The Political Fish

We all hate paying taxes.  This is NOT how to respond.  From CNN:

(CNN) — An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.

Federal authorities identified the pilot of the Piper Cherokee PA-28 as Joseph Andrew Stack, 53.

Two people were injured and one person was missing, local officials said. There were no reported deaths.

A message on a Web site registered to Stack appears to be a suicide note.

“If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, ‘Why did this have to happen?’ ” the message says. “The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time.”

In the lengthy, rambling message, the writer rails against the government and, particularly, the IRS.

The building into which the airplane crashed is a federal IRS center with 199 employees.

Here’s a copy of his disgruntled suicide note. Thankfully, this appears to be an isolated incident.  Let’s hope so.

Oh no!!! It happened again…the unthinkable! Every liberals favorite target has spoken up again, and once again Sarah Palin speaks the truth from her facebook page.

Its always enlightening to see the reaction she gets when she types what are quickly becoming the most powerful facebook “notes” in the country. She again has managed to use a common sense approach, littered with truthful nuggets and speaking from outside of the dangerously insulated Washington establishment to speak for the American people. Normal folks.

But enough of what I have to say…lets see what the woman had to say!!

Her piece was entitled “It’s a War, not a Crime spree”. That alone would be enough in my book. She is right on the money calling out the Obama approach to terrorism.

President Obama’s meeting with his top national security advisers does nothing to change the fact that his fundamental approach to terrorism is fatally flawed. We are at war with radical Islamic extremists and treating this threat as a law enforcement issue is dangerous for our nation’s security. That’s what happened in the 1990s and we saw the result on September 11, 2001. This is a war on terror not an “overseas contingency operation.” Acts of terrorism are just that, not “man caused disasters.” The system did not work. Abdulmutallab was a child of privilege radicalized and trained by organized jihadists, not an “isolated extremist” who traveled to a land of “crushing poverty.” He is an enemy of the United States, not just another criminal defendant.

It simply makes no sense to treat an al Qaeda-trained operative willing to die in the course of massacring hundreds of people as a common criminal. Reports indicate that Abdulmutallab stated there were many more like him in Yemen but that he stopped talking once he was read his Miranda rights. President Obama’s advisers lamely claim Abdulmutallab might be willing to agree to a plea bargain – pretty doubtful you can cut a deal with a suicide bomber. John Brennan, the President’s top counterterrorism adviser, bizarrely claimed “there are no downsides or upsides” to treating terrorists as enemy combatants. That is absurd. There is a very serious downside to treating them as criminals: terrorists invoke their “right” to remain silent and stop talking. Terrorists don’t tell us where they were trained, what they were trained in, who they were trained by, and who they were trained with. Giving foreign-born, foreign-trained terrorists the right to remain silent does nothing to keep Americans safe from terrorist threats. It only gives our enemies access to courtrooms where they can publicly grandstand, and to defense attorneys who can manipulate the legal process to gain access to classified information.

President Obama was right to change his policy and decide to send no more detainees to Yemen where they can be free to rejoin their war on America. Now he must back off his reckless plan to close Guantanamo, begin treating terrorists as wartime enemies not suspects alleged to have committed crimes, and recognize that the real nature of the terrorist threat requires a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor.

- Sarah Palin

• Danish cartoonist hid in ‘panic room’ during attack

Westergaard, who has been threatened for drawing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, is ordinarily accompanied by bodyguards when he leaves his home, but nobody was on guard at the house Friday, the Security and Intelligence Service told CNN.

Scott Fenstermaker.

This guy showed himself to be a real treat in his interview with Bill O’reilly. Now, I am by no means O’Reilly’s biggest fan, but I appreciate this interview because as Mr. Fenstermaker continuously refused to give actual answers to any questions, O’Reilly challenged him on every one of them, and called it what it was.

I realize someone has to represent the 9/11 terrorists, since our less than brilliant AG Eric Holder has decided to try them in civilian court with full Constitutional rights, that he will undoubtedly violate, but this guy is a special type of trial lawyer.  It almost appears that he has no soul whatsoever…but I cannot make that statement definitively.

As a little bit of a sidebar note…this man is a trial lawyer. Our government is made up by a vast majority of trial lawyers. Sadly, it seems that these days they are both cut from the same mold.

He wants a show trial. The terrorists want a show trial. It’s pretty clear that the administration and Department of Justice want a show trial. They are going to get just that, and America will be worse because of it.

Senator Lindsey Graham injected *gasp* common sense into the political debate today. I have been pretty rough on Senator Graham on this blog, but will defintetely throw him a bone today after his questioning of Attorney General Eric Holder today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Check out this video, its classic stuff. AG Holder one might think would have been prepared with an answer for this sort of question, but as you can see this administration is not operating under any sort of logic. Strictly ideology.

Enjoy.

Partial transcript via Newsbusters.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R-S.C): Can you give me a case in United States history where a enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don’t know. I’d have to look at that. I think that, you know, the determination I’ve made –

GRAHAM: We’re making history here, Mr. Attorney General. I’ll answer it for you. The answer is no.

HOLDER: Well, I think –

GRAHAM: The Ghailani case — he was indicted for the Cole bombing before 9/11. And I didn’t object to it going into federal court. But I’m telling you right now. We’re making history and we’re making bad history. And let me tell you why.

Now, the real focus of this NPR piece was Graham’s subsequent question concerning whether or not U.S. officials would have to Mirandize Osama bin Laden if he was captured:

GRAHAM: If bin Laden were caught tomorrow, would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice?

HOLDER: He would certainly be brought to justice, absolutely.

GRAHAM: Where would you try him?

HOLDER: Well, we’d go through our protocol. And we’d make the determination about where he should appropriately be tried. [...]

GRAHAM: If we captured bin Laden tomorrow, would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?

HOLDER: Again I’m not — that all depends. I mean, the notion that we –

GRAHAM: Well, it does not depend. If you’re going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent.

The big problem I have is that you’re criminalizing the war, that if we caught bin Laden tomorrow, we’d have mixed theories and we couldn’t turn him over — to the CIA, the FBI or military intelligence — for an interrogation on the battlefield, because now we’re saying that he is subject to criminal court in the United States. And you’re confusing the people fighting this war.

 

This at least according to Congressional dirtbag Jim Moran, the esteemed Representative from Virginia.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has strong words for the Republicans opposing Attorney General Eric Holder’s plan to bring five 9/11 suspects to New York City to face trial.

“They see this as an opportunity to demagogue,” he said. “They will seize on any opportunity to do that, and that means they’ll even take a stand that’s un-American.”

Shortly after the Department of Justice decided to bestow Constitutional rights of American citizens on terrorists, CNN took a poll that asked the question of whether everyday Americans agreed with the decision to hold the trial of Khalid Sheik Muhammed in NYC. Not surprisingly, 64% of Americans believed that this trial should never take place in civilian court, in fact it belonged in a military court.

Two-thirds of Americans disagree with the Obama administration’s decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a civilian court rather than a military court, according to a new national poll. …

The poll indicates that 64 percent believe Mohammed should be tried in military court, with 34 percent suggesting that he face trial in civilian court. Six in 10 people questioned say Mohammed should be tried stateside, with 37 percent calling for the trial to take place at a U.S. facility in another country.

“The decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in front of a civilian court is universally unpopular – even a majority of Democrats and liberals say that he should be tried by military authorities,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Despite that, most Americans say that he will get a fair trial in the U.S.”

Congratulations Jim Moran. Apparently 2/3 of your country are un-American by your borderline retarded logic.

Failed Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has once again amazed the residents of the state that she “leads” and I use that term loosely. Apparently, life in Lansing is not a whole lot different from life inside the DC beltway. She is completely detached from the reality of life in her state.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granhlom, a Democrat, whose state’s unemployment is the nation’s highest at 15.2 percent, said the $3.7 billion in stimulus funds Michigan has already used were instrumental in capping the damage of the crumbling auto industry.
“Clearly the stimulus helped although unemployment is at a ridiculously high level,” Granholm said on “Fox News Sunday.” “What has been really helpful for us has been the stimulus’ efforts to really help us diversify our economy.”

You will remember that Michigan’s unemployment rate is up over 15%, by far the highest in the nation. You would think that after being snubbed for all of the Cabinet positions within the Obama administration she would have ceased being an Obama shill. The reality of the situation Ms. Grahholm is the failed Democrat policies that you have forced upon this state have been a failure. The stimulus has not helped out the state of Michigan one bit. Your lack of leadership has shut down state government twice in the last 3 years due to inability to balance your budget.  Detroit, the largest city in the state has become a third-world cesspool of violent crime, corruption, poverty and a hapless citizenry dependent on the government for its very survival. The unemployment rate inside the city proper is a staggering 28.9%. Yes, that is almost 1 of every 3 residents of Detroit without a job. Those are the people on the rolls, lets not forget those in the city who have quit looking or actually took a part time job. Just the other day, we have seen just how successful the stimulus was in Michigan. Roll the tape.

The stimulus plan that would help roughly 3500 of the estimated 40,000 that showed up in downtown Detroit for help. These people have falled victim to a system that has handicapped them into believing the government is the only way out. They have been handicapped by an school system in Detroit which would rival the education one might receive deep in the Amazon rain forest. Check out this clip for a little bit of light shining on that statement.

It is sad really what has become of this once great manufacturing city, which now is shedding population (now around 800K from its peak of over 1.5 million) and becoming a society almost completely dependent on the state and federal government. Its largest employer General Motors has been taken over by the feds, Chrysler Corporation forced by the federal government into a marriage that surely will not last. Unsurprisingly, the only one of the Big Three, or what used to be the Big Three, is Ford who did not take federal money or the big stick that came with it.

Ms. Granholm, while the stimulus money may have acted as a backstop for your failing state budget this year, what happens next year when that money is long gone? Oh wait, your term limited so what does it matter to you.

I know, it is ignorant of me to believe that anything other than bottom-feeder opinions would come out of Hollywood, but I still have this small part of my soul that believes that not even Hollywood or the pathetic bunch of talentless vagabonds out there would embrace a child rapist. I just didn’t truly believe that it would happen. Sadly, I was wrong.

The petition went through the film community to leave Mr. Polanski alone, which apparently drew signatures from well over 100 movers and shakers in the film community.

Most are European and unfamiliar, but among the people whose movies I’ll never watch again: Jonathan Demme, John Landis, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, and, bless his heart, Woody Allen, who I guess was forced to sign lest the press seize on the idea of a guy who married his almost-stepdaughter passing judgment on Polanski. Open question to any of these rape-defending turds: How far would you have let Polanski go before deciding that, hey, he probably should serve some time after all? What if he punched the kid in the face when he was raping her? Beat her with a tire iron? Seriously, how far?

Of course there was also Whoopi Goldberg, who made one of the truly inane, ludicrous, stupidly mystifying comments I have heard in quite some time. She stated that whatever Polanski was guily of, it wasn’t rape-rape. This apparently sweeps us into the parallel universe where there is rape, and then there is rape-rape. No apparent explanation from the always intellectually stimulating Goldberg as to what actually defines rape-rape, or if there may be a higher level of rape-rape-rape.  For those not familiar, Polanski plead guilty, and admitted to drugging, sodomizing, and having sex with a 13 year old girl back in 1976. So apparently the three-pronged attack he unleashed on this young girl doesn’t qualify as rape-rape. I guess it depends on what is is….

Then there are the French. Our good friends the French.

One thing that is missing in this entire debate that is being had about film director Roman Polanski. He has been evading the law for 30 years. It is not as if they have been actively pursuing him for 30  years. He has been conciously staying out of countries that have extradition treaties with the United States, so he will not have to face the justice he deserves. He simply made a mistake based on his own ego to travel to Switzerland to receive some other useless award to make himself feel good, and uh-oh…someone tipped off the US Marshall service, and he was arrested.

But oh, the French government has something to say about this (Polanski is a French citizen).

While other politicians decline to comment, the French culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, says he is “dumbfounded” by Polanski’s “absolutely dreadful” detention, declaring forcibly that it made “no sense” for the director to be “thrown to the lions for an ancient story, imprisoned while travelling to an event that was intending to honour him: caught, in short, in a trap”. The film-maker, Mitterrand continued, has “had a difficult life” but has “always said how much he loves France, and he is a wonderful man”. There is, he added for good measure, “a generous America that we love, and a certain America that frightens us. It’s that America that has just shown its face.”

Meanwhile, a large group of French actors and cinematographers including Fanny Ardant, Pierre Jolivet, Jean-Jacques Beineix and Bertrand Tavernier have signed an angry petition calling for Polanski’s “immediate liberation”, considering it “inadmissible” that “an international cultural event paying homage to one of the greatest of contemporary cineastes” should be turned into “a police trap”. Polanski, said their petition – organised by Thierry Frémaux, director of the Cannes film festival – is “a French citizen, an artist of international renown, and is now threatened with extradition. That extradition . . . would deprive him of his liberty. We demand that he be freed immediately

French president Sarkozy as well as Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner have called on the Swiss government to release Polanski as soon as possible. Apparently, the law abiding citizens of this country who think that Polanski should come home and face the music (no pun intended) represent the “certain America that frightens” the French. That is one seriously pathetic statement from a high level French government official.

What is the obsession with this man? Really…I can’t figure this out. He is a pedophile, yes he has lived a rough life, but one must remember that he willfully imposed hell on a 13 year old girl that had been entrusted to his film career. He admitted to this. There was a deal in place (who knows what it might have actually been) but he was facing possible imprisonment and fled like a coward. Yet, he is some Kennedy-esqe lionized figure in Europe and throughout the Hollywood establishment. Its a twisted morality and lack of values that haunts the establishment, and its on full display right now.

Congratulations to the United States Marshall Service for apprehending Roman Polanski. It is about time he came back to the US and be brought to justice.

Humana Inc, one of the nations largest healthcare insurers is the new target of the United States Government employing political intimidation and hardball tactics on the private company in response to a letter they sent out to their customers enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program about looming changes coming their way through the new health care reform bill, currently being brokered by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). This is amazing by even Obama administration standards to go after a private company voicing its opposition to the Presidents plan. From WSJ.

Earlier this month, Humana sent a one-page letter to its customers enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans, which offer private options to Medicare beneficiaries. Humana noted that, because of spending cuts proposed by Democrats, “millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.” The Kentucky-based company also urged its customers to contact their Representatives. Pretty tame stuff, as these things go.

Mr. Baucus took it as a declaration of war. He complained to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal health-care agency, which on Friday duly ordered Humana to cease and desist. CMS claimed the mailer was “misleading and confusing” and told the company it has opened an official probe as to whether the mailer violated laws about how the insurers that manage Advantage plans are allowed to communicate with their customers, as well as other federal statutes.

“Please be advised that we take this matter very seriously and, based upon the findings our investigation, will pursue compliance and enforcement actions,” CMS concluded, ominously. Humana could be fined or booted from Medicare Advantage altogether.

Ah yes, nothing like the government vendetta against a private company, who one might consider the expert on the subject of health insurance reform. Now I am sure all of the haters out there will tell us that the only reason Humana would dare send that type of letter out is because they are the big greedy corporation ready to kill off any and every person on their rolls if it can save them a dollar, its the typical scare tactic from marxist progressives. But check out the facts here, they can after all be stubborn things.

In fact, the Baucus draft legislation slashes $123 billion over the next decade from Medicare Advantage, which Democrats hate despite the fact that almost one-fourth of beneficiaries have chosen it over traditional fee-for-service Medicare. One reason seniors like it is because private insurers focus on quality and preventive care and try to manage benefits, as opposed to simply paying bills.

A new study from America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group, finds that seniors on Advantage in California spent 30% fewer days in hospitals over fee-for-service patients, based on federal data. Democrats say that insurers are “overpaid,” but the cuts—as Humana correctly noted—mean that seniors may lose this coverage.

Mr. Baucus doesn’t want seniors to be educated about these facts, and obviously he’s willing to use his enormous power to punish any private company that doesn’t affirm his, well, creative version of reality. Nearly half of Humana’s yearly revenue comes from Medicare Advantage, and the insurer says that it is complying in full with the CMS investigation. Yesterday, the agency also barred all Advantage insurers from providing similar information to their beneficiaries.

Where are the Republicans in Congress standing up to this sort of over the top tyrannical behavior on the part of Baucus and the CMS. This is clearly part of their overarching strategy of intimidation and stifling of dissent in this country. We have watched it happen with all of the brushing aside of the teaparty movements, the outcry at the townhalls this past summer and every other opposing view of the Presidents healthcare proposal. It seems that once again, powerful Congressman are being allowed to run amock, while their colleagues stand idly by and watch. If Humana broke the law in their communique to their customers, then so be it, prosecute them. But the writing is on the wall here that the plan is to spin around some vague interpretation of a law and make an example.

It is sickening behavior on the part of the Obama administration. It does however fit the character of this Chicago-thugocracy that currently resides in the White House.  Its a non-violent crackdown on the part of the United States Government to silence dissent. Its un-Constitutional and needs to be called out. I am sure we  won’t see it on the DNC’s Call em Out website though.

Race baiting Congresswoman (and closet socialist) Maxine Waters has now come under investigation (add her to the long and ever-growing list) for possible misuse of federal bailout funds, steering funds toward a questionable bank which just happens to be connected to her husband (hmm, imagine that).  From Judicial Watch.

Months after the media exposed the shady deal involving prominent California Democrat Maxine Waters, the House Ethics Committee is finally investigating the veteran lawmaker’s controversial intervention on behalf of her husband’s failing Massachusetts bank. As a result, the financial institution (OneUnited) received $12 million in federal bailout funds. 

Waters pressured Treasury officials to bail out the minority-owned bank whose executives have donated heavily to her political campaigns. At the time she and her husband, Sidney Williams, held big financial stakes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in OneUnited and her husband had just been the bank’s director and still served on its board.  

The conflict was so blatant that even the scandal-plagued chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, her good buddy Barney Frank, urged Waters to “stay out of it,” assuring her that he would see to it that her precious bank got bailout money. Earlier this year Judicial Watch uncovered documents that Congress, especially Frank, for years ignored corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so it’s not surprising that he took no action when Waters ignored his suggestion.  

Ms. Waters, I hope this doesn’t make you think that we are all racist, I mean you really are corrupt. Clean out your own closet first please before you demand investigations into peaceful opposition, and cry wolf with your ever present race card.

It has been a whirlwind news cycle the last few days as video after video has been coming out exposing the corrupt underbelly of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

Andrew Breitbart and his new website BigGovernment.com has been absolutely destroying ACORN, and for his opening act he started releasing the videos and stories from Hannah Giles and James O’keefe as they sought to expose ACORN for who they really are, and contacted Breitbart to get the word out. And what a massive success they have been. They have travelled to Baltimore, Washington DC, New York City, San Bernadino and most recently San Diego playing the same act as a pimp and a prostitute looking for housing. Clearly, the ACORN employees were well versed in manipulating the system, even if it meant aiding and abetting criminal behavior. Things got really good in San Bernadino California, where the Tresa Kaelke (ACORN employee) admitted on camera to killing her husband, effectively illustrating her street cred to the “hooker” Giles and her “pimp” O’Keefe.  Sean Hannity got the scoop tonight on the newest video to come out, which happened in San Diego. Take a look at the interview with Breitbart and Giles, along with the newest damning video evidence.

Its simply amazing. Even though to look at them, it would seem there would be no way they could pull off the act, they apparently have convinced ACORN employees across the country, even so much as to get a solicitation from the San Diego representative.

This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.
-Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN

Sorry Bertha, it doesn’t look like they failed. It looks like ACORN has been exposed.

THE FALLOUT

And boy has there ever been some fallout. Shortly after the release of the Baltimore video, Senator Johans (R-NE) added an ammendment to HR3288 which is the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Senate ammendment 2355 cut funding to ACORN, and was passed in overwhelming fashion, 83-7. Believe it or not, yes there were 7 who voted to continue funding ACORN. They are as follows:

NAYs —7
Burris (D-IL) Casey (D-PA) Durbin (D-IL)	Gillibrand (D-NY) Leahy (D-VT) Sanders (I-VT)	Whitehouse (D-RI

I know that I am not surprised by this list. Burris and Durbin jump out at me though, as likely being deeply connected with this organization, as they hail from the very center of government corruption in America, the great state of Illinois.

Also, in the days following ACORNs new found (albeit unwanted) fame, the US Census Bureau decided to cut ties with ACORN as well.  Ben Smith at Politico points out…

The latest ACORN expose, in which a conservative producer and his partner got two ACORN employees to give him advice on running his prostitution business and evading taxes with their underage Latin American prostitutes (really) has dealt the organization a final blow as far as the Obama administration is concerned: The Census has chosen to stop working with the group, with Census Director Robert Groves writing ACORN President Maude Hurd that public “concern” about the group has become “a distraction from our mission” and that recent events — an apparent reference to the expose — has “added to worsening negative perceptions of ACORN.”.

Conspicuously absent in this whole process has been the mainstream media. This expose from Giles and O’Keefe has exposed ACORN for who they really are (1 or 2 times coincidence, 5 is a pattern, sorry ACORN), but it has also exposed the inept main stream media for who they really are as well. They have been all but silent, other than MSNBC and CNN blasting these radical conservative 20-somethings who are on a witch hunt, following the right-wing obsession with ACORN. Actually MSM, they are doing your job…real investigative journalism.  Check out the piece MSNBC put out, including an interview with ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis. Tell me after watching this there isn’t some sort of leftist bias and radical agenda from this news organization. Its so thick in this segment, it cannot be missed.

Classic MSNBC…I was actually waiting for Rachel Madcow or Keith Olbermann to rush the stage and start up with one of their inane right-wing demonizing rants. One can dream I suppose.

I will end with this. We should all lift these two patriots up in our prayers, as the media and this organization has threatened them with lawsuits and other smears, and I’m sure its just a matter of time before more serious threats are levied in their directions. With a little creativity, they have accomplished what millions of decent Americans were hoping for, which is effectively bring down the largest “social justice” aka socialist community organizations in the country. Their website uses this social and economic justice double speak in its “ABOUT” section. Too bad the American public is awake now to what that term actually means.

It will be interesting to see more of the fallout in the coming days and weeks. Potential Congressional investigations into lawmakers ties with this group would be appropriate, and let us not forget that the Obama administration and campaigns have been intricately involved with ACORN. It was after all his first job out of college! Already the White House has thrown ACORN under the bus, by attempting to distance itself from the group. But the American public already knows better than that. Its their typical modus operandi to sell out their friends when times get tough.

This has truly been a shock and awe campaign unleashed by the grassroots in America against corruption.

The truth finally is coming out about the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi, who was set free on August 20th on compassionate grounds. It was stated that Al-Megrahi was dying of cancer, and was allowed to return to his homeland to pass away near his family.

Well, as it turns out there was much more to it. From the British publication Times Online.

Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.

The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”

Apparently, the Libyan government used Al-Megrahi as a bargaining chip in the deal for oil.

On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to MacAskill announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.

In a letter leaked by a Whitehall source, he wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.

“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”

Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody.

Saif Gadaffi, the colonel’s son, has insisted that negotiation over the release of Megrahi was linked with the BP oil deal: “The fight to get the [transfer] agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn’t mention Mr Megrahi.

“At all times we talked about the [prisoner transfer agreement]. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about.

“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and oil deals were all with the [prisoner transfer agreement].”

A shameful display of politics as usual by our friends across the pond.  While the majority of the passengers on board that Pan Am flight were Americans, there were also a large number of Brits and Scots. I wonder how this is playing in the minds and hearts of everyday Brits who have watched their government sell their souls for the almighty dollar, a dollar that is coming from no-less that Libyan strongman Muamar Ghadafi.

Now I have heard of the UN Oil for Food Programme…not quite sure I have heard of the Terrorist for Oil Programme. Shame to the British government for putting business interests ahead of your citizens and the lives taken from us all.

Universal Healthcare Should Not Be So Universal

            Why should I pay for the healthcare of a child molester?  It seems that our national healthcare debate is driven by a common assumption that all Americans are entitled to healthcare simply by virtue of their citizenship (and in some cases, despite their decided non-citizenship).  But what about those who don’t deserve it?  Rapists, murderers, men who beat their wives, we could go on and on.  How am I morally obligated to help them?  Why should society subsidize those who ruin it?  Put more bluntly, why should victims of abuse be taxed to pay for the well-being of their abusers?

            We are fortunate to live in a country that recognizes that we all have certain natural rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  But sometimes people forfeit those rights by their actions.  When we incarcerate a violent criminal, we take away their liberty and their ability to pursue happiness, and we are justified in doing so.  Likewise, even if one accepts the basic premise that everyone is born with a natural right to healthcare, there has to come a point where one has caused such harm to others that he has forfeited whatever claim he may have had to my help, and the help of those he has harmed.  

            And what about people who choose to pursue happiness by abusing drugs?  There was a story out of Britain a few weeks ago about a 17-year-old boy who was doing $300 worth of cocaine per week, and not surprisingly suffered a heart attack.  He has since been fitted with a pacemaker.  Now, pretend for a moment he was an American.  Should I have to pay for that?  In so doing, wouldn’t I just be subsidizing his drug habit?

            Understand that I’m fairly libertarian, but liberty has consequences.  If you want to abuse your body, that’s your business.  But don’t ask me to pay for it.  And if you want to abuse children, or women, or anyone else, don’t come looking to me to pay for your medical care.  Frankly, I can think of only one medical procedure for which I would be willing to pay for sex offenders to have, and I don’t think they would want it!

The headline is pure insanity…I am well aware of this.

But welcome to the bleeding-heart reality of the world we live in. Today, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was set free to return to his homeland of Libya to live out his days. Amazing.

Megrahi was convicted of the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie Scotland which killed 270 innocent people. He was the only person convicted of  the atrocity and was sentenced to a sentence of 27 years to life in prison for his actions. 8 years later, he was free to leave. Megrahi had developed terminal prostate cancer and was told by prison doctors that he had only 3 months to live, so the Scottish government, namely Justice Minister Kenny McCaskill, set him free on a compassionate release this morning. In an absolutely bizarre statement, he noted the reasoning behind his decision was to “show the world Scotlands humanity”. If by humanity he meant weakness and pandering to Islamic extremists, he was absolutely correct.

The common myth that nobody around the world seems to understand is that Muslim extremists (note the term extremists, not all Muslims) do not care how humane that you are. His right for humane treatment was thrown out the window when he decided to slaughter 270 innocents (which I might add the majority were Americans) for no other reason than a political ideology. Its insanity to believe that you will cool the tempers of extremism by releasing an extremist to show your humanity. In fact, this cold blooded murderer was …imagine this…welcomed back to Libya and given was basically amounts to a heroes welcome, invalidating humanity from this discussion entirely.

The world (outside of Libya at least) reacted with a stunned condemnation at the bizarre decision. President Obama and multiple members of his administration issued strong statements against todays moronic behavior by the Scottish government.

One US Senator said that by releasing Megrahi, Scottish ministers had increased the threat of international terrorism, and internet campaigners threatened a US boycott of Scottish products.

Mr Obama said: “We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this, and we thought it was a mistake.”

He added that he is now pressuring the Libyan government to keep Megrahi under house arrest until his death.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime,” she said.

Eric Holder, the Attorney General, repudiated the legal grounding of Mr MacAskill’s decision. “There is simply no justification for releasing this convicted terrorist whose actions took the lives of 270 individuals, including 189 Americans,” he said.

Senator Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, said: He said: “Releasing Mr. al-Megrahi sends the wrong message about the consequences of international terrorism and increases the threat of terror in the United States, the United Kingdom and around the world.”

Scotland has now with one amazingly idiotic move, basically let terrorist extremists around the world know that it is open season. The consequences are minimal at best. If you wanted to show humanity to this man, give him medical attention in his dying days. Fine, let him go out with some level of comfort. But starting in 1988, from that time forward he should have never been allowed to be free again. 270 lives…8 years. Roughly 11 days in prison served for each victim.

Shame on you Kenny McAskill.

We are now to refer to her as Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

I am not going to get into the details of why I think this is a catastrophe for our country. You can read my views here and here and here and here….or maybe here and here and here as well.

For a complete list of my Sotomayor opinions, just go here

I am not going to wax eloquent on this blog. She was confirmed, we are now going to be forced to live with her on the Court for many years. We have no one to thank but ourselves. The Constitution is under attack, how long shall we sit and observe it. It does not matter whether she is white, black, hispanic, Chinese, or even not of this world…she has shown in her career that the Constitution of the United States does not serve as her guide in judicial decision making. For that, we should not celebrate her confirmation, but lament the fact that the United States Senate enabled her to take this lifelong appointment.

For me, I will remember the name of Senator Lindsey Graham, the one Republican who sold his conscience on the Judiciary Panel.