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The Judiciary Endangers American Citizens

Judges Who Would Be King

The judiciary is on an unprecedented power trip.

When a federal judge ordered 17 Chinese Uighurs, detained at Guantanamo Bay, released into the United States last October, he took to its logical conclusion the judiciary's increasingly bold effort to supervise the president and Congress. Justifying his ruling in the face of Congress' exclusive constitutional power over when, which, and how foreign nationals may enter the United States, Judge Ricardo Urbina reasoned that "our system of checks and balances is designed to preserve the fundamental right of liberty." He saw his order as necessary to that end. But if he's right, then the judiciary itself is the unchecked branch of government. And while judges have expanded their power before in our history, never have the claims to supremacy of some of them been so extreme.

Judge Urbina's order, reversed on appeal and the subject of a pending petition for Supreme Court review, is one of an increasing number of rulings that have brought the federal judiciary deep into national-security territory that once was almost entirely reserved to the political branches. Another federal district judge recently ordered the release of Mohammed Jawad, originally detained at Guantanamo Bay for having maimed a U.S. solider in Afghanistan. And other judges have taken similar steps in habeas corpus actions brought by war-on-terror prisoners to obtain their release.

http://www.slate.com/id/2224943/
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There is Nothing Wrong with Racial Profiling

Is Racial Profiling Racist?
by Walter E. Williams

Harvard Professor Henry Gates' arrest has given new life to the issue of racial profiling. We can think of profiling in general as a practice where people use an observable or known physical attribute as a proxy or estimator of some other unobservable or unknown attribute. Race or sex profiling is simply the use of race or sex as that estimator. Profiling represents mankind's attempt to cope with information cost. God would not have to profile since God is all knowing.

People differ by race and sex. Let's look at a few profiling examples to see which ones you'd like outlawed. According to the American Cancer Society, the lifetime risk of men getting breast cancer is about 1/10th of 1 percent, or 1 in 1,000; and 440 men will die of breast cancer this year. For women, the risk of developing breast cancer is about 12 percent, or 1 in 8, and 40,610 will die from it this year. Should doctors and medical insurance companies be prosecuted for the discriminatory practice of routine breast cancer screening for women but not for men?

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/08/19/is_racial_profiling_racist


Tags: crime  
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Interesting Voting Pattern by Senator McCain

McCain: Maverick No More?

He ran for president last year as a “maverick” Republican and had a high-profile meeting with Barack Obama after the election, but Arizona Sen. John McCain has been a staunch Republican vote since failing to win the White House.

In fact, McCain is siding with his party this year on closely divided votes with greater frequency than at any other period in his 23-year Senate career, according to a CQ analysis of Senate votes.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000003192795

Tags: mccain   senate  
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August 20th in American History

1866 - It was formally declared by U.S. President Andrew Johnson that the American Civil War was over. The fighting had stopped months earlier.


August 20, 1954

United States decides to support Diem

President Eisenhower approves a National Security Council paper titled "Review of U.S. Policy in the Far East." This paper supported Secretary of State Dulles' view that the United States should support Diem, while encouraging him to broaden his government and establish more democratic institutions. Ultimately, however, Diem would refuse to make any meaningful concessions or institute any significant new reforms and U.S. support was withdrawn.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=1288

August 20, 1982

U.S. Marines deployed to Lebanon

During the Lebanese Civil War, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. It was the beginning of a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into 17 months and leave 262 U.S. servicemen dead.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=5277

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Well, At Least Bill Clinton Didn't Go

Burma Releases Detained American

Webb Says He Also Requested Suu Kyi's Freedom

Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, August 17, 2009

BANGKOK, Aug. 16 -- Burmese authorities have released the American whose uninvited visit to the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi led to her being sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest, allowing him to leave the country Sunday with Sen. James Webb (D-Va.).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/16/AR2009081600241.html
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Labors Warns Dems If There is No Public Option, We will Not Support You

Labor Warns Dems: We'll Sit Out Election If You Oppose Public Plan

One of the country's most prominent union officials is warning that big labor may pull its support from Democrats who don't fight for a government-run insurance plan.

In an interview with the Huffington Post on Saturday, Richard Trumka, the secretary-treasurer and likely next president of the AFL-CIO, said his federation is drawing a line in the sand when it comes to a public option in the health care bill. Lawmakers who don't support the provision, he said, shouldn't take anything for granted.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/18/labor-warns-dems-well-sit_n_262232.html
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Terrorist will be Freed

AP

Man convicted in the bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, reportedly will be freed from prison on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya.
Tags: Terrorism  
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Novak's Friends and Colleagues Offer Their Thoughts on the Passing of Robert Novak

Novak's friends tribute Robert Novak:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33193

One last column about the passing of Robert Novak. This from Timothy Carney, who worked with Novak from 2001-2004 and from 2007-2009.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Novaks-public-service-Exposing-the-power-game-53618087.html

Tags: deaths  
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MSNBC Distorts Video to Back Up Their Claim

MSNBC: ObamaCare Protesters ‘Racist,’ Including Black Gun-Owner

Photo of Kyle Drennen.

On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer fretted over health care reform protesters legally carrying guns: "A man at a pro-health care reform rally...wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip....there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns." Brewer failed to mention the man she described was black.

MSNBC distorted the video, by not showing the man with the rifle from the neck up. He is black, so it would go against their claim that white racists are at town halls carrying guns.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/08/18/msnbc-no-mention-black-gun-owner-among-racist-protesters
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Iran Has Been on My Mind Lately

I could talk about the situation in Iran regarding their nuclear program, but what has been on my mind lately is how quiet the news media have been about the situation in Iran. After the presidential election back in June, everybody knew it was rigged so Ahmadinejad would win. Their were tapes and documents that proved just that. Many describe the protests that would soon occur, to be the first social media protest because it was Twitter where it all started. Twitter forced CNN, in particular, to cover the story. Originally, MSNBC didn't give the story much air time, Fox News did give it substantial air time, when they had the story available to report on, but it was CNN where the story was really ignored until some people on Twitter demanded that they cover the story.

So, the networks began covering the story and so did I. I linked to photos and videos of the protests on this blog. Whether people were being arrested, injured, or killed, I tried as best as I could to link to those stories. A person I admire, Former Ambassador John Bolton, was on television on Fox News almost everyday. I could not describe much how the other networks covered the story because I didn't watch them. Bolton was on to assess the situation and what it meant for the United States and Israel. He would describe that we have to support the protesters because some change could be happening, but he warned not to get too excited. Our president in the United States, President Obama did not offer any remarks about the protests in Iran, which we would later find out, that the president does not care much about freedom because he refused to support the Iranian dissidents, but would later support the Honduran dictator in his quest to return back to power.

What was going on in Iran was just brutal. The videos and the pictures, but what was the hardest was reading the Twitter messages from people in Iran. I would sit on my computer for hours at a time reading about their suffering and how they are being killed or arrested or beaten close to death just for speaking out. I would report of goons coming into people's homes late at night and beating them. It reminded of Nazi Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union.

The protests died down little by little and all of a sudden there was no news network covering the story. Twitter messages stopped coming in and videos and pictures also ceased to appear anymore. I could not report on this story because there was nothing for me to connect to what was going on in Iran. I don't know if the protests did indeed die, but this is the problem with the news. Forgetting all their bias, which is sometimes kind of hard to forget, the news consistently makes a big deal of a story, and then they drop the story. Unfortunately, they do and I think it has a lot to do with ratings.

I've been thinking about Iran lately because no more news about protests are coming from Iran, which means one of two things, a. some protests are still occurring, but news media stops covering it, or b. which unfortunately, I believe to be the case, and that is that the protesters lost. These people who risked their lives over two months ago, in which some of them did die or were injured or arrested, spoke up for freedom and they were quickly shut down. Those protests revealed something important about Iran, something which that nobody should ever have doubted, the people of Iran want to have freedom and they don't have it. This is why President Obama ignoring the protesters fight for freedom and support for Honduran dictator, could be his most egregious and despicable error. Freedom and liberty is what the United States is all about and I thought that presidents should enforce their message when representing the United States. By standing up against Iranian dissidents and supporting the Honduran dictator, I can say that President Obama does not care for freedom and that makes it easier for him to disregard all that is good in this country and try to destroy everything that has made the United States so wonderful, so prosperous, and I could go on and on, but also so free.

I remember those protesters in Iran, who risked their lives, for something that Americans take advantage too often, but freedom should never be taken for granted. We should never bow down to dictators or tyrants or people who abuse its own people because then what the United States stands for, freedom and liberty, is lost. I wish those people who just wanted an honest, free, and fair election the best, at least those that are still around and not locked up or killed. They fought for freedom and unfortunately, they lost. And the United States loses too every time our president does not stand up for freedom and we did lose too, not like the Iranians, but we did, thanks to President Obama.

Tags: Iran  
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It's a Shame that Rubio is Losing, But I will Not Give in and will Continue to Support Rubio

Election 2010: Florida GOP Senate Primary
2010 Florida GOP Primary: Crist 53%, Rubio 31%

Conservative Republicans in Florida may be rumbling about Charlie Crist’s run for the U.S. Senate, but so far the governor is well ahead of his chief 2010 GOP Primary challenger.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Sunshine State shows Crist leading former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio by 22 points among likely Republican Primary voters – 53% to 31%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and 11% are undecided.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/florida/election_2010_florida_gop_senate_primary
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I Have an Idea: Let's Force Them to Continue with the Program or Threaten to Fire the Dealership Owners

NY dealers pull out of clunkers program
Tags: Bailout  
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It's a Pretty Bold Claim, But it Would Not Surprise Me At All

Israel says UN covering up Iran's nuclear arms drive
Israel is accusing the UN nuclear weapons watchdog of holding back incriminating evidence of Iran's drive to obtain nuclear weapons, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday.

It cited unnamed Israeli officials as saying the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was refraining from publishing data obtained in recent months that indicates Iran is pursing information about weaponisation efforts and a military nuclear programme.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.40d68219c5c73123c3b3b6ae91c0b1c5.421&show_article=1
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Democrat Party Not in Favor with the American People

Democratic Party ratings plummet

By ANDY BARR | 8/19/09 2:10 PM EDT

The percentage of Americans who hold a favorable view of the Democratic Party has slipped below 50 percent for the first time since President Barack Obama took office, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.

Only 49 percent of Americans now hold a favorable view of the Democratic Party, down from 62 percent in the same poll shortly after Obama assumed office. Democratic favorable ratings hovered around 60 percent as recently as April, when 59 percent of those polled held a favorable view.

The national survey of 2,010 adults conducted Aug. 11-17 also found that 51 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance with 37 percent disapproving. Independents split 45 percent-43 percent in approving of the president’s performance.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26262.html
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