War Cry of the Scots
“They can tak’ oour lives, but they canna tak’ oour trousers!”
(Apologies to Terry Pratchett for lifting the line from Wee Free Men.)
Random thought
What Part of “the right of the people… to petition the government for a redress of grievances” Do You Not Understand?
Update: I knew I should have gone here first: from the Oklahoma State Constitution–
Section II-3: Right of assembly and petition.
The people have the right peaceably to assemble for their own
good, and to apply to those invested with the powers of
government for redress of grievances by petition, address, or
remonstrance.
The subject line for this post is a question for Drew Edmondson, Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma and for the Oklahoma “supreme kangaroo court”.
The First Amendment to the Constitution singled out four specific areas that the “feddle gummint” could NOT infringe: political speech, the exercise of religion, peaceable assembly and… the right of citizens to petition their government for “redress of grievances.”
As it stands now, Paul Jacob is under a felony indictment for… organizing and aiding a petition in the State of Oklahoma that was politically unpopular… with the State powers that be. Read Jacob’s take. Yes, it is an advocacy statement, but having spent many years as a resident of Oklahoma, having gone to school there, worked, lived and voted there, I can credit his statement with hewing very closely to the reality of politics and bureaucracy (and jurisprudence) in that state.
He, and his “cohorts in crime,” are, in the asessment of this one time (long-time) resident, being put to the screws for bucking the political establishment, plain and simple.
Now, while I am not normally a fan of expanding the Fourteenth Amendment all out of shape to fit whatever fancy politicians *spit* or various splinter groups may desire, a clear application of the First Amendment at the State level seems appropriate here, even if arrived at through pressure from the Fourteenth.
Drew Edmondson has in the past lost more than a few “feddle” appeals based on First and Fourteenth Amendment claims and should now better than to seek to quash a petition drive on the flimsy grounds he claims. Heck, if Jacob’s report is anywhere near true (and I have, as I said, every reason to believe it is), a less-rigorously vetted petition that was popular with the Oklahoma political establishment (read, “did not threaten their stranglehold on Oklahoma politics and power”) went unchallenged.
Easy read: petitions that do not seriously threaten the power establishment are OK; those that do are not.
In recent memory, the First Amendment has been applied to the silly and the perverse whenever it suited the whims of the day, from hair length on a school child to publishing pedophilic obscenities, and State and local laws challenged–often successfully–uhnder the claim that the Fourteenth Amendment makes ALL the providions of the Federal Constitution apply to the States as well. Why then should the First Amendment not be applied to things it was clearly meant to address?
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 grievances.
Just because Snake McCain and his partners in crime, the congresscritters who aided him directly and Fifi “I hate free speech” Bush and the Supreme Communists who upheld McCain-Feingold, have shown no respect for the First Amendment’s clear purposes, that’s no excuse for Ayatollah Edmondson to do the same, is it?
Or is it.
Well, now that I think on it, it’s the perfect excuse. Political speech? Petition their government for redress of grievances? What’s next, free exercise of religion? Oops. That’s already dead, now isn’t it? (Just try opening a school board meeting with prayer or bowing your head while a sports team prays_*_ and see where that gets you nowadays.)
Bottom line: we’ve let Leftards, Mass Media Podpeople and others who genuinely hate it hijack the Constitution and make its provisions nearly meaningless. And this is (only a part of) what we get: a State Attorney General using the power of his office to quench the First Amendment right to petition.
If the Fourteenth Amendment truly does apply the Constitution to the States, as politicians say whenever it suits their purposes, then the First Amendment’s clearly-stated aims apply, and Ayatollah Edmondson needs to be sent for a remedial consultation with Dr. Tarr and Mr. Fether. He and his black-robed buddies on the Oklahoma Supreme Kangaroo Court.
*The thing that gets me about this one is the judge who implied that if the coach wasn’t praying, it was ok for him to bow his head. What? Restraint of religious exercise under the cover of supposedly enforcing the First Amendment? Yep. Exactly. Welcome to 1984.
Addendum: Also from the OKlahoma State Constitution (also liberally adapted from the U.S. Constitution):
SECTION II‑15
Bills of attainder – Ex post facto laws – Obligation of contracts – Forfeitures.No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed.
Niote that since this article applies to the legislative branch, what Drew Edmondson did in order to have a de facto creation of an ex post facto law was to simply have the Supreme Kangaroo Rubber Stamp Court of Oklahoma tweak a former “interpretation” of “redident status” and then apply that, ex post facto, to the petitioners recruited by Paul Jacob and the people he was working with. When you can get the courts to do your dirty work after the fact, you’ve no need for a compliant legislature (and legislators can smirk and be able to claim disingenuously that they aren’t responsible for the mess).
Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, , A Blog For All, 123beta, Right Truth, Adam’s Blog, Inside the Northwest Territory, The Populist, , The Bullwinkle Blog, Leaning Straight Up, , Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
So, Dems really do think President Bush is blowing people’s heads off for amusement
*yawn* What else is new?
Years of DailyKosites, DemocraticUnterpantsers, Mass Media Podpeople Hivemind propoganda, etc., and there’s a chance in the world that anyone, anyone, is surprised by this?
You don’t have money to fund the (Iraq) war or children, but you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people  if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.–Congresscritter Fortney Pete Stark, Democrap, CA
Now, readers here know I have my differences with Fifi Mohammed Bush (lapdog to successive Mexican presidents and best girlfriend of Saudi “princes”), but this is not just over the line, them’s fightin’ words, bub. In case you missed it, Fortney Pete Stark apparently believes President Fifi Mohammed Bush is off in the Oval Office cackling gleefully whenever he gets reports of another American serviceman dying.
Stark is absolutely stark raving loony-around-the-bend mad. IOW, a typical Democrap politician (which is just an avant garde Republican’t politician).
*feh*
Well, the one sterling quality Stark has is that he’s at least speaking openly what his colleagues think silently. Expect some tepid backwatering from colleagues along the lines of, “Well, of course what he said crossed a line, but I can understand how he feels. After all [ensuing disingenuous blabber and B.S. omitted for the sake of your digestion and my blood pressure]… ”
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Must-Read: “Will The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize Go To Pat Buchanan ?”
*heh*
Russell Seitz’s insightful take on the Nobel Peace Prize is worth a wider dessemination than I can afford it from here. Pile on, guys. Let’s see this one pop up all over. A sample:
…So I congratulate Gore on finding an income alternative to his lead-zinc mining leases, and the Oslo committee, who may deserve the Nobel Prize in Economics for awarding the Peace Prize to Gore.
Be SURE to read the whole thing.
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Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, , Right Celebrity, The Populist, The Pink Flamingo, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, and Adeline and Hazel, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
“Shut Up and Go Sit in the Corner, Ann… “
(“…along with all you other folks who believe Jews, like anyone else, would benefit by a ‘close encounter of a meaningful kind’ with Jesus!”Thus spake the Mass Media Podpeople Hivemind.)
Dennis Prager, one of those rare oases of civility in the desert of Mass Media Podpeople Hivemind incivility, has this to say about the Ann Coulter “anti-semite” kerfuffle:
What damage has she ever done to Jews? What is wrong with a person believing that it would be better if another person adopted their faith? Is there one liberal who doesn’t believe that a conservative would be better — “perfected,” if you will — by embracing liberal beliefs and values? Why is it laudable for a liberal to hope that conservatives convert to liberalism, but dangerous and hate-filled when a Christian hopes that Jews or anyone else will go to heaven (that is, after all, Ann Coulter’s and most other Christians’ primary concern) by believing in Jesus?
Yeh, Ann’s comments were ill-considered, and poorly-constructed given her audience. Her abrasiveness is just fine in some (I’d say most) of the venues where she exercises her razor-tipped tongue, but apologetics ain’t one of ’em, let alone evangelism. *heh* Still, I read the remarks that have the Mass MediaPodpeople Hivemind in a tizzy, and, while I’d like a sit-down Bible study session with Ann to clear up some minor points, the fit-throwing by the Hivemind is completely unwarranted.
As usual.
Move along folks. Nothing to see here but the Hivemind losing it. Again.
Trackposted to Nuke’s, Perri Nelson’s Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, , Faultline USA, Right Truth, The Populist, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, , and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Firearms Refresher Course
As posted at Chaos Manor Musings:
“Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE
1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
3. Colt: The original point and click interface.
4. Gun control is not about guns; it’s about control.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
7. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
8. If you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any.
9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
10. The United States Constitution (c)1791. All Rights Reserved.
11. What part of “shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.…
24. When you remove the people’s right to bear arms, you create slaves.
25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
IF YOU AGREE, PASS THIS “REFRESHER” ON TO TEN FREE CITIZENS.
Read the rest at the link.
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Day Eaten By Locusts
…and it’s not even rolled over to the wee hours yet (I write this in advance, knowing that Monday is GONE already. *sigh*)
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Christ in the Public Square
As more and more politicians *spit*, Mass Media Podpeople, jurists *gag*, “special interest groups” (you know who you are, Anti-Christian Loonies Union), and other nutcakes face off against soi-disant “Christian” nutcakes in the public square, playing a dumbed-down version of “Barbarians vs. Constantinians,” I find Christ openly entering the public square in such venues as Kat’s firm but gentle exposition of Ephesians and the no-holds-barred muscular faith espoused by such places as Credenda.org–in opposition to both the barbarians and Constantinians. *heh* Check the link to Kat’s start on Ephesians 2:1-10 and follow on back on her earlier expositions, then read Douglas Wilson’s “Cruciform Politics” in the most recent issue of Credenda Agenda.
A sample of the latter to whet your appetite:
On a number of occasions, I have been dismayed to see how quickly Christians who have been encouraged to “get involved” in the public process find themselves thinking that a “biblical worldview” about politics is “just what a bunch of my new acquaintances were thinking already.” This means that these involved Christians are just a thermometer, taking the temperature of their surroundings. We need to be a thermostat, affecting the temperature of our surroundings. If we are to reject the emptiness of the secular public square, and we resolve to do what we do in the name of Jesus Christ, then we must be able to draw a direct connection between what we are urging, and what God reveals to us in His Word. And right at the center of what God reveals to us in His Word we find the cross of Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified. But what does it mean for our politics to be cruciform?
Look around. The Nazarene isn’t hiding in a corner somewhere. The world just wants to make it seem that way.
Trackposted to The Random Yak
Just the Thing Your Paranoid Friends
Think ahead to Christmas. Here’s just the thing to lay on your paranoid friend(s): The Super Trackstick.
…the perfect tool for individuals, law enforcement and government agencies looking for a way to track anything that moves. The Super Trackstick records its own location, time, date, speed, heading, altitude and temperature at preset intervals. With over 4Mb of memory, it can store months of travel information.
The included magnetic mount makes the Super Trackstick easy to attach and remove from any metal surface.
Better yet, just get one, stick it to their car and show ’em maps from GoogleEarth of where (and when) they went yesterday… last week… Tell ’em you just got it off GoogleEarth.
*heh*
Trackposted to The Random Yak, and The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Proof Positive: the Nobel “Peace” Prize is a Fraud of Monstrous Size
[With apologies to Rudyard Kipling for the borrowed appellation.]
Algore–that quintessential liar, poltroon and rabble-rouser–has “won” (read, “has been awarded the thing by a corrupt group of assinine ninnies”) the Nobel “Peace” Prize. Now, he can go off and celebrate his winnings with Yasser “Who, me? A terrorist?” Arafat *gag* (at least he’s rotting in hell) and Dhimmi Cahtah *spew* (“Baptist” or not, I doubt he’ll clear the Pearly Gates).
Birds of a feather.
I think I’m going to go over in a corner while my head explodes.
One bright note: maybe it’ll be just the thing to spur Mr. I-can-be-a-better-wooden-indian-than-the-real-thing to enter the race for the presidency. *heh* Talk about blogfodder.
Hey! Would someone please PROOFread my titles? All day long “proof” was typo-ed “proff”! (Thanks WW :-)) *heh*
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