Where Do You Get Your News?

May 31, 2009

My brother John sent me a link to a news story about the Justice Department dropping voter intimidation charges on members of the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia.

Here is the link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/29/protecting-black-panthers/

I had seen the story before, but what raised my interest and generated my desire to write this blog was the website that John got the story from.  The Washington Times.  I had seen the story on Fox News, but I didn’t recall seeing it anywhere else.  That got me thinking, Where do you go to be well informed about the happenings around the Country?

Everyone that knows me knows I dislike and distrust the media.  I believe that a free press is a cornerstone of our liberty.  Without investigative reporting, officials may be tempted to trample the rights of citizens without consequences.  We are governed because we allow ourselves to be.  The free press is suppose to be one of the checks and balances in our system of government. 

Unfortunately, our current media outlets filter news stories and information to shape public opinion and society norms.  The vast majority of media outlets have become agents of ideology rather than purveyors of facts.  They claim to “report news” when they in fact produce “editorial comment”.

Back to the story John sent me…I did some searching of news sites.  Guess what?  No network news site, not ABC, NBC, CBS, nor CNN, MSNBC, or my local fish wrapper, The Miami Herald, have word one on the Justice Department dropping charges in this voter intimidation case.  You can read the article and ask yourself, why don’t I know about this?

Isn’t the Justice Department supposed to protect the rights of the citizenry by enforcing laws against intimidation of voters?  And when a socialist President has his representative (the Attorney General) drop charges in a case like this, who do we rely on to bring this outrage to the people?  An unbiased and free press.  We don’t have that anymore.  So what is a person of conscious to do?  Maybe start blogging…maybe make it easier for people to get all sides of a story or even know that there is a story, as in this case.

There is a place that is developing into a storehouse for information, YouTube.  Now when I see a story, the first thing I do is look on YouTube for information.  I looked at YouTube and found many videos on this story.  There are almost 2 million views of the various videos.  So the “mainstream media” can bury their heads in the sand, be an agent of the government’s current ideology, and pretend things don’t exist or only report stories that fit their political ideals.  Thankfully, there are people in this Country willing to stand up and report the good and bad.  That is the only way that the government will continue to work for us, rather than the other way around.

In case you want to see the video of voter intimidation, here it is, but remember that as far as the U.S. Government is concerned, this is fine:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU

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Posted by scr2695

Father Alberto Cutie is Getting Married

May 28, 2009

Father Cutie

Here is a local story that you probably heard about.  Catholic Priest Alberto Cutié was photographed frolicking on the beach with a WOMAN about a month ago.  Several days after the “incident” became public, Father Cutié went on a national morning show and said he was in love with the woman and he was going to pray about what to do. 

Father Cutié is a popular priest and had TV and radio shows.  It was big news in Miami when this story broke.  Many people speculated that he wanted to get caught so that he could protest the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on priests remaining celibate.  He said in interviews that he did not want to be the poster-boy for changing celibacy rules in the Church.

When Father Cutié was removed from his church, I had the feeling that a public fight of the ability of priests to marry was coming.   Father Cutié took the high road and backed out of the spotlight to contemplate his future. No one heard from him publicly for weeks. 

Today Father Cutié announced that he had joined the Episcopal Church and will get married to the woman he was photographed with.  He looked happy.  I am happy for him.  Not every one is.  The Archbishop of Miami, John Favalora is a little bit miffed and told us so in a statement.  Like an angry child stamping his foot, Favalora fired a couple of shots Father Cutié’s direction.  The most ridiculous was telling us that Father Cutié must remain celibate because “[Father Cutié] is still bound by the promise to live the celibate life which he freely embraced at ordination. Only the Holy Father can release him from the obligation”.  

Ummmm….did he miss the memo that Father Cutié was leaving the Church?  Is this threat supposed to intimidate him?  Father Cutié took his ball and went home.  Elvis has left the building.  Turn out the lights, the party’s over.  I can’t think of any more metaphors, but it clear to me that Favalora doesn’t get to tell Father Cutié what to do anymore.  I hope Father Cutié has a happy and fulfilled life telling the world about the good news that Jesus Christ saves, even if he does it while being married.

6 Comments | Religion | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by scr2695

The Pick Is In

May 27, 2009

The pick for the newest Supreme Court Justice is in, and guess what, she’s an ultra liberal judicial activist.  That came out of left field, didn’t it?  Judge Sonia Sotomayor has the kind of background that is inspiring and is the ultimate American Dream.  Raised in a single parent home, through hard work, study, and dedication, she went to and excelled in some of the Country’s finest institutions.  She went to work.  She developed an excellent resume’ of appropriate work for a talented attorney.  She was nominated to the bench by 41, then moved to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals by Clinton. 

Sounds like the ideal candidate, right?  Then something went wrong.  For some reason, the path she took to success is not the one that she believes everyone should, or is even capable of accomplishing.  That American dream is realized through hard work and discipline.  It would seem to me that someone with her background would encourage people to work hard for success, not have some judge dictate that they should be successful to the detriment of others.

Unfortunately, Judge Sotomayor has shown she is a judicial activist.  She practices “Restorative Justice”.  This is a belief that the person needs to be restored to some level that the judge feels is appropriate.  (Thanks to Bobby F. for the academic lesson on judicial activism.)  If you want to be an advocate, don’t be a judge.  There are thousands of people that need the assistance of good lawyers to plead their cases.  Many are truly wronged, and our system of laws was created to provide due process.  Judges interpret the law, not produce it.

As I stated in my previous post, the socialist President would not make a mistake on his nominee.  He gave us the most liberal of the short list of candidates we were privy to.  I hope that this is a ploy to make us revolt against this candidate and then he will nominate a more moderate Judge.  Like the Bork nomination.  Put forth the most objectionable candidate first, then when that doesn’t work, make the next one tougher for the Senate to reject, since they already rejected one.

The Republicans should  filibuster this candidate.  Anyone who believes her gender or ethnic heritage will be useful in deciding cases does not understand that judges interpret the law.  Here is a quote from Judge Sotomayor:     ”I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”  What!?!?  Is she serious?  Shouldn’t we have judges that actually make decisions based on the law?

I also found another stat very interesting.  Judge Sotomayor has had 6 cases she has ruled on go to the Supreme Court.  In five of the cases her position was overturned, and in the 6th, the court came to the same conclusion as her but stated her reasoning for making the decision was wrong.  SHE IS 0-6!   I have the same number of wins in the Supreme Court as she does!

America does not need this radical in the highest court in the land.  This is just another example of the horrible decision the citizens made by electing our socialist President.

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Posted by scr2695

Supreme Court Justice Mistakes

May 26, 2009

What a huge mistake President George H. W. Bush made:

Bush and Souter

With a huge staff, and plenty of advisors, he nominated Justice Souter to the Supreme Court.  On one of the most important decisions a President can make, 41 came up with Souter?  I hope someone on the staff that vetted him got fired.  Now that he is gone, I will bet that the socialist’s staff will not mistakenly nominate a conservative.  One thing we can count on is the liberal establishment has a long list of liberal activist judges just waiting for the opportunity to turn the Country left.

The only solace we have is that we are exchanging one liberal for another.  This process would be far more distasteful if 41 or his staff had done their jobs properly.  Too bad he didn’t quit when he considered it after Bush v. Gore.  He looks a little frazzled and overwhelmed:

souter frazzled

So get ready for a pro-choice, big government, activist judge with an extreme liberal pedigree.  Thank God for Scalia, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and sometimes Kennedy.  We wont lose it now, but pray for their health.  One more loss and we will be feeling it for the next 30 years.

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Posted by scr2695

Obama Has Really Helped Business

May 23, 2009

I know the title is shocking, considering his socialist tendencies, but if you are in the right business, you love our new President.

This morning I went to a gun show. I took a picture as I was waiting to go through the magnetometer.

gun show

There were so many people there, you could barely walk the aisles. That’s when I started thinking that I should have gotten into the gun business last November. There were thousands of people stocking up on guns, ammo, knives, and all kinds of military equipment. I picked up five 30 round magazines for my AR-15.

I have had guns for a long time. I’m even a firearms instructor. So I know the prices for firearms and ammunition has skyrocketed. The most popular calibers of ammo were snapped up early. I reload ammunition and I have not been able to find small rifle primers from a commercial establishment in 4 months. You can buy them at auction for triple their actual cost, but that defeats the purpose of reloading.

So President Obama has made being a gun dealer one of the most profitable vocations in the Country. I think this drives him crazy. Those of us that believe the socialist will soon implement gun control laws, like the assault weapons ban, have started hoarding ammo and reloading supplies. Doesn’t it give you pause to know that the citizenry is afraid the government will attempt to take our guns away?

Our new Attorney General has said that the implementation of the assault weapons ban is consistent with President Obama’s policies. That sure sounds like it is coming to me. I laughed out loud about a month ago when I saw an interview with Dianne Feinstein D-CA, where she said there were no immediate plans to reinstitute the ban that she authored in 1994. She did go on to say that she would pick the best time and place to introduce the legislation.

I am a true believer that a well armed citizenry will lessen the chance that a government will become oppressive. There are so many problems with gun control laws. I recently saw this video that is excellent editorial on the evils of gun control. Take a look at it:

So problem number one, if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. Kind of a cliché, but true none the less. How many people were robbed with a gun in Washington DC last year? 1,466!!! But you must now say to yourself, “Guns were illegal in DC. How did all those people get robbed?” Bad guys don’t usually comply with strict gun control laws. Only law abiding citizens are unable to defend themselves. We will talk more about gun control in the future. It is part of the liberal dogma that must be defeated.

Some of my favorite quotes about gun control:

“Never Forget, even for an instant, that the one and only reason anybody has for taking your gun away is to make you weaker than he is, so he can do something to you that you wouldn’t allow him to do if you were equipped to prevent it. This goes for burglars, muggers, and rapists, and even more so for policemen, bureaucrats, and politicians.” –Alexander Hope

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. -Benjamin Franklin

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” –Thomas Jefferson

3 Comments | Gun Control | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by scr2695

Captain Ras is Blogging!

May 22, 2009

I have wanted to do this for a long time. If you have seen messages I have written on different websites, I am usually on the conservative side of most arguments. I am going to use this Blog to explore issues more deeply than is possible by simply responding to articles that usually upset me.

I am no fan of my hometown newspaper, The Miami Herald, but at least there is an avenue for us to exchange comments and ideas. Unfortunately, many of the comments put forth are penned by morons. I enjoy spirited debate between persons that articulate positions from their own perspective. That does not mean posts are or will be unemotional. I have heartfelt and deeply held positions that I will defend without ever backing down. Wasted responses are where idiots make comments only meant to inflame without reasons for their beliefs.

I will cause extreme discourse with some of my views, but a worthy opponent is far more desireable than moronic name calling. Responses will be posted as long as they are more than name calling.

I look forward to writing on politics. I keep mostly to national issues, however, I do dabble in local concerns. We have lots to discuss with our new socialist dictator, I mean President. I also look forward to hearing from you and participating in meaningful debate. Let me apologize in advance for responses that seem sarcastic or demeaning.  :-)

3 Comments | General Information | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by scr2695