Memorial Day 2009

Veterans: Thank your for your service and sacrifice!

Pelosi's Medicine

This is really unbelievable. From the Politico article Dems: CIA briefers may have broken law we find these paragraphs:

Reyers and other Democrats currently on the committee told reporters Thursday that the GOP is waging a politically motivated attack on the speaker — and that she has received an unfair ride in the press.

The Democrats are complaining about politically motivated attacks and an unfair press? Are you kidding me?! Have they been on this planet for the last 8 years?!

The CIA and Porter Gross both contradict Pelosi's many changing statements, but suddenly it's a witch hunt and the CIA is lying.

"I tell you who you need to get — that's Hoekstra, who is running for governor
with irresponsible undertakings, and you tell him I said so," said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), referring to Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the committee and a leading Pelosi critic.

Alcee Hastings gives the motivations of the Dems away when he tries to tell the media to "get" a Republican. That is what they are trying to do with these investigations into so-called "torture" - get Republicans and former Bush officials. This is all nasty political payback that threatens our national security and that's ok in the name of getting Republicans, but now that it's in the process of dragging down the Speaker, it's out of bounds.

Sounds like the Democrats don't like the taste of their own medicine. Perhaps they shouldn't be so quick to prescribe it.

What does empathy have to do with the Supreme Court?

I'm not that upset about Justice Souter retiring - it doesn't change the Supreme Court, just replacing one liberal for another. But I do want to talk about the ridiculousness of what Obama says he is looking for in a justice.

During the campaign, he said:

"We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old—and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges."

Well, first of all, all the justices are old, so they can all understand that. Justice Clarence Thomas KNOWS what it's like to be poor and African-American - but that doesn't count to Obama, it has to be a liberal without first hand experience who feels enough guilt to empathize with the perceived weaker side and rule in their favor no matter the circumstances. To him, empathy is more important than truth, heart over head.

Speaking of Justice Thomas, Obama has pretty much called him stupid:

"I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the constitution. I would not have nominated Justice Scalia though I don't think there is any doubt about his intellectual brilliance. Because he and I just disagree."

(Of course it's only racist to question the intellect and qualifications of a black person if they're liberal, black conservatives are fair game for the worst racial taunts imaginable.)

When officially announcing the retirement of Souter, Obama again spoke of empathy:

I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving as just decisions and outcomes. I will seek somebody who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limits of the judicial role. I will seek somebody who shares my respect for constitutional values on which this nation was founded and who brings a thoughtful understanding of how to apply them in our time.

Empathy has nothing to do with justice. You can empathize with someone all day long but they could still be wrong. Judges are supposed to be dispassionate and objective; empathy is all about emotions and subjectivity. I don't believe Obama in his second sentence where he pays lip service to the rule of law and constitutional traditions - his view of those are far different from the rest of the country.

I think the last sentence is telling; he seems to be saying, "I respect the constitutional values this country was founded on, but they need to be updated and I need someone to think of creative ways to do this." One example of a potential Obama update on our constitutional values would be to say, "the 2nd Amendment was great in the 17th century when people hunted for food or needed protection on the frontier, but today guns kill too many people and we need to control them."

Another Obama criteria is that the justice has to be as militantly pro-abortion as he is. I don't need to get into this except to say, maybe more empathy wouldn't be so bad:

Dr. Obama's prescription for swine flu

Obama on swine flu:

Keep your hands washed. Cover your mouth when you cough ... Stay home from work if you are sick. Keep your children home from school if they are sick.

Isn't this kinda like his "solution" to our oil problem?

Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups.

What an inspirational leader!