Rights.comIndividual rights and today’s issues.

Alito, the Supreme Court, the Law and sympathy

In the firefighters case (Ricci vs DeStefano) decided in the U.S. Supreme Court June 29, 2009, Justice Alito addresses “sympathy:”

“The dissent grants that petitioners’ situation is “unfortunate” that they “understandably attract this Court’s sympathy.” Post, at 1, 39. But “sympathy” is not what petitioners have a right to demand. What they have a right to demand is evenhanded enforcement of the law—of Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on race. And that is what, until today’s decision, has been denied them.”

Sotomayor the sexist, racist bigot (cartoon)

Sotomayor - Sexist, Racist, Justice?

Rep. Michele Bachmann refuses to fill out most of census

I know for my family the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.  Rep. Michele Bachmann, June 17, 2009

Shelly Lowe, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Mrs. Bachmann is “misreading” the law. She quoted part of the U.S. legal code that says anyone over 18 years of age who refuses to answer “any of the questions” on the census can be fined up to $5,000.  It is interesting how Shelly Lowe changes  what Rep. Bachmann says, ignoring the reference to the Constitution.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. [modified by the 14th Amendment, section 2.] The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five and Georgia three.

Now if you actually read the Constitution it discusses an Enumeration, nothing more.  Given the nature of the United States Constitution, it is one of enumerated powers.  Powers not listed are not granted.  Would the Supreme Court agree?  Given the history of legislating from the bench since the 1930s, who knows, but the so-called Justices who choose not to are exposed as the power-hungry people that they are.

The US Code  states you can be fined for no answering questions, see below for the exact specifications.  Many would argue, including Rep. Bachmann, that you have to answer the question regarding numbers of people in your household, but that the Constitution requires nothing more.  Shelly Lowe believes otherwise and that the US Code can trump the Constitution.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, no person shall be compelled to disclose information relative to his religious beliefs or to membership in a religious body.

Since when can you get out of huge national debt by creating trillions of dollars of new debt

Since when can you get out of huge national debt by creating trillions of dollars of new debt?  It all really is so backwards and skewed as to sound like absolute nonsense when some of this economic policy is explained.  [And the government is going to] bail out debt ridden states  [so it can] get in there and control the people.  Sarah Palin, June 4, 2009

[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/06/04/palin_government_wants_to_control_the_people.html]

Giant Sucking Sound of money leaving your wallet

Detroit is now Starnesville

If the Obama Administration has its way with the Bankruptcy judge, today Detroit became Starnesville, and Ivy Starnes and her siblings are now running Chrysler.

Obama and the Special Olympics

 President Obama had some “nice” things to say about the Special Olympics while off-teleprompter, on Leno.

Obama talking about the Special Olympics

He said his recent 129 in the White House bowling alley had been “like Special Olympics, or something.”

After banning Earmarks, Obama has about 9000 are in ’stimulus’ bill!

You have to love the double-talk on earmarks in the budgets:

“The bill will contain about 9,000 earmarks totaling $5 billion, congressional officials say.”  AP, Sunday, February 22, 2009, AP’s Miami Herald article on earmarks.

“I’m proud that we passed a recovery plan free of earmarks.” President Obama, February 24, 2009

“We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review,” President Obama, January 6, 2009

“We need earmark reform. And when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” Obama September 2008 presidential debate in Oxford, Miss.
 

October 2008, Hottest October on Record, according to NASA

On Monday (Nov 10, 2008), NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), run by Al Gore’s chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, stated that October 2008 was the hottest October on record. The problem? NASA had used September’s figures again for October. We’ve mentioned before how NASA and Hansen have had to revise figures due to errors and problems with methodology, but the cult of global warming is willing to ignore data and rely solely upon computer models to make their arguments. GISS is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures.

Obama, the pocket change we need

Obama says he is the “change we need” – if elected change is all we’ll have left, pocket change.