Category Archives: politics

headlines, politics

Public Servants Doing Public Jobs Privately

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So a guy is riding his motorcycle, speeding and popping a wheelie. He gets cut off by an off duty State Police officer in a grey sedan who exits his car with his gun drawn. The off duty officer identified himself as “State Police” then the cyclist complied and totally accepted his ticket. Now the motorcyclist has a camera on his helmet and was filming the exchange. He then placed the video on YouTube. Now he is being charged with wiretapping because the officer didn’t know he was being taped.

Ok, how does someone who has a public job have an expectation of privacy when he is doing it? Not even getting to the issue of the legality of him cutting off a guy when he was off duty to ticket him. But did he have a right to privacy while ticketing this motorcyclist? Because the DA says the officer had an expectation the motorcyclist is being charged with a felony! Oh and Maryland (the state where this happened) has dashboard cameras in their police cars. They claim that they tell suspects when they are being filmed so it is totally different. And apparently this isn’t the first such case.

Don’t get me wrong. I am usually very supportive of the police but only when they respect our rights. Just because an officer is being embarrassed is not a reason to not allow something. This is freedom of, not speech but reality. This is a public position that takes place in public! He pulled this guy over to the side of the road in front of everyone. Where is the expectation of privacy there???

Oy!

(HT: Washington Post)

Christianity, headlines, politics, Video

A Shot Out of the Dark

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I was just sitting here. I was just sitting here, chilling in the morning before my kids got up. I was cleaning my email box and watching a Dr. Phil. I was listening to Ed Begley Jr. talking about the environment, a couple fighting over about how much money they spend on lunch and Starbucks. And then I found this….

And began crying like a baby. This stirs up so many issues for me, for every woman and for everyone. What woman in our cushy American world doesn’t have self-worth issues? But can you even imagine. Being owned and abused?

It also stirs up a lot of feeling about these young film makers. Seeing young people take action always touches my heart but especially film makers. That may be because I have some in my life and I understand what they would be giving up to do a project like this. It may also be because it is wonderful to see the media being used in such a powerful way.

So are you going to help Rescue the Girl?

(HT: We Are That Family)

headlines, politics

Always Remember, Til You Don’t

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Yesterday was the 66th anniversary of D-Day. This may be news to President Obama because he didn’t do or say anything about it. Now, I understand that the anniversary isn’t a national holiday but there are some things I expect the President of the United States to remember. Presidents have addresses and do things to recognize all kinds of silly things. June 4th (2 days before the anniversary of D-Day) the President had a ceremony recognizing Utah’s Major League Soccer team for winning their Championship. While that is great, it may not be of the same national importance. Not to say the President did nothing yesterday… He went to Ford’s Theater for the filming of America Celebrates July 4th at Ford’s Theater.

I have to be honest, I saw this on Fox News at the gym and I thought they were kind of blowing things out of proportion. Surely, he did something just maybe not anything at the level Fox thought the President should do. Well, I came home and searched the White House site for something. A mention in a radio address, something. The only mention this year of D-Day on the White House site is how we won’t have a D-Day moment in Afghanistan and that was back in May.

I knew that President’s didn’t write there own speeches but I assumed they at least stood behind them. Last year President Obama said D-Day was important so we didn’t forget. Apparently that is until we do.

politics

Are Republicans Burning Themselves to Win?

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I am a bit puzzled and frustrated with all the Republican campaigning for this primary that is next week! I think that over all the campaigns are being a bit short sighted.

Let’s take the Meg Whitman/Steve Poizner campaign. Some of the commercials I thought were just dumb. I kept waiting for the #1 reason not to vote for Poizner, could be he is the son of Satan;)? Those commercials just kept seeming to get sillier and sillier. Then of course, Whitman is really a Dem in Republican’s clothing according to Poizner. And do you know she has money? Imagine that, electing someone who ran a successful business and in return made a ton of money. California couldn’t survive a person like that;).I guess I am just burned out on Governor’s races in California because I know that any Republican that gets elected is only going to be some conservative. That is the nature of our state at this point. So I didn’t find the information in the “They are a bigger liberal” commercials all that shocking.

But what has really frustrated me is the involvement of the national level players. I have gotten “calls” from both Gingrich and Cheney this last week. Are they really sure that they want to pick junior horses and risk their political capitol at the primary level? What if Whitman loses the primary? Will the national Republican machine support which ever Republican wins the primary? Then, won’t that seem hypocritical? I think that the national involvement at this point is just terribly short sited. I think we want to win the election in November more than winning a primary, don’t we?

My 2 big fears through all this? First, is that the Democrats will use all the smear commercials against whomever wins the primary. But that is shadowed by my main concern. I am afraid that the national involvement, particularly for Whitman, will backfire huge if she loses. If they are successful in convincing a good sized percentage of Republicans that the other side is nothing but a rhino, those Republicans may be less than excited about voting at all. And that means they won’t vote in any race, not just the governor’s. I can say that NerdDad and I have said that we would rather Brown be elected than a horrible Republican that will do the same things as Brown but under the Republican moniker. At least then we could hope for conservative backlash next time. Now I am not saying that either Poizner or Whitman are that worst case scenario. But if that crossed our minds….Could the involvement of someone like Dick Cheney or Newt Gingrich convince people that Poizner or Whitman is? So come election in November we may have a less than active Republican voter base.

What do you think? Am I over reacting?

headlines, politics

First the Money, Now the Plagues

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I think we can all agree that Greece is in a financial mess! They are out of money and that has sent them into chaos. With riots and violence and the like. But what I didn’t see coming are the plagues;). Traffic on a highway in Greece was stopped for 2 hours due to frogs. Lots and lots of frogs. Wasn’t that one of the plagues? What is next for Greece? Boils? The water turning to blood? It all seems a bit ominous;).

biden the idiot, politics, Video

Return of Biden the Idiot Feature

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Really? Vice President of the United States goes overseas and says that someone else has a claim to Capital of the Free World? While I could see a social sciences professor making the claim, it just feels disloyal for the VP to say it. Does he not think about these thinks before he says them? Did it not dawn on him at all that is might bother some people, say Americans?

Not his stupidest statement but not all that smart either.

headlines, politics, Uncategorized

The Issue of Asking and Telling

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A friend on FaceBook asked all his friends on our views of the Military Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy and if we think it should hang around. Well, I decided to take my life in my hands and post about it.

I don’t care if you are gay and in the military. I don’t think that it will effect what type of soldier you are and I just don’t care about your private life. That said, I think that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell should stand. But with better implementation than is currently used. I don’t think it is the ideal solution but I do think that it helps. But why you may ask…

There are reasons that we separate out the sexes in barracks and other things. Many of those reasons circle around dating, sexual attraction and the like. By filtering out those issues it allows people to be more focused and less self conscious. Now, I am not worried about the homosexual people hitting on the straight people. That isn’t it but overall issues of dating, attraction and the like. We know that overall this is a huge issue in the military. That is why there are so many rules about fraternization.

We put men and women in separate barracks to isolate them from those the would be interested in. Not all the time but during the times that they are bathing, changing, in bed, etc. But with homosexuals how would you do that? 1 gay guy for every 100 women in a barrack and 1 gay girl for every 100 guys? I can say that doing that may mess with the 100 women or men who are attracted to that person and want to turn them (not the gay person’s fault but a reality).

So what can solve this problem? Who knows. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is far from perfect but what would be the better logistical solution. Now I don’t like some of the things I hear about its implementation and how some people use it as a weapon but on its face, what would be better? I’m open to ideas…

headlines, politics

Possible Car Bomb at Times Square?

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According to a piece on The New York Times site there was a possible car bomb at New York Times.

“It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

The device, he said, contained “explosive elements” that included “propane tanks, some kind of powder, gasoline and a timing device.”

“This is very much an active investigation,” he said.

While the final investigation isn’t done yet, either way this isn’t good. I can’t think of any reasonable explanation for a car with wrong plates, explosives and the like to be in Times Square. So I guess the question I am waiting to see answered is how we all will respond.

(HT: AllahPundit)