Most of them are of the “I think we should defy gravity in America; and I insist we rely on the settled science of physics to do it” variety.

If you need a laugh, and I suspect you do, please check out the link and see how the progressivel brain works.  Well, perhaps “works” is too strong of a word; just sayin’.

Hat tip: www.spectator.org

Increased Costs 

1. Mr. Obama has decided to reward his home state by making Illinois the home of the biggest nest of terrorists this side of Tora Bora.  Yes, the Obama has decided to bring the world’s worst terrorists to America.  

A few years ago when the state was flush with money, they built a new state prison for $145 million.  Then they ran into recession problems and didn’t have enough money to actually house prisoners – they are currently using about 10% of the prison’s capacity.  Obama has agreed to purchase the prison from the state of Illinois. 

Attorney General Eric Holder promises that they will pay to “harden” the prison making it, “the most secure prison in America.”  Yeah, Gitmo is already Geneva Convention, and Red Cross approved; already hardened,  It is the most secure prison in the world – we spent tens of $millions making it that way.  No matter; the Obama plans to let it grow weeds while he spends more of your money hardening yet another prison right in the heart of America.  

Today, Illinois officials and U.S. Senators were crowing about creating $1billion worth of jobs for Illinois residents, and they surely need that!  They didn’t say much about duplicating what we already have in Gitmo.  Heck, let’s create some more jobs! 

Legal Problems 

1. Once these terrorists (and alleged terrorists) set foot on U.S. soil they get all the same rights you have.  (You should be encouraged that you will be doing your part by footing the bill for $millions in legal fees provided at no cost for these animals.) 

A failure to convict any of these guys would require that they be released into the U.S. population.  Sure hope they stay in Illinois. 

2. The 2005 Real ID Act bars aliens who have been members of terror organizations, or who have had training in terror camps from entering the U.S.  Oh well, Mr. Holder will find a way around that.  But that could set a precedent permitting more known terrorists into the U.S. couldn’t it?

3. The Obama administration already proposed the idea of releasing Gitmo guys into the U.S. population, and of course we couldn’t expect them to get by without knowledge of the language or any income so they would have to be given welfare benefits.  How’s that hope and change working out for you?  President Bush wanted to attack the enemy while they are on foreign soil to prevent them from coming to the U.S. Barack Obama trumpets the announcement that he wants to BRING the terrorists into the U.S. and roll the dice on whether or not they can be convected of criminal activity!  Whole lot of change; not much hope.

4. Some U.S. judges will be sympathetic to detainees who have been held for years, and will be inclined to dismiss the charges on the basis that the prisoner’s (now) Constitutional right to a speedy trial has been denied, and set him free.

Increased Danger 

1. Most of the lawyers elbowing each other to try to defend these terrorists are ACLU radicals who use our legal system to ruin the country.  (If you think I’m making it up, read about the founder Roger Baldwin.) 

The ‘Blind Sheikh’ Omar Abdul Rahman was convicted of facilitating the 1993 World Trade Canter bombing and is serving time in a federal penitentiary.  His defense lawyer Lynne Stewart is also serving time in the federal pen. (The ACLU represented her, but lost in federal court.)  

She was convicted of passing messages from Rahman to his terrorist organization in Egypt – while he was in federal prison.  She had unrestricted access to him as his lawyer. 

Every one of the 200-odd detainees brought into the heart of our country will have numerous lawyers – each of whom will have unlimited access to their clients providing ample opportunity for more facilitation of terror in the U.S. 

2. Obama and Holder say the federal system needs more beds anyway, and the prison in Illinois has 1600 of them.  They are planning to house dangerous U.S. criminals in the same prison with some of the best terror recruiters in the world.  What could go wrong? 

Recruitment of disaffected, hardened, angry criminals will undoubtedly occur.  Remember that communication between Jeremiah Denton, John McCain, and other prisoners occurred in Vietnam despite them being isolated from each other for years.  Expect more domestic terror as a consequence of Obama’s stupid decision. 

3. Recently Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber” terrorist who tried to blow up an airliner full of civilians by igniting explosives in his shoe was moved.  Yes, he is serving time in a federal penitentiary after conviction, but he and his lawyer said Mr. Reid’s First Amendment rights were being violated because he couldn’t have communal prayer with other Muslim inmates.  Do you think a federal judge would deny Gitmo detainees the same?  Me either.  Think of this as a growth opportunity.

4. Each of these terrorists (and alleged terrorists) Obama insists on bringing into our home will have access to Muslim spiritual leaders for counsel.  Do you really think a federal judge will deny freedom of religion in a federal prison to a Muslim?  Yeah, right. 

This will also provide opportunity to facilitate communication between terror inmates since the spiritual leader will have access to more than one inmate.  It will also give them the opportunity to carry messages into and out of the prison for the terrorists. 

Cases dismissed 

Without doubt many of the terrorists from Gitmo will be turned loose into the U.S. population.  This is true because they can’t be convicted in a civilian court.  They will not be given the right to face their accusers because the accusers are CIA undercover agents, or other undercover law enforcement personnel.  In addition, none of these terrorists were given their Miranda warnings, and the U.S. government will refuse to testify if it means that sources or methods will be compromised. 

Conclusion

Obama says these problems can be handled by conducting certain prosecution witnesses interrogation in camera.  How stupid!  Would you expect secrecy when you have radical lawyers sitting in the room to defend their clients?

If you can’t provide prosecution witnesses because they fear for their life; and you can’t reveal how the prosecution got the information; and if you can’t prove that the defendant was warned about his (now) Constitutional right to not testify against himself; and if you can’t show how some of the information was generated because of enhanced interrogation, how can a jury find for the prosecution?  Many of these guys will not be convicted.

There will be some of the detainees who will never even have charges brought against them because the evidence that they were engaged in terrorist activities is insufficient to prove in a civilian trial.  They will be released into the U.S. population because that is what the court will require. 

Granting radical lawyers access to some of the world’s worst criminals; putting these terrorists in the company of deadly, angry criminals permitting conversion; and permitting the terrorists to ‘pray’ together because a denial of it would violate their (now) Constitution right is a recipe for disaster.  You will see terror recruitment and terrorists activities increase in the U.S.  During the election next year you will have the chance to respond to the political party who thinks we are better off with terrorists IN the U.S. instead of somewhere else.

Yes, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid government put into office last January has passed legislation in the House during the dark of night last Saturday that includes fines of up to $500,000 and prison sentences of up to 5 years for failure to purchase something you may not want or need. 

When we first mentioned this, many in the media were flabbergasted, called it stupid, not true, and those who would say such a slanderous thing are crazy.  

Here are two authentic, unimpeachable sources that prove the Democrats are prepared to send you to jail if you don’t purchase a commodity they want you to pay for. 

First, the Congressional Joint Commission on Taxation affirms the truth of the legislation here; and Nancy Pelosi is asked about jail time for not purchasing something she wants you to buy by a journalist from KOMO during a press conference, and she admits that such a provision is in the legislation, and says, “The legislation is very fair in this respect.” 

The people voted for change without bothering to consider what kind of changes Mr. Obama had in mind.  How’s that hope ‘n change working out for you now? 

May I suggest that you be in touch with your Senators and ask them to tell you where in the Constitution it gives them the authority to spend government money to provide health care for anyone since the Constitution is a document that grants only specific powers to the federal government.  

They will almost universally go to the “general welfare” clauses in the Preamble, and in Article 1; Section 8; clause one, “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” 

If they cite this provision, tell them that they can levy taxes for the general welfare of the United States, not the individual citizens of the United States; two very different entities.  In addition, the 9^th and 10^th Amendments – part of the Bill of Rights – state explicitly that the powers of the federal government are limited, enumerated, and it has no powers other than those specifically granted to it in the Constitution, with all other rights belonging to the states or the people themselves. 

If they want to change the Constitution, tell them to do it legally.  They must stop this treasonous, perverted power grab.  The Democrat coup must be stopped.  Medicare isn’t Constitutional, Social Security isn’t Constitutional, federal money for education isn’t Constitutional – in fact most of the money our federal government spends is not permitted by the U.S. Constitution.  If that sounds radical, just read the thing for yourself. 

The health care bill passed by the House is 2,000 pages long; 9,000% longer than the Constitution.  That ought to tell us something.

When the administration’s political hack at the DOJ – Eric Holder – dismissed the slam dunk conviction of New Black Panther Party thugs for attempting to determine the outcome of the recent presidential election, Mr. Obama signaled his openness to election fraud nationwide.  This will set Democrats free to do whatever they need to do steal elections.

New Jersey already has a reputation for election violations, and we know that operatives are already at work.  You can read this Wall Street Journal piece by John Fund to see the details of what is likely to happen here. 

Washington state

Democrat Christine Gregoire was elected governor of Washington State in 2004 by 129 votes.  Dino Rossi, the Republican candidate was declared the winner, but a recount was triggered.  During each of the recounts, Gregoire moved ahead.  She was finally declared the winner by 129 votes.  There were 1,678 confirmed illegal votes statewide. 

In 2004 during the presidential race in 2004, it was confirmed that over 200 illegally voting felons cast votes in Washington state, and in addition, more than 100 people voted twice. 

Florida

During the 2000 presidential election in Florida, the election was determined by 547 votes giving the state’s electoral votes to George Bush.  But election fraud was rampant.  About 65,000 dead people were found to be on the election rolls, and we saw what the process of hand-counting the votes was like in Florida!  A newspaper found that more than 400 voters registered in New York City voted in New York, but they were also registered in Florida, and voted there as well. 

Illinois and Texas

It is well documented that Illinois electoral votes were given to John F. Kennedy, and because of voting fraud in Illinois and Texas John F. Kennedy was elected.  There is a great deal of evidence for these allegations.  Sam Giancana the mob boss in Chicago delivered delivered all union votes for Kennedy because of backdoor deals made regarding the Kennedy’s going easy organized crime.  “Landslide Lyndon” Johnson was now a powerful Senator from Texas which made delivery of Texas’ electoral votes a sure thing.

Later we found out that Kennedy was sleeping with (among many others) Judith Exner, one of the girlfriends of Sam Giancana.  After the Kennedy’s got to the White House, Bobby decided to go after organized crime with a vengeance.  This is why there were many allegations (never proven) that the mob was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. 

Lyndon Johnson was known as “landslide Lyndon” because of widespread belief that he had stolen his election to the Senate – he won the State of Texas by 87 votes. 

Absentee voting

Absentee voting has always been easy to manipulate, and now huge percentages of people in most some states vote by absentee ballot.  In fact, Oregon doesn’t have polling places at all – all votes are done by mail.  This results in people forging signatures, hides the tabulation of votes from scrutiny, and requires any legitimate voter to post his or her signature on the outside of the envelope making it easier for forgers to see how people sign their names.  This removes the process from public scrutiny making voter fraud easier. 

We know ACORN registers hundreds of thousands of “people” to vote when the “people” are dead, are members of football teams in other states, characters in Disney cartoons, and the like. 

So here’s what we have: an administration perfectly comfortable covering up for thugs who publically stand at polling places and refuse to permit voters to enter to vote, and a president who rose and was promoted by probably the most corrupt political machine in the world; Chicago, Illinois. 

My question:

If the radicals now running the country are in control of the voting process; if the voting process can to corrupted; and if the government expresses no interest in prosecuting voter fraud – what will future elections look like?  Will it be possible for those with a traditional view of America to actually win elections going forward?  This is why it is impossible to take Mr. Obama seriously when he complains about voter fraud on Afghanistan, demanding honesty and truth in the voting there.  Give me a break!  He worked for, and as a lawyer, legally defended ACORN which is perhaps the largest franchise for voter fraud in the world.  When we can no longer trust the outcome of elections, it is time for a political revolution to hire leaders who have proven themselves worthy of our trust; leaders we have vetted not the empty suit the media promoted in the last presidential election; leaders for whom the well-being of the country is more important than their personal well-being.

Do terror suspects qualify for protections given to U.S. citizens? 

What we know is that the individuals who were being questioned are not citizens of the United States, they were not questioned on U.S. territory, nor were they interrogated by U.S. military personnel.  This means that they are not protected by the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Conventions do not apply, and the Army Field Manual did not apply.  Geneva Conventions apply only to soldiers wearing uniforms, and who are part of a state sponsored war, and who are not attacking civilians – not to a terrorist group without uniforms who are conducting war against civilians.   These rights of POW’s no more applies to the terror murderers apprehended in Afghanistan than the right to drive a car applies to a person who is eight years old, or who is blind.  The rules state who qualifies: these prisoners did not even come close to qualifying for Geneva Conventions, U.S. citizen protections, or Army Field Manual regulations, so none of those rules applied.  Simple.  But Eric Holder acting with the approval of Obama wants to criminalize the interrogations. 

Remember that the great hero of Mr. Obama and most Democrats is Franklin Roosevelt who put Japanese American citizens in prisoner of war camps located inside the United States without affording them protections mandated by the Constitution, solely because of their race.  They lost their businesses, their jobs, and their dignity.  Has the Democrat Party apologized for this outrage?  Of course not; and now they want to score political advantage so badly they are following the dictates of their one-world supporting donors like George Soros.  Democrat Party contempt for America runs so deep that they are perfectly willing to destroy the country’s intelligence gathering capacity for the next couple of decades for cheap political advantage. 

Here’s what we know about the interrogations being investigated 

Here’s what we already know about these interrogations.  There was an extensive legal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department into how the prisoners could be interrogated without violating any U.S. or international laws.  Part one is here and part two is here.      

Approved interrogation methods 

The techniques approved were designed to make the prisoner think something that wasn’t true. (A tactic universally employed by police in every jurisdiction.)  The desire was to make the prisoner think they were going to be tortured or assassinated in order to encourage them to talk.  Below is a list of the “torture” that the Democrat Party wants to use to destroy U.S. security by  informing all other terrorists around the world about what we did to gather information about planned attacks against U.S. citizens.  In all the CIA detained and interrogated a grand total of 94 terrorist suspects; 28 were subjected to so-called “harsh methods.” Of those 3 were water boarded, according to government documents made public earlier this year.  Here, then are the interrogation methods approved by the Justice Department during the Bush administration that could be used to get information about the structure and membership of Al-Qaeda and other groups, and what attacks against U.S. citizens were planned: 

The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him.

Walling: The interrogator forcibly pushes the prisoner against the wall to intimidate him.

Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain, triggering fear, and making the prisoner feel helpless.

The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury.

Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours.

Sleep Deprivation: Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions.

The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water.

Sound and Light Manipulation:  Playing music the prisoner didn’t like, leaving the prisoner in the dark, or in constant light

Sleeper Hold: Interrogators pressed their fingers into a detainee’s carotid artery in order to constrict the flow of blood to his brain causing the prisoner to begin losing consiousness.

Mock Execution: Interrogators fired a handgun outside a prisoner’s cell while agents screamed and yelled.

Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over him.

Other interrogation methods used

Other information is in the documents about what the interrogators did, but it would be hard to classify them as torture:

• Documents indicate CIA officers were cleared to force detainees to wear diapers for up to three days at a time, but the report does not specify if the technique was ever used.
• They threatened to capture a suspected terrorist’s mother and led him to believe she would be sexually assaulted in front of him
• Menacing a prisoner with a power drill intended to make the prisoner think he may be tortured
• Another interrogator told Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, that his captors would kill his children “if anything else happens in the United States”
• Blowing cigar smoke in the face of a terror prisoner during interrogation

Safety measures required

In every approved means of interrogation, there were lengthy protocols about how long a prisoner may be made to stand, about any restricted diet; about how cold the room could be, and for how long; about how loud the music could be so it didn’t damage the prisoner’s hearing, and so on.

• All personnel had to be trained to use these techniques, and every precaution was used to insure that the prisoner was not actually harmed.  In the case of “walling” for example a special wall was constructed so that it moved to prevent any injury to the prisoner. 
• The “sleeper hold” has been used by police agencies in many states as a means of subduing an individual resisting arrest for many years.  The Taser and some other methods have largely replaced the “sleeper hold” in recent years for police agencies.

It was never the intention of the interrogator to inflict physical harm, and none of the approved methods created any physical harm.  Physicians were always present for any of the methods that could possibly have an unintended consequence.

As for the one thing that troubles many people, water boarding, there were three individuals who actually underwent the technique – far fewer than the number of reporters and TV producers who wanted to demonstrate what it was like!  Each of these three individuals underwent the technique multiple times, and gave information.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, for example, only gave real information after being water boarded.  He give up information leading to the arrests of Sayfullah Paracha and Uzair Paracha both of whom Mohammed planned to use to smuggle explosives into the U.S.  He also gave up information about Saleh Almari a sleeper agent in the U.S., and Majid Khan who would easily be able to enter the U.S. with plans to scout places to attack.  There were other attacks Mohammed told them about: an attack in the U.S., the U.S. consulate in Pakistan, an airplane hijacking in England, and a plan for a hijacking and attack in California.  The frequency of the water boarding, the length of time between water boarding, and the length of time the person could be water boarded on each occasion were spelled out at length in the instructions.  In between dousings, a physician would check the prisoner’s physical well-being and had complete control as to whether or not it could continue.  Again, water boarding is designed to make the prisoner think something that is not true actually is true.  In this case the prisoner thinks he is drowning, but he is not – no physical damage happened to any of the three prisoners during the multiple times they were water boarded.

As for the “Attention Grab,” “Walling,” “Attention Slap,” and the “Belly Slap,” these are things that occur on any high school campus on a daily basis, and while may not be used by police interrogating American citizens certainly cannot be torture. 

All the rest cause no physical harm, and were used only to make the prisoner uncomfortable.  In fact, a variety of college student volunteers and radio personalities have undergone these things willingly just to see how long they could go without sleep, or perhaps set a Guinness world record.

Some interrogators prosecuted

On a few occasions an individual interrogator violated the approved methods, and each time it was reported to the CIA Inspector General for prosecution.  These reports were always forwarded to the U.S. Justice Department for review to see if prosecutions were in order, and in at least one of the cases, the interrogator was arrested, tried and convicted of the crime and sentenced.

More control to the White House

Now, the Obama administration has created a new White House team of interrogators for key terror suspects – the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group – HIG.  It will be housed at the FBI, and overseen by the National Security Council which answers to the President not the Congress.  This means that Mr. Obama has placed himself as the chief person in charge of interrogation of terror suspects bypassing the Congress – another expansion of the Executive branch of government taking power away from the Legislative branch altogether.  So much for democracy.

How terror suspects will be treated under Mr. Obama

Under these new guidelines the questioners will be required to use the Army Field Manual as the guide for interrogation of suspected terrorists.  Under these guidelines the prisoner cannot be immobilized or handcuffed for any extended period of time; cannot be housed in anything less than American soldiers are housed in, cannot be subjected to any temperature that fails to meet a reasonable level of comfort, extended interrogation over a longer period of time.  No force, mental torture, threat, insults, or exposure to any inhumane treatment of any kind may be used.  The terrorist is only required to disclose their name, rank, date of birth, and serial number.  Of course they don’t have rank or serial number since they are not members of a constituted military.  They are to be given proper food, and must be provided with the means to prepare their own food.  They may not be subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment. 

There are three new approved techniques as part of the Army Field Manual: the “good cop bad cop” tactic can be used; “false flag” approaches are approved to make the prisoner believe he is being held by different country; and only in the case of terror suspects can prisoners be separated from other prisoners as a means of trying to prevent them from coordinating their story. 

So Obama wants terrorists around the world know that being captured by the United States trying to kill American citizens will result in better living conditions than many of these terrorists have ever experienced.  Go kill American women and children, get captured, enjoy a safe place where Al Qaeda won’t demean or threaten you; get the food you want to cook for yourself.  Free medical care, conversations with U.S. provided attorneys, and you get to hang out with your friends, what could be better?  Freedom from threats and insults!  Plus, since you killed infidels in the name of Allah and are now enjoying all the comforts a terrorists could ever want, you are automatically guaranteed 70 virgins in heaven!

Now consider this!

On August 24, 2009 the New York Times reported front page, above the fold news story of terrible abuses by officials against prisoners.  A 300 pound man threw a prisoner to the floor with such force it caused a concussion; in other cases shattered teeth were knocked out permanently, bones were broken including one prisoner who was forced to sit with his arms secured behind him with such force that it broke his collar bone.  One prisoner was thrown to the ground with such force that stitches were required to treat the wound on his chin.  One prisoner died after being pinned down on the ground by to men.  The report said, “Staff at the facilities routinely used uncontrolled, unsafe applications of force, departing from generally accepted standards.” 

But this report was by the U.S. Justice Department regarding treatment of children in juvenile prisons in New York state.  None of the administrators at any of these prisons reported these abuses – with the exception of the death – and in some cases no disciplinary action was taken at all.  Contrast this with how the CIA conducted itself interrogating terrorists.

So we have Mr. Obama deciding to ruin U.S. capacity to protect us from terror attacks by demonizing people who acted within the law, using non lethal techniques overseen by physicians and make these secret interrogations part of the White House operation.  But real physical abuse and damage is perpetrated by youth prison guards against U.S. citizens with no reports being made to oversight committees it is completely ignored.  Have you heard Mr. Obama publicly denouncing the treatment of these teens?  Mr. Obama is telling the enemy we will treat them in comfort, will not demand information from them, and will accord them the protections won for American citizens at great cost and much blood.  I consider this an invitation for the enemy to attack.

What is Mr. Obama trying to do?  I think you know.  If he cared about abuse, he would be up in arms, filing federal charges for violation of civil rights against these prison guards in New York prisons, but instead he uses misdirection to go after those who have successfully protected the America for just two weeks short of 8 years.  You will have to answer the question as to whether or not he is inviting another attack by lowering our defenses.  What we do know without equivocationis that Mr. Obama has used emergencies to implement permanent changes to American economic, cultural, legal, and Constitutional life.  Would another emergency provide him with another chance to take over even more of our liberties so he can “fundamentally transform the United States of America?”

•             Just take a scenic drive
•             Keep water skiing
•             Use your quad
•             Keep you pickup for work
•             Use your snowmobile
•             Keep using the family dune buggy
•             Afford a vacation
•             Watch NASCAR racing
•             Enjoy drag racing

I could go on, but you get the idea.  If you want to keep something, you want to “conserve” it.  To conserve is “to keep in a safe or sound state;” Webster says.  Conservatives are not just those who are pro-life, support the death penalty, and oppose gay marriage, but that’s the conclusion you could reach by listening to those who want to divide us so they conquer.  Conservatives are those who believe in free speech, freedom of religion, freedom from unreasonable searches, no criminal charges without Grand Juries, separation of powers in the federal government, civilian control of the military, a republican form of government, keeping the river and the air clean…we are all conservatives!

It is politicians and so-called ‘interest groups’ who profit by putting us into categories like “conservative” or “liberal.”  It helps them create constituencies, demonize others, raise money, get elected, stay elected, and institute their agenda.  Politicians of every stripe, and fund raisers on every side do this. 

My appeal to you is: get beyond the stereotype; refuse to permit others to categorize you; and quit defining yourself by the general category of “conservative” or “liberal.” 

All of us are willing to give up some things, and unwilling to give up others.  We are all willing to trade some things we hold for other things we do not.  Before you permit yourself to be captured by those who want to use you, always define what you what you want to keep, and define what you are willing to give away.  You cannot define yourself as a conservative – only as wanting to “conserve” certain things.  Likewise, you cannot define yourself as a liberal - only as willing to give away, or trade, or lose specific things your may never get back in favor of other things. 

Some people, of course, are very shortsighted and want something today and are willing to trade something very important for it only to later mourn the loss of what they can never reclaim.  Like Esau who was very hungry trading his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentils - the lentil soup seemed more important at the time; but what was lost could never be reclaimed.  It was gone forever.

As an exercise, take a bit of time to jot down a list of the things (perhaps some of them mentioned above) that you really want to keep; to conserve.  Then think about the things you are willing to lose forever and are willing to have them replaced with something else.  My guess is that you will find you want to “conserve” much more about country, government, economics, family, and culture than you previously considered.  Let’s keep the right to discuss what we want to keep and what we are willing to give away; that’s a conservative principle.  Now you think about that.

So those of us who point out that the Emperor’s plan is naked are denounced by elected government officials.  When did it get to be okay for official representatives of the federal government to dehumanize and malign the citizens who pay them?  Like the “useless eaters” expression under the Nazi’s, I guess it’s always right before they intend to get rid of you.  

When we use our constitutional right to “peaceably assemble to seek redress of grievance,” we are told that we are illegitimate; our clothes were too nice for us to be real people, we are carrying swastikas, we are a mob, and we are rushing the stage intimidating all those fine elected officials.  We have reached the state where it is government against the people; using their positions of power, their access to the media to denigrate their own citizens.  Liberalism as a political movement historically began in earnest to fight against the Divine Rights of Kings to do basically whatever they want to do.  The King owns all the land, controls taxation, and doesn’t answer to anyone.  Liberalism’s cry against this was “All power to the people!”  The cry of today’s Democrat Party is, “All power from the people!”  I think it’s time to reinstate the rallying cry of democracy – “Power to the people!” 

This is a revealing historical moment; for once we are hearing what your Senators and Representatives really think about you.  They are not calling you names because it is helping their cause; they really think you are part of a fascist mob, that you are unwashed rubes, and the only well dressed people who show up at these townhall meetings are emissaries sent from wealthy corporations to embarrass the Senators’ Royal Hindquarters.  We know this is their real opinion of you because the Democrat Representatives and Senators had to be called into the White House by the king of astroturfing – David Axelrod – and told to change the message.  Don’t tell them what you think of them for crying out loud; instead reframe the message as “health insurance reform,” and talk about “portability,” and “equal access.”  

This won’t work, of course, because almost all the people who have actually read the proposed bill in the House are certainly not our Representatives; but rather ordinary citizens – and we know what they are trying to do.  The Legislators on the other hand don’t know what’s in the bill, and have no intention of reading it – that would require two days and two lawyers to understand it.  That should give us some indication about their intellectual horsepower.  The President doesn’t know what’s in it either which is why he is stumped when asked questions about it.  Trust us, they say.  Yeah, right. 

Most of us probably never thought we would reach the stage in the America where the federal government would confiscate your tax money even before you are paid, then use that money to push you around; to vilify you for having made money, demonize you, and manipulate you.  You never thought they would take your hard-earned money and give it to ACORN and send them to harass you.  You never thought a President would call for union goons to come to townhall meetings to intimidate senior citizens preventing them from exercising a constitutional right.  You never thought our government would give your tax dollars to the Legal Services Corporation so they can fight legal cases to grant citizenship to people who refuse to obey immigration laws; and so that these illegals are guaranteed a driver’s license, bank accounts, welfare, subsidized housing, and voting rights – so you can safely be sidelined and ignored as Nazis.  You never thought your $millions in your tax dollars would be spent preventing cities from limiting abortion centers and pornographic stores from locating near schools; and you never thought the Congress would again permit hundreds of $millions given to the LSC to be used again for filing class action lawsuits against companies the left doesn’t like.  If they can characterize you as a mob, they don’t have to listen to you.  If you are accused of carrying a swastika, you can be dismissed as unworthy of a hearing.  Sure beats having to read the legislation and answer questions.  Damn the questioner and you can safely dodge the question and get on with what you want to do.  All power to the King! 

What you are watching is the Democrat Party equivalent of running for cover; of covering their ears, and making “la, la, la, la,” sounds, or repeating “I can’t hear you!” over and over.  They do this to drown out the call for clarification about what they really intend to do; and the call for a minute of their time to let them know what we want.  Can’t be bothered with that; All Power to the King!

I say sit down, listen to the people, answer their questions if you can, take some input regarding what people want.  Quit insisting that you know everything worth knowing; quit insisting that you get to do whatever you want.  Get with it; get out of the way; or get run over.  Power to the people!

We are supposed to believe that what Sotomayor meant when she repeated her clever remark about a “wise Latina woman more often than not making a better decision than a white male” was, of course a wise Latina woman would not more often than not make a better decision than a white male.  You see how easily that is cleared up?  

Alternatively the response was that she made those statements to encourage young minority lawyers, and thought they would be inspired by her racist remarks.  Why would she think it “inspiring” for someone to hear that people of your ethnic group are wiser than the members of another group?  Wouldn’t it be more inspiring to hear that in America anyone can succeed through hard work and determination?

Listening to her discuss legal decisions and reasoning just stupefies the mind.  I have interviewed some of the best legal minds in the America, and they can smoke me when it comes to cases and long convoluted sentences, but frequently can’t hold their own when asked straightforward questions.  Ever notice the legal goop telling you about how you can use your credit card?  Anyone with a high school diploma could write clearer instructions.  Why we insist on nominating people who talk like this, and whose minds think like this baffles me.  Why we would turn over criminal and civil law to people who think like this is beyond me.  (Remember the O.J. Simpson trial.)  The result of putting such mountebanks in charge of how our culture operates means that the original, clear, articulated meaning of a thing is turned by degree into the very thing it forbade.  They propose quack nostrums as a replacement for authentic cures. 

As an example, consider how lawyers have succeeded in overturning the 14^th Amendment without firing a shot.  That Amendment requires that no laws can be written or enforced that grant privileges to one group that are not equally available to all others.  It was designed to end group privileges.  

People like Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor however, do not see anyone as an individual – a person; they see people only as members of a group.  So groups are recognized by the new utopians, but not “persons” as the Constitution requires.  This permits the powerful to deny to individual citizens what clearly cannot be denied to them under the Constitution.  What started out as a commitment to equal opportunity (in the 14^thAmendment, and later civil rights legislation) has led to bean counting, quotas, race-norming, grouping, affirmative action, group rights, and contract set-asides.  So now when a “person” jumps through all the hoops, follows all the rules; and still there is a disparate outcome on a test, these ignorati think it their right to deny advancement to those who did well because they were members of the wrong group! 

So we fought a Civil War, made corrections to the Constitution denying any group a benefit that is not granted to all other groups with the 14^th Amendment.  A person’s color, previous status as a slave, or an indentured servant must all be ignored so every person has the same rights.  No special rights for white males that also do not apply to everyone else.  The government is bound; limited; prevented from granting group rights.  But now we have degenerated to where federal judges and elected officials turn the Amendment on its head by making special rules for one group that cannot be applied to another.  It’s maddening.  It’s frustrating; and the Founders would never have stood for it.  The blood of Union soldiers; Abolitionists and slaves cries from the ground for this betrayal. 

This morning Ms. Sotomayor was asked a series of questions as to whether or not the Constitution said this or that, and in every case, she refused to answer the question and said she was trying to think of any case where the court had ruled on that question.  In other words, the Constitution says absolutely nothing until the Supreme Court articulates what it says.  I would love to have just read the 2^ndAmendment, for example, and then asked Sotomayor if what I just read is in the Constitution.  Without question she would not answer merely “Yes.”  That’s because for her, the words of the Constitution are only an ideal, and that it is up to the courts to determine what the words mean.  So when the words are, “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” they don’t really mean that the government cannot limit our ownership of arms to preserve “the security of a free state;” no, no, they actually mean that deer hunting is okay; or target practice is permitted; or you can’t actually carry your gun with you here and there; you can’t purchase a gun that looks dangerous; or you can own the weapon, but you can’t buy the bullets; or we must issue you a permit for you to carry a weapon.  The courts deny American citizens the absolute rights guaranteed by the Constitution all the time.  They limit your right to free speech, they limit your right to practice your religion through zoning laws and “heritage committees” preserving buildings; they limit your right to peaceably assemble if you are protesting abortion, or are a Christian at an Islamic meeting.  

All this reminds me about when I was doing construction work as a teen.  I needed to cut a large number of 2X4 pieces a certain length.  We had various lengths of lumber from which to cut the pieces.  We didn’t have the equipment available today to easily make each of them the same; they had to be individually measured.  I cleverly thought I could skip using the measuring tape for every piece, and the process would go quicker by using the first piece to mark the length of the second; then the second to mark the third and so on.  I cut the pieces, and then began installing them.  Very soon I found that each piece I cut was just a little longer that the one before it, and by the end, the pieces were too long by a couple of inches they were no longer what the plans called for, and I had to cut them all again. 

This is what the legal profession has done with the U.S. Constitution.  The measuring tape – the Constitution – was used at the beginning, but we’re past that now; we use previous pieces to mark new pieces; we use pieces cut by people in other nations; we use pieces from ancient history; we find pieces in effulgences and penumbras; we completely invent pieces; and what is perhaps the greatest political and legal document ever written is now forgotten; the plan it laid out for our culture and our society has been completely ignored for decades.  The sleight of hand and misdirection is that the Constitution is a “living” thing or a “growing” document; when the truth is that powerful people want to deny the right of the people to be ruled by their own founding documents.  These people are self-proclaimed Gnostics – they claim knowledge not available to ordinary people; they speak as Oracles.  If we permit them, they will continue to flummox regular people hoping we will stand by, nod our heads, smile sagely, and pretend that these legal frauds are actually saying something significant.  These utopians want a different kind of country, a different kind of culture, a different kind of order; and they tell flowery lies to prevent us from knowing what they are about.

So “case law” -  which is the legal euphemism for cutting the next piece by sorting through all the previously cut pieces, other random pieces found in other locations, and whatever loose trash can be gathered up rather than using the tape measure – continues.  The courts engage in endless debates about this or that piece of wood, or some assorted junk from somewhere else, while the Constitution itself collects dust; its wisdom forgotten.  Independence has become dependence; individualism has become collectivism; liberty has become conformity; persons have become groups; freedom has become a mild but all-encompassing tyranny.  The only question that remains is whether we will fight to throw off this mild but suffocating tyranny and punish those who have violated our social compact, and who have betrayed our sacred trust; or will we permit them to steal our birthright and render us spiritual paupers.