California Conservative

The Supreme Court finally delivered a sane ruling in striking down D.C.’s gun ban. As you’d expect, the majority and dissenting opinions were like a night and day difference. Here’s a sample of Justice Scalia’s brilliance:

1. Operative Clause.
a. “Right of the People.” The first salient feature of the operative clause is that it codifies a “right of the people.” The unamended Constitution and the Bill of Rights use the phrase “right of the people” two other times, in the First Amendment’s Assembly-and-Petition Clause and in the Fourth Amendment’s Search-and-Seizure Clause. The Ninth Amendment uses very similar terminology (“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”). All three of these instances unambiguously refer to individual rights, not “collective” rights, or rights that may be exercised only through participation in some corporate body.

What Justice Scalia is saying is that simple English shouldn’t be mangled to the point that a former president asks what the meaning of the word is is. Justice Scalia said that the meaning of the Second Amendment is clear when you look at other examples in the Constitution. (more…)

While we’re rejoicing the charges being dropped against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, there’s a bigger message that Col. Steven Folsom delivered with his ruling. Here’s the message that we shouldn’t overlook:

Folsom’s ruling dismissed the charges without prejudice, which means prosecutors could restart the case, but the judge said the Marine Forces Central Command could not be involved if that happens.

Col. Folsom’s ruling means that Centcom can’t be involved if this investigation is ever revived. I’m skeptical that this investigation will be revived. The military’s prosecutors have been embarrassed in each of the 7 cases that’ve been resolved thus far. Six of the cases have had the charges dropped; the other soldier was acquitted.

Just as importantly, these cases have gotten alot of scrutiny on the blogosphere. That scrutiny will only increase if the investigation is reinstated. That isn’t what the brass in NCIS and JAG want at this point. In fact, that’s the last thing they want right now.

Here’s what Col. Folsom said after dropping the charges:

“Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice,” said Col. Steven Folsom, quoting previous case law. “In order to restore the public confidence, we need to take it back. We need to turn the clock back.”

Here’s what led to Col. Folsom’s ruling: (more…)

Just a few minutes ago, this report crossed the wires:

A military judge has dismissed charges against a Marine officer accused of failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqis.

Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges Tuesday against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani after defense attorneys raised concerns that a four-star general overseeing the prosecution was improperly influenced by an investigator probing the November 2005 shootings by a Marine squad in Haditha. The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled, but Folsom excluded Marine Forces Central Command from future involvement.

Chessani was the highest-ranking officer implicated in the case.

Here’s what WND is reporting:

A judge in the U.S. military court system today tossed out the charges against a Marine officer whose soldiers were caught in a bloody firefight with insurgents in 2005 in Haditha, Iraq.

The decision from Col. Steven Folsom came in the case against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani after defense lawyers from the Thomas More Law Center raised the specter of unlawful command influence by confirming an “investigator” in the case also met dozens of times with commanders deciding the course of the prosecution.

Folsom’s ruling dismissed the charges without prejudice, which means prosecutors could restart the case, but the judge said the Marine Forces Central Command could not be involved if that happens, according to the Associated Press.

Later in their article, WND says this: (more…)

The five liberal idiots on the Supreme Court just gave Gitmo detainees the right to challenge their being held as enemy combatants in US courts. This is why elections matter. This is why busting our hump to win back control of the Senate while maintaining control of the White House is imperative for Republicans.

People have groused about McCain being a maverick. They’ve also said that Norm Coleman has gone green too often for their likings. To some, that’s the only reason they need for not busting their hump in getting these men elected. While I agree that both gentlemen have given us hearturn with some of their policy positions, it’s instances like this that sharpen our focus on what the most important things in life are.

The justices handed the Bush administration its third setback at the high court since 2004 over its treatment of prisoners who are being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The vote was 5-4, with the court’s liberal justices in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than 6 years. Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

This isn’t a ruling based on the Constitution. It’s essentially a policy decree from the third legislative branch of government. (more…)

Appearing on Hannity and Colmes Thursday night, George Will declared that “I think the Reverend Wright dislikes Barack Obama.” Here’s the transcript of that exchange:

HANNITY: And we continue now with the author of “One Man’s America,” George Will. All right. So let me ask you about the radical long-term associations that Barack Obama has had. We have the conviction of Tony Rezko. We got Reverend Wright. We got Father Pfleger. We got Bill Ayers.

Are you surprised as I am? You know here are the most radical members in society, long-term relationships that it hasn’t had a greater impact if the polls for Barack Obama?

WILL: It’s not done having its impact for two reasons. I do not believe that the Reverend Wright has gone to earth and is going to be hibernation until the middle of November.

I think the Reverend Wright dislikes Barack Obama. I can only interpret his performance at the National Press Club as a deliberate and successful attempt to injure Barack Obama., perhaps as retribution for Obama asking him to stay off the podium when Obama announced his candidacy.

It’s been obvious since Wright’s National Press Club appearance that there was some serious friction between Wright and Obama. That bad blood won’t go away anytime soon, either. I suspect that Wright will go make fundraising appearance, most likely for the NAACP.

Wright’s been Sen. Obama’s personal albatross since the tapes hit the mainstream. Wright will continue being Sen. Obama’s personal albatross right through Election Day.

I hope conservatives think of this exchange anytime they get upset with Sen. McCain: (more…)

Mai Thor’s post at Minnesota Daily would be utterly laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. Thor’s post concludes that requiring photo ID’s before voting is racist. Here’s the scariest part of Thor’s post:

Our Constitution affords us several rights, including the right to vote. It is unfortunate that many people, especially those who run our courts and make our laws, feel that voting is not a right, but minimize it to some sort of privilege, like having a bank account or going to the liquor store, where conditions and technicalities have to be met in order to participate.

There is no denying the race factor in the history of photo ID requirements. After the Civil War, the black vote was suppressed by poll taxes and literacy tests as well as other heinous laws known as Jim Crow. Proponents of photo IDs say it prevents voter fraud, when, in reality, voter fraud is an illusion which originated from an era of racism.

Photo IDs are the poll tax of present day America. Today, the group of individuals that are disenfranchised is much broader. Some of these individuals include seniors, low-income people and those who have disabilities.

Ms. Thor’s grasp of reality is faulty at best. First, let’s consider this article by WSJ’s John Fund:

Take the bill the GOP-controlled Legislature passed, which would require voters show a form of official ID or a utility bill; another bill would end Philadelphia’s bizarre practice of locating over 900 polling places in private venues, including bars, abandoned buildings and even the office of a local state senator. City officials admit their voter rolls are stuffed with phantoms. The city has about as many registered voters as it has adults, and is thus a rich breeding ground for fraud.

Let’s also examine this post by Stefan Sharkansky, in which Sharkansky quotes from a Washington Post op-ed by Michael Waldman and Justin Leavitt of the Brennan Center. Here’s one of Leavitt’s and Waldman’s assertions: (more…)

People have been talking about Sen. Obama’s wrapping up the Democratic nomination all day. That’s fair enough. That’s news. With his virtual clinching of the nomination, talk about his ties to Jeremiah Wright have temporarily subsided. The good news for Republicans is that Sen. Obama hasn’t left us with a shortage of things to ridicule him about. Let’s consider what he said in his victory speech last night:

The other side can label and name-call all they want, but I trust the American people to recognize that it is not surrender to end the war in Iraq so that we can rebuild our military and go after Al Qaida’s leaders.

I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did.

What on God’s green earth is Sen. Obama yapping about? When did Truman and FDR meet with Hitler or Tojo? I’ve heard about revisionist history before but this is ridiculous.

Only a blithering idiot would try justifying meeting with Ahmedinejad by saying that FDR met with that era’s equivalent of Ahmedinejad. Someone that’s either that intellectually dishonest or that intellectually vacant isn’t qualified to be the leader of the free world. (more…)

George Will has penned another masterpiece, this time asking Sen. Obama a set of rather difficult questions, questions that actually require intellectual heft. Here’s the easiest question in the bunch:

You say, “The insurance companies, the drug companies, they’re not going to give up their profits easily when it comes to health care.” Why should they? Who will profit from making those industries unprofitable? When pharmaceutical companies have given up their profits, who will fund pharmaceutical innovations, without which there will be much preventable suffering and death? What other industries should “give up their profits”?

Sen. Obama can’t answer that question because it requires a capitalist answer, something that’d infuriate Sen. Obama’s ardent socialist supporters. This is the only time it’s difficult being a liberal. It’s easy being a liberal if you’re never asked thoughtful questions. It’s immensely difficult when they’re asked why questions. Liberals are used to giving answers to ‘what’ type questions. It’s difficult for liberals to answer ‘why’ questions because that requires logic.

If I’ve learned anything about politicking, it’s that most liberals can’t handle answering why questions because they’re so used to not having to defend their principles and policies. Altogether too often, liberals are asked a what question, which often gets accepted without further questioning. (more…)

This morning, the Supreme Court ruled that Inidana can require voters show a government-issued photo ID. Here’s what they’re saying:

In one of the most closely watched cases of the term, the US Supreme Court has upheld Indiana’s requirement that voters show government-issued photo IDs at the polls. At least 17 other states were awaiting this decision before going ahead with similar laws of their own.

The vote was 6-3, with Justice John Paul Stevens joining the mostly conservative majority.

Democrats had attacked the law, saying it created a burden for poor, minority, and handicapped voters, who would have a harder time getting government-issued IDs. They accused Indiana officials of passing the law to suppress the minority vote.

Here’s what USA Today’s Joan Biskupic wrote about the ruling: (more…)

Thanks to the hard work of Kit Lange and Tim Harrington, the truth is starting to come out about the railroading that the Pendleton 8 got and that was planned for the Haditha Marines. Fortunately, the media is picking up on what several people have known for awhile now. Kit Lange’s article in the Salem News lays out a story that should get every justice-loving American irate:

Two years ago the nation was shocked to hear of Marines coming home from the battlefield in shackles. This is not how we treat our heroes, not when they are highly decorated, highly trained, and even more experienced. It was preposterous, we said, to charge Marines with murder for shooting the enemy.

Isn’t that what we train them to do?

“Yet that is exactly what we did–and the seven Marines, together with their Navy corpsman, became known as the Pendleton 8. For the last two years, these men have seen their families disintegrate, their careers vaporized, and their freedoms taken, all because their government decided to turn its back on the men who fight to preserve it.

Now at last the real story is available. Over the next few weeks, I will tell you the real story of what happened that day in Hamdania. I will show you the autopsy reports, combat logs and diaries that prove them innocent (and that were barred from the trial!), and the tactics the government used to keep it all under wraps. What’s more, I’ll tell you what they were trying so hard to hide.

People inside and outside the Pentagon should be worried. Check the timeline for why there’s cause for more than concern over the military’s actions and motives. This part of the timeline doesn’t cast the Pentagon in a good light:

1. “According to accounts given by Hashim’s neighbors and members of his family, and apparently supported by photographs, the Marines went to Hashim’s home, took the 52-year-old disabled Iraqi outside and shot him four times in the face. The assault rifle and shovel next to his body had been planted by the Marines, who had borrowed them from a villager, family members and other residents said.”

2. “The Marines grabbed Hashim by the front of his cotton robe as soon as he came to the door, pulling him from the house, said one of his sons, Nadir, 26, an arts student in Iraq…Less than an hour later, we heard shooting.”

Note: The prosecution charged that the Marines took Awad out of the home, marched him down the road to the hole, bound him and shot him. Family members and neighbors said Awad was shot in the face four times when he came to the door. One of Awad’s sons said he was pulled from the house and they heard shots less than an hour later. The Iraqis apparently couldn’t get ‘their’ version straight. How did the prosecution arrive at its version; toss a coin?

(more…)