Impeachment: The Next Chapter

Pardon Me?

Did the U.S. Senate Commit Treason by Passing NDAA?

"The US Senate accomplished the unthinkable–with the nearly unanimous passage of the National Defense Authorization Bill of 2012–they committed treason. Written and planned in secret by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the newly minted NDAA contains three sections which collectively sanctions indefinite detention of alleged terrorists or ‘terrorist sympathizers’–anywhere in the world including the US– and designates the military the duty to arrest, imprison and interrogate without benefit of counsel,’ accused civilians here on Main Street." From Jeanine Molloff via Silenced No More:
Read More

Now, here's what's relevant... YOU MAY ALREADY BE A TERRORIST! Here is the whole document from homeland security (this is a link to the document on their site).

The short list to see if you are a potential terrorist includes if you are a member of or associated with the following: the aboveground, alternative media, anarchist extremist, animal rights extremist, antiabortion extremists, anti-immigration extremist, anti-technology extremist, Aryan prison gang member, black block, black nationalist, black power, black separatists, Christian Identity - or "God's Chosen People", Cuban Independence, white power, Racial Nordic Mysticism (no, really) ... well, let's put it this way - if you joined the PTA or have ever looked at the internet, you might be already be labeled as a terrorist -- and if the Senate gets its way, you can go to jail, bypassing the Constitution, and be held indefinitely.

How's your day going?

Book now for your lake view spot at the lovely new internment camp.

House Members Score ‘Abnormal’ Stock Profits

You know how corporate executives are banned from trading stocks based on inside knowledge? Even Martha Steward went to jail for it. Well, it seems that there are some Democrats in Congress operate under no such restriction. In fact, I thought this was an Onion article at first - mostly because it's such a Duh.

An extensive study released Wednesday in the journal Business and Politics found that the investments of members of the House of Representatives outperformed those of the average investor by 55 basis points per month, or 6 percent annually, suggesting that lawmakers are taking advantage of inside information to fatten their stock portfolios.

…Despite the GOP’s reputation as the party of the rich, House Republicans fared worse than their Democratic colleagues when it comes to investing, according to the study. The Democratic subsample of lawmakers beat the market by 73 basis points per month, or 9 percent annually, versus 18 basis points per month, or 2 percent annually, for the Republican sample…

…Strict laws ban corporate executives from trading on their insider knowledge, but no restrictions exist for members of Congress. Lawmakers are permitted to keep their holdings and trade shares on the market, as well as vote on legislation that could affect their portfolio values…

It's the government that is the most powerful, unaccountable and monopolistic “corporation” of all. Which is why the Framers created the Constitution the way they did: to constrain government, not us.

Consider the Democrat swamp un-drained. Maybe it's not a bribe if some stock tip is just left on the desk? Oops I've misplaced some vital information somewhere? I'll look around for it in the other room. Let me know if you find it. On your desk. On top of all your papers there, Congressman.

Related: The Secret Garden (and Mansion) of Christopher Dodd

Illinois AG: Make List of Gun Owners Public

In a showdown over the privacy rights of gun owners, the Illinois State Police are refusing to release a list identifying all firearm permit holders in the state after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan determined that the information "must" be made public.

The dispute, which soon could come before a judge, has been building since last fall when a reporter for The Associated Press made a Freedom of Information Act request to the police for the names of cardholders as well as information about the weapons each permit holder is authorized to carry.

But the state police, who safeguard that information, resisted as lawmakers and others raised privacy concerns. Critics questioned what public interest it would serve to let neighbors look up each other's potential weapons cache -- further, they warned that publicizing the information could put both gun owners and those who don't own guns at risk.

If the state publishes a list of gun owners, Republican Rep. Ron Stephens said, "You are by design also publishing a list of everyone who doesn't" carry a firearm.
That could be comparable to publishing a list of everyone who has, or doesn't have, a car alarm or home-security system, at least in the eyes of those who want to keep the records private.

"My gun ownership is none of your business," Stephens, who is pushing a bill in the General Assembly to lock down that list, told FoxNews.com. "I don't know what Lisa Madigan doesn't understand about that, but obviously she's confused."
Madigan's office, though, issued a detailed legal opinion Tuesday explaining why the state police should release the registry to The Associated Press.

Assistant Public Access Counselor Matthew Rogina, citing federal court decisions as well as Illinois law, wrote in a letter to the state police attorney that disclosing the names "cannot be characterized as highly personal or objectionable." He wrote that there is a "public interest" in releasing the information, citing the example of an individual who may have become ineligible to carry.

"Therefore, even if disclosure of the names and expiration of the (Firearm Owner's Identification Card) card owners did constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, this fact is outweighed by the public interest that exists in ensuring the integrity of the (police) database," he wrote.

The police had argued that they should not have to release the records because of an exemption for "information that would endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel or any other person."

Madigan's office disagreed. It was the second time the office had rejected law enforcement's rationale for withholding the records.

In response, the police issued a brief statement saying the force "respectfully disagrees" with the opinion. It urged the public access counselor to issue a "binding opinion so that the issue may be resolved through the judicial process."

A spokeswoman in Madigan's office said the ball is still in the court of the state police, describing Rogina's opinion as a "detailed legal analysis" of the dispute.
But while the state police weigh their options, Stephens is trying to short-circuit the disagreement with legislation. Though he claims Illinois law already bars the police from making the gun permit registry public, he's pushing a bill that would clearly prohibit that information from being released except in connection with a criminal investigation.

Stephens' bill narrowly failed in committee on a 5-5 vote Wednesday, but under state law, the committee can reconsider it. Stephens said he'll bring it back for a do-over in the next couple weeks.

"This is an important issue about freedom. ... We will persist," Stephens said.
National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said his group would do "whatever we can" to stop the attorney general decision from being enforced.
"There's no reason for the names of law-abiding gun owners to be released to the general public," Arulanandam said.


Read more: Please comment.

I think today will be the day I get a lifetime membership in the NRA.

Gay Politics

Justice Department to Stop Defending Federal Law on Gay Marriage

President Obama, in a major legal policy shift, has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act - the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages - against lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional.... and bad for re-election campaigns.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday sent a letter to Congress to inform them that the Justice Department will now take the position in court that the Defense of
Marriage Act should be struck down as a violation of gay couples' rights to equal protection under the law.

"The President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law" a crucial provision of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, Mr. Holder wrote.

The part that was still barely legible under a pile of eraser junk were some doodles and a half sentence about how Mr. Obama would probably need the gay vote in the next election. There were some bullet points about how he hadn't fulfilled any of his campaign promises to the gay community, and he ought to throw this half hearted effort to make it look like he was doing something.

The final note was, we'll see if they buy that.

Healthcare Setback

I gotten around to mentioning that the first major wound has been administered to the ObamaCare legislation - but it's kind of interesting that someone agreed with me about the Commerce Clause in the Constitution - but also because they used it on the Republican provision.

Federal judge Henry Hudson declared in his 42-page opinion that the law’s requirement for most Americans to obtain health insurance was unconstitutional:

“Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal circuit court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market.”

To simplify this argument - Imagine Congress passed a law that required EVERY American to buy a gun. Soak that in for a moment.

Hudson also wrote that allowing Congress to exercise such authority “would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers.”

Full repeal by the Republicans would be a long, difficult fight - and no doubt, they're not up for that kind of challenge. This ruling gives them a boost of wind to that sail, should they accept the challenge. The individual mandate was the lynchpin upon which the entire health care law stood. It's what Hillary and John McCain campaigned on - and what the Insurance Companies demanded, and Obama caved into agreeing upon.

A significant portion of the funding was to come through the fines that were to be collected from those who fail to purchase insurance - enforced by the IRS. The rational behind requiring insurance companies to accept those with pre-existing conditions was predicated upon a requirement that all people are required to be insured, otherwise people will simply sign up for insurance once they get sick -- which I happen to believe as well. The old, I'll just call Allstate right after I rear-end the school bus argument.

So if the foundation of this legislation was built on a swamp - how soon 'til this whole thing just rots away or falls in on itself? How much collateral damage will be done first before the dust settles?

Click here to read Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's analysis.

Don't shoot the messenger

WIKILEAKS deserves protection, not threats and attacks.

Blasphemes presents a special Cut-n-Paste from Julian Assange. Why? Isn't he a traitor? I believe in free speech and fair trials. Mr. Assange has gotten neither. If we're going to try actual terrorists in New York for murder, give them Constitutional rights, and then let them go on nothing more than a 'conspiracy to commit murder' charge, the LEAST we can do is re-print Mr. Assange's editorial.

I mean, it's not like you're going to read it in an AMERICAN newspaper.

Take it away Mr. Assange....[source for cut'n'paste]

"IN 1958 a young Rupert Murdoh, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win."

His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.

I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.

These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia, was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.

WikiLeaks coined a new type of journalism: scientific journalism. We work with other media outlets to bring people the news, but also to prove it is true. Scientific journalism allows you to read a news story, then to click online to see the original document it is based on. That way you can judge for yourself: Is the story true? Did the journalist report it accurately?

Democratic societies need a strong media and WikiLeaks is part of that media. The media helps keep government honest. WikiLeaks has revealed some hard truths about the Iraq and Afghan wars, and broken stories about corporate corruption.

People have said I am anti-war: for the record, I am not. Sometimes nations need to go to war, and there are just wars. But there is nothing more wrong than a government lying to its people about those wars, then asking these same citizens to put their lives and their taxes on the line for those lies. If a war is justified, then tell the truth and the people will decide whether to support it.

If you have read any of the Afghan or Iraq war logs, any of the US embassy cables or any of the stories about the things WikiLeaks has reported, consider how important it is for all media to be able to report these things freely.

WikiLeaks is not the only publisher of the US embassy cables. Other media outlets, including Britain's The Guardian, The New York Times, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany have published the same redacted cables.

Yet it is WikiLeaks, as the co-ordinator of these other groups, that has copped the most vicious attacks and accusations from the US government and its acolytes. I have been accused of treason, even though I am an Australian, not a US, citizen. There have been dozens of serious calls in the US for me to be "taken out" by US special forces. Sarah Palin says I should be "hunted down like Osama bin Laden", a Republican bill sits before the US Senate seeking to have me declared a "transnational threat" and disposed of accordingly. An adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister's office has called on national television for me to be assassinated. An American blogger has called for my 20-year-old son, here in Australia, to be kidnapped and harmed for no other reason than to get at me.

And Australians should observe with no pride the disgraceful pandering to these sentiments by Julia Gillard and her government. The powers of the Australian government appear to be fully at the disposal of the US as to whether to cancel my Australian passport, or to spy on or harass WikiLeaks supporters. The Australian Attorney-General is doing everything he can to help a US investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and shipping them to the US.

Prime Minister Gillard and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have not had a word of criticism for the other media organisations. That is because The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel are old and large, while WikiLeaks is as yet young and small.

We are the underdogs. The Gillard government is trying to shoot the messenger because it doesn't want the truth revealed, including information about its own diplomatic and political dealings.

Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel? One might have thought an Australian prime minister would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality. The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.

Every time WikiLeaks publishes the truth about abuses committed by US agencies, Australian politicians chant a provably false chorus with the State Department: "You'll risk lives! National security! You'll endanger troops!" Then they say there is nothing of importance in what WikiLeaks publishes. It can't be both. Which is it?

It is neither. WikiLeaks has a four-year publishing history. During that time we have changed whole governments, but not a single person, as far as anyone is aware, has been harmed. But the US, with Australian government connivance, has killed thousands in the past few months alone.

US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure. The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan. NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn't find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published.

But our publications have been far from unimportant. The US diplomatic cables reveal some startling facts:

► The US asked its diplomats to steal personal human material and information from UN officials and human rights groups, including DNA, fingerprints, iris scans, credit card numbers, internet passwords and ID photos, in violation of international treaties. Presumably Australian UN diplomats may be targeted, too.

► King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asked the US to attack Iran.

► Officials in Jordan and Bahrain want Iran's nuclear program stopped by any means available.

► Britain's Iraq inquiry was fixed to protect "US interests".

► Sweden is a covert member of NATO and US intelligence sharing is kept from parliament.

► The US is playing hardball to get other countries to take freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Barack Obama agreed to meet the Slovenian President only if Slovenia took a prisoner. Our Pacific neighbour Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to accept detainees.

In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government". The swirling storm around WikiLeaks today reinforces the need to defend the right of all media to reveal the truth.

Julian Assange is the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.

So Here's The Deal...

It seems that anyone who is against having their three year old daughter or self to be either 1) photographed naked or 2) given an aggressive pat down by government agents - is to be considered a threat to the Patriot Act. And, anyone speaking out on the issue is a "moron." I actually read on the Facebook this morning...

"Prudes & paranoids exacerbate the stress of travel by getting in the way of angry people trying to see their families."

The response below was a pile of 'likes' and "ha ha... stupid people are stupid."

It seems it's all just a non issue anyway as the TSA has declared that 'Opt-Out Day' is a Bust. According to the TSA's "Blogger Bob," basically nobody is choosing to opt out of the advance screening at airports across the country despite "National Opt-Out Day". Some airports report zero opt-outs. So much for the uprising. [Blog.TSA.gov]

So it seems Americans are shouting,
"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death -- unless I have a plane to catch..."
~ Random American in line 2010.

Well, let me tell you why I'm jumping on this particular bandwagon. Yes, I know it's just playing into the hands of the fear mongers who want their buddies to get a government contract. I pointed that out earlier today... It's just that we're running dangerously low on "last" straws. If you look in-between some of those needles, you can probably count the straws that are left on one hand. The straw is what's left of the 'freedom' that the United States is not allowed to take away from you without due process.

We've already given up a lot of liberties with the Patriot Act. With the stroke of a pen, the Big Brother paranoid delusion got much more tangent and better funded. That's the day or two after the Towers Fell.

Prior to that, to anyone paying any attention, the government had already decided to trample their citizen's liberties and rights when they went to Ruby Ridge and attacked the Koresh Compound at Waco. Further liberties where whittled away after Timothy McVey and his unknown supporters responded to the government attacks on it's citizens with violence of their own. All that accomplished was an excuse for Mr. Clinton to sign both the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act [1994] and the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. There's also that nasty little "Three Strikes" provision sandwiched in there somewhere. The forth amendment was handcuffed to the radiator while the ATF looked for evidence - without a warrant, just good faith - found none, and the 4th had no recourse to complain. Haven't heard much about the 4th standing up for itself much lately after that.

Warrant-less wiretaps and cameras on every intersection came next. A nifty side benefit, those cameras can actually pay for themselves if you make a right turn on red. Seriously, next time you're at a stoplight in a major city look carefully at the hardware on the line. I was casually told by a fireman that most of Chicago intersections are streaming a video feed.

Then we had the shoe and Christmas panty bomber attempts - both of these fine human beings boarded internationally. Both were thwarted by their fellow passengers - our true last line of defense. Justification for the "porno-scanners" even though security screening missed them and also the original 9/11 attackers? You bet.

Never mind the no-board list. That's a computer terminal hooked up to make it look like we're safer. Oh and those Air Marshals? All 4,000 Air Marshalls make 4 arrests per year. Not 4 per Air Marshall, 4 total. That's roughly $200,000,000 per arrest. Good job, men. Oh, and guys, please don't leave loaded weapons or full clips on the planes.

In the meantime - since America has Bi-Polar Disorder - Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was acquitted Wednesday of all but one count of conspiracy-related charges in a landmark civilian trial involving the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in civilian court. One count. Well, because if the prosecution had used certain evidence against him - it would have violated his Fifth Amendment rights.

So, a non-citizen, who was convicted of conspiring to kill 248 people - and the bomb he conspired to set off that 'accidentally' killed 248 people - was given Constitutional rights, and murdered 248 people... er, no, conspired to -- While a three year old natural born citizen of the United States is flagged to either be photographed or molested because a computer flagged him as a threat to national security on a domestic flight to see his grandma?

A non-citizen terrorist was given Constitutional rights,
while citizens are losing theirs.

The bad guys have made their point, their attack, and they are winning. They are killing the West with 1000 cuts -- and even boasted exactly that point the other day in a press release! With a mere $4,200 dollars in three BOTCHED attacks, they are bankrupting the West while we run the Constitution in the shredder so that they'll love us.

"To bring down America we do not need to strike big, with the security phobia that is sweeping America, it is more feasible to stage smaller attacks that involve less players and less time to launch." Of the cargo attacks, the AP reports that the target was economic: "We knew that cargo planes are staffed by only a pilot and a co-pilot, so our objective was not to cause maximum casualties but to cause maximum losses to the American economy."

We're hemorrhaging our freedom. Our lifeblood. The Al Qaeda even called their new strategy "OPERATION HEMORRHAGE!"

But, hold on a tick - they're taking the credit for the Mortgage Crisis now? That's a little bold. It's not like they've got a Weather Dominator or - wait, maybe they'll take credit for Katrina too. Frankly, why are we afraid of these morons?

The bigger enemy is ourselves - and what we're allowing our government to take away from us, with nary a peep of discontent or displeasure.

If we don't pick a final straw and stand on it with all our might, we should just throw in the towel called Bill of Rights and just pay our taxes and die like we're supposed to.

Well Duuuuhhhh!

In the 'Breaking News' section - I just got this bulletin...

Top Corporations Helping U.S. Chamber of Commerce Influence Campaigns

OMG Stop the Presses!

Prudential Financial sent in a $2 million donation last year as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a national advertising campaign to weaken the historic rewrite of the nation's financial regulations.

Dow Chemical delivered $1.7 million to the chamber last year as the group took a leading role in aggressively fighting proposed new rules to tighten security requirements on chemical facilities. [the shock!]

And Goldman Sachs, Chevron Texaco, and Aegon, a multinational insurance company based in the Netherlands, donated more than $8 million in recent years to a chamber foundation seeking to limit the ability of trial lawyers to sue businesses. [the horror!]

The SCOTUS Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission put the final period to the end of the sentence on which power indeed runs the Democracy - nay - the business climate that is the North American sphere of influence once called the United States of America.

These large donations -- none of which were publicly disclosed by the chamber -- offer a glimpse of the chamber's money-raising efforts, which it has ramped up recently in an orchestrated campaign to become one of the most well-financed critics of the Obama administration and an influential player in this fall's Congressional elections. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't had their employees in Congress get rid of these 'transparency' rules of disclosure.

Okay - folks, here it is - there isn't a Democrat or Republican party. Okay. Really, get off your chairs. It's the Business Party. Has been for, oh, 200 some odd years now.

Let's stop pretending this is a news flash.

Double Standard in Gun Raid

Louisiana man gets five years for shooting two deputies during no-knock drug raid. He says he thought they were burglars, and actually called 911 during the raid.

“That’s something you have in Vietnam, not inside your house,’’ the judge told Henry. “We’re not in a war here. Seems like we are.’’

Your honor - it was the police that didn't follow the rules in the Constitution - not the accused.

Also, your honor - a Mosin Nagant isn't exactly a 'rare' weapon...

Constitution Test Failure

Christine O’Donnell ask where in the Constitution it says church should be kept separate from state. (@ 2:37.)

Either she really doesn’t know, which - you know - very bad, or she is quibbling over semantics (it doesn’t actually say “the separation of church and state”) because she doesn’t think church should be separate from state... which is much, much worse.

[tpmdc.]

Remember

For all of our problems, and our animosities toward each other in the USA, it should be remembered that we can organize and create amazing things, when motivated. We can build steel towers that defy wind and gravity by having the load bearing walls that stretch higher than any other tower on the planet. Two of them. And combined, contain more office space than all of downtown Miami in a two block radius on a small island in New York harbor. We, as Americans, can and have built massive structures such as the Hoover Dam, and interlocking Interstate Highway System and even put twelve men on the moon and brought them back. Those are examples of our government projects that work. Together, Americans can accomplish the impossible, or even the improbable. When they come together for common good, for our society, for our goofy consumer based, wasteful, capitalist lifestyle - Americans have done some amazing things.

There are others on the globe that hate us - some in other Western countries, and others in places that can only dream of our wealth, prosperity and waistlines. Whether it's because we flaunt it, are rude on vacation, or have carried out wars and assassinations to make sure we carry on. America has a bi-polar disease. We flaunt liberty and human rights while we have the largest prison population per capita than anyone else in the world. We expect human rights to not be ignored, but barely care when we hear our cheep toasters come from children working in deplorable conditions. And sure, the eight trips to Target in a week in the Lincoln MKX to pick up plastic bins that are on sale is silly and unsustainable. And we've done a lot of 'interesting' moves along the way to ensure the liberty of a lot of jack-asses. But that's our deal. We've done things to keep our silly lifestyle unmolested from foreign forces who would make us change our ways. But when you threaten us, we'll over react. Just ask Japan.

There are volumes of books about 9/11. How it happened, did it happen, who really did it... I'm not a conspiracy theory kind of guy. It was there, it was a symbol, and the bad guys wanted to send a message to America to cut it out. Twice. Once in February 26, the other on September 11th. They proved that they don't understand us, about as well as we don't understand them. Rather than getting into a geo-political discussion of the events leading up to and after 9/11... let's just remember that day. Remember everyone who died, and what you were doing, and how you felt when you saw the towers fall, and the walls of the Pentagon breached, and the smoldering crater in Pennsylvania.

I will. And when I see an airplane flying, I remember when I didn't see airplanes flying. As flawed as we are, I know I hit the lucky sperm club lottery to be who I am, where I am, when I am. I'm proud to be an American.

Don't Ask...

Read more ....

The full decision is here. Now, I think we can all assume that the Obama Administration will appeal, yes, appeal this ruling.

What, you say? Didn't he promise to do exactly the opposite on the campaign trail? Especially when checks were being written?

Well, if he doesn't it's just one more issue that will be used against the Democrats in the midterm elections, and one that they can't use the race card on.

Now when a judge says the following ....

.... the ban violated the first amendment rights of homosexuals and harmed the effectiveness of the armed forces

Who is he to pass judgment that the ban harms the effectiveness of the armed forces? Sorry .... but this ruling smells more political than legal. And does this judge even have the ability to force a judgment upon the military? Probably not - and I'm assuming a JAG office will chime in on the comments...

BUT it does offer a crack in the armor - a roadmap to HOW to effectively fight the ban.

Soldiers Punished for Not Attending Christian Concert

Being marched off to a 'concert' for Spiritual Fitness is not only infuriating, unfair, it's also Un Constitutional. At what point were the soldiers rights not violated, exactly?

If the event were held off post, and promoted as something to do in downtime - that's one thing. This was not 'voluntary.'

Religious concerts should not be sponsored by the military or any government agency. Having such concerts on post is a form of sponsorship of religion -- and that's exactly what our troops are supposed to be fighting against.

Sounds more like the Salvation Army than the US Army.

Original Article

The Week In Review - Sunday Comics

We made it through another week. I'm not quite sure how. Anyhow, here's where we wrap up crap we covered, and stuff we didn't get to with some cartoons.

First off, China's GDP just beat out Japan. Welcome to #2, China, how did you do it? Was it your complete disregard to the environment, human rights, or...
Mr. Obama stepped in the WTC/Mosque-it's-a-local-issue-but-it's-not-and-it's a prayer-center-troll-bait-not-a-mosque debate. At least he was clear, and stuck with his original statement.
Or, another way to look at it, Mr. Obama became John Kerry for the issue.

Wrangle continues to plague the Democrats... but compared to some other Democrats, he's a rank Amateur. And he's had 40 years of practice!

Oh, it's not all Charlie's fault.
Meantime, the oil spill is over - except for the invisible layer that's being detected. How does that work, again?
But that's nothing compared to Fredie and Franny...
Why cap it now?

WikiLeaks Founder was found to be vulnerable to an attack, Farvre DID come back to the Vikings - this week, Blago went down for lying, and so did Roger Clemens. Pakistan continues to tread water as 2 million people and 1/5 of the country is underwater, and still - no one seems to care.

See you next week

The Constitution is NOT an Ala Carte Menu

This isn't a pick and choose, people. It's not the Bible.

Why does it seem that Democrats love the first amendment, but hate the second?

The Republicans are trying to get rid of the 14th, love the second and the tenth, but are treating the first and fifth as optional.

It's a package deal. All or nothing, gang. It's only a buck oh' five.

Jefferson Takes Out Christ

According to someone who read his biography, Thomas Jefferson kept religion OUT of the Constitution:

"Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it should read ‘a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion.’ The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Muslim], the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination."

~ Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826), third president of the United States, author of the Declaration of Independence, referring to the Virginia Statute For Religious Freedom, which became law on January 16, 1786. [Autobiography, 1821. ME 1:67]

How do you know your stance on immigration reform has gone too far? When Lou Dobbs says 'whoa.'

So the Senate Republicans have been urging repeal of the 14th Amendment as a means of denying citizenship to the children of immigrants. That's harsh. Well, guess who agrees that's too harsh? The king, Lou Dobbs.

Dobbs defended the constitutional amendment which provides birthright citizenship

"The idea that anchor babies somehow require changing the 14th Amendment, I part ways with the Senators on that because I believe the 14th Amendment, particularly in its due process and equal protection clauses, is so important," Dobbs said. "It lays the foundation for the entire Bill of Rights being applied to the states."

So if hard core Mr. Anti-Immigration-Dobbs opposes the GOP push to repeal the 14th Amendment, surely the GOP will see how nuts they are, right? Right? Hello?

Top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says not so fast. "The Constitution is not as clear as it first appears," Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) told reporters Tuesday. "I continue to hear good Americans explain to me they think it makes no sense." Wut?

Sessions said "we definitely should look at" repealing birthright citizenship, and "I think hearings is a good way to do it." Yeah. Hearings. That'll solve this non-issue that they pulled out of their asses.

Well, look on the bright side... uh, I guess now no one will be qualified to be President? And they apparently don't want anyone to vote Republican anymore!

Look, it's nothing more than pandering to out of work white collar workers who think illegal aliens are taking their jobs -- to play this out to it's illogical conclusion it would take another constitutional amendment, which will require 3/4 of the states to vote for ratification to be adopted. You won't get 38 states voting to ratify a repeal or modification of the 14th amendment. Not even on the craziest day of the insanity fest they're having over there.

George Carlin FTW: FFC Says Curseword Crackdown Unconstitutional

WNYW/Ch. 5 anchor Ernie Anastos is caught on live television saying
"Keep f---ing that chicken" to weatherman Nick Gregory.

An appeals court ruling Tuesday declared the Federal Communications Commission's indecency rule unconstitutional.

The ruling, with provocative implications for evening TV. There's a chance this might loosen the tongues of pent up curse words the likes not seen since Howard Stern went from terrestrial radio to Satellite.

"The court says that dropping the F-bomb on prime time TV in front of kids is okay," said Dan Isepp of the Parents Television Council. "The door has been kicked down."

The group sided with the FCC and against six television stations, including FOX, ABC and CBS.

"I am shocked by such an anti-family decision," said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. "This decision gives them the unfettered ability to air whatever content they want."

Nothing would change for at least 45 days as the FCC decides whether to appeal and - if the Supreme Court takes it up - until the case is ultimately decided.

The ruling only applies to broadcast TV in prime time and not to cable television.

If it stands, the decision would end the policy of fining broadcasters for foul language put in place after Bono used the F-word on the January 2003 NBC broadcast of the Golden Globes Awards.

"The FCC's indecency policy is unconstitutional because it is impermissibly vague," the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 32-page decision.

The ruling touched on everything from George Carlin's famous "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" to foul words by Nicole Richie on a Billboard Music Awards show - one of several cases that led to the decision. The decision was filled with words routinely bleeped out on television, from bulls--- to d---head.

Holy Shit.

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