fair though, I can’t remember any President that hasn’t done the same thing. Still,  just because someone else has done something despicable doesn’t make it any less despicable.

Jeffrey Goldstein, undersecretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department

_ Michael Mundaca, assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department

_ Eric Hirschhorn, undersecretary of commerce for export administration and head of the Bureau of Industry and Security at the Commerce Department

_ Michael Punke, deputy trade representative — Geneva, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

_ Francisco Sanchez, undersecretary for international trade, Commerce Department

_ Islam Siddiqui, chief agricultural negotiator, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

_ Alan Bersin, commissioner of U.S. customs and border protection, Department of Homeland Security

_ Jill Long Thompson, member of the Farm Credit Administration Board

_ Rafael Borras, undersecretary for management, Department of Homeland Security

_ Craig Becker, member of the National Labor Relations Board

_ Mark Pearce, member of the National Labor Relations Board

_ Jacqueline Berrien, chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

_ Chai Feldblum, commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

_ Victoria Lipnic, commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

_ P. David Lopez, general counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

SOURCE More HERE

I first saw that list and just went… You have got to be kidding! I’m not completely sure on this, but I think that I have never seen a list of people that are either more,  one: incompetent, or two: possess credentials that make the term conflict of interests  laughable!

There should be some unspoken rule, based upon personal honor, that a President will not use recess appointments to circumvent the will of the Senate. As in, don’t use the process to appoint anyone to a position that the Senate has held up. There have to be any number of qualified people that could do those jobs on an interim bases while things get sorted out.

This will never happen of course, and it just shows how damned stupid the American people  can be at times. Electing people to office that are more concerned with “legacy” than the sound and moral governing of the nation.

On that note, I respectfully submit Texas Fred for the still open position at TSA…

What next? Bill Ayers to head DHS?

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Posted in Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Immigration, Law, mysandry, News, Politics, Wordpress Political Blogs | 1 Comment »