Good Lord!

I don't think the US Senate has a clue how far the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor will set back jurisprudence in this country.

This woman will stop at nothing to advance her own ultra-liberal agenda. She has shamelessly ignored and misinterpreted the Constitution over and over again, as recently indicated by the Court overruling her opinions for the ninth (I believe) time.

How could this happen? The Democrats are so wound up about the opportunity to swing the court to the left that they embraced this nomination apparently without examining her background. The idea of putting a minority on the Court was so overwhelming that they let the first one through the door have the seat.

Mark my words: one day, some of these Democrats will regret the day they jumped on board this bandwagon. Each and every Republican who backed this nomination and voted in favor of it need to be held accountable by their constituency. How dare they?

Speak up and be heard...this was the wrong choice.

End of an era?

It saddened me to see that the Red Sox have cut John Smoltz today. I was NEVER a Braves fan, but in the time of their run in the mid to early 90's, you had to respect Tommy Glavine and John Smoltz. These guys were incredible. I don't have their stats, but rest assured, both will be in Cooperstown in the not too distant future.

I was excited when I heard that my Red Sox had signed Smoltz earler this season. Doesn't he look great in the uni? But as fate would have it, this just wasn't meant to be. I think we've seen the last of John Smoltz on the mound. It's a great loss for baseball. He's simply one of the best. Thanks John, we'll miss you.

Accountability

I got into a bit of an argument with a friend this week. We were talking about the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling from North Korea. I said that although I was glad that they had been released, the fact of the matter was that they did illegally enter a country. They were arrested, tried and convicted of violations of that country's laws. It is a very similar situation to that of Dayna Murray and Heather Mercer who were arrested in Afghanistan for preaching/prostelsizing Christianity. Although we may not agree with these arrests, trials, and convictions, the truth is that all four of these women violated the laws of the countries they were in.

I would expect that anyone who would disagree with me on this would agree that if foreigners in this country were to violate our laws, that those persons woud be held accountable and, if necessary, go to prison.

Yes, we are a free people and we have our ideas and ideals of how we should live. But there are many areas of this world of ours that are not free. When we are in those areas, we must tread very lightly, lest our freedoms be taken from us.

Monday marks the beginning of confirmation hearings for Sonja Sotomayor; what I believe to be a monumental step backward in our nation's justice system.

I don't believe President Obama's advisors dug quite deep enough before making this recommendation to him.

I believe Mr. Obama to be an honest man, one who wants to do well by his country and its people. I believe Mr. Obama to know his Constitution and what the words of it mean to the people of this great land.

I also believe that Ms. Sotomayor is a judicial activist with no regard for the Constitution or its tenets, only for herself, for women and Hispanics. Her record of public comment in support of Affirmative Action speaks for itself, as do the numerous reversals by the body she aspires to against her rulings.

Mr. President, you've got this one wrong, terribly, terribly wrong. And unfortunately for America, if Ms. Sotomayor's confirmation goes forward and she is seated on the Court, America will pay the price for this short-sightedness for a very, very, very long time.

We do not need a woman like this on our nation's highest Court.
We do not need someone who does not know the Constitution on our nation's highest Court.
We do not need a liberal activist who will use her position to advance her own agenda on our nation's highest Court.
We do not need Sonja Sotomajor on our nation's highest Court.

Jeff Sessions, Orrin Hatch, Charles Grassley, John Cornyn, John Kyl, Lindsey Graham and Tom Coburn: we need a miracle...and we need it badly.

Curious...

Isn't it odd that the news of the Supreme Court reversing yet another of Judge Sotomayor's cases has all but vanished? She ruled that the New Haven (CT) Fire Dept Lt/Capt promotion test results from 2003 couldn't have been valid because no minority candidates passed the test! This therefore denied promotion to any non-minority candidate who DID pass. The Supreme Court, to which she aspires to be a member, has reversed this ruling in a 5-4 judgment.

The blatant liberal agenda set forth by this woman is not needed in our Nation's highest court. I think the nomination itself speaks volumes to Pres. Obama's agenda as well.

The rhetoric sounding from two sides of the globe aimed at the US bring some thoughts to mind...

Who do these third world wannabes think they are? And they're going to publicly call out the US on a global platform? Get real!

Truth be known, North Korea and Iran are scared shitless of the US, as well they should be. And not only from a military standpoint. Let me explain...

I have spoken with people who have actually been in Iran. They tell me that every day, Iranians would tell them "we love Americans, we love America." Now why do you think that is? Because of our apparent knack to run our economy in the ground? Because of the greed of a few misfits who made international news? Because of our newly found international soccer/football prowess? No. These people love Americans and America because of our FREEDOM. The love America because the PEOPLE have that right, and the ability to effect change in their government. Sure, the people of Iran overthrew the Shah in 1980 and effected a serious change in the government. And you know what? They want change AGAIN. They want change they can feel, change they can see, change they can taste. They want the right to be able to speak without the fear of retribution from those they disagree with. Mr. Ahmadinejad says whatever he wants about whomever he chooses, but not every Iranian has that right. I wonder why...

Swing around the world to North Korea and Mr Kim. PUH-LEEEESE!!! This clown has Small Man Syndrome and not a friend in the world! China doesn't even know what to do about the little bastard! The man and unfortunately his people are pariahs on the world stage. The mass graves from the famine brought on by the Dear Leader's father are so damn big they can be seen from outer space! People are starving, children are dying just so Kim can have nuclear weapons?

To both of these "leaders": your people have had enough and they are not going to sit still any longer and let you dictate your outdated and outmoded beliefs. And on top of everything else, you want to call out the strongest, greatest nation in the world? A nation founded upon the very principles your own people are beginning to embrace? You are going to embarrass and humiliate yourselves on the world stage.

Mr Kim is most likely going to lob a nuke into Japan. A country that has done nothing to provoke him, only because he can't reach the US. That's terribly sad. The US will most likely ask Japan to not retaliate. He's probably going to lob a few into South Korea as well, my guess would be at US Military Installations such as Osan AB and Camp Humphries. Will we retaliate? I would ask Mr Obama that very question. Sure, we need to temper our tongues these days when dealing with these two, but let there be no mistake. We need to respond, we need to respond firmly, we need to respond with resolve. They need to be made to understand that if they want to come and play in the Big Game, they better be prepared for the consequences because there will be consequences. To paraphrase Mr Ahmadinejad: Crushing consequences. This guy has no concept of what "crushing" means...

So you want to call out the United States of America? Here's a couple of words for you:

Bring it.

Obama sure Sotomayor would restate 2001 comment

I'm sure she would too, now that she's a nominee for the nation's highest court! Fact of the matter is: she said it and she meant it. This is NOT the type of person we want on the Supreme Court. What we need is someone who knows and can apply The Constitution of this great land in the manner it was written AND intended.

turncoat...!

So Arlen Specter has decided he's a Democrat. Like, who in the hell didn't know that? If he wants to switch parties, I don't have a problem with that. What I DO have a problem with is that his decision now dramatically changes the dynamic of the US Senate. Sen Specter was elected by the good people of Pennsylvania as a REPUBLICAN. He should do the right thing and resign his seat, allowing the Governor of Pennsylvania to appoint a Republican to serve out the remainder of the term. The people of Pennsylvania elected a Republican to represent them; they deserve to be represented by a Republican. At some later point in time, Sen Specter can determine of the people of Pennsylvania would like have him represent them as a Democrat.

I don't know how many of you listen to "hard" rock, but the band Queensryche released a new CD today entitled American Soldier. It's a concept album based upon conversations of the band's lead singer Geoff Tate with American servicemen and women in airports, at concerts, really just about anywhere. Geoff went back to the band and they put together the thoughts and words from the perspectives of these soldiers, sailors airmen and Marines with music. The result is American Soldier. The band's songs are interspersed with recorded very personal thoughts of these brave men and women, talking about their experiences of watching their friends die, their guilt over things they saw and did. These are raw, in-your-face, true life experiences that have forever shaped, marked and scarred these young people.

As one who has worn the uniform of this great nation, I am grateful for what Geoff Tate and Queensryche are doing. It is with fierce pride in these brave souls that the lump forms in my throat when I listen to If I Were King and the tears form in my eyes when I watch the extremely touching representation of one Marine's feelings in the video. I offer the link here so you may view it. I caution you however, it's a real kick in the gut. I loved it. Thanks Queensryche, you ROCK!

www.americansoldieralbum.com

$165M a year?

WOW! Did you know that the US Government spends nearly $165M a year printing dollar bills?

That's as much as the AIG execs are collecting in bonuses for running the company into the ground!

Helicopter Ben's agenda aside, don't you thin there are better places to spend that kind of money? Do you know how much we'd save by doing away with the dollar bill and using dollar coins instead? Have you SEEN the new dollar coins? They're actually pretty cool! And you can't mistake them for quarters!

A dollar bill's life expectancy is about 18 months; the coins' is about 30 years! I'm not going to try and do the math here, but anyone can see that the paper bill is a waste of money. Sure, your pockets are going to be fuller, and the vending companies are going to raise all sorts of hubbub, but for these kind of savings...WOW!

Added bonus: if you are one of those who dumps you day's change in a jar at the end of the day, can you imagine how much more you can SAVE???

So here's what we do: ask President Obama to sign an executive order stating that in 18 months, the dollar bill will no longer be considered legal tender. That's it. Nothing more...it's so easy! We don't need to have congress study it, we don't need to form focus groups to look at how it will impact daily lives or any of that sort of nonsense.

Just do it. It's not hard. And we save $165M a year.

There are so many things we need to remember...

for those who may have forgotten...

some things I've found...

I regularly receive links from other blogs and Web sites...some are even worth looking at. Here are two...

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/02/robert.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_Z5adiMG8

enjoy!

Robert

the New American Tea Party

Does anyone find these words vaguely familiar?

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security"

What happens when good, responsible people keep quiet? Nothing.

Washington has forgotten they work for us. We don't work for them. Throwing good money after bad is NOT the answer. I am sick of the midnight, closed door sessions to come up with a plan. I am sick of Congress raking CEO's over the coals while they, themselves, have defaulted on their taxes. I am sick of the bailed out companies having lavish vacations and retreats on my dollar. I am sick of being told it is MY responsibility to rescue people that, knowingly, bought more house than they could afford. I am sick of being made to feel it is my patriotic duty to pay MORE taxes. I, like all of you, am a responsible citizen. I pay my taxes. I live on a budget and I don't ask someone else to carry the burden for poor decisions I may make. I have emailed my congressmen and senators asking them to NOT vote for the stimulus package as it was written without reading it first. No one listened. They voted for it, pork and all.

O.K. folks, here it is. You may think you are just one voice and what you think won't make a difference. Well, yes it will and YES, WE CAN!! If you are disgusted and angry with the way Washington is handling our taxes. If you are fearful of the fallout from the wreckless spending of BILLIONS to bailout and "stimulate" without accountability and responsibility then we need to become ONE, LOUD VOICE THAT CAN BE HEARD FROM EVERY CITY, TOWN, SUBURB AND HOME IN AMERICA.

There is a growing protest to demand that Congress, the President and his cabinet LISTEN to us, the American Citizens. What is being done in Washington is NOT the way to handle the economic free fall; so, here's the plan:

On April 1, 2009, all Ameicans are asked to send a TEABAG to Washington , D.C.

You do not have to enclose a note or any other information unless you so desire. Just a TEABAG. Many cities are organizing protests. If you simply search, "New American Tea Party", several sites will come up. If you aren't the 'protester' type, simply make your one voice heard with a TEABAG. Your one voice will become a roar when joined with millions of others that feel the same way. Yes, something needs to be done but the lack of confidence as shown by the steady decline in the stock market speaks volumes.

This was not my idea. I visited the sites of the 'New American Tea Party' and an online survey showed over 90% of thousands said they would send the teabag on April 1. Why, April 1?? We want them to reach Washington by April 15. Will you do it? I will.

Send it to; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington , D.C. 20500

Tell everyone you know! Offer to get them the teabag and buy he stamp! Let's get this done! Visit www.newamericanteaparty.com for more information about the 'New American Tea Party'. I would encourage everyone to go ahead and get the envelope ready to mail, then just drop it in the mail April 1. Can't guarantee what the postage will be by then, it is going up as we speak, but have your envelope ready. What will this cost you? A little time and a 40 something cent stamp.

What could you receive in benefits? Maybe, just maybe, our elected officials will start to listen to the people. Take out the Pork. Tell us how the money is being spent. We want TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY. Remember, the money will be spent over the next 4-5 years. It is not too late.