Today, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve the nomination of Eric Holder to the federal AGs post. His nomination now goes to the full U.S. Senate for a vote.
If you do nothing else today, read this column, then call your senator. Even if Mr. Holder is confirmed as the new attorney general of the United States, at least your opinion will be on the record."If the issue weren’t so serious for our nation, the irony would be delicious. Eric Holder, President Obama’s choice for Attorney General is justly criticized for many things. But the fact that he recommended that President Clinton pardon and release from prison unrepentant FALN terrorists while at nearly the same time advocating that law-abiding gun owners be imprisoned if their registration papers are not in order reveals a hard core left wing agenda."
That says it all right there. The contradiction boggles the mind. Read the entire column, written by the eminent jurist Stephen Halbrook.
Then pass it on to a friend.
First off let me say that I am all out in favor of streamlining government. Less is more, in my book. There is so much duplication in government today that if it existed in the private sector no one could make a profit. Layer upon layer of bureaucracy does no one any good.
In an order released today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police officers have leeway to frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so.
It is based on the suspicion that somone might be armed, because traffic stops "are inherantly dangerous." But what triggers "suspicion?" If it is totally up to the discretion of the LEO, what are the chances we are going to see an explosion in the number of "because I can" patdowns?"
In a related matter, the Court also released another opinion saying, essentially, the police get a free pass if they make an honest mistake. Huh . . . that's funny. We The People get no such free pass when we make an honest mistake, such as accidentally carrying a firearm into a so-called "gun free zone." Read it here.
Interesting decisions impact everyone in the U.S., whether they know it or not. Do these opinions unnerve anyone else?
Journalists covering a meeting of the Orange County, Calif. Board of Supervisors were aghast a few days ago when the sheriff blasted not just the Second Amendment, but disparaged firearms owners in general.
Further, in addition to taking on the Second Amendment, she proceeded to challenge the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well.
Here is a piece of a column from Steven Greenhut at the Orange County Register newspaper:
"I've been appalled at Sheriff Sandra Hutchens' hostility to the Second
Amendment, as she has tried to revoke the concealed-carry permits of law-abiding Orange County gun owners. But nothing prepared me for what happened at the Board of Supervisors meeting last Tuesday, when the sheriff displayed not only her hostility to gun rights, but her deep disdain for gun owners themselves and a clear disregard for open government and the First Amendment.
"Based on a rumor that gun-rights activists would show up to protest her policies by carrying unloaded guns in holsters, the sheriff sent more than 20 deputies to the public board meeting, where they searched, watched, followed and questioned those residents who showed up to speak out against the sheriff's new-and-not-so-improved plan to move up the expiration date of gun permits."
"The deputies targeted only those people who showed up wearing
pro-gun-rights buttons or who appeared to be part of that group. The department told me that "only" three subjects" (what an ironic term!) were searched or contacted, but I talked to CCW activists who said the number was higher. Many
felt intimidated and monitored.
"Regardless of the number of actual searches, the effect on the meeting was chilling. Sheriff Hutchens said she was upset after learning that deputies used the board room's security surveillance cameras – usually operated by security staff – to not only scan audience members but to focus in on and, in fact, spy on two supervisors' notes and one's BlackBerry-like device. She has started an internal affairs investigation into the matter. In a case of damage control, she contacted the two supervisors after someone submitted a public records act request for the surveillance tapes that showed this abuse of the security cameras.
"But she still defends what Supervisor Chris Norby calls the "1984-like" approach to security by pointing to instances in other communities where violence took place at government meetings and arguing that it's her job, in her words, to "balance" the security of the board room with First Amendment rights."
"If Gov. David Paterson thought announcing his choice to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate after nearly two months of deliberation would bring an end to the political strife, he was clearly mistaken. Even before the governor took the podium Friday to introduce little-known upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand as his pick, a Long Island congresswoman elected on a pledge to stem gun violence was telling reporters she would either challenge Gillibrand in the Democratic primary next year or find someone who would."
