Massachusetts legislatures today voted against putting a gay marriage ban amendment on the ballet in ’08. The bigger issue here to me is the way that the legislature with help from the governor, Deval Patrick, have shown complete disdain for the state constitution.
A group was able to gather 140,000 signatures in favor of the amendment, this should have been more than enough to have the issue go to the voters. At first it looked as though this would happen, however the governor started applying immense pressure and even bribed members with the promise of government hack jobs in return for their votes, and in some cases to have the legislators accept the jobs and step down before the vote. This group did everything according to the state constitution to have an amendment voted on and the legislators turned their backs on the constitution.
You can read more about that here, and here.
Governor Patrick was able to successfully delay the vote until he was able to get the vote he wanted. He was quoted as saying he wanted the vote to go the right way. In other words, to hell with what the people wanted, it only mattered what he wanted. Why even have a vote if the fix is in?
Regardless of which side of the issue you are on you should be afraid at the way the state constitution was ripped up and thrown away, Next time you may be on the other side of the issue when the constitution was diregarded in such a bold and self righteous way.
As I first reported here, the Democrats are hiding their earmarks in bills until it is too late for Republicans to vote against them. This hardly seems like a party who is keeping their campaign promise to reign in excessive earmark spending. It seems as though now they are in power the temptation is too great.
Now the Republicans are trying to turn the table on them and force them to slow down the earmark spending. Read more…
Happy Flag Day
From the New Hampshire Union Leader:
IT WAS 230 years ago today that the Contintental Congress approved the design — “thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white in a blue field, representing the new constellation” — that would become possibly the most recognizable symbol in the world.
She flies today with 50 five-pointed stars (Congress called for six-pointed stars, but either George Washington or Betsy Ross, no one is sure, changed the order to five-pointed ones) and her image can instantly ignite the passions of people anywhere on the globe.
She has come to stand for liberty, justice, equality before the law, and representative government run by and for the people. Some who misunderstand her symbolism have taken other meanings from her bold, proud colors. But we Americans know that she represents the ideals to which we as a nation have always aspired, even if we sometimes fail to achieve them.
Fly her high, and fly her proudly. Wear her, as so many Americans do, on your T-shirt or ball cap, purse or bumper. She is the great banner of our great nation, and after more than two and a quarter centuries she continues to represent what is best in all of us.
It appears as though the government has taken the next step in the Browns stand-off with federal marshals.
The federal government is attempting to make everyday life for convicted tax evaders Ed and Elaine Brown so uncomfortable they will surrender and begin serving their 63-month federal prison sentence.
Stephen Monier, the U.S. marshal in New Hampshire, today said the government has severed the Browns’ telephone service, Internet access and power to their hilltop home in Plainfield.
However, the Browns are not alone as many other tax protesters have come to be with them, providing them with supplies and weapons. Some declaring they are ready to fight. Plus, the Browns have been preparing for this day for a long time.
He acknowledged, however, that other people are supplying the Browns with laptop computers, providing them with other internet access. Ed Brown also built his home with solar panels and windmills for power and also has backup generators.
The Browns have also fortified their house and built a watchtower in preparation for this day.
Still the government claims they are not planning an attack
But, Monier said, patience is a virtue and the federal government is prepared to wait out the Browns.
“We have no intention of assaulting the house,” he said again today. “We are committed to end this peacefully.”
Ed Brown maintains that last week the government was ready to storm his house and take them out one way or the other.
Last Thursday, dozens of heavily armed federal agents and state troopers, including SWAT teams and military and explosives vehicles, converged on Plainfield. Agents had a court order to enter the West Lebanon building housing Elaine Brown’s dental practice.
That morning, a man walking the Browns’ dog inadvertently came upon a surveillance team of federal agents in camouflage in the woods at the end of the couple’s driveway. He was taken into custody, questioned at length and released hours later uncharged.
Ed Brown said he is convinced the federal agents were going to storm his home that day but Monier denies that.
So the standoff continues and I still have the feeling this is going to end badly.
‘Green’ Energy is a Major Polluter
We have been told that we have to go green in order to save the planet from certain destruction, now it appears green energy doesn’t neccessarily equal clean energy.
Call it green pollution. The ethanol industry, which is marketed as environmentally friendly and has been called a “cornerstone of America’s energy policy,” is dirtying air and water supplies across the heartland, according to a Cybercast News Service investigation.
And industry watchers said pollution is going to get worse.
But it makes us feel good so it has to be good, right?
“There seems to be this mad rush toward expansion of the alternative fuels industry without sufficient due diligence,” said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA).
Without due dilgence? I keep reading and hearing on the news that the science is settled. I hear it’s a MORAL obligation to cut down on greenhouse gasses, how can it be that the alternative is just as bad as the present?
analysis of EPA records found 73 biorefineries – more than 60 percent of those operating – were cited by state or federal agencies for environmental violations in the last three years. The vast majority involve state or federal clean air laws.
“They’ve brought the enforcement actions against a number of ethanol companies and refineries for essentially sidestepping the law,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of the non-partisan Clean Air Watch. “Ethanol refineries have the potential to pollute quite a bit.”
Most of the companies have not been fined by state or federal government agencies, though some of the biggest ownership groups have been forced to pay millions for cleanup and anti-pollution devices.
“Ethanol has been dramatically oversold as a green energy source,” said O’Donnell.
It seems as though since the parental notification law will be repealed by Governor Lynch it has opened the door for liberal teachers and councilors to use this to push their agenda. For those of you not familiar with New Hampshire, a law will soon be repealed by governor John Lynch that required a parent be notified if their underage daughter was going to have an abortion. A minor can’t have any medical procedure done, including x-rays, without a parent giving the okay, but they will be able to make a serious decision like abortion on their own.
So anyway, a group called STAY, who have a program for at-risk middle school students seem to have decided that since a minor can sneak behind their parents back and have an abortion that they would have to show them how and where to get one if the parents aren’t there to give them a ride. They took MIDDLE SCHOOL students on a field trip to an abortion center.
You can read about it here.
I hope governor Lynch is proud of the way he is eroding family values in New Hampshire.
You can read about it here.
Rezko contributed thousands of dollars and raised thousands more as Obama ran for the Illinois legislature, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. He even was involved in Obama’s purchase of a family home.
Now Rezko faces federal charges as the central figure in an Illinois corruption scandal.
Of course Obama is running from this.
Obama whose Democratic presidential campaign emphasizes a squeaky-clean image is scrambling to distance himself from his old supporter.
“The senator and Rezko have not spoken for quite some time,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said yesterday.
RIIIIIGHT!!!!! He hasn’t talked to someone who did this kind of favor for him:
Obama bought a house and lot. Rezko’s wife bought an undeveloped property next door. The two parcels had once been a single tract of land.
Obama paid $1.65 million for the house and lot while Rezko paid $625,000 for the undeveloped lot. Six months later, Rezko sold a strip of his property to Obama, who wanted to increase the size of his side yard. Obama paid Rezko $104,500, which he says was the market rate.
While Obama has said that the transaction was handled ethically, he has conceded the perception of favor-trading it created was a “boneheaded” mistake.
Just wait until the Clinton war room gets hold of this, watch out Obama. It’s just too bad the mainstream media doesn’t find this a noteworthy story. I wonder why that is?
I heard this on Rush today and just had to post it here. This is so unbelievable it’s actually funny this man can possibly have any credibility.
Gun control is likely to be a high priority in the next administration, especially if a Democrat is elected. We have already heard the rumblings since the shootings at Virginia Tech.
However now there is talk that the second amendment should be repealed, not just controlled.
This quote is from Benjamin Wittes, a guest scholar at the center-left Brookings Institution
Wittes, who said he has “no particular enthusiasm for the idea of a gun culture,” said that rather than try to limit gun ownership through regulation that potentially violates the Second Amendment, opponents of gun ownership should set their sights on repealing the amendment altogether.
“Rather than debating the meaning of the Second Amendment, I think the appropriate debate is whether we want a Second Amendment,” Wittes said.
While the idea of repealing the second amendment is absurd, at least this person has a couple of points correct here. His point that controlling guns is unconstitutional is of course correct, but what he also has right is the fact if you want to control guns the proper way to do it is to repeal the second amendment. This is ,of course,is ridiculous but at least he would be going about it the proper way. However, one of the reasons the founding fathers gave us the right to keep and bear arms so that we would be able to revolt against the type of government that would apply such restrictions.
Benjamin Wittes does ackknowledge this point.
“One of the things that they believed was that the right of states to organize militias, and therefore individuals to be armed, was necessary to protect the liberty of those states against the federal government,” Wittes said.
Although he then said.
“This is something we don’t really believe as a society anymore.”
Just remember this when you walk into the voting booth.
Stop Eating Meat to stop Global Warming
Now the vegetarians are jumping on the global warming bandwagon.
A leaked e-mail message has led to speculation that the British government plans to promote vegetarianism as part of a broader strategy to fight climate change.
In a message sent earlier this year to a vegetarian lobbying group, the Environment Agency — a statutory body set up under a 1995 law — said it was considering ways to deal with global warming, one of which was to encourage people to eat less meat.
Cattle produce too much co2, and they are being raised for our consumption, therefore if we stop eating meat we can stop global warming. This is simply a case of an agenda being spread by jumping on the hot topic of the day and spinning it to fit their views.
In recent years, vegetarian groups around the world have increasingly turned to the issue of climate change to promote their cause, warning that raising livestock produces large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane – “greenhouse gases” blamed for global warming.
Whatever it takes to push the agenda. Besides the new environmental taxes that are sure to come, our lives are going to become drastically more regulated. We need to stop this before every aspect of our lives are either regulated or taxed.
But the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that meat and diary products are essential for a balanced diet.
“To suggest that people eating less meat and dairy products will have a significant impact on the fight against global warming seems rather dubious,” said NFU spokesman Anthony Gibson.
Thank you Anthony. I can’t believe something as absurd as this will actually be taken seriously but the way it works it will be hammered into our children until they know no other truth.
THIS ABSUDITY MUST STOP
