In Good Conscience

I ran across word of this CEO of a Grand Rapids, Michigan business standing up for his convictions and suing the Department of Health and Human Services over what ObamaCare will force him to pay for...totally against his religious beliefs. Thankfully, he isn't alone in standing up for his convictions. Hobby Lobby is risking having to pay fines up to $1.3 million per day for refusing to bend their owners' religious convictions.

Americans are fighting back, thankfully; each of us needs to be strong and voice our objections to a federal government that seems hell-bent on ignoring the Constitution and it's right-protecting amendments. Shame on each of us if we sit idly by and watch our freedoms be taken away.

America a Dictatorship?

From the film Borat, via The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz:

"Why are you guys so anti-dictators? Imagine if America was a dictatorship. You could let 1 percent of the people have all the nation’s wealth. You could help your rich friends get richer by cutting their taxes and bailing them out when they gamble and lose. You could ignore the needs of the poor for health care and education. Your media would appear free, but would secretly be controlled by one person and his family. You could wiretap phones. You could torture foreign prisoners. You could have rigged elections. You could lie about why you go to war. You could fill your prisons with one particular racial group and no one would complain. You could use the media to scare the people into supporting policies that are against their interests.” 

Satire at its best...or is it??? Just saying', hopin' it will give rise to some thoughts about where we've come. Are we where we should be? Not that I necessarily agree with all the points above, but some are very close to hitting the mark.

We find ourselves on very shaky, very concern-filled ground in many areas. What can be done to turn things around?

On Who's Behalf?

Yesterday's announcement by the Obama Administration in favor of same-sex marriage really didn't surprise me, considering the source. What did strike a sour chord was a phrase within the comments by the President.

"When I think about those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'don't ask, don't tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," he told ABC.

"Fighting on YOUR behalf"? Don't kid yourself, and try not to be such a pompous ass while you're at it. Back in the late 60s and early 70s, I spent four years in the U.S. Air Force supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States. In no way was I fighting on behalf of Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon!

The Oath of Enlistment that I swore in December 1967 is as follows:

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

There, just had to get that little "itch" scratched.

Big Brother May Be Watching!

San Francisco's Entertainment Commission is considering some pretty unbelievable rules for certain events expecting 100 or more in attendance. Please note items 3 and 4 in particular, below, and ask yourself if this doesn't blatantly fly in the face of the First Amendment to our U.S. Constitution, which states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance.


Feels pretty "creepy" and "1984-ish" to me!!!


~Thanks to Jim Harper of The Cato Institute for posting this story.
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Notice of Hearing on Proposed Adoption of Rules

Related to Security

at Places of Entertainment and One Time Events

The Entertainment Commission will consider adopting rules concerning security at places of entertainment and one time events at its regular meeting on April 12, 2011, at 6:30 PM in Room 400, City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco.

These rules may cover the proposed permit conditions, summarized below, presented by the San Francisco Police Department for consideration by the Entertainment Commission.  At the hearing, the Commission may adopt rules that depart from the terms of the proposals below but address the same general subjects as the proposals.  In addition, while the proposals are framed in terms of venues with an anticipated occupancy of more than 100 individuals, the Commission may adopt rules that apply to a different or broader range of venues.

Members of the public will have an opportunity during the hearing to offer public comment and may also submit written comments at the hearing, or preferably in advance of the hearing.  Advance written comments may be emailed to or mailed to written comments will become part of the public record.  Names and contact information for commenter’s will be redacted if the written comment requests redaction.

Proposed Rules

These Conditions shall apply to all EC permitted events with an anticipated occupancy capacity of over one hundred (100) individuals.

1.      (a) Security personnel shall be provided in a ratio one (1) guard for every fifty (50) patrons.  (b) A security supervisor shall be provided at a ratio of one (1) supervisor for every four (4) guards.

2.      All individuals entering the premises shall be scanned by a metal detector.

3.      All occupants of the premises shall be ID Scanned (including patrons, promoters, and performers, etc.).  ID scanning data shall be maintained on a data storage system for no less than 15 days and shall be made available to local law enforcement upon request. 

4.      High visibility cameras shall be located at each entrance and exit point of the premises.  Said cameras shall maintain a recorded data base for no less than fifteen (15 days) and made available to local law enforcement upon request.

5.      The exterior of the premises shall be equipped with lighting of sufficient power to illuminate and make easily discernible the appearance and conduct of all persons on or about the premises.  Additionally, the position of such lighting shall not disturb the normal privacy and use of any neighboring residences.

6.      The premises shall provide a Security Plan acceptable to the Chief of Police which includes a Security proposal and EC Best Practices, collectively referred to as a Security Plan.

7.      All Security personnel that protect life and/or property shall maintain a current and valid California Department of Consumer Affairs Guard Card and shall comply with all rules and regulations governing the Card.   

8.      At all times the premises is open to the public a readily identifiable Manager employed by the EC permit holder shall be on-site.

9.      All Federal, State, and Local permits, required posting, including but not limited to occupancy, shall be posted in a conspicuous location clearly visibly to the public.  Said permits shall be maintained valid and current. 

The U.S. Constitution

 Today, January 5, 2011, 435 members of Congress will raise their right hands and take the following oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C.

This is nothing new; the oath has been sworn by members of Congress since the creation of our Constitution in 1787. The problem is that the oath is often forgotten or ignored. In fact, to help members better fulfill their oath, the House will not only read the Constitution aloud on Thursday, 1/6/11, but also adopt a rule requiring that every bill cite what specific provisions of the Constitution empower Congress to enact it. If followed, that rule should serve to rein in much of the outlandish cradle-to-grave protective legislation and other nonsense coming out of Washington. Yet, isn't it a shame such a rule is needed?

Constitution of the United States of America

I took a very similar oath upon my enlistment into the U.S. Air Force in 1968:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. 

I consider myself to be still under that oath, up to the references to the President (Commander-in-Chief) and the officers appointed over me. Obviously, since my discharge I am no longer bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. However, my promise to support and willingness to defend our Constitution continues to this day. That’s one reason I traveled to Washington D.C. last April to participate in the Second Amendment March on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Second Amendment March, Washington DC, April 2010

As the saying goes, the 2^nd Amendment is the amendment that protects all the others. Our forefathers realized an armed population is necessary for our defense from enemies both within and outside our country’s borders. In addition, they believed self-defense is a God-given right, and therefore made sure U.S. citizens were guaranteed the right to bear arms.

Let’s keep our collective fingers crossed that our federal government really is led by and limited to the powers outlined in that fine, old Constitution. We could do (and have done) much worse. 

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;–let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children’s liberty.

~28-year-old Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838