Justice has to wink before Atlas can shrug

Justice, we are told, is blind.   Hence, the blindfolded statue on so many of our courthouses.

Insofar as Sonia Sotomayor’s coronation is a virtual certainty, it seems Justice wears a blindfold these days because she is winking. Which is to say, Judge Sotomayor is clearly an activist judge whose greatest asset, to President Obama tell it, is being a female of a certain pedigree…one who applies “empathy” in legal decisions.

She isn’t a particularly remarkable jurist–Sotomayor is overruled 60% of the time.  That won’t get you an interview with the Ninth Circuit but it’s impressive.

So, it comes as no surprise President Obama is appointing an Activist, Leftist, Feminist, Ethno-centrist  to the Supreme Court–He wants a Supreme Court unencumbered by the Constitution. 

Will Atlas shrug?  Sonia Sotomayor is a good start.

Is NK nuke test the Obama test Biden warned of?

“Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America…Watch. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy…And he’s going to need help . . . to stand with him. Because it’s not going to be apparent initially; it’s not going to be apparent that we’re right.”

-Joe Biden, Sunday, October 19, 2008

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Analysis: NKorea’s bomb test adds to atomic threat
By ROBERT BURNS

North Korea’s nuclear test makes it no likelier that the regime will actually launch a nuclear attack, but it adds a scary dimension to another threat: the defiant North as a facilitator of the atomic ambitions of others, potentially even terrorists.

It also presents another major security crisis for President Barack Obama, already saddled with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a nuclear problem with Iran…(Full text at TownHall.com)

Following MLB’s lead: putting an END to freeway chases

Decades ago, the owners of Major League Baseball franchises realized they had a problem: idiots seeking their “15 minutes of fame” were increasingly jumping onto the playing field during games.  To remedy the problem, the owners took aim at the television stations licensed to cover MLB games.  That is to say, MLB admonished TV stations that broadcasting the antics of these buffoons would result in cancellation of  their contracts.  As a result, field intrusions are rare.

In that context, one has to wonder WHY the FCC and the FAA do not act in a similar fashion to prevent  TV stations from broadcasting car chases.  CLEARLY, the creeps racing through the streets of LA and elsewhere KNOW they cannot escape a helicopter and radio cars — they rabbit nonetheless for the same reason jerks once ran rampantly across MLB’s playing fields: media attention

Yes, I am aware of the censorship argument.  However, the federal government’s authority to control speech on the airwaves is well established.  So, if DC can tell broadcasters what words can and cannot be broadcast, why doesn’t the FCC reign in LA TV stations? 

For that matter, why doesn’t the FAA clamp down on the news helicopters that feed the problem?  Those choppers routinely interfere with the police and CHP aircraft involved in these incidents…why do we tolerate such irresponsible behavior from federal licensees?

Ask any jail deputy or correctional officer and they will tell you: car chase suspects enter jails and prisons as heroes–It is a big game to them…a game FCC and FAA licensees actively play.

Its well past time to put an  end to the madness…PLAY BALL!

California vote a clarion call for nation?

The madness is over in California–on May 19th we rejected the biggest lie placed on the ballot to date.

Voters here are accustomed to spending measures dressed in cost cutting clothing…ballot measures are RARELY what they are represented to be.  AMAZINGLY, only the leftist loons in San Francisco County approved these measures AND by a slim margin at that.   Suffice it to say, we like to be lied to out here…or did.

News outlets are now spinning the rejection of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan as a clarion call to the nation. Much as I would LOVE to believe this is so, CLEARLY IT IS NOT.

All the wishful thinking in the World isn’t going to convince an ever dependent, social-welfare hungry majority that spending more money we don’t have is a bad idea. After all, we haven’t even BEGUN to soak the rich, confiscatory corporate taxes and federal take overs of the banking and manufacturing sectors are only in their infancy and Obama has only been in office for a week or two over 100 days.  Give it time, comrade!

All they are saying is give socialism a chance.

As for the notion the Proposition 1A-1F vote will reverberate from sea to shining sea, I put the question: Since the American Left ignores the failures of socialism in other countries, how could California’s rejection of a fiscal sleight of hand have any impact upon a nation running headlong to the Left?

Rather than representing a Proposition 13 style revolution, yesterday’s vote will have NO IMPACT upon the deconstruction of our freedoms a la Obama. The MSM will spin and spin and spin this vote as an aberration. They will deride California as a fickle friend in need of therapy. Ultimately, the Administration and Congressional Dems will prescribe spending to fix the “problem” aggravated when California’s misguided citizen’s rejected spending.

All the FoxNews spin may make us feel better for the moment but it’s nothing but well-intentioned snake-oil sales.

No, the only significance to this vote is the signal we sent to the Governor and his Democrat spend-whore pals. Give it a few weeks and the powers that be will enact measures buttressing their spending habits…all at the expense of public safety and common sense.

If that’s too negative for you, there’s always FoxNews…

Schwarzenegger’s “reforms” WILL fail at ballot…so now what?

The Court “ordered” 55,000 inmates released from California’s prisons back in February. Governor Schwarzenegger now threatens to release 40,000 if his slate of perpetual spending authorizations fails today…as they will.

So, is he bluffing? Given the ongoing layoffs of state employees, almost exclusively corrections officers and parole agents, it appears the Austrian Oaf is hellbent upon dismantling the prison system.

This evening, when Proposition 1A fails, Schwarzenegger will no longer have the luxury of issuing threats–it is time to put up or shut up. He is already on record stating, as a termed out governor, he is no longer concerned about public opinion. So, what’s to stop him from the proposed madness?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Press Corp FINALLY smells Pelosi’s blood

Yesterday’s press conference by Nancy Pelosi (D-SF) represents a significant milestone in media coverage: a Democrat’s feet were held to the fire.  A stammering,  seemingly confused Pelosi not only maintained she was never advised of  “water-boarding” being appiled to terror suspects but went on to lamely assert the CIA lied to Congress.  She rambled on asserting the spy agency historically misleads the Intelligence Committee…

Does this portend a new willingness by the MSM to present both sides of the story? Probably not. Rather, the media has been dragged kicking and screaming into actual reporting simply because Pelosi’s own words are coming back to haunt her. Which is to say, absent giving the Speaker due scrutiny the press corp would lose what little credibility it still possesses. Yet, that doesn’t mean the MSM will continue to press Pelosi.

Look to the media to confuse matters by throwing everything it can against the wall, in the hope something will stick which masks Pelosi’s duplicity. Her defenders will re-split the hairs she has been splitting to assert her purity on the matter of water-boarding. Mercenary idiots like James Carville will receive undue air-time to afford the opportunity to denigrate and minimize criticism of the Speaker.

In short, the MSM was compelled to jump on her yesterday but that was yesterday. Tomorrow is another day.

Welcome to WikiWorld

Wikipedia is essentially a site were anyone can post their version of  history.  To buttress this argument, one need only check one source: Wikipedia.org: 

“The major points of criticism of Wikipedia are the claims that the principle of being open for editing by everyone makes Wikipediaunauthoritative and unreliable (see Reliability of Wikipedia), that it exhibits systemic bias, and that its group dynamics hinder its goals.

Several controversies about Wikipedia’s content have attracted unfavorable media attention. The Seigenthaler and Essjay incidents caused criticism of  Wikipedia’s reliability and usefulness as a reference. Wikipedia has also been the subject of parody and other humorous criticism.”  wikipedia.org 

 

Winston Churchill once noted “History is written by the victors.” AND, until the web and wiki came along, that was essentially accurate.

No more.

Now that we have a President hellbent upon “fundamentally changing” America, it only stands to reason his allies and contemporaries are working overtime to create a “history” comporting  with Obama’s vision of the USA and the world.  Of course, rewriting history is nothing new–the extralegal mangling of the Constitution by our activist judical system was and is precisely that. 

The Court rewrites the meaning of the Constitution by asserting rights and restrictions that simply did not exist until it created them from whole cloth.  All this while extolling the virtues and alleged sentiments of Founders who would likely start a 2nd American Revolution in order to RESTORE the Constitution and the REPUBLIC. 

In our WikiWorld, Fidel Castro is not a dictator who imprisoned and murdered dissenters–he is a populist hero.   Adolf Hitler is properly  held to be one of the worst tyrants and mass murderers in history, yet, Mao Tse Tung and Joseph Stalin get a pass despite the indisputable fact both individually killed millions more than Hitler and his Nazi henchmen.  The United States of America was the primary source of wrong-doing and wrong-thinking in the 20th Century: that we rescued Europe from Nazism and stand as the only conquering nation in history to rebuild and restore enemy nations after vanquishing its enemies is irrelevant, if not an outright fabrication. AND, we remain the most racist nation on the planet notwithstanding the Civil Rights Act of  ‘64 and the election of a black president.

The WikiWorld is here to stay: Fantasy is reality.

Personally, I choose to embrace the brave new WikiWorld. To wit:

“Jeffrey L. Doyle 1959-Present. The World’s pre-emminent blogger, Doyle is the smartest person on the planet…”

Obama and Biden greasing rails for federal unionization?

The following excerpt from David Frum’s National Post column details the Obama Administration’s efforts to influence labor issues with threats of withheld “stimulus” dollars…

The state of California faces a desperate fiscal situation. California now has the worst credit rating of any American state. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic majority legislature have struggled to balance the books, as they are constitutionally obliged to do. They have raised taxes dramatically, but they have also cut some programs. Among the cuts: a $2-an-hour cut in the wages of home health-care workers.

Those workers were unionized, and their union — the Service Employees International Union – carries clout in Obama’s Washington. On Thursday, California state officials told the Los Angeles Times that they had received a warning: The federal government would deny California $6.8-billion in stimulus funds unless the wage cut was rescinded. Since the wage cut will save only about $74-million, the state will have little choice but to surrender.

That missing money will have to be compensated for. Already, California’s budget plans rely overwhelmingly on a mix of accounting tricks (selling future lottery revenues for an up-front payment) and tax increases. Now the state will need more tricks and more tax increases.

And so will the other states, as they too get the message: no pay cuts for unionized workers will be tolerated by Obama’s Washington. (Full text at NationalPost.com)

As the Obama Administration twists the Austrian Oaf’s arm to reinstate some paycuts, it is worth reflecting on the fact the federal government bars its employees from collective bargaining. In that context, it is puzzling how the Administration justifies this overt interference in the process, given the inherent hypocrisy such a move entails. While CornedMutton isn’t diminishing the hypocrisy argument, it occurs to me there IS more to this than meets the eye…

Biden says labor reform bill will level playing field for union organizers

  

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden, making a renewed pitch for a major change in labor law, told union leaders Tuesday that the best way to rebuild the middle class is to help labor unions grow.

Biden said it’s time to “level the playing field” for unions by passing a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize.

“You’ve got to climb up a hill with so many roadblocks on the way to organize that it’s just out of whack,” Biden told a conference of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has about 1.6 million members.

“If a union is what you want, then a union is what you should get,” Biden said. (Full text at NewsDay.com.)

Given the Administration’s actions and Biden’s comments, could it be more obvious the Administration is angling to unionize the federal workforce? After all, how can it be that “If a union is what you want, then a union is what you should get” does not apply to federal employees?

Granted, Biden tends to say all manner of things without any discernible basis–he is a loose cannon on deck. Even so, this was a prepared speech in a friendly room. Which is to say, it’s fair to assume this is NOT just another case of Biden’s mouth running over: the Administration wants to create, nurture and protect unions.

Now, it isn’t for me to speculate on whether unionizing federal workers is a good or bad idea. However, it IS a bad thing for GOVERNMENT management to be in bed with labor. The role of management in labor matters is to look out for the interests of the public it represents. CLEARLY, when management and labor are of like mind and allegiances, the citizen’s interests in negotiations necessarily take a back seat.

Parenthetically, the mere appearance of such collusion is deleterious to the reputation of the involved union. One need look no farther than California’s prison union to see the truth in that statement. The enhanced meet-and-confer process practiced by California Corrections and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) prior to the breakdown of negotitions last year has been used as a truncheon on the union.  Any positive results of said conferences aside, CCPOA’s adversaries successfully painted the process as an example of a union “running” the employing agency.

Given the Obama Administrations transparent, overt love affair with Big Labor, it is hard to believe unionizing the feds is not on the table. By extension, it’s illogical to to assume any entity other than SEIU (et al) will be the beneficiary of such a move…

“We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to be exact — and we’re proud of it,” boasted Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, to the Las Vegas Sun this week. The behemoth labor organization’s leadership is getting its money’s worth. Whether rank-and-file workers and ordinary taxpayers are profiting from this ultimate campaign pay-for-play scheme is another matter entirely.(See Michelle Malkin at TownHall.com for full text)

60.7 million dollars is all it takes to buy the President.

It’s bad for democracy but GREAT for Big Labor. That’s 2 positives by the Administration’s standard. 

Comments?

First, I’d like to thank those who have commented so far.  

Next, I’d like to apologize to all of you because I inadvertently deleted them all this morning.  My lack of familiarity with the WordPress interface is the problem:  I thought I was removing them from the administrative control panel after they had already been published.  Alas, I deleted them from the posts as well.

Please don’t let this deter you from commenting…I get it now!

Bullets and Butter

An interesting sidebar to the perception the Obama Administration is plotting to curtail 2nd Amendment rights is the gun and ammunition boom.  Sharp increases in gun sales in the aftermath of Obama’s election have  been well reported.  Receiving less coverage is the severe shortage of ammunition–A visit to any sporting goods store will attest to this reality.  The WalMart in my town has nothing but shotshells available…new stock flies off the shelf as soon as it is priced.

I have been under the impression a shortage of materials,  driven by a shortage of semi-precious metals, was the underlying cause of the shortage…NOT increased demand.  However, according to Citizen-Times.com, increased demand is driving the phenomenon…

Manufacturers say the shortage is strictly driven by demand and not any shortage of raw materials like gunpowder or brass. The shortage is nationwide and includes rifle and handgun ammo, although it is particularly acute in certain handgun calibers, particularly .380.

Remington Arms’ ammunition plant in Arkansas is running around the clock — and that’s with 1,000 employees.

“We’re working overtime to produce ammo, but right now we cannot meet the demand,” said Linda Powell, spokeswoman for Remington, which is headquartered in Madison, N.C., near Greensboro. “Our only option would be to add more equipment, but that’s not an immediate solution because it would probably be a year out before we could add significantly to the amount we’re producing now.”

Powell said the company doesn’t see demand waning “at least through the end of the year,” but it’s reluctant to add equipment or jobs because demand eventually will return to more normal levels, meaning employment levels would have to go back down, too.(Full text at Citizen-Times.com)

 

Without regard to the reasons for the shortage, it is highly unlikely prices will EVER come down to pre-shortage levels. In fact, many gun owners are stocking up on ammunition for which they have no firearms simply for barter and profit. Now, whether or not a box of hollow-point .45 ACP is a better hedge against inflation than a Krugerrand remains to be seen.

What isn’t up for speculation is the Administration’s designs on gun rights.