Verging on Child Abuse
In many ways, the worst aspect of environmentalism is why Greens not only feel free to terrorize children with doomsday scenarios, but feel compelled to do so.
A key element of the Green’s endless indoctrination schemes has been to reach children, the most vulnerable among us and for this reason our schools have been turned into Green prisons where their version of the Earth is pumped into the minds of children here and around the world.
Their primary teaching tool is fear. Fear that the oceans will rise and wipe out entire cities. Fear that the rain forests are disappearing. Fear that entire species are being destroyed by the hand of man. Fear that the use of any kind of fuel, coal, natural gas, and oil is despoiling the planet.
— Alan Caruba, “The Environmental Terrorizing of Children”, RenewAmerica, April 10, 2012.
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Jefferson’s Views on Judicial Monopoly
Jefferson was the first President to challenge the extent of the powers of the Federal courts. Indeed, he raised the challenge even before he attained the highest office in the land and continued to express various concerns in letters to individuals long after he retired to private life. Also, he was the most outstanding public figure in his day to confront directly the question of a judicial monopoly of the interpretation of the Constitution. From the confrontations he developed a coherent view of the matter.
First, do the courts have a monopoly of the interpretation of the Constitution? Jefferson did not equivocate on his answer. He answered the question most emphatically in a letter written in 1820, long after he had left office. “You seem . . . to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions,” he wrote to a correspondent. But that, Jefferson said, is “a very dangerous doctrine indeed and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy . . . . The constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that, to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party its members would become despots.”
Jefferson did not believe, however, that all the branches of government together are the final arbiters of constitutionality. Not even the Federal and state governments, to whom he would certainly provide some place, are the ultimate arbiters. Government is too dangerous, too bent on aggrandizing its own powers, to leave to it or them the final decision. “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves,” he said. In the final analysis, he thought, that was where the power of interpreting the Constitution resides. The people may turn out members of Congress who displease them on constitutional issues. They can refuse the re-election of a President. If all else fails, or if the branches of government cannot agree, the Constitution can be amended by the consensual process prescribed.
There is great danger, Jefferson thought, in a court monopoly of the interpretation of the Constitution. Any monopoly would be fearsome, but that of the courts would be the most dangerous. The members of the court are appointed for life, are difficult to remove, and hold perilous power over the populace. Although Jefferson’s nose was undoubtedly finely tuned to sniff the threat of despotism in every tainted breeze, he meant no exaggeration when he said that it would be an oligarchic despotism.
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The Dead Squirrel and the Hollywood Star
[Jennifer Lawrence] gutted a squirrel in the most talked about scene for her role in 2010’s Winter’s Bone, (for which she was nominated). The scene was not faked, she told Rolling Stone magazine: “I should say it wasn’t real, for PETA,” she said. “But screw PETA.”
Here’s what we can expect to happen now. PETA fascists (but I repeat myself) will fight back. The last thing PETA can deal with is the hottest rising star in Hollywood mocking them and making them appear uncool. So PETA will start some kind of public or private campaign (or both) to use peer pressure (conformity) to shame Lawrence into taking it back and maybe even into appearing in one of their ad campaigns.
The question is, will Lawrence assimilate into the Borg or retain her identity and who she really is?
— John Nolte, ” ‘Hunger Games’ Star Jennifer Lawrence: ‘Screw PETA’ “, Big Hollywood, April 9, 2012.
(Will Lawrence be forced to walk back her mild contempt of the system and apologize, much like Franklin Graham did vis-a-vis the President, and thus become another major disappointment? Time will tell.)
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Going to Pot
What about growing marijuana to pay off municipal debt? One Spanish village is putting the idea to a vote.
The referendum Tuesday in Rasquera, population 960, in the northeastern Catalonia region is a quirky, legally touchy illustration of Spain’s deep financial woes.
The seven-member town council first approved the idea in March, but it ignited such controversy that the mayor agreed to put it to a referendum in the hamlet of mostly retirees.
At least 75 percent must be in favor for the plan to go ahead. If that happens, a plot of land will be leased to an association of marijuana buffs in Barcelona who would grow the plants and pay Rasquera €1.3 million ($1.7 million). Some 40 jobs — growing, harvesting and packaging the pot — would allegedly be created.
The payment by the pot-smoking group ABCDA is about equal to the debt owed by this picturesque hamlet that sits at the foot of a mountain range and has a castle that dates back to the 12th century.
— Hernan Munoz, “Spanish Hamlet Votes on Pot-growing to Pay Off Debt”, AP, April 10, 2012.
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Transgender Transition
Transgender women will be allowed to participate in the Miss Universe beauty pageant next year, officials announced Tuesday, a week after they ruled a trail-blazing 23-year-old could vie for the crown this year.
Pageant officials said they are working on the language of the official rule policy change but expected final word to come soon. Trials for next year’s Miss Universe pageant begin this summer.
The move comes five days after the organization said that Jenna Talackova could compete in the Miss Universe pageant this year. Talackova, a Vancouver resident, underwent a sex change four years ago after being born a male. The advocacy group GLAAD called on the Miss Universe Organization to review her case, as well as open the competition to transgender women.
“We want to give credit where credit is due, and the decision to include transgender women in our beauty competitions is a result of our ongoing discussions with GLAAD,” said Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization. “We have a long history of supporting equality for all women, and this was something we took very seriously.”
— Colleen Long, “Miss Universe Pageant Allowing Transgender Women”, AP, April 10, 2012.
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The Dead Kid Cash Cow
The mother of slain Trayvon Martin recently filed a trademark to protect the rights to his name as an attempt to control — and collect funds from — the masses of merchandise being produced in support of their cause.
It was revealed today that Sabrina Fulton, the boy’s mother, filed two petitions last week to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to specifically gain the rights to the phrases ‘I Am Trayvon’ and ‘Justice For Trayvon’, both of which have been frequently used by protesters across the country.
The trademark application shows that she is specifically looking for control of the use of those phrases on CDs and DVDs that feature her deceased son.
Interestingly, the application makes no mention of other merchandise that may use those phrases, and t-shirts and hoodie sweatshirts are notably absent from the listing, meaning that she would not collect any monetary payment if someone were to sell clothes with those words on them.
A wide variety of t-shirts, pins, buttons and banners are being sold in Florida and have been ever since the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin became a national issue, flaring fraught racial tensions throughout the state and the country.
The sale of merchandise has sped up in recent weeks, and will likely continue strong as rallies continue to be held in Sanford, Florida, where the incident occurred on February 26.
. . . and . . .
A Florida advocacy group spearheading protests over the racially-charged Trayvon Martin shooting has welcomed the intervention of the United Nations’ human rights chief, who has called for the shooter to be put on trial and “reparations for the victims concerned.”
“We believe that the United Nations involvement can help prevent another Trayvon Martin situation in other counties across the world,” J. Willie David, president of the Florida Civil Rights Association, said in a statement provided to CNSNews.com on Monday.
“The shooting death of Trayvon Martin and Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law have created a worldwide movement that calls into question how justice is delivered to victims of color,” he said.
“The Florida Civil Rights Association is calling on the police and prosecutors to end their questionable practices of operating in secrecy when it comes to African Americans.”
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay commented on the Martin shooting during a visit to Barbados on Thursday.
