Remember our military
One of my sons recently came home from a twelve month military deployment. My wife and I took a couple of days and flew to welcome him at his stateside arrival airport. We watched soldier after soldier pick up his or her duffel bags and other luggage in baggage claims. We didn't see families or friends hugging them and welcoming them home. My son turned the corner and came into the area and I was so delighted to see him. For the first time in one year I heard his voice and hugged him. I'm sure I was missing something. Surely there was another area where spouses, family or others were located in waiting to greet these wonderful military men and women. However, I didn't see them. I felt like my wife and I were the only two people in waiting to welcome a family member.
I wonder if we are missing something altogether in this nation. Do we take for granted all that we still have in America? In Colorado Americans are free to smoke pot. In many of our states we are free to gamble our money away if we choose. We are free to choose the religion of our choice. In Kentucky we can choose Bourbon Whiskey or from any number of multiplying vineyards. Gay and Lesbians can find a way to legally bond somewhere in America. Street Preachers in America can still cry out the gospel. States are crying for people to start businesses. All in all in America you can do most anything you want to do. America doesn't ask a whole lot of us. We have to pay some taxes. We aren't allowed to hurt people. We have a few rules to obey. We are to obey the driving laws and that's about it.
Soldiers are called upon to lay down their lives. We do pay them. However, most of our service people make very low wages their first few years. I realize they have some benefits but we are asking them to fight to help protect us and maintain our American way of life.
This weekend or any weekend say thank you to a Veteran or to a passing soldier. They appreciate being appreciated. Remember those who gave their lives for us in war. Without their sacrifice America would have been a thing of the past a long time ago.
Glenn Mollette
American columnist
The Pima-Dynamite case is back
The gas station at Pima and Dynamite is back for yet another try to force it down our throats. So far it is only a pre-application but there will be an open house, held by the applicant, as follows:
6 p.m. on June 1, 2015
Dream Center Scottsdale First Assembly
28700 N. Pima Road 85266
This place is the church on the west side of Pima Road just north of Dynamite (and just north of the subject site).
According to the letter “The general plan amendment will propose a change in land use from Rural Neighborhoods to Neighborhood Commercial, while the rezoning will be from R1-190 ESL FO (Single Family Residential District 190,000 square feet per lot, Environmentally Sensitive Lands, Foothills Overlay), to PNC ESL FO (Planned Neighborhood Center, Environmentally Sensitive Lands, Foothills Overlay). The proposed neighborhood center will include a Farm2Market store, an energy station, a hardware store, and similar neighborhood commercial uses.”
Of course the “energy station” is the gas station and the site plan is exactly what they submitted last time.
You are urged to attend this open house and give them your opinion of their proposal. Note that this is the third time it is being proposed, the project hasn’t changed just the way they are trying to ram it through. We defeated this twice before the first time because they tried to illegally circumvent the General Plan and we threatened to sue the city if the city allowed them to get away with it, and the second time, which is identical to what they are submitting this time, it was withdrawn when they realized they didn’t have the votes on the city council to pass it (requires 5 council members to approve it because it is a Major General Plan amendment).
So is the third time a charm? It is up to you to voice your opinion and let the city council know how you feel. For now attend the open house and register your opinion.
Howard Myers
Scottsdale
Warden to Pima County Bar
I know lawyers need employment, but … are you really proud to work HERE?
95 percent or MORE of the U.S. District of Arizona caseload involves rape, murder, child trafficking for sexual exploitation, extortion, kidnapping, drug and other cases arising consequent to Tucson City Open Border Policy.
Evo A. DeConcini U.S. District Court, Tucson Arizona ISN’T a “U.S. District Court”: it’s an Illegal Alien Processing Center.
If Tucson City Open Border Policy didn’t exist, THIS building wouldn’t be here.
Its purpose is to feed the criminal justice / prison industrial complex.
Roy Warden, Publisher
Arizona Common Sense
There's no such thing as an illegal knife
"Nationwide, knife laws vary in neighboring towns, counties, cities and states," writes Jesse J. Holland for the Associated Press. "This mishmash makes it difficult for citizens to comply."
The AP's interest in knife laws stems from the recent death, in police custody in Baltimore, of Freddie Gray. Police justified Gray's arrest by claiming he was carrying an "illegal" switchblade knife. It turned out that the knife was a perfectly "legal" blade.
That aside, Holland is wrong in any case. Knife laws don't vary from town to town, county to county, state to state. There's one federal knife law. It applies to all levels of government in the United States, and unlike most laws these days it is simply written and impossible to misunderstand:
"[T]he right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
You may recognize that as the operant clause of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. And you should recall that the US Constitution proclaims itself the "supreme law of the land," superseding all others which conflict with it in any way. As Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in Madison v. Marbury, "an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void."
Freddie Gray's knife was not illegal, because in valid US law there is no such thing as an illegal knife (or gun). State, county and local ordinances which infringe on the right to own or carry any weapon are plainly unconstitutional and therefore void. They are also indescribably stupid and evil.
Stupid, because laws are only effective if they are obeyed. Since criminals don't obey laws, the sole effect of laws prohibiting possession of weapons is to disarm victims.
Evil, because in the priority of rights -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- life comes first. You can't be free, nor can you seek happiness, if you're dead.
Indisputably corollary to the right to life is the right to defend that life against any and all threats. Lacking the anatomical defenses found in other animals (claws, poison glands, etc.), we must instead rely on wit and invention. To forbid us possession of the tools of self-defense is to preemptively deny us the exercise of our primary right.
There's no such thing as an illegal knife. There's no such thing as an illegal gun. That claim, made explicit in the 2nd Amendment, is implicit in the laws of nature.
Thomas L. Knapp
Director and Senior News Analyst
William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism
Marriage: How to de-politicize the culture war
In the United States, same-sex marriage is de facto legal -- based on a combination of court rulings and legislation – in 36 states, the District of Columbia and several American Indian jurisdictions.
The Supreme Court is widely expected to come down on the side of ending marriage apartheid nation-wide this summer. Even if it doesn't do so in one fell swoop, the Constitution's "full faith and credit clause" will make itself felt over time, if for no other reason that married couples move, then divorce.
Ireland's late-May referendum may be a global bellwether. 62 percent of voters in that largely Catholic country brushed aside the objections of church leaders to legalize same-sex marriage.
Some social conservatives, particularly in the United States, seem to have finally got it through their heads that they've lost this battle; they want to move on. A few of them even have an inkling of the best way to go about doing so.
On May 19, Alabama's Senate passed a bill that, if also approved by the House and the governor, would move marriage from the category of state-licensed activity to a matter of contract between parties. No ceremony necessary – if you want one, that will be between you and your church or other social group.
It's about time! Libertarians have been suggesting this for decades.
With the state out of the business of defining and licensing marriage, that institution can evolve organically as people decide for themselves how to organize their lives.
People who want to marry can just consult a lawyer. Or, and I predict this will happen very quickly, legal services firms will make boilerplate marriage contracts available for inexpensive download, with selections of additional "drop-in" clauses to accommodate most reasonably common scenarios (property settlements in case of divorce, for example, as are handled with "pre-nups" now by some couples).
The Alabama bill, according to news accounts, specifies only two parties, but not their sexes. On the ground, those who want marriages of more than two parties will presumably be able to have workable contracts drawn up to accommodate their desires, neatly sidestepping (for e.g. polygamy) the decade-long political war we just went through over same-sex marriage.
Presented with a facially just and valid contract, a court will likely honor and enforce that contract.
Will this approach get the state out of marriage matters entirely? No. Marriage contracts might specify arbitration instead of state court litigation in case of divorce, but when it comes to matters of child custody and child support, the state will probably assert a compelling interest to intervene as it sees fit.
But it's a start. People are better than politicians at making important life decisions for themselves.
Thomas L. Knapp
Director and Senior News Analyst
William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism
How missing punctuation affects a message
Two weeks ago, I was driving north through Longmont, Colorado, when I saw a series of signs in front of the Boulder County Fairgrounds:
BIG
BOYS
SALE
I saw some parents towing rather obese male children inside the fairgrounds, which made me wonder whether slave auctions had been reinstituted (the boys seemed a little stressed and unwilling to enter).
Perhaps the sign maker should have used a plural possessive apostrophe, BOYS' to make the message clear, don't you think?
Now, I want you to form a mental picture for each of the two following captions:
MAN-EATING SHARK and MAN EATING SHARK
If you had been blessed with two of my teachers, Miss Salibian at the Lincoln Grammar School in Buenos Aires, or Mrs. Anderson, at Saint Andrews' Scots School in Olivos, Buenos Aires Province, both of whom drilled the rules of English grammar into my thick French skull, your two mental pictures would consist of a Great White Shark (think Jaws) and a man seated at a table in a seafood restaurant, enjoying a serving of shark steak. That hyphen makes a difference, eh?
Thank you, dear teachers, for having taught me proper English!
Jean-Pierre A. Maldonado
Lafayette, Colorado
ISIS takes Ramadi, Obama has no response
Last week, ISIS fighters captured the provincial capital of Ramadi in Iraq, taking them to within 80 miles of Baghdad.
Despite this slap in the face to the brave Americans who lost their lives taking and defending Ramadi, Obama refuses to change his response to ISIS aggressions.
Showing his anti-colonial roots, Obama continues to choose "strategies" that allow him to say "Look! This is what happens when America invades other countries!" Perhaps his lack of outrage at the latest news is because the fall of Ramadi is part of his strategy! It's becoming clearer and clearer who the real JV player is, and it's not ISIS.
What does ISIS have to do to get Obama's attention?
Back at home, Al Sharpton's daughter does her dad proud by suing New York City for $5 million after she claims she tripped and sprained her ankle in a crosswalk. One week later, she posted this photo:
Pink-haired Elly Maye seems to have struck a nerve with the video that she produced for me about Hillary Clinton, having surpassed 3.5 million impressions on Facebook! If you haven't seen her top 10 reasons why Hillary should not be the first woman president, watch now:
And lastly, if you haven't yet, get your discounted FreedomFest pass today! It will be one of my first speaking appearances after leaving my court-mandated confinement, so I hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Dinesh D'Souza
P.S. The DMV won't renew my driver's license until I pay a ticket I got in 1984, even though they can't find any info on that ticket. It makes me think: just wait until our medical matters are handled with the same maddening incompetence.
Wake up America!
Our school kids are not being taught history today nor do they know freedom is not free. They don't know our men and women risk their lives and some have given their all, for the freedom they have today. They don't understand what this White House is doing to our freedom. Let our Flag still wave. Wake up America!!
Blaine Keith
Email
"Con-con" a bad idea?
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently stated that a constitutional convention is a "horrible idea."
We couldn't agree more.
A constitutional convention is a far cry from a Convention of States:
The former has the authority to write a new constitution; the latter only has the power to propose amendments to the Constitution we already have, pursuant to the procedure prescribed in Article V itself.
And considering the repeated and flagrant abuses by our federal government, an Article V Convention of States is long overdue.
Citizens for Self-Governance
Convention of States Project
Alabama application passed
The Alabama state motto is “We dare defend our rights,” and that sentiment was on display May 21 in the Alabama State Capitol.
Earlier this afternoon, Alabama become the first state in 2015 to pass the Convention of States application to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.
The Senate passed HJR 112 on May 21st, which had been first passed by the House a few weeks ago. Then, because of minor amendments to the resolution, it was sent back to the House where it passed by a vote of 92-7.
Congratulations are in order for every Convention of States volunteer in Alabama. Their hard work and dedication is what made this victory possible, and we couldn't be prouder of our team in the Yellowhammer State.
Terry Richmond, the Legislative Liaison for the Alabama team, had this to say about the victory:
“I’m overwhelmed by the support we received from both volunteers and legislators over the past few months. The dedication, vision, and prayers of every volunteer in the state, along with the hard work and commitment of our sponsors and their staff, is what made this victory possible. The people of Alabama should hold their heads high – they've implemented the Founders tool to fight federal overreach, and we’re one step closer to turning a Convention of States into a reality.”
We’d also like to thank every Alabama legislator who sponsored, co-sponsored, or voted in favor of our resolution. They passed HJR 112 by overwhelming majorities, sending a clear message to D.C. that the American people are tired of overreach and reckless spending.
Legislation is pending in many other states, with Texas and Kansas next in line. The citizens are speaking; it's time for the states to put the federal government back in the box.
Sincerely,
Mark Meckler
Co-Founder, Convention of States Project
President, Citizens for Self-Governance
