“We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is
exercised individually and belongs to all Americans.”
— Justice Antonin Scalia writing for the Supreme Court in 554 U. S. ____ (2008)
Air Travel Open Trackbacks
Published Tue, May 1 2007 11:08 PM
Technorati Tags: Travel, Open Trackbacks
This open trackbacks post is for May 2, 2007. I'll be travelling for most of the day, flying from Seattle to Tennessee. I'll be coming back to Seattle on Sunday. I'm bringing the laptop computer with me, and so I'll be blogging from the road... assuming I can find and use some wireless hot-spots.
If you have something interesting you'd like to share, feel free to link it here and leave a trackback.
Just remember the trackback policy.
For the best exposure, go to the blogger's oasis and use the linkfest chooser to choose the posts you'd like to hook up with.
Update: It means nothing I tell you! It's just a coincidence! This isn't the "post of the beast". :-)
Comments (0) | Trackbacks (19)
Leaning Straight Up trackbacked with "Rep McDermott confesses to ethics and confidentiality violations and vows to make immediate reparations"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "The Knucklehead of the Day award Part One"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "The Knucklehead of the Day award Part Two"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "The Knucklehead of the Day award Part Three"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "The Knucklehead of the Day award Part Four"
Woman Honor Thyself trackbacked with "A TumoR GrowS in BrooklyN"
Conservative Cat trackbacked with "Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Eat Cat Food"
Blog @ MoreWhat.com trackbacked with "Bernstein’s Bio Could Derail Hillary Rodham Clinton"
A Few Shiny Pebbles trackbacked with "The Democrat Leaders Want Defeat"
Pirate's Cove trackbacked with "House Tries Veto Override, Fails"
Planck's Constant trackbacked with "Roy Pearson is an Idiot"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "The Knucklehead of the Day award Part Five"
Blog for Cox: The Official John Cox Campaign Blog trackbacked with "John Edwards’ “Two Americas”"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "Blogger could go on trial for libel in South Korea"
123beta trackbacked with "My Annual KY Derby Post"
Diary of the Mad Pigeon trackbacked with "Gun Control: The Pigeon's Response"
The Florida Masochist trackbacked with "Bubble gum chewers need not apply"
Planck's Constant trackbacked with "Planck's Constant hits 1 million page views"
Adam's Blog trackbacked with "Wednesday Night Podcast: Truth and Hope Report"
Wednesday Hero - Luis E. Fonseca
Published Tue, May 1 2007 11:05 PM
This Weeks Soldier Was Suggested By Echo9er
On August 11, 2004, Navel Hospitalman Luis E. Fonseca, Jr. was awarded the Navy's second highest decoration. The Navy Cross, which is awarded for extraordinary heroism while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States and must be performed in the presence of great danger or at great personal risk, was awarded for his actions while serving with Amphibious Assault Vehicle Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, Task Force Tarawa, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
On March 23, 2004, Fonseca, Jr.'s unit were trying to take the Saddam Canal Bridge. Five Marines were injured when their vehicle was hit by an RPG. Fonseca, while still being fired upon by machine guns and RPG's, pulled the Marines to safety and established a casualty collection unit inside his own medical evacuation vehicle. After his vehicle was hit once again, Fonseca organized litter teams and directed the movement of four of the Marines, while personally carrying one wounded Marine over open ground to another vehicle. On November 15, 2004, Seaman Fonseca was awarded the "Grateful Nation Award" from the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs for his actions.
"I was doing my job," said Fonseca. "I wish I could have done more."
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero. We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here.
Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)
Ethically challenged former House Ethics Committee member loses appeal
Published Tue, May 1 2007 1:17 PM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, Democrats, Corruption, Courts
The Seattle Times is reporting on Rep. Jim McDermott's failed appeal of his failed attempt to wriggle out of the consequences of his unethical behavior:
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott had no right to disclose the contents of an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders a decade ago, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
In a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that McDermott, D-Seattle, should not have given reporters access to the taped telephone call.
McDermott's offense was especially egregious since he was a senior member of the House ethics committee, the panel ruled.
When he became a member of the ethics panel, McDermott "voluntarily accepted a duty of confidentiality that covered his receipt and handling of the ... illegal recording. He therefore had no First Amendment right to disclose the tape to the media," Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote on behalf of the court. Four judges agreed with him.
The ruling upholds a previous decision ordering McDermott to pay House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, more than $700,000 for leaking the taped conversation. The figure includes $60,000 in damages and more than $600,000 in legal costs.
So, I'm wondering about this. Will Rep. McDermott pull an Al Sharpton and have his supporters pay the fine? We already know that Rep. McDermott is ethically challenged. I wouldn't put it past him to try something like this.
Boehner called the court's ruling encouraging, and noted that the court agreed with the bipartisan report of the House ethics committee in December.
"As I've said many times: When you break the law in pursuit of a political opponent, you've gone too far," Boehner said in a statement. "Members of Congress have a responsibility not only to obey the laws of our country and the rules of our institution, but also to defend the integrity of those laws and rules when they are violated."
Naturally the left is calling this a blow to free speech. Bruce Johnson, a Seattle Lawyer said that the system of having partisan hacks rat out opposing partisan hacks is the basis of "Our whole system of public scrutiny".
Only in the twisted world of partisan politics could unethical behavior be considered to be ethical. George Orwell tried to warn us, but I guess his message didn't get through.
Cross posted at NW Bloggers
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Rightlinx, The Random Yak, Faultline USA, stikNstein... has no mercy, Shadowscope, Pirate's Cove, Planck's Constant, Leaning Straight Up, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Thoughts, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Sony's Bacchanal
Published Tue, May 1 2007 9:02 AM
Technorati Tags: Games, Annoyances
Just when I thought Sony was actually taking a decent moral stand on something and coming out on top I read this little tidbit...
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Sony on Monday issued an apology for using a freshly slaughtered goat as a prop at its "God of War II" video game launch party in Athens, a publicity stunt that has outraged animal rights activists.
Sony hosted about 20 journalists at the March 1 event, which it called a theatrical dramatization with a Greek mythological theme. The goat, provided to the production company by a local butcher, was part of the set dressing, the company said.
The U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper on Sunday published a story on the party, where female hostesses with breasts covered with nothing but body paint fed grapes to guests, who competed to eat the most "warm entrails" -- a meat soup made to look like the goat's internal organs.
The Daily Mail's story quoted the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which said it was "outrageous" that the animal's death had been used "to sell a few computer games."
In its mea culpa, Sony said: "We recognize that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves."
The company said it has launched an internal inquiry into the circumstances of the event and that it will put measures in place to make sure it does not happen again.
I should hope not. I hate to see myself agreeing with the animal rights "activists" out there but this is over the top.
It's not just about the goat though. What about the use of semi-nude hostesses? This event apparently took advantage of all of the worst stereotypes found in depictions of ancient mythology.
(Yes, I know Bacchus was the Roman god of wine and mystic ecstasy. Dionysus was the Greek equivalent, but is Dionysus-al even a word?)
Trackposted to Rightlinx, Faultline USA, The Random Yak, guerrilla radio, stikNstein... has no mercy, Shadowscope, Pirate's Cove, Leaning Straight Up, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Thoughts, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Impeach Cheney?
Published Tue, May 1 2007 12:13 AM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics, War on Terror, Democrats, Iraq
Rep. Kucinich has introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. Since this issue has been hyped so much by various "liberal" activist groups, including the Democratic Party of California and the Green Party, I thought I'd address it.
Rep. Kucinich filed three articles of impeachment. I'll refer you to the text of the resolution as it was introduced to Congress by Rep. Kucinich as we go through this post. I'm just going to hit the first one, for now. When I get time, I'll come back and address the other two.
Article I
To begin with, the first article of impeachment charges Vice President Cheney with "...fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the United States Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq..."
As one example, the first article cites the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research as stating that it believed the claims that Iraq was attempting to obtain uranium from Africa were "highly dubious". This was not omitted from the information that Congress considered. The articles note that this was a dissenting opinion in the National Intelligence Estimate. Congress had access to this opinion as it considered the authorization to use force.
Vice President Cheney did not redact this information, which is cited in the articles of impeachment from the National Intelligence Estimate. That hardly sounds like he fabricated the threat.
At the time, the Unites States was not the only nation with intelligence that showed that Iraq was continuing to work toward the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. In fact British Intelligence Services asserted then, as they still do today that they had determined that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa. While the President's use of this intelligence was in the 2003 State of the Union Address, the intelligence was gathered by the British in 2002, and the British concluded in September of 2002 that Iraq had been seeking uranium from Africa. (See page 122 of the Butler Report.)
It hardly seems likely that Vice President Cheney could have fabricated that bit of intelligence, and yet Rep. Kucinich's first article of impeachment mentions it specifically as evidence that the intelligence was manipulated.
Nor is it a credible charge that the October 1 National Intelligence Estimate was the sole reason that the Congress voted to authorize the war. There are 23 causes of action cited in the authorization to use force. The existence of weapons of mass destruction was not one of them.
The fact of the matter is that there was plenty of credible evidence that Iraq did pose a threat with regard to the use of weapons of mass destruction. It required no fabrication from the Vice President to assert that the threat was real.
In 1998, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998. This act lists the following interesting tidbits.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On September 22, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran, starting an 8 year war in which Iraq employed chemical weapons against Iranian troops and ballistic missiles against Iranian Cities.
(2) In February 1988, Iraq forcibly relocated Kurdish civilians from their home villages in the Anfal campaign, killing an estimated 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds.
(3) On March 16, 1988 Iraq used chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurdish civilian opponents in the town of Halabja, killing an estimated 5,000 Kurds and causing numerous birth defects that affect the town today.
It seems to me that a nation that is known to have used weapons of mass destruction would be seen as a nation that posed a "threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction". It takes no fabrication to see this.
I submit therefore, that the first article of impeachment filed by Rep. Kucinich is without solid foundation. I doubt that the other two will stand up under scrutiny either.
The likelihood of success
Further, it is extremely unlikely that even if the House were to vote on the articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney that the vote would carry enough votes to pass.
The even narrower Democratic margin in the Senate is insufficient to convict him. Even if Vice President Cheney is successfully impeached, a highly unlikely outcome, it would still require two thirds of the Senators present to convict him, and there aren't enough "RINOs" to support the Democratic party in this.
The articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney are a nuisance, an annoyance, and a hindrance. They are political grandstanding without a chance of success, although they appeal to the fringe of the Democratic party's base.
It's just another example of the Democratic party doing what they've shown themselves to be so capable of so far this legislative session... Nothing.
Trackposted to The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Shadowscope, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
