Well…have been reading about this little doozy for a couple of weeks now and it has taken this long for me to get the whole thing straight in my head…not really, it’s a pretty black and white issue for me since I really have a pretty thick streak of libertarianism in me and I do believe that we can’t go wrong if we follow the constitution. But, what we have again is the right wing elites selectively trying to ignore the constitution when it suits their political goals. Oh, I guess I’ve buried the lead again…let’s go back..this is about the proposed building of an Islamic community center (something like an Islamic YMCA) within a couple of blocks of where the World Trade Center stood. As you could predict, Newt, Palin, Limbaugh, and the rest of the repub elites have gone crazy on the issue, butting themselves into a community issue where the plan for the center was approved 29-1 by the local council. They have gone so far as to lobby both the city and state of New York to make sure this doesn’t happen. But, I guess they’ve never read the first amendment which prohibits the governments interference in religion or, more probably, they have never cared for the constitution other than to us it as a prop or to incite their followers.
I say to them: you can’t pick and choose what part of the constitution you will follow; look how well that worked out with ole GW….hypocrites all…geez…
I have only one word of advice for the Obama administration, when Charles Krauthammer agrees with one of your trial balloons; specifically shrinking the use of or modifying the Miranda warnings, you’ve got it all wrong just like he does most of the time. I just marvel at these guys who are so inconsistent that they howl about government intrusion in healthcare, then want government powers increased by the gutting of Miranda. Shame on Obama and Holder for even considering changing what has worked over many decades and that has resulted in much more actionable intelligence than any person held without trial at Guantanamo.
I am going to continue pointing out this blatant pandering to the base on both sides in an effort to force some honesty on the national conversation about these important issues.
One other example that I have to point out was some repub bitching about healthcare (again), and his premise was that since he has polls showing that the majority of Americans don’t want the changes, they shouldn’t happen. Where was he when the majority wanted Al Gore to be president and the Supreme Court installed Bush? If you look at history, public opinion sometimes is not right on these issues; look at the violence that came with the repeal of the Jim Crow laws. Geez…
Well…I don’t understand the sudden interest in personal rights by the gun toting folks at the rally that was held in Virginia earlier in the week. Where the heck were these guys when the Bushies were trampling on all of the Constitution, not just the Second amendment? Where were they when Habeas Corpus was being denied to even American Citizens? Where were they when the Fourth amendment was being gutted by the unlimited wiretaps without warrants that they foisted on the American people under the guise of fighting terrorism? Where were they when these lawbreakers were torturing in the name of the American people? I truly believe in the Second amendment but these guys should understand that the possibility of the government “coming for them” is much reduced in an administration that believes in the rule of law rather than the rule of Bush. Geez….