Arizona preacher Michael Salman was sentenced to jail for building what the City of Phoenix claims he has been representing as a church on his home property without securing the proper permits. Salman claims the building is not a church and is simply for private Bible study gatherings.
Salman’s case, which started in 2007, reached its conclusion this week when a Phoenix court ruled that he was guilty of more than five dozen violations in constructing the building and sentenced him to 60 days in jail and three years of probation.
The preacher, whose ministry is called Harvest Christian Fellowship, claims he was exercising his religious liberty by worshiping at home on his private property, and that his gatherings were no different than when people hold Super Bowl or Christmas parties.
“You’re taking a man out of society and sticking him in jail for worshiping at his home,” he told a local news station.
This bothers me, because we are supposed to be a free Republic and not an oppressive monarchy. But yet, when a Christian man wants to put a Church building in on his own property; he is tossed in jail?
My question you, my dear readers is: Since do Governments have the right to oppress those who wish to worship God in their own manner as they choose?
Also too, allow me go be the one to ask this question: if this man were a Jew or a Muslim; would the Government be so quick to jail him? What about if he were black?
Those are answers that I would like to know. We are supposed to be an Constitutional Republic and private property right are supposed to be respected.
To which one can only reply, “Why the hell didn’t you do it?
Talk is cheap. If Pelosi’s Congress had actually pursued charges against the very real criminality in the Bush White House and had Rove’s pudgy ass frogmarched down Capitol Hill, it might have made the thieves and scoundrels think twice before embarking on their next caper. And even if it didn’t stop the GOPers, it would have at least made clear Democrats were as willing to fight as hard against the GOP agenda as the left did to put them into a majority.
That they didn’t is at least partly why they’re struggling right now to recapture the enthusiasm of the base.
I have to give the woman credit, when she is right — she is right. The no-nothing Democrats, during Bush’s term is why there was a good deal of lackluster support of the Democrats, during the era of Bush. This is why Obama shot forward, because the Democrats knew that if they did not pick someone like Obama, that they would lose to the Republican again in another election. This is sort of the problem that they have right now; just like during the Clinton era — their President is in trouble and the bench is empty. Except, back then they did have Gore, and Edwards and Hillary and Kerry. Now…. they have nobody at all.
It should be a lesson to them, overreach, when it suits your own political interests is never, ever a good idea. Yes, I know the Republicans have done it too and they paid for it in elections too. Now, it is the Democrats turn. I predict that this election coming in 2012 is going to be a wake up call for the Progressive community and to the Democratic Party. They are going to have to make some tough decisions about the future of that party. Because America is not happy with them, neither is their base. The old way of doing things in that Party is not going to work anymore. They need new ideas. The Democratic Party needs to come back to center and start over. This far-leftist way of doing things as failed and failed badly.
It is time for that party to change, and quickly, before that party is relegated to the dustbin of history.
Here is the best ironic quote since President Obama backtracking on closing Gitmo:
President Obama’s claim that he can refuse to deport 800,000 aliens here in the country illegally illustrates the unprecedented stretching of the Constitution and the rule of law. He is laying claim to presidential power that goes even beyond that claimed by the Bush administration, in which I served. There is a world of difference in refusing to enforce laws that violate the Constitution (Bush) and refusing to enforce laws because of disagreements over policy (Obama).
Under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, the president has the duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” This provision was included to make sure that the president could not simply choose, as the British King had, to cancel legislation simply because he disagreed with it. President Obama cannot refuse to carry out a congressional statute simply because he thinks it advances the wrong policy. To do so violates the very core of his constitutional duties.
Who wrote this rather lengthy piece on executive overreach? No other than that slant-eyed motherfucker —- John Yoo. Yes, that John Yoo. The goddamned John Yoo who told President George W. Bush that torturing terrorist suspects was just perfectly fine and should be sitting in a jail cell to this very damned day. However, because we have a Democratic Party that has no fucking balls and because the Republican Party still kind of thinks that Neoconservatism is just fucking peachy keen; this little slant-eyed puke is still living as a free man.
It is not only that I object to torture. I detest this ignorant piece of shit for another damned reason. This asshole did more to injure, discredit and bring harm to the Conservative and Republican cause than any of the Neoconservatives, hands down. It was because of this man’s actions; suddenly, everyone — including me at the time — believed that ALL Conservatives and Republican believed that torture of prisoners of war was just perfectly fine. Which I now know is horribly wrong. This man has done more to ruin the image of the political party that still believes in restraint of the fiscal, militarist and some, of the social kind. This man and his idiotic thought process is why I have never, and most like will never send the Republican Party a fucking dime and why I choose to call myself a right-libertarian.
So, in closing: John Yoo, shut the hell up, you slant-eyed fool; because nobody, least of all me — honestly gives two shits what you say, think or even feel. Please, just go back to your damned homeland of South Korea and take your goddamned borderline Communist attitudes about Constitutionality with you sir. Because quite frankly, Americans like myself, find your inane bullshit writings idiotic at best.
…..and I say all of the above, in the best Christian manner than I can muster. You’re welcome.
Signed,
A very proud Constitutionalist and right-libertarian
————————-
I mean, I hate to even write stuff like this, in this blunt of a manner. But, I am reading this guy’s crap on NRO and about into the second paragraph, my freakin’ head is about to explode! 😡
Again, the stupidity of this jack ass and the Iraq War debacle was what got my start in blogging about politics in the first place. So, this posting was a long time coming for me.
I’ve decided to remove some postings on this blog. Seeing I cannot even get a mention for stepping up to the plate and defending someone; I am removing any and all postings of recent that mentioned a few bloggers names.
As for the swatting stuff, and the harassment; couldn’t happen to a better bunch if you ask me. As for a particular Jewish blogger, that I defended, I retract my defense. She is too stuck on herself to acknowledge we commoners. So, she’s on her own. Maybe one day she’ll learn to be a bit more gracious to people.
I’m just tired of elitist bullshit in the Conservative Blogging World. Why I hardly even write anymore. It is almost as bad as the elitist bullshit in the liberal Blogging world! Might even be a little bit worse.
As many of you know, who read this blog with any sort of regularity; I used to be a Democratic Party voter. Then the 2008 election happened, as well as the meltdown of the economy, which was brought on by the Democratic Party’s fixing of the system to give to people who really did not deserve to even own a house.
While giving an assessment of whether Hillary Clinton will run again for office, AllahPundit observes something that I have known for years. He puts it so very well. Over you AP:
For what it’s worth, I don’t think she’ll run again, either, although three years is a long way off, too. The Clinton moment passed for good in 2007, when Barack Obama eclipsed her in the presidential primary cycle. She has high favorability ratings now, in part because she hasn’t been involved in partisan politics for more than three year years, and in part because of the declining popularity of her current boss. It won’t take long for the negatives to return if she decided on another run in 2016 based on all of the old baggage attached to the Clintons, as well as some more recent baggage, like the “reset” button and her husband’s curious mea culpa after speaking economic common sense that happened to conflict with the disaster of Obamanomics.
What I find fascinating is the fascination itself. The two Democrats most often mentioned for a potential 2016 run are Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, and at 69 years of age, Hillary would be the younger of the two when Election Day 2016 arrives. They belong to a different era of politics, but who else in the Democratic Party is ready for a national run in four years? Andrew Cuomo might be the only one that leaps to mind, but his father rather famously played footsie with Democrats for years and never actually took the plunge; the son will be a tougher sell, although he’s getting good reviews in New York thus far in his first term as governor. Their Senate leadership is too old, and Democrats lost so many gubernatorial elections over the last three years that their bench has almost run dry.
Compare that to the Republican bench, in and out of Washington DC. The party has a number of exciting, fresh talent in chief-executive slots around the country. Assuming Romney doesn’t win this year, names like Bobby Jindal, Nikki Haley, Susana Martinez, Scott Walker, and Bob McDonnell will probably be in play. On Capitol Hill, energetic newcomers like Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio will be more seasoned and better prepared to argue for a shot at the highest office in the country. If Romney wins this year and in 2016, those same candidates will still have their positions improved for another run, plus more may join them. Unlike Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, they’ll represent the present and the future, not the distant past.
It’s so true, the Democrats have nothing anymore. They tried running Al Gore, who would have been an disaster for a President; he lost. They tried running John Kerry, who lost, because he was seen by many, and rightly so, as an out of touch elitist idiot. Kind of like the current President! Now they have this President, if he is beaten, who else do they have? No one. Class warfare and Wealth distribution are remnants from a bygone era and the American people know this. My Father did well with the unions and voting for the Democrats. I, on the other hand, did lousy. True, I eat here. But I do not have a nice union job, like he did, before he retired. I have basically gotten nothing from the Democrats, in return for voting for them, for a good number of years.
This is why I have decided to take a different path than my own parents to vote my own convictions and not just go along with the crowd. For the record, I expect nothing from the Republican Party or the Conservative movement; that is just it. They don’t promise you anything; and I like that sort of blunt honesty. The only thing I want is my freedom; and that is what the libertarian/Tea Party/Conservative movement is about —- Freedom. Now the Republicans, as far as this writer is concerned; have not proven to me they will reduce the size of Government at all. But I am waiting to see, just what truly happens with Romney, if he is elected. I really do not expect much greatness from him. But, I will be hopeful. I will be voting libertarian, because that is where I am politically. But I am a realist, and I know Gary Johnson does not have a chance of winning. This is why I am watching what the Republicans and Mitt Romney will be offering as agents of Freedom. It is something I look forwarding to writing about in the future.
This is unreal and it is the same person. Via Patterico:
This dude is obviously off his rocker. Accusing Michelle Malkin’s cousin of “offing herself” and Malkin of covering it up? How sick! 😡
Patrick Asks:
Two questions come to mind as you review these supremely creepy audio clips:
First: why did the caller make that call now? What does he have to gain?
And second: why did Erick Erickson get swatted last night?
Good questions. Although I will say one thing. Glenn Beck warned us; for that, he was called crazy by the left and by some on the establishment right. Andrew Breitbart warned us too. That this sort of stuff was coming and some dismissed it as fear-mongering. It is not. This is what happens when the left begins to lose the war of ideas; this is what happens when leftist fascists see that they have lost control of the conversation. This is what happens, when Liberals see their President weakened and losing the election. They stoop to this sort of a level.
My advice is simple. Girt your loins, arm yourselves. Prepare for the worst. Keep your faith; if you are truly saved and washed in the Blood of Christ Jesus the Lord. The Devil and his minions on the left cannot destroy you, unless God gives them permission. Let me assure you, that if the Lord continues to tarry, this will only get worse. The left knows no honor any longer and they will stop at nothing to destroy those who disagree with them. As the Christians who were fed to the lions and destroyed; we are standing for that which we know is right. The blessings will come in the life to come.
It is scary, I will admit that, but we must not fear them; that is what they want. They want to silence the right, they want to see the Conservative/libertarian opinions silenced; they want control — just like Al-Qaeda did in 2001. We must not allow that to happen. We are Americans, we have looked in the face of tyranny before and said, “This shall not stand!” We did this in 1941, we did this in 2001 and we can and will do it again. We have the truth, we have the facts and we are right; and they are wrong. We will not submit to their fear.
There was a time; about 7 years ago, when I was a new blogger and no one knew who the heck I was, and could have otherwise cared less. but, nonetheless, I kept plugging away.
Along the way, I befriended bloggers and some of them helped me out, by adding me to their blogrolls and because of that, my site grew in readership.
So, I am returning the favor.
I was contacted by a Jeremy from MichiganStandard.com. I was looking around at his site and it seems to be something that I would be interested in reading. I encourage you to do the same. I give Jeremy credit, he is brave soul, anyone who dares to blog about Detroit and Michigan’s ills — while being white — is a brave person. 😯 I tend to avoid it, as you end up being accused of being racist. So, I tend to shy away from it.
Anyhow, thanks to whomever it was that contacted Jeremy about my site. I really do not see my site as being anything that great. Compared to some of these other sites, which are written by political insiders; I consider myself to be quite low on the totem pole.
So, there you are, a blog promo posting. Go check out MichiganStandard.com. The home of Jeremy, the bravest white man on the planet! 😉 😛 😀 😆
My friends, this below is the most likely the best article ever written about true Conservatism and the Republican establishment. It is really worth the click through and the read.
It should come as no surprise that the Republican National Committee has been “covertly” supporting Mitt Romney throughout the primaries, as POLITICO recently “revealed.” It was the worst-kept secret in Washington
The RNC has always been the center of Republican insiderism — what the insiders call pragmatism. Consider, back when Roger Stone was at the Young Republicans, in 1975, he hung up a portrait of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in his office. Within hours, the order came down from the chairman’s suite: Take the picture down. At once.
(****)
Many conservatives have, in fact, decided that their beliefs have become permanently inconsistent with Republicanism. This may be more apparent in 2012 than ever before. No offense to Romney, but he is the perfect nominee for the Republican Party in 2012 because he — like the GOP — has adopted a variety of positions over the years in order to acquire power. The Etch A Sketch comment was stunningly accurate.
The “lesser of two evils” argument is now settling over the landscape. Perhaps. The “conservatives have no place else to go” storyline is being pushed. Maybe.
On the other hand, some conservatives now view this election as a clear Hobson’s Choice or possibly a Morton’s Fork. One choice is bad or nothing; the other between two bad options.
Conservatives should be clear-eyed, though. The job of the Republican Party is to deceive conservatives into handing over their support. This does not mean that conservatives can’t arrive at the conclusion that this choice is between the lesser of two evils.
In this writers opinion, the Republican Party has not been a real Conservative party since around the time that Senator Berry Goldwater decided that the lobbyists were a bit too much and decided to not run for another term. Since that time, anyone who dared run as a true conservative, like Pat Buchanan; has been cast as an extremist, a racist, an anti-Semite and so on. Only reason Ron Paul lasted as long as he did, is because he was the only person in that part of Texas that actually could get elected. Besides that, Ron Paul’s supporters in his district know him well and have voted for him for years. That is because his district is filled with true Conservative Christians.The reason why Ron Paul never got elected is because the Neoconservatives or the Rockefeller Republicans have controlled the Republican for many years.
Either way, the article is great and it tells the truth about the Republican Party. Sad thing is, the Republican Party will never change; this is why Sarah Palin was quickly kneecapped. She was running against the Republican establishment in Alaska and when you that, you pay the price; same goes for Paul, Buchanan, and many others. I will not be voting for Obama, that is for sure. But, I will not be voted for a RHINO like Mitt Romney. He is very much a Republican establishment candidate — or as I like to call him, George W. Bush — with really nice hair. 😛
Needless to say, I am voting libertarian; because I am not about to be blamed for either of these piss poor excuses for Presidential Candidates, least of all the one who claims to be a Conservative.
First off, let me say this; I do not believe that the Tea Party movement itself was racist at all. In fact, it never was a centralized movement. In most movements, like the Tea Party movement; there will be people who do things that do not represent the movement as a whole.
A quick search of Google Images brings up quite a few racist signs and images:
and this is not racist Michelle? (even though it is misspelled...)And this is not racist?
Here is the one that really bothered me, and this dude ended up in jail for this too:
A "Death to Obama" sign... But, that's not racist, so says Michelle Malkin
Nope, No racism here! Only thing missing here is the N-word and that makes okay, according to Michelle Malkin
This image was used on signs and passed around in e-mails, by Tea Party supporters. (I know, I used to see it on facebook and in e-mails I would get from other Tea Party supporters. That until I told the idiots to quit sending me racist crap like that….)
But this is not racist according to Michelle Malkin (Willful blindness much Michelle?)
Again, let me be clear; I am not calling the entire Tea Party movement racist as a whole, that is collectivism and this blogger is not a collectivist. In other words, I do not dismiss the movement in it’s entirety, as racist; but I will say that there were people who were carrying racist signs, not to mention doing stuff like this:
This is Chris Broughton, and yes, he is black, and he is a Ron Paul fan and yes, he was carry an assault rifle at a Obama event. My question is why? I think I know the reason and I think you do too. But, the Tea Party is just peaceful people... Most of them anyhow...
My point to this posting is this; The OWS crowd are a violent group and yes it does include anarchists, who do try and blow up bridges. However, the Tea Party is not without its own individual nuts and looney tunes, who did bring a tarnish to the good name of the Party. Not to mention all of the infighting that went on with various groups.
However, my more intellectual point is this; to what end was all of this even done? I mean, the Republican Party did not change one wit. Oh sure, there were a few Senators who were elected as result of the grassroots surge. However, the Republican Party’s coronation of a Mormon George W. Bush is telling; and let me tell you something, if you think for one second that Mitt Romney is going to rip out Obamacare, you are crazy. Oh sure, he will remove the mandate and anything else that seems to infringe on basic American rights. However, I do not believe that he will remove the entire package.
Which makes me have to really wonder aloud, what exactly did the Tea Party accomplish; outside of the rhetorical flourishes? Absolutely nothing. Government is still there and it is still imposing upon our basic human rights. All of those borderline racist signs, all of the verbal clashes, all of the excitement were for naught.
This was not to hurt Michelle Malkin herself; but it was to point out the Republican/Conservative/Fox News/Sean Hannity right’s willful blindness to the racism of the Tea Party — which was, and is still there very much so, to this very day.
One reason I think this discussion is so important is because the manipulation of the term “terrorism” this way permits and bolsters (even if unintentionally) an extremely ugly, destructive, and toxic worldview, one which the Editor-in-Chief of Commentary Magazine, John Podhoretz, vividly expressed last night on Twitter when discussing the firing of Keith Olbermann by Current TV:
That’s about as overtly racist a statement from a media figure with a platform as you’ll see (and the it’s-just-a-joke excuse is obviously irrelevant: just imagine analogous “jokes” about how disfavored journalists would be punished at The Jerusalem Post, or Black Entertainment Television, etc.). To Podhoretz, Al Jazeera is filled with Arabs and Muslims, which means: The Terrorists (for many years after 9/11, that was virtually official U.S. governmentpolicy). Podhoretz is the same person who wrote a New York Post column in 2006 lamenting that in the early stages of the Iraq War, “we didn’t kill enough Sunnis in the early going to intimidate them and make them so afraid of us they would go along with anything,” suggesting that the big U.S. mistake in the war was allowing “the survival of Sunni men between the ages of 15 and 35.” Remember, though: it’s those Muslims who are The Terrorists (when influential American “terrorism experts” start talking about the John Podhoretzes of the world as terrorism advocates, and about “Shock and Awe“, the assault on Fallujah and the bombing of Gaza as terrorism, and about Ronald Reagan as a “state sponsor of terrorism” for his funding of El Salvadoran death squads and Nicaraguan contras, and about the parties responsible for the assassination of Iranian civilian scientists as international terrorists, then I’ll start to take the honorific more seriously).
I have no doubt that most respected “terrorism experts” would find Podhoretz’s comment about Al Jazeera repugnant. But the mentality on display here — and it’s quite pervasive (which is why this is one of the few remaining forms of overt bigotry that provokes no real sanction) — finds nourishment in the constant discussion of Terrorism, the Supreme Evil, as: acts of violence by Muslims directed at us (but not violence by our own government or those of its allies directed at Muslims).
The above is exactly why the libertarian crowd hates the Zionist crowd with a passion. This is why I am not a huge fan of John Podhoretz and his ilk. It is because they can make statements like this, without any repercussions. If someone, who is not a Zionist made a similar statement about Israel and Jews; they would be excoriated from one end of the blogosphere to the other. Mr. Glennwald has a very good point and I think everyone on the Jewish Conservative side of the political isle, ought to take a hard look at this and take it very seriously. If the Zionists want respect, they have to learn to respect others. Because not all Arabs out there are terrorists; just like not all blacks are murders, robbers, and so forth —- not all white people are robe and hood carrying Klansman. Some black liberals might think that, but I digress. Furthermore, not all Jews are evil bankers trying to overthrow the Country. See? It goes both ways. Someone needs to tell Podhoretz to keep his damned bigotry towards Arabs to himself.
Also too; anyone who believes that Jews can be insulted like this, and can get away with it —- ought to have a nice long talk — with Rick Sanchez.
Just a thought.
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