Right Wing Popcorn

Rehnquist May Not Retire

2005-07-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

LifeNews.com reports that Rehnquist will serve another term since O'Connor has retired. Apparently his health situation is improving.

The Supreme Court Shortlist

2005-07-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a primer from Slate on the potential nominees for Supreme Court Justice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

And one from The New York Times.

O'Connor Legacy

2005-07-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Len Munsil, lawyer and Executive Director of the Center for Arizona Policy, has this to say about the legacy of fellow Arizonan and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"Sadly, when our history as a people is written, this will be Justice O'Connor's legacy: she was a judge who was given a rare opportunity to do something courageous and significant and just, something that would have restored an important element of American self-government, and something that would have allowed many unborn lives to be spared - and she blinked."

And When It Comes to SCOTUS Nomination . . .

2005-07-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

. . . Sen. Brownback will have a tricky road appealing to a conservative base he needs to win a 2008 Presidential nomination if President Bush nominates Alberto Gonzales. Read it here.

Brownback Works to Ban Human-Hybrid Research

2005-07-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-KS, continues to draw the ire of the biological research community with his proposed "Human Chimera Prohibition Act of 2005."

LJWorld.com: Chimeras sound like something out of a science fiction movie, a fusion of human and animal cells to create something in-between. But they’re real.

“From the moral perspective, to create a human that is less than fully human or to create an animal that possesses particularly unique human aspects should be a serious concern for all of humankind,” Brownback said in a written statement to the Journal-World.

Kudos to Sen. Brownback. He has been an effective voice in this debate.

United to Leave Bankruptcy After Abandoning Employees

2005-07-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

After dumping short and long term pension commitments under the cover of bankruptcy court, United will emerge "unscathed." Though we are no fan of organized labor at Right Wing Popcorn, we're no fan of breaking one's word either. United negotiated a contract they should have honored. Honor dictates that one take the difficulties as well as the glories of leadership. Better to have fought to keep the pension plan in place going down than to emerge with the scar of thousands of retirees scrambling to survive when they should be receiving the fruits of commitments made. Here's the link to the story.

"The Left Is Still Living in Sept. 10 World"

2005-07-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

E. Thomas McClanahan makes the case against the strained reasoning of the left on Iraq:

"The 'Bush-lied' crowd, in other words, is relying on knowledge that could only be acquired through a policy they opposed--the invasion that brought down Hussein's regime." . . . In effect, Pelosi and her ilk are saying that we should have believed the Iraqi dictator over our own intelligence services when he said he had no chemical or biological weapons — even though he had used them in the past and no credible source was willing to take him at his word.

Kelo Still Resonates

2005-07-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Michelle Malkin notes how turmoil over the Supreme Court's Kelo v. City of New London decision continues. She especially points out how that is happening in New London itself. Residents are up in arms over the unconstitutional use of eminent domain there.

Souter May Become the First Victim of "Lost Liberty"

2005-06-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

Logan Darrow Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, has petitioned the town of Weare, NH to build a hotel at 34 Cilley Hill Road. This would be an everyday non-event until one considers the person residing there now, Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Clements argues that the city of Weare will receive much greater tax revenue with a hotel on this property, and would therefore benefit from the enforcement of immanent domain. This, of course, is the argument behind the recent Kelo v. City of New London case which was supported by Souter.

Freestar Media, LLC: "The proposed development, called 'The Lost Liberty Hotel' will feature the 'Just Desserts Cafe' and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel 'Atlas Shrugged.'"

Well done Mr. Clements! This would be an appropriate monument to the excesses of Supreme Court hegemony over the actual language and intent of the Constitution.

Maybe the same thing could be done at 125 Broad Street in New York City at the ACLU headquarters. Just think of it: a brand new hotel bringing in more tax revenue per square foot than office space. On the first floor is the new home of New York Evangelical College with adjacent Court House which hangs the Ten Commandments above the bench.

Examples of a Balanced Durbin

2005-06-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

IowaHawk has found evidence that Dick Durbin is having a bad run in the customer service area. Thankfully, these few samples give us an example of patience and tolerance from one of our Senate leaders.

Green Counter-revolution

2005-06-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

Zach Wendling opines about Kelo:

"Now that development interests official[ly] trump property rights, I think it's natural to wonder, 'What trumps development interests?' "

This makes me consider that now with government help I can get rid of my pesky neighbors and get that green space my boys have been craving!

Dry Creek Chronicles

2005-06-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a great new blog I came across today: Dry Creek Chronicles.

Cheaper by the Dozen--Plus Four

2005-06-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Arkansas State Representative Jim Bob Dugger and his wife are expecting a new child, and it will bring their family up to sixteen children.

Now that's family values!

Former Editorial Writers Claim Religious Discrimination

2005-06-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Indianapolis Star, a Gannett Co. newspaper, has been charged with religious discrimination in a lawsuit brought by two former editorial writers, James Patterson and Lisa Coffey.

INDIANAPOLIS: "[Patterson and Coffey have charged in court that] top newsroom managers 'consistently and repeatedly demonstrated ... a negative hostility toward Christianity.'"

The two are asking to be reinstated at the paper, and be compensated for lost income, benefits, emotional distress and unspecified punitive damages.

"Lisa and I aren't the only employees that have been driven away from this company and we thought it was time for someone to say, 'Goodness gracious. This isn't right,'" Patterson said.

This is consistent with the changes which have taken place at the Star since Gannett purchased Central Newspapers, the former parent company of the Star and the Arizona Republic. The editorial bent has turned decidedly more liberal and news reports have become much less local and more liberally oriented with editorial decisions following the precedent of Gannett's mega paper, USAToday.

In fairness, the editorial staff maintains two decidedly Christian writers, Russ Pulliam and Lori Borgman. Pulliam is the scion of the paper's founding family, but his role on the editorial staff has been greatly reduced to general legislative and community commentary. Borgman writes a stay-at-home-mother oriented humor column which is in the Erma Bombeck tradition which sometimes espouses decidedly Christian ethical advice and insight.

The Indianapolis Star (history) was founded in 1903 and was brought to prominence after it was purchased in 1944 by Eugene C. Pulliam. The Pulliam family was a highly influential and conservative voice in the midwest for many years until Pulliam's son, Eugene S. Pulliam, died in 1999. Shortly thereafter, it was sold to Gannett Co.

Message to Madeline Albright: Get A Life! This Ain't 1980!

2005-06-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Madeline Albright Bashes President Bush on International Abortion Funding proving once again that the Grim Reaper is the patron saint of 70's feminism.

Kudos to Feminists for Life.

A "Diest's" View of Freedom

2005-02-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.

--Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 18, 1781

Megan's Home

2005-02-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hugh Hewitt interviewed a 6 year-old girl with a dreadful disease, Microscopic Polyangiitis (MPA), named Meagan. He promoted her website, Megan's Home, and asked all to support.

Please visit, sign her guestbook and help if you can.

Hat Tip: Captain's Quarters.

Dick Durban Plays for the Camera

2005-02-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

Did anyone happen to notice Sen. Richard Durban, D-IL, on C-SPAN last night playing for the camera.

Normally when discussion takes place on the floor of the Senate, the Senators face The Chair. Durban, in an obviously empty room, was looking straight at the camera.

Was anyone listening?

Shinola?

2005-02-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens, on the Laura Ingraham show today discussing the success of Iraqi elections, brought a correction to those in the MSM who think all Sunni Arabs in Iraq are sympathetic to Saddam and the insurgance.

To the contrary, according to Hitchens, Saddam's family was a "mafia style family from Tikrit" and did not represent all Sunnis.

The upshot, according to Hitchens: those who tout all out Sunni rebellion don't know "Sunnis from Shinola."

Duty of Self-Government: Devotion to Divine Truth

2005-01-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."

--James Madison

I receive the "Founders Quote Daily" from the Federalist Patriot website. If you would like to subscribe to their regular emails, click here.

Military Power

2005-01-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

"The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral."

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 11

I receive the "Founders Quote Daily" from the Federalist Patriot website. If you would like to subscribe to their regular emails, click here.

Strict Constructionism

2005-01-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

"It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will bear either of two meanings to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given to them. It was intended to lace them up straitly with in the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect."

--Thomas Jefferson

I receive the "Founders Quote Daily" from the Federalist Patriot website. If you would like to subscribe to their regular emails, click here.

Moral Necessity

2005-01-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

"Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent
felicity of a Nation with its virtue? The experiment, at
least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human
Nature."

--George Washington

Power

2004-11-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

"Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger
of oppression."

--James Madison

Justice

2004-10-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

"Where there is no property there is no injustice."
--John Locke