The British are going! The British are going! — Branco Cartoon
Tag Archives: OpEd
Semper Fi, Unless It’s Not Convenient
By Bill O’Reilly
Jon Hammar saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but his most brutal foreign experience was in Mexico. Last August, the 27-year-old former Marine corporal was incarcerated by Mexican authorities in Matamoros for trying to register an antique shotgun with customs agents. Foolishly, Cpl. Hammar followed instructions given to him by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas. He registered the gun with them and brought the paperwork to the Mexicans to get their stamp of approval in order to carry the gun through the country. Hammar and a friend were driving a Winnebago, hoping to have a nice surfing vacation with some hunting on the side.
Even though the Mexican authorities clearly saw that Hammar was trying to follow the rules, they seized the Winnebago and locked the corporal up in the notoriously corrupt CEDES prison anyway. There he was threatened by other inmates and told by guards that he could buy his way out of the hellhole by paying money to the “right people.”
Hammar’s parents, who live in South Florida, immediately contacted the State Department and were told to be patient. And so they were. Three months later, Hammar was still incarcerated and had not even seen a judge, and things were becoming increasingly desperate.
That’s when his parents gave up on the State Department and contacted the media.
Read more at Townhall.
Are you dead yet?
WILLIAMS—The end of the world has not occurred in Williams, as of this writing, so perhaps we can expect the snow that is anticipated for Sunday night. That snow moved up from an earlier forecast indicating snow Monday.
Barring a late strike by Nimbiru, the alien planet predicted to smash into the earth, the last Advent concert will be held beginning at 4 p.m. on Sunday at St. John’s Episcopal Church on the corner of 2nd Street and Grant.
No massive tidal waves are expected from the Santa Fe dam nor Buckskinner park to flood Williams, knock down homes and kill massive amounts of people because—Well, there is not enough water. In addition they are now frozen over.
Stores and restaurants are open downtown so you might visit and look for end-of-the-world savings.
Of course, we still have until 11:59:59 to see if the world does, indeed, melt down.
Soros Remakes America into Narco Nation
As more states embrace legalization of marijuana—a pet cause of George Soros for decades—the British publication The Independent has published a groundbreaking series of articles by journalist Patrick Cockburn on how his son went insane smoking the drug.
Cockburn and his son Henry, who was treated for psychosis and partially recovered, have written an article in which Patrick Cockburn is quoted as saying his son played Russian roulette with cannabis “and lost.”
Henry, who smoked marijuana daily for seven years and was in mental hospitals for about eight years as a result, says, “When I reached a mental hospital, called St Martin’s, I spent three hours walking around the lunch tables trying to listen to my shoes. I thought my shoes were talking to me.”
Patrick Cockburn spent months speaking to the experts in the field and reports on the substantial evidence linking sustained marijuana use with mental illness. One expert, Sir William Paton, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, reveals “that even limited social use of cannabis could precipitate schizophrenia in people who previously had no psychological problems,” and noted that “smoking a single joint could induce schizophrenia-like symptoms such as hallucinations, paranoia and fragmented thought processes.”
Read more at Accuracy in Media
MIB 3 Now on DVD
Review By Glen
I went to see Jurassic Park when it first came out. I believe it was the second day of the opening. This is seemingly an unamazing fact to add to a review of Men in Black 3. The amazing part is that when it came out, I had not seen a trailer or read any movie information. That is probably more amazing when you consider that I was very much into the Science Fiction genre at the time.
The only reason that I even saw it was that I had picked up a friend of mine arriving from France. This was before TSA. As we passed by the theater, she excitedly pointed to the marquee and said that she wanted to see the picture. It was one of the rare moments in which I had cash, in those days, so I agreed. Thus I entered with no preconceived notions.
I was blown away. Usually trailers give too much of the movie away, so not having seen a trailer I went in totally in the dark. It was one of the best movie experiences that I have ever had.
I do not remember what prompted me to go to the Men in Black movie. I went in with no knowledge of the background of the characters or story. I believe that it was drawn from a comic book series that I never read. Again I went in with no preconceived notions of the film and again I was blown away. It was one of the best movies I had seen in some time.
The reason I tell you this is that I do not like to add spoilers. So I will not comment on the plot of the film. I will only say that it is a rarity that a sequel is better than the original. The first sequel to do that was probably the 1952 Son of Paleface staring Bob Hope. Like Jurassic Park 2, Men in Black 2 was okay but they did not really measure up to the original. Like the 3rd Jurassic Park, however, Men in Black 3 rate that coveted “better than the original” honor. You can find ample information on the Internet if you have not seen the film and want to spoil it.
These days I do not much follow trailers and movies having other knowledge to gain that I feel of more importance. So I did not even know there was a Men in Black 3 until a friend of mine said that she wanted to buy a copy. (Guys, I’m beginning to believe, as I grow older, that maybe we should listen to the women just from time-to-time)
Those of you that have seen the movie will know my references while others will have to view the movie.
The plot, as I said, was excellent. I couldn’t really find any technical problems because I was enjoying the plot.
I will have to reveal that the movie starts with a eulogy by K over the passing of Zed. Zed is replaced by Agent O played by Emma Thompson. Although I’ll miss Rip Torn, Emma was a great replacement.
K & J are still the same—K being the grumpy old man and J his “cool” side. This time they face Boris, just Boris—the evil Boglodite and the last of his alien race. Josh Brolin plays a young K who teams up with J to stop the alien and save the world from invasion. Of course we all know that there is an Arquillian battle cruiser or some other threat to earth and the only way that we get on with our miserable little lives is that these brave Men in Black keep us from knowing about it. The banter and dialogue is excellent and right in line with the rest of the series.
I do feel at liberty to inform you that they save the earth. Otherwise you would not be around to see the film, right?
Arizona Initiative and referendums 2012
Initiatives and referendums
Constitutional Analysis:
Initiatives and referendums are unconstitutional. Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,…” Every law ever created in Arizona under this system is actually unconstitutional.
The duty of the citizen in the area of legislation is on the twelve man jury. At that point citizens may say guilty or not guilty based on if they agree with the law, not based on whether or not the person broke the law. And by the way you are supposed to have a jury of twelve of your peers in every court trial and civil suit totaling more than $20. You may also sue to get a law ruled unconstitutional.
Initiatives and referendums are part of a democracy which was specifically excluded by the Constitution guaranteeing a Republic. They are an important part of the Manifesto of the Communist Party installed during the Woodrow Wilson administration. That should give you some warning.
As Elihu Root noted in 1913, “The affairs with which statutes have to deal as a rule involve the working of a great number and variety of motives incident to human nature, and the working of those motives depends upon complicated and often obscure facts of production, trade, social life, with which men generally are not familiar and which require study and investigation to understand. Thrusting a rigid prohibition or command into the operation of these forces is apt to produce quite unexpected and unintended results.”
In his Experiments in Government, he also wrote, “The Initiative and Compulsory Referendum are attempts to cure the evils which have developed in our practice of representative government by means of a return to the old, unsuccessful, and discarded method of direct legislation and by rehabilitating one of the most impracticable of Rousseau’s theories.” He added in error, “…but it is not necessary to assume that their trial will be destructive of our system of government.”
The damage caused by the use of these devices is that it ties the hands of the legislature to reduce debt, drives taxes up and keeps the poor poor. Since they are not likely to go away anytime soon, however, we recommend that you consider these carefully. Most notably, are they going to raise your taxes.
See more at Williams TEA Party
How the AARP Made $2.8 Billion By Supporting Obamacare’s Cuts to Medicare
(DISCLOSURE: I am an outside adviser to the Romney campaign on health-care issues. The opinions contained herein are mine alone, and do not necessarily correspond to those of the campaign.)
Avik Roy, FORBES—As you know if you’ve been reading this blog, Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare in order to pay for its $1.9 trillion expansion of coverage to low-income Americans. It’s one of the reasons why seniors are more opposed to the new health law than any other age group. So why is it that the group that purports to speak for seniors, the American Association of Retired Persons, so strongly supports a law that most seniors oppose?
According to an explosive new report from Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), it’s because those very same Medicare cuts will give the AARP a windfall of $1 billion in insurance profits, and preserve another $1.8 billion that AARP already generates from its business interests.
Read more at Forbes.
Crucifixion in Cairo
On January 28, 2011 Barack Obama and administration officials made public statements endorsing the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt. This public disclosure made it clear that he was working behind the scenes to ensure Mubarak’s ouster. They began portraying Mubarak as an evil monster, declaring him a “dictator”. Apparently this word “dictator” was thought by the administration to be so inflammatory that its use would outrage Americans to the point of supporting the Obama administration’s efforts to overthrow him.
Many people became alarmed and demanded that the administration explain its course of action if the Muslim Brotherhood were to take control of Egypt. The administration never denied that possibility, instead they promised us that the Muslim Brotherhood wasn’t so bad after all.
On February 10, 2011, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence James Clapper clarified the administration’s position on the Brotherhood by telling the world, they weren’t your Daddy’s Muslim Brotherhood. They were no longer dangerous. They weren’t the Muslim Brotherhood of our collective memories. They had changed. They were peaceful now and non-violent. In his testimony, Clapper said:
The term ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ is an umbrella term for a variety of movements. In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaida as a perversion of Islam. They have pursued social ends, betterment of the political order in Egypt, etc.”
Read more at Freedom Torch
The remarkable technology of today.
From Edson Stiverson
I was visiting my son last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.
“This is the 21st century Dad,” he said. “We don’t waste money on newspapers anymore. Here, use my iPad.”
I can tell you that bloody fly never knew what hit it………..
Radical imam OK but not Chick-fil-A
By Michael Graham
Boston Herald
Given his stance on Chick-fil-A, would Mayor Tom Menino grant permits to a group that has counted among its leaders a man who has repeatedly called homosexuality a “crime that must be punished” by death?
Actually, he has done that . . . and more! Menino effectively gave away city land valued at $1.8 million to the organization, and he gave a speech at its ribbon-cutting ceremony.
It’s the Islamic Society of Boston’s mosque, and when it comes to anti-gay sentiment, one of its early supporters makes Chick-fil-A look like the Provincetown Men’s Chorus.
Read more at the Boston Herald