Sonia Sotomayor

Let’s review what she has said:

She says the following: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life” (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/15judge.html).

Interestingly, the same article cites the fact that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sandra Day O’Connor have made a point of the fact that this is not true, nor what we want in the SCOTUS.

Realize, she’s talking about two judges, in a court case, reviewing the same circumstances in the light of the same written law. She says there’s a gender and racial reason why those two judges would come up with a different judgment, that the Latina woman’s decision would be better, and on that basis alone.

Additionally, she says that the appellate court (of which the SCOTUS is the supreme example) makes policy, and then tries to make jokes about how making law is not what she’s seeking for the court (see YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBAgh7qtdc). This clip from YouTube is the long version. Watch it. Listen to it. Ask if whether she will make, not interpret, law from the bench. Make up your own mind.

I know what I think. This person is a sexist, racist bigot, who will use her position on the Court to make law, taking that function away from the Legislative Branch where she can. She thinks that is what she is supposed to do. She thinks that is the path to justice.

Let’s be clear. This nomination is a fundamental attack on the founding principles of this country.

All you have to do is decide whether you support that, and if you think that this is the way to make the change you seek, rather than through the mechanisms provided by the founders, and as modified by the legislative process since the founding of the nation.

Ask also, what this says about the President that nominated her. How does he think such change should be made?

Make up your mind, and make your opinion known.

If you choose the route selected by this President, make sure you accommodate the rule of unintended consequences, because this country will change, and in ways that will have upsides, and downsides, when it comes to your freedom and liberty.

This is important stuff, and we’re on a very dangerous path.

Will the Republicans defeat this nomination? Not a chance. For those of us observers, we’ll just have a chance to see who will stand up and defend the nation’s founding principles.

With Respect

Memorial Day is a time to honor all our Americans in uniform, past and present.

With all honor for all that you do.

ArizonaBlue

Obama at Notre Dame

Obama’s speech at Notre Dame is significant. He emphasized the “open hearts, open minds, fair minded words” theme.

The problem is, abortion is a moral issue. Why would you have an open heart, open mind, and use fair-minded words with people who favor committing the biggest moral crime imaginable, the killing of a human being?

Let’s be clear about what abortion is. Abortion is the killing of a human being. If that needs to be done to save the life of the mother, fine. But if it is done as a matter of “choice”, that’s different.

Now. Let’s be clear. Obama has said definitively that deciding when life begins is “above my pay grade”. Well, then he has no role in this discussion. It belongs to those who see it as in their “pay grade”, and I have no problem with anybody who steps up to that measure of moral conviction.

I don’t have a problem with Obama speaking at the Notre Dame commencement. I DO have a problem with the University awarding him a degree, particularly a law degree. Why? Because law is about the protection of rights, and his position on abortion is to support policy that violates the rights of the unborn. There is no room for civility in that.

At this point, according to the CDC, in the US there are about 45 million dead babies whose right to live has been violated since Roe v. Wade was decided.

Think about it. 45 million. Our total population in the country is about 305 million. How many Einstein’s did we lose? How many Magic Johnson’s did we lose? Even Norma McCorvey (the “Roe” in Roe v. Wade) has changed her position and become adamantly pro-life.

I’m not a Catholic and I find their dependence on ritual to be silly. Still, they do have a moral code, and Notre Dame threw that principle out the window by awarding Obama this degree.

Want to know what to think? Think about 45 million pairs of eyes looking at you and asking, why didn’t we get the opportunity to live our life and you did?

“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.”

45 million unborn US citizens have been denied this right. This isn’t a religious issue, but it is a moral one.

Pelosi and Waterboarding: What did she know and when did she know it?

I find the whole Nancy Pelosi issue regarding “what did she know, and when did she know it” regarding water boarding at Guantanamo, to be fascinating stuff (http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20090512/pl_cq_politics/politics3115318).

The most interesting theory for this exercise is that it has nothing to do with the actual event, or even the truth or falsity of it.

No, let’s propose that what this is about is an internal power struggle within the Democratic Party.

Think about it. Democrats have as close to unlimited power as anything we’ve seen in decades. If they don’t want to take on an issue, they don’t have to. The easiest thing to do is just ignore it. They can just flick Republicans off their shoulder.

But they’re not doing that with this thing. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D – Md), is said in this article to have “reluctantly” agreed to an investigation.

That’s political “code”. He, and his allies, really do want such an investigation. How about this for an idea? – a segment of the party, led by Obama, is trying to replace Pelosi as Speaker. Obama needs one of “his guys” in the position to consolidate his power, and that isn’t Pelosi, since he can’t trust her.

Let’s face it. People such as Pelosi, and her cohort Harry Reid in the Senate, have always been at war with the Executive Branch. Pelosi has been a thorn in the side of the President since coming to the House in 1987. This is Washington. Everything is about power. Pelosi didn’t even endorse Obama till late March of 2008.

What if, she’s now just paying for that indiscretion? Obama doesn’t get justice. He gets even.

Best I can tell, Steny Hoyer is a buddy of Rahm Emanuel, and we all know where Rahm stands in the Obama hierarchy.

This is about the politics of power in Washington. That’s all it is. It’s not even about this issue.

I predict. Pelosi will be out as Speaker. Hoyer (or some other Obama designate) will be in.

Welcome to the thug politics of Chicago….Oh, I mean, Washington.

Watch this hand…..

Dave Bing elected to Mayor of Detroit

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post wrote an article in the Seattle Times about Dave Bing being elected Mayor of Detroit.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009204753_bing11.html

As a young kid growing up in Seattle, I was a huge fan of the first Seattle major sports franchise, the Seattle SuperSonics. I so much admired (and wanted to be like) those such as Bob Rule, Al Tucker (aka – Twiggy), Walt Hazzard, Tommy (Krash) Kron, Tom Meschery, and very soon on, the one-and-only Lenny Wilkens. Many nights, I spent listening to the radio, listening to Bob Blackburn calling the play-by-play.

I had idols on the opponent teams, too, including the Detroit Pistons. Among those was Dave Bing, along with Walt Bellamy. Those Pistons teams were tough, and Dave Bing struck me as a highly motivated kid from a poor background who wouldn’t stand for our society at the time telling him what he could be. Much like Lenny himself, in that regard. Beyond that he was modest, he was quiet, and he let his performance on the court speak for him. He was a model for every young kid who dreamed.

Well, as a short, slow, kid from a lower-class Seattle neighborhood who happened to love basketball, it didn’t take long to dawn on me that I wasn’t going to be the next Lenny or anything close.

But given all those kinds of guys as examples, I did find my way. I did become successful.

Now, I read this article.

The article ends with this quote from Dave Bing.

“Now, as mayor, there are like 900,000 people that I’m responsible for that are looking for a way out, for some hope, for some support, for some help. They’re looking for me to do that.”

Well, Dave, much as I admire you, you won’t fulfill your objective till you instill in your citizens the sense that THEY are responsible for their own success or failure, not you. Just like you did for yourself when you were young, just as you did during your NBA career, and just as you did long after. You cannot make that happen for them. If you think you can, you will fail.

Don’t let them be the victims on which your predecessors in the office of Mayor of Detroit have personally profited and glowed in the spotlight.

What they need is your leadership, not hope other than their own, support other than their own, or even help, other than their own.

Be successful once again, Dave Bing.

The Coming Newpaper Bailout

Newspapers are the latest in a long string of “buggywhip” industries. The decline of the newspaper has been ongoing for a long time. Simply stated, consumers just don’t want the product.

In the political space, Democrats do want newspapers because they overwhelmingly support Democrat candidates. Journalism schools produce biased reporters, newspapers print their biases, and consumers are tired of reading it, since what they print isn’t news.

Newspapers have lost the consumer to other sources by their own hand. As such, consumers are getting their news elsewhere, and there are plenty of places to get it.

The next national discussion will be about government bailout of various newspapers. It will be a political discussion. It will be fueled by the partisan history of the newspaper industry and their support of Democrats. Any bailout will just be political payback by grateful Democrats for swaying the minds of their sheep readers (watch what happens to the New York Times). Democrats are good at repaying political favors. Look at the UAW. With unlimited power in Washington, there is nothing to stop them.

My vote, though, is to let newspapers go.

There will always be some newspapers in some form. But overall, let them fail if they can’t figure out how to attract an audience and make a buck. That used to be the American system, and I still have hope for its return.

Tea Parties

The reason for the tea-party movement is incredibly simple to understand. According to the NY Times in an article of February 4, 2009, the bailouts so far represent a commitment of $12.2 trillion (through April 1, 2009) with actual spending of $2.5 trillion. That’s a commitment of $39,672 and completed spending of $8,196 for every man, woman, and child in the country. The budget Congress is looking at is $3.4 trillion (NOT part of the bailouts), is $11,147 for every man, woman, and child in the country. The current outstanding national debt is $11.2 trillion, or $36,721 for every man, woman, and child in the country.

Add to this the fact that 97% of federal taxes are currently paid by the top 50% of taxpayers. Almost half of taxpayers pay NO federal income taxes at all. The Obama administration lies when they talk about tax cuts for 95% of taxpayers. What they are talking about is the transformation of the tax system to the new social welfare system, since people who don’t pay taxes will get “refunds”.

That’s just federal income taxes. That’s not corporate taxes, state & local taxes (e.g., sales and property).

Obama’s recent $100 million expense cut from the current budget barely covers the debt service on the national debt for one day ($95 million). That’s .0029 percent of the proposed budget. Less than the proverbial drop in the ocean. To make a big deal in the press about that is an outright insult to taxpayers.

Where does this money come from? There are only three possible sources. You can tax it, you can borrow it, or you can print it.

Every option has downsides. Raising taxes will lower growth in production (when you tax something you get less of it). Borrowing it mortgages the future (your children will pay for it). Printing it raises inflation (your dollars won’t go as far).

The “tea party” phenomenon is the beginning of a taxpayer revolt. It is a grass-roots movement in response to the fact that Government, from local to national, is completely out of control. It has nothing to do with which party is in power, and it has nothing to do with anybody’s right to entitlements, such as national health care. It has to do with the fact that the ever-decreasing proportion of people who pay for everything cannot afford it.

Government Failure

I hate to tell you all, but government’s stimulus and attempt to re-energize the economy will fail.

Stimulus has NEVER re-energized an economy in trouble. The only solution is to put the people back in charge.

Government is doing nothing but serve itself.

It is a sad day in the United States of America.

The Mortgage Bailout Proposal

I oppose the proposed $275 billion mortgage bailout.

I object to my tax dollars going to subsidize people who behaved recklessly and irresponsibly in the housing market.

The truth is that home ownership is not, and has never been, the American Dream for everyone.

That Dream is reserved for people who work, who strive to improve themselves and their condition, that behave in economically responsible ways and who make this country the world leader it is and pay their taxes for its place in the world.  

That Dream does NOT belong to people who refuse to educate themselves, who insist on blaming others for all the bad things that happen to them, who lust after the achievements of others, and stand there in front of government with their hand out.  

However, in today’s America, the Obama administration is picking the “winners”. The winners are the people who are looking for handouts from government and their neighbors.  In fact, I’ve heard it described as the “voter acquisition and retention plan” of the Democratic Party.  These are the people to whom the Dream of home ownership does not belong.

The Obama administration is also picking the “losers”. These are the people who have played responsibly by the well-known and understood economic rules. These are the people who pay the taxes that fund the government and the “winners”. These are people who understand that to buy a house you must put down 20 percent down and that they must have the income to support paying off the mortgage. These are the people to whom the Dream does belong, and whom the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress will continue to punish.

What Stimulus Bill?

I just want you all to know that I have been going through each page of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – aka, “the stimulus bill”.

I haven’t yet finished the task, but this is a waste of paper.  It is offensive to me, and should be offensive to every American.  It does nothing that the President and Congress have been representing to the people.  It is NOT targeted at jobs.  For example, what does allocating an additional $300 million for energy-efficient Federal vehicles have to do with creating new jobs?  What are they going to do, put a bunch of Japanese workers on the job building Toyota Prius’s, or are they just going to hire new people to drive them?  Do they need new cars?  Don’t they buy energy-efficient vehicles now?  This bill is full of wasteful spending like this.

Any member of Congress that votes for this should be ashamed.  There is NOTHING new and innovative about this.  All it has is line after line of waste of the taxpayer’s money.  Go ahead, tell me how an additional $1 billion for nuclear “weapons activities” creates jobs in America.  This is just a standard spending bill characterized only by its large size, and for THIS we are placing an incredible burden on the backs of tomorrow’s taxpayer.

Shameful.  I encourage every American to read this bill and see how they are being insulted and tricked by Washington.