RUTHFULLY YOURS

‘A Legal Backwater’
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/04/24/a-legal-backwater

So many constitutions worldwide — and how many except ours recognize the right to keep and bear arms?

America is in danger “of becoming something of a legal backwater,” a justice of the High Court of Australia, Michael Kirby, is quoted as telling the New York Times. His comment is in a scoop that ran under the headline “?’We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World.” The story follows up on an interview Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave to Al-Hayat TV in Egypt. In the interview she said that were she drafting a constitution in the year 2012, “I would not look to the United States Constitution.” Instead she commended to her viewers the constitution of South Africa, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of Canada.

Justice Ginsburg’s remarks went viral on the web among those who thought they were inappropriate for a justice bound by oath—as every American official must be*—to support the Constitution. TheNew York Sun commented on them in an editorial, “Lost in Egypt,” suggesting she had missed an opportunity to take the discussion of law-giving all the way back to Sinai. But the New York Times’ dispatch opens up the question of how popular an example our Constitution is these days. The Timesreporter, Adam Liptak, gained an advance look at a new study on precisely that topic. He quotes its authors, two law professors, as reporting that our Constitution “appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere.”

Mr. Liptak, in my view, is onto an important story here. One of the key features of these newfangled constitutions with which everyone is so smitten is that they are much longer than America’s parchment. In Canada’s constitution, which our friendly neighbor got around to writing only in 1982, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is, at more than 1,000 words, twice as long as our Bill of Rights, which has 482 words. The curious thing is that with all that verbiage, the Canadians failed to find space to provide for the right that one of our greatest constitutional commentators, St. George Tucker, called the “true palladium** of our liberty”—namely, the right to keep and bear arms.

“Why, that’s impossible!” you might exclaim. “No constitution writer could forget such a right.” But feature this. The South African bill of rights is more than ten times the length of ours. And in that vast verbiage there’s not one syllable protecting the right to keep and bear arms. The document covers equality, dignity, life, security of person, slavery, privacy, religion, expression, picketing, association, politics, citizenship, movement, occupation, labor relations, the environment, property, housing, health care, education, language, culture, and arrest, among other rights. But not so much as a peep about the palladium of our liberty.

Oh, and South Africa’s constitution states that the whole list of rights can be thrown into a cocked hat if there’s a state of emergency. But never mind, the European Convention on Human Rights appears to be even longer than South Africa’s—running to more than 5,000 words. Yet the Europeans couldn’t find room for the palladium of liberty, either. Mr. Liptak of the Times reports that only 2 percent of the world’s constitutions feature this one of the most basic rights. I cite this right only as an example of the problem with these hyper-long and detailed constitutions. When something is left out of a long list of rights, it tends to look less like an accident—given that they thought to list so much else.

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/04/24/the-perfect-storm-of-liberalism

“How do men act on a sinking ship? Do they hold each other? Do they pass around the whisky? Do they cry?” –Sebastian Junger in The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm of Liberalism has arrived.

A professional collapse inside the several departments and agencies of the United States government created by a decades-long erosion of standards. An erosion fed by all manner of deadly liberal obsessions from racial quotas to political correctness to an addiction to lawsuits, the tolerance for a culture of out of control spending, wildly improper personal behavior, and more.

This deadly combination is now surfacing repeatedly in scandals as seemingly different as those engulfing the Secret Service, the GSA, the U.S. military, the Department of Justice, and every other tentacle of the federal government imaginable.

Let’s look at it liberal issue by liberal issue and examine how this perfect storm of liberalism is swamping the affected government department or agency in question.

Let’s start with:

• Racial quotas and the Secret Service: AnAmerican Spectator source has fingered the hot-button issue of racial quotas as a serious problem for the Secret Service, an allegation now surfacing (hesitantly to be sure) in no less than the liberalWashington Post.

Did the Secret Service deliberately reduce its hiring standards to insure that minorities were hired and promoted in the name of racial quotas?

Ironically setting up the possibility that the personal security of America’s first black president — himself a decided liberal –could have been breached with disastrous consequences?

Did this alleged lowering of the agency’s standards wind up slowly infecting the agency across-the-board? Thus setting the stage for the explosive sex scandal that has led to the investigation of 12 Secret Service agents.

Was the Cartagena scandal actually “fixed” — “settled” — until the Miami SAC got wind of what was happening on her turf — when she blew the scandal wide open?

This is exactly the allegation from a source with considerable Washington and Secret Service connections. Precisely because of these close connections, the source requested anonymity. But this source tells a story that paints a grim portrait of an agency led by a “weak leader” — Director Mark Sullivan — in thrall with the liberal idea of racial quotas. A political correctness that led to the appointment of an African-American woman — Paula Reid — as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the 150 member Miami Field Office. The Miami office, responsible for Secret Service agents operating in South America — as they were for President Obama’s now infamous trip to Cartagena, Colombia — is said to rival only New York and Los Angeles for prestige.

What is really going on here? Was the Cartagena story “fixed” –until Agent Reid blew the whistle? If so, who did the fixing? The White House? The State Department? Who?

Let me stipulate. As has been reported, Agent Reid blew the whistle on the Cartagena shenanigans the moment she heard about them. To her credit. Say again, to her credit.

Russia and the Communist Past — on The Jamie Glazov Show
by Frontpagemag.com
Russia expert David Satter joins Frontpage’s radio program for the full hour.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/04/25/russia-and-the-communist-past-on-the-jamie-glazov-show-1/

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3549/viva-palestina-begins-sixth-journey-to-the-gaza

A British-based organization that has delivered millions of dollars to the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip embarked Sunday on its sixth convoy to Gaza from Bradford, UK.Viva Palestina 6, dubbed “The Right of Return Convoy,” is organized by Viva Palestina Arabia (VPA), an affiliate group of Viva Palestina (VP). The convoy is “about the return to Palestine – the right of Palestinians to return and returning our attention to this central issue by contributing to the construction, the rebuilding, of a Palestine for all Palestinians, with Jerusalem recognized as its capital,” according to the organization’s website.

Newly elected British parliamentarian George Galloway founded VP, which has extensive ties to Hamas. He also has supported other terrorist organizations including Hizballah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Some political pundits in the UK note that Galloway’s electoral victory in late March was due to his invocation of faith. At a campaign rally that month, he taunted his rival Imran Hussain, by claiming “I’m a better Pakistani than he will ever be. God knows who’s a Muslim and who is not…A Muslim is ready to go to the US Senate, as I did, and to their face call them murderers, liars, thieves and criminals.”

See No Jihad, Hear No Jihad — on The Glazov Gang
By Jamie Glazov
Leftist film producer Tommi Trudeau joins Dwight Schultz and Evan Sayet on the gang — and the fireworks ensue.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/04/25/see-no-jihad-hear-no-jihad-on-the-glazov-gang/

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/
Muslims Are Oppressed In Europe, Claims Amnesty International

Amnesty International, which is of course one of those prominent leftist NGOs that spend an inordinate amount of time castigating Israel, has issued a report castigating Europe’s attitude to Muslims. Says the blurb:

‘Muslims across Europe belong to many different ethnic groups and follow diverse cultural, religious or traditional practices. They are discriminated against for different reasons, including their religion or belief, ethnicity and gender. This report highlights discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief and illustrates some of its consequences. Restrictive dress-code policies and legislation are enforced in several states. Muslims, and especially Muslim women, who express their cultural or religious background by wearing specific forms of dress or symbols have been denied employment or excluded from classrooms.’

Says an official press release embargoed until this morning:

‘European governments must do more to challenge the negative stereotypes and prejudices against Muslims fuelling discrimination especially in education and employment, a new report by Amnesty International reveals today….

…. Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination [observes]

“Rather than countering these prejudices, political parties and public officials are all too often pandering to them in their quest for votes.”….’

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/genocidal-green-quotes?f=energy

As Earth Day 2012 occurred on Sunday, April 22, I offer a selection of quotes from leading figures in the environmental movement that are worth reading so that you can draw your own conclusions.

In 1970, the first Earth Day generated the following quotes:

“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” – George Wald, Harvard Biologist

“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” – Barry Commoner, Washington University biologist

“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.” – New York Times editorial, the day after the first Earth Day

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” – Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist

From Religious Fragmentation to National Unity by HERBERT LONDON

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/from-religious-fragmentation-to-national-unity?f=must_reads

Writing in the New York Times (4/8/12), Ross Douthat argues “that religious common ground has all but disappeared.” The existence of a Judeo Christian center that helped bind the teeming nation together is in retreat, he claims. In a nation as divided as ours, religious polarization is inescapable as the race to the presidency has already suggested.

The fear about radical secularism, on one hand, driving any aspect of religion out of the public square, and the specter of theocracy haunting the precincts of the liberal left, are offset by churches that are institutionally weak and fragmented. Americans do not separate religion from politics, but they are sensitive to the manner in which they are combined.

As I see it, notwithstanding the Douthat thesis that fragmentation characterizes the religious landscape, there is hope for a strategic alliance, a way for religions to embrace a common theme. The United States owes its origin and unique institutional qualities to religion, to the Judeo Christian tradition.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/south-carolinas-holy-islamville

A radical Pakistani cleric named Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani and his followers testify to the holiness of a shrine where miracles allegedly prove his supernatural powers. The shrine isn’t in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia or anywhere in the Islamic world. It’s in York County, South Carolina, inside a commune about 36 acres large called “Holy Islamville,” located on a street named Islamville Way.

It was founded in 1982 by a group called Muslims of the Americas (MOA), led by the aforementioned Gilani. The Department of Homeland Security says it is linked to Jamaat ul-Fuqra, a Pakistani militant group also led by Glani. The State Department describes ul-Fuqra as “an Islamic sect that seeks to purify Islam through violence.”

Fuqra was behind many assassinations and bombings between 1979 and the early 1990s. Its biggest plot aimed to kill 4,500 Indians in Toronto during the Festival of Lights in 1991. Its destructive capacity first caught the FBI’s attention in 1989 because of a raid on a storage locker in Colorado Springs. They discovered weapons and plans for various attacks, including a scheme to murder Imam Rashad Khalifa in Arizona in 1990. They succeeded, killing him exactly as the seized papers said they would. Two Fuqra members were allegedly involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and dramatic plots against New York City.

Obama’s Energy Follies Continue

URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/04/24/obama%e2%80%99s-energy-follies-continue/

The Obama administration’s bizarre energy policy took another confused turn last week as the President asked Congress to spend $52 million for more oversight and investigation of petroleum markets. The crackdown would supposedly be aimed at “those who manipulate the market for private gain at the expense of millions of working families,” although neither Mr. Obama nor presidential press secretary Jay Carney could identify who these dastardly villains supposedly are, or if they even exist.

It was, even by this administration’s standards, a pathetically inept response to an issue that could be a big problem for the President come November: brutally high gasoline prices. Rather than addressing the well understood, free market supply and demand forces that keep driving up the price of crude, the administration resorted to class warfare once again, to the point of resurrecting the Enron boogeyman in a vain attempt to divert attention and decline responsibility for Obama’s spectacular failures with regard to energy issues. Even the Washington Post wasn’t buying it, taking the administration to task in an April 17 editorial:

“President Obama is fond of saying that there is no silver bullet to bringing down gasoline prices. On Tuesday, however, he went into the silver bullet business.”