Does freedom of the press still mean something?

I just saw the movie “The Post” about the lead-up to and subsequent publishing of the “Pentagon Papers” by the New York Times & the Washington Post. While I found it moving and a triumph of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press, it also displayed what a difference 47 years make, in the political climate of this country.

Richard Nixon’s Justice Department sought and got a restraining order against the New York Times after its first release of a story based on those leaked documents. Almost immediately Daniel Ellsberg gave the Washington Post copies of all the documents he had obtained. The publisher and editor were both in danger of being held in contempt and possibly prosecuted under the espionage act, if they moved forward with publication of those documents, even though they were not named in the restraining order. They felt the public had a right to know, and boldly published the first round of stories based on the contents of over 4,000 pages of documents they had received. The New York Times quickly appealed the restraining order to the Supreme Court and along with lawyers from the Post, convinced the SCOTUS to rule 6/3 in favor of the First Amendment.

In the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right’s of The New York Times and The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Papers, Justice Black said…

“In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” (Emphasis mine) this quote was used in the movie; however the full paragraph went on to say…

The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.” (Emphasis mine)

Now we fast forward to these past 9 years, we now have a press that is so biased to the left-wing, that the Obama Administration literally committed murder and countless other unlawful acts, with nary a peep from the press, and what they did report was designed as much to protect Obama and his administration, as it was to deceive the public. The freedoms that were so well preserved in 1971 are but a travesty today, where the covering up of corruption on the part of Democrats, and the tearing down of the sitting Republican President and his administration are job one.

Journalistic ethics are a thing of the past, any lie or innuendo that can tarnish the President is printed instantly, without the slightest effort to validate the facts of the story. When caught publishing outright lies or innuendo, any retraction is buried on the back page if it is retracted at all.

It seems to me that we are fast approaching a turning point in our history, where if we the people do not make a stand to force our government and the press itself to uphold the values this country was founded upon and report the facts of the news, and not their ideological editorials as though they were news. Our republic is in grave danger, for no country can stand if the press itself is complacent in the overthrow of the government from within by members of one party over another.

Another Shot at Blogging.

On March 17th, 2012 I created this blog as a place to share my thoughts primarily on the Obama residency, (no I didn’t for get that P). After little more than 6 months and 28 posts later I wrote what was until now my last post on October 3rd, I guess as the election approached and then passed, I had become burnt out on everything and more than just a bit disappointed at Obama’s reelection. Now here I am five and a third years latter and I find myself with a lot of thoughts about the current political climate in this country and feel that Facebook posts are not the best way to put these thoughts to paper so to speak, so I am going to dust off the old blog page and make another run at writing my thoughts here.

Stay tuned as I have one in work, that started as a Facebook Post, but will end up here instead. I will post links to this blog on my Facebook Page as I publish them.

Look out Charlotte, The Democrats Are coming.

I’m waiting with almost breathless anticipation for the Democratic Convention this week. This should be more fun than watching a hypnotist show at the county fair. We watch as all those poor people up on stage will mindlessly do whatever Obama… uhm… I mean the hypnotist tells them to do, while we who are not under his control laugh at those poor souls who are. Up there doing dumb stuff that they wouldn’t dream of, if they were in their right mind.

A great example of how the Democrats play mind games with their minions is how the location of their convention is described in internal memos, and the news media etc. They all refer to it as “Panther Stadium”  in obvious reference to the Carolina Panthers football team. But that’s not the name of the stadium. The stadium’s name is Bank of America Stadium, so why do they avoid using it’s real name? I suspect that after Obama and many liberals openly supported the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which blames all of our national ills on big banks, and corporations, therefore they obviously don’t want to publicize any connection to a evil big corporation. Not only a corporation that put it’s on the stadium, but all the currently annonomus corporations who are pouring millions into supporting the convention. Those donors’ names will not be released until October, I’m sure the reason is so they do not to spook the heard.

The convention should prove quite entertaining for several reasons, for instance Derek Hunter writing for Townhall.com said this in a recent article “The party of “Keep Your Laws Off My Body” will celebrate government takeover of health care. The party of “Keep Your Laws Out Of My Bedroom” will cheer government mandating contraception. The party of “We Are Our Brother’s Keeper” will re-nominate a multi-millionaire who has not sent his dirt-poor brother one penny to help with his own nephew’s medical bills. They will do all of this without any sense of irony or shame at their hypocrisy.” [Emphasis mine]

While the liberal press was almost gleeful that hurricane Isaac might hit Tampa and wipeout the convention, we must not forget those tolerant Hollywood liberals called for the death of conservatives [Here & here], it appears an almost karmic turn around that a heavy rain storm hit Charlotte, NC on Saturday and damaged a sand sculpture of Obama that had been created for the convention. The winds and rain were so strong from the right side of the sculpture, that is washed away much of that side. Well, Obama doesn’t have a right side anyway, so I find that rather apropos.

I am looking forward to watching this circus for all the combined stupidity that I have no doubt will be on full display. Believe me, if you miss it, I’ll be sure to fill you in here next week. Let all watch as I have no doubt that after so much race baiting, and negative commentary by the mainstream media at the RNC convention in Tampa, they will all be on their very best behavior in Charlotte come Thursday.

More blatant media bias on CNN and Hypocrisy from the left

As if we needed any more evidence of the liberal bias of the mainstream media, one need only look at this recent CNN report on Sarah Palins’ recent visit to a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. In case you’ve been in a coma for the past month, Chick-Fil-A is under fire by the left for “Anti-Gay” remarks by it’s CEO. As for the bias, the CNN report on Palin is preceded by the song “Stupid Girls” by Pink, played I’m sure, in case you didn’t already dislike the conservative spokeswoman, such background music should help mold your opinion. I wonder what the chances are that their next report about Joe Biden will be accompanied by Keith Urban’s song “Stupid Boy”?  

You see the liberal media, the bleeding hearts who get all their information from them, and of course the gay rights types, are screaming about the anti-gay remarks made by the CEO of the successful restaurant chain. The hoopla is all centered on remarks made during a Fathers Day radio interview with Chick-Fil-A CEO, Dan Cathy. Mr. Cathy’s crime? He spoke out about traditional marriage.

The truth is, and you won’t get it from the MSM, is that Mr. Cathy didn’t say a single word about gay marriage, homosexuality or anything of the like, he simply stated the following…

“We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit,” he said. “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. … We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

But to hear it from the press, the gay rights types and their ilk, he was bashing gays and gay marriage. I think his biggest mistake was in believing that he lives in a country where he can share his beliefs and operate his company on biblical principles without becoming the object of hatred from the left. How foolish of him to believe that “tolerant liberals” would allow this diversion from their prescribed rules of behavior without a scene. Doesn’t he realize that liberals are only tolerant of others if you don’t disagree with them? For a crowd who loves to lecture the rest of us on tolerance, these hypocrites show none toward anyone who has the audacity to make statements that they disagree with.

For these leftists, freedom of speech and religion (or lack thereof) is only for them. To disagree with their views is to commit suicide by press, but I think Chick-Fil-A will get the last laugh. They couldn’t possibly afford the free advertising they are getting over this silly controversy, and in the end, I believe that the vast majority of Americans believe in the same values Mr. Cathy does.

Remember “Anyone but Obama in 2012!”

RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

Every time I think that the morons running the federal government couldn’t be any more stupid, they surprise me again. Thanks to the Obama Department of Homeland Security’s latest directives, when a border patrol agent is confronted by an armed aggressor in public, they are now being directed to “Run awayand hide or throw things at the gunman”. [Read more here]

 Are you kidding me? Throw things at some mutant with a gun? How many more casualties like Brian Terry will the Border Patrol rack up with a policy like this? It’s bad enough that Obama has surrounded himself with Radicals, Socialists, Communists, and Domestic Terrorists, to name but a few of his friends and advisors. But these morons are so PC and afraid of upsetting the flow of illegal voters from south of the border, that they are putting these agents at a serious disadvantage and further endanger the civilians that these agents should be able to protect.

 God knows that if I’m walking down the street somewhere and some drug smuggler opens up with an AK-47 I want those well-trained rock throwers close by to defend me and those around me. I’m surprised that the DHS doesn’t just direct the agents to turn in their weapons and save the taxpayers the cost of all that ammo. I mean why pay for guns & ammo if they can’t use them? Perhaps Ms. Napolitano would prefer these agents carry water pistols, and of course for those particularly dangerous incursions, they would be allowed a Super Soaker in the trunk of their vehicle. Hey… it makes as much sense as this latest directive.

 The seemingly unending string of moronic, despotic and unconstitutional crap that has sprung forth from the Obama administration this past three and a half years should convince any reasonable person to vote for “Anyone but Obama” this November. I saw a bumper sticker awhile back that should be widespread it said… “That Obama Sticker on your car should say… I’M STUPID!” I couldn’t agree more.

The Dictator Obama does it again!

Is anyone out there surprised? Obama has once more displayed his arrogance, and contempt for the constitution and the rule of law. Within hours of the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the core portion of the Arizona Immigration law allowing law enforcement to check the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants, Obama has once more decided that his administration is above the law and has announced that it will not enforce it!

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the Obama administration was “suspending a key program that allowed state and local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.” Of course this is not the first time Obama has taken this course, with every law or ruling that goes against his personal agenda, he simply ignores it, refuses to enforce it or as with his June 15^th executive order, makes law where none existed before, something even he has admitted that he lacks the constitutional authority to do!  [See him here] With his continued flagrant disregard for the Constitution that he swore an oath to “protect and defend” how can anyone even consider electing this wannabe dictator again?

The SCOTUS is scheduled to rule tomorrow on his signature bill commonly known as Obamacare, if as most suspect it will be at least gutted, and hopefully overturned completely, will he once again choose to circumvent the court and order the Department of Health and Human Services to push forward with implementation? My bet is yes he will, let’s watch and see.

Ready for more corrupt liberal duplicity and stupidity?

Well here goes… but first I want to expand on the comments in an earlier post (The Liberal Mind, is it Political Madness?), I want to say that in addition to not believing that all liberals are stupid or crazy, I also do not believe that everyone with a liberal viewpoint is evil, corrupt or wants to destroy America. In fact have a number of close family members and friends who are on the opposite side of the political fence from me. These are smart caring people, I just believe that they listen to too much of the biased main stream media and are thinking too much with their hearts.

One of those to whom I am very close, as well as love and respect highly (but will not identify) said during a recent conversation about  my study of the founding documents and the constitution , that it was as if these documents were “inspired”.

I was actually quite struck by the comment considering that this person staunchly supports Barack Obama and his administration. While I, on the other hand, agree with Ted Nugent who said recently that if people can’t see that this administration is, “wiping its a** with the Constitution you’re living under a rock some place”. Even now I’m a bit perplexed that someone could believe the Declaration and Constitution were inspired and yet support an administration that clearly has no regard for those principles.

There are countless liberals in positions of power, leadership and influence or who just have a loud mouth and a mouthpiece like Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin, that spout rhetoric which is completely devoid of any semblance of intellectual honesty, logic or reason, yet act as though they speak from some lofty moral high ground.

While liberals claim to be the party of tolerance, they typically display none, toward those who disagree with them. They cry out for civility and co-operation while being rude, crude or divisive and completely against compromise unless it’s giving in to their will. They claim to be all about fairness, equality, and helping the poor or disenfranchised, while their policies do little toward those goals, and most often have the opposite effect.

The latest example is enveloping rocker Ted Nugent who during a speech at the NRA convention two  weeks ago not only gave the earlier quote, but said that “if Barack Obama becomes the president in November, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Those on the left had a collective mental breakdown, and claimed that the statement is a threat of violence toward the resident.

I find this all quite laughable considering that no one over on the left was the least bit disturbed when in a campaign speech in June 2008 and again at a Philadelphia fundraiser in January 2011; Obama said “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Interesting rhetoric from a man who lectures on civil discourse, and doesn’t believe that free people should even be allowed to own guns.

DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who continues to proudly display her partisan stupidity in public statements, has also ripped into Nugent’s comment, saying, “Mitt Romney surrogate Ted Nugent made offensive comments about President Obama and November’s elections this weekend that are despicable, deplorable and completely beyond the pale.”

Wow, really? Can anyone reading his statement please show me anything in it that amounts to a threat or has any violent overtone? I’m sorry I just don’t see it, and by the way neither did the Secret Service who interviewed Nugent about the comment less than a week later. Remember, it is a Federal crime for anyone to threaten Obama.

Los Angeles Times editorial writer Jon Healey told Democrats to relax, that Nugent is just a rock ‘n’ roller. “Nugent is no more a surrogate for Romney than the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is for Obama,” Healy said, adding “Just because someone with a microphone urges people to vote for a candidate doesn’t make him or her a ‘surrogate’ for the campaign.” I wonder if the DNC Chairwoman has the brains to grasp that.

Nugent’s reply to Wasserman Schultz’s comment was simple, “By no stretch of the imagination did I threaten anyone’s life, or hint at violence or mayhem. Metaphors needn’t be explained to educated people.” In a radio interview on the Dana Loesch Show Nugent explained, “I’ve never in my life threatened anyone’s life. I am incapable of threatening anyone’s life because I’m about positive change.”  The liberals once more are attempting to make something controversial out of a comment made by a conservative voice with a following, larger than any on their side.

My interpretation of his comment was that he fears that as an outspoken critic of the Obama regime, that under an unrestrained second term, he might well be jailed as a domestic terrorist or be the victim of another of Obama’s “extrajudicial killings” like that of another U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki.

So who’s right, the typical divisive ranting from the left, or a more reasoned explanation like the one I just gave? Considering Nugent’s statement that he has never threatened anyone in his life, and the fact that the Secret Service walked away considering the case closed, I guess once more logic and reason win out over the stupid rantings from the loud mouths on the left.

Rob

The Tyrant in the White House

(This post was actually written a week ago, but I neglected to “Publish” it till now)

When will the people of America wake up and realize that Obama is leading us to the edge of a cliff and the gullible are following like lemmings ready to plunge off into the abyss of socialism? Their liberal hypocrisy is endless, and their desire to corrupt the very foundation of our once great nation is on a path to completion. We have a man in the White House who last October basically declared congress irrelevant when he said “We don’t have to wait for Congress, we’re just going to go ahead and act on our own,” while indicating that he planned to issue executive orders weekly for the remainder of the year. On average he did just that, issuing 9 Executive Orders between October 31 and December 19^th, 2011.  In addition he has issued 7 more so far this year. In the span of only five months he has continued to usurp more unconstitutional power, sixteen times.

On April 2^nd he likewise lashed out at the Supreme Court decrying that it is an “Unelected” body and chastising them for even considering the possibility that they might “overturn a duly constituted and passed law”.  So congress is irrelevant and the unelected Supreme Court shouldn’t even think about overturning unconstitutional laws, which he worked so hard to get passed. I ask you, what is left? As I see it we now have a totalitarian state with Barack Obama as its supreme commander. Who needs three independent branches of government when we have the omniscient and omnipotent Barack Obama to tell us how to live, how to think, and what to buy?

 Can you name another leader who has managed to get the national media to follow in lock step, fawn over him as a messiah and cover any attempt to question his legitimacy? Has any other leader had school children being indoctrinated to sing songs about him? How about one who has written an autobiography that is used like a bible to promote his life and thinking? I can think of one, and that the risk of being dismissed as a quack, it was Adolph Hitler. I don’t expect you to take my word for it, or accept my point of view, I want you to use your own ability for critical thinking and look at the facts for yourself. Simply Google “Hitler’s rise to power” and see for yourself.

Take an honest look at the highlights of Hitler’s rise to power, look at the things he promised the people of Germany to put him in power in the first place. Then compare that to what Obama is doing, including his complete disrespect, or dare I say hatred, of Israel. He has bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, (and others) while denigrating the right of Israel to make its own choices in dealing with its neighbors and its enemies. He barely veils his support of Islam and Arab countries, and his disdain of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. For instance, remember when Obama told Netanyahu he wanted him to redraw his borders to the pre-1967 lines, to give the (non-existent) Palestinians their own homeland?

 Can you imaging the leader of another country telling a U.S. President to redraw our borders to some historic line and give a piece of the U.S. to some made up group of people as their homeland? Once more Obama displays his audacity…  no arrogance, to believe that he has the right to tell another world leader what to do. This man is a tyrant and megalomaniac of the highest order, and anyone who believes he has done anything to deserve another term just isn’t paying attention.

 Rob

The Liberal Mind, is it Political Madness?

It is typical with liberals to keep certain things in the forefront so they have a cause to champion. As former Obama advisor Rahm Emanuel once said “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste“. Such crisis’ after all give liberals more opportunity to push their particular agendas. For instance, if some nut goes on a rampage and kills a bunch of people, or if someone of light skin kills someone with dark skin, then the liberals start screaming for more laws to control guns. This is despite all the evidence that murder rates fall when gun control laws are repealed and vise versa (See here). You see liberals have a cause, and statistics be damned, they won’t waste a good crisis opportunity to try to shove their mindless views down everyone else’s throats.

Although I have one of my favorite Ronald Reagan quotes at the top of these blog posts, I don’t believe that Ron was completely correct. While I do believe that a significant number of liberals are at least somewhat ignorant, the problem is that facts, are ignored or ridiculed and scientific data skewed to make political points without regard for the truth, and most liberals just mindlessly believe the crap the media spoon feeds them without question. A prominent psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Lyle Rossiter published a book titled, “The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness” and while I haven’t read it, I suspect that he may be on to something. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that all people with liberal beliefs are brain-damaged, mentally ill, or stupid. I am curious however, why so many leftists who hold political power are always trying to tear down our great country in the name of “Equality” and “Fairness”, and their followers fail to question it.

There is nothing fair about their methods or goals, and it sure as Hell isn’t about equality. Obama and his ilk want to play Robin Hood, to steal from those who have and give to those who don’t. It’s not that most of those folks aren’t capable of doing better for themselves, but rather they are too lazy to do otherwise when Obama will take care of them. Don’t believe for a moment that there is any anything noble about this either, he has a plan and it’s to buy votes from those lazy bums, and he’s doing it with your money. If you don’t believe that, you aren’t paying attention.

I can only imagine the shock on the left when documentary film maker Alexandra Pelosi, the daughter of ultra-liberal “Queen Nancy”, made a short film about the welfare bums in New York and aired it on Bill Maher’s TV show (see a clip here). While I may disagree with her politics, I admire the fact that she has the intellectual honesty to show the entitlement mentality that the liberals have fostered. “I’m here for the Obama bucks” one man said or when asked why he will vote for Obama another replies “because he’ll give me stuff”. Did you see any of this on the 6:00 O’clock news? I didn’t think so.

The latest figures from the IRS (for tax year 2009, released in Oct. 2011) show that the top 1 percent of tax payers accounted for 36.7 percent of all individual federal income taxes collected, while earning only 16.9 percent of the adjusted gross income (AGI). The rest of the top 5 percent paid an additional 22 percent, for a total of 58.7 percent of individual federal income taxes for by only 5 percent of earners. The top 25 percent of wage earners, (those who make over $66,000 per year) foot 87.3 percent of the tax burden, and the top 50 percent carry 97.7 percent. The bottom 50 percent of all wage earners account for only 2.3 percent of the total individual income tax revenue collected by the IRS. In 2009, about 47% of households, that’s about 71 million, did not pay any federal income tax at all.

Obama displays his Robin Hood mentality and a complete lack of  intellectual honesty when he claims that the rich are not paying their fair share, while nearly half of all households pay no income taxes at all. When the top one percent of earners pays over one-third of the total individual tax revenue collected, that’s unfair. It’s time we revise the moronic tax code in this country and have everyone pay a share.

I could go on and on here, but history is pretty clear that liberal policies result in a weak economy, higher dependency on government handouts, and an overall expansion of government bureaucracy, with its inherent degradation of freedom. Conservative and/or libertarian policies on the other hand, tend to result in lower taxes and smaller government which promote greater freedom and a bigger, healthier economy. I believe that’s good for everyone no matter their income level. It is also clear to me that our Federal government has become an oligarchical body with right and left arms, that work together to expand their own power at the expense of “We the people”. They also fail to hold one another accountable by refusing to prosecute unconstitutional acts or outright fraud against the rule of law.

November is coming, so let’s end the political madness in Washington D.C. and vote against every sitting incumbent Democrat, Republican, or whatever who hasn’t lived up their oath of office to “… to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic.” and believe me there are precious few who have. Ronald Reagan asked this in 1979 and I’m going to repeat it here until the elections in November…  Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?

Rob

War on women

Back on March 22nd I offered a post titled “The Unwavering Hypocrisy of the Left” where I pointed out how liberals point fingers and accuse those on the right of wrong doing while doing the same and often worse themselves. Here we are a mere three weeks later and another perfect example of this has blown up in the faces of the left. So much so, that even Obama is doing his best to distance himself from the controversy.

Those on the left criticized Sarah Palin for not being a stay at home mom, especially having a special needs child. After accepting the nomination as the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2008, Kim Gandy the then president of the National Organization for Women said “It would be best for everyone if Sarah Palin would just stay home and raise her kids,” Really, this from the president of NOW? Oh wait, Palin is a Republican woman, she doesn’t count where the ultra-liberal NOW is concerned.

Fast forward 4 years and we have Ann Romney who chose the opposite path, and is now out campaigning with and for her husband. Along comes a Democratic strategist by the name of Hilary Rosen to make an asinine statement like “Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life.” Hey, I’m no fan of Mitt Romney, and I know precious little about his wife, but once more I’m stunned by the hypocrisy here. I dare say that if you were to tell any stay at home mom that she never worked a day in her life you’d be setting yourself up for a bloody nose. Yet I hear no outcries from the left or NOW. Oh wait yes the current president of that illustrious organization has made a statement, Terry O’Neill said that Ann Romney lacks “life experience” and “imagination”.

As I said I don’t know much about Ann Romney, and I can’t speak to her imagination, but I would certainly believe that any woman who has raised five sons to adulthood, and been the First  Lady of Massachusetts for four years would have plenty of life experience. Is this woman really so self-righteous that she believes that she is qualified to make such statements about someone? Has this woman ever met Ann Romney or know anyone who does know her? The liberal mind never ceases to amaze me, I can only wonder if someone stuck a vacuum hose in their ear and sucked out all ability for reason, logic and intellectual honesty.  With the controversy surrounding the remarks by Hilary Rosen, if O’Neill had an ounce of any of those, she should have had sense enough to keep her mouth shut.

Finally we have Barack Obama who charges a “Republican war on women” because they balk at the idea of government subsidized contraception, while he seems to have is own war on women going on. According to the “2011 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff” issued by the White House [See additional article here] it turns out that Mr. Obama pays his female staff a median average of 18% less than his male staff. Demetrius Minor writing on townhall.com quotes Ann Sulivan of Time Magazine as saying the Obama administration is described as a “boy’s club” and suggested that the president has a woman problem. It is reported that senior women staffers are seen and not heard during policy meetings. I believe that the men are likely paid 18% too much, rather that the women being not paid enough. The way liberals are always screaming about the inequality of salaries between men and women, and Obama endlessly pointing fingers at Republicans, perhaps he needs to get is own house in order before he casts aspersions.

Rob