National security adviser: US safer under Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama’s national security adviser laid out a sweeping rebuttal Wednesday to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s charge that America is less safe under the new administration.

Pointing to increases in defense spending, efforts to get out of Iraq and revamp the strategy for Afghanistan, and a broad campaign to repair the U.S. reputation abroad, retired Marine Gen. James Jones said the nation is safer today than it has been. But, he added, no administration is perfect.

“I think that the former vice president knows full well that perfection is an impossible standard,” said Jones, adding that the U.S. can only do everything it can “to keep threats at bay and as far away from our shores as possible.”

In recent speeches, Cheney has condemned Obama for ordering the shutdown of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and banning certain harsh interrogation methods for suspected terrorists. Overturning those Bush administration programs, he said, has made the country less safe.

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National security adviser: US safer under Obama

You know, sometimes I really get into the commentary. Once in a while there’s nothing left to say, the commentary just writes itself! The U.S. is safer under Obama?

Iran is threatening their nuclear stuff again. North Korea is setting off test nukes, launching missiles, and making threats saying they will attack South Korea and our naval vessels.

And WE are safer under Obama…

Woman Upset After American Flag Taken Down At Work

MANSFIELD (CBS 11 News) Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office?

For one Arlington woman, the answer was “no” after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend.

Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors.

When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. “I was just totally speechless. I was like, ‘You’re kidding me,’” McLucas said.

McLucas’ husband and sons are former military men. Her daughter is currently serving in Iraq as a combat medic.

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Woman Upset After American Flag Taken Down At Work - cbs11tv.com

OK, MY very 1st reaction was, ‘What?? You have got to be kidding me. An AFRICAN supervisor, in an American hospital, in TEXAS, and that supervisor is offended by the United States flag being displayed in an American citizens office?’, I went into instant ANGER mode!

I was about to go into instant BLAST-OFF mode and then the 1st rule of journalism hit me like a hammer, VERIFY! So, I called Kindred Hospital in Mansfield, Texas and talked to Rhonda Williams, administrator, and she informed me that this situation has been resolved. She was kind enough to send me the press release they have just sent to the MSM. Here is a copy of that press release:

May 27, 2009

Kindred Hospital Mansfield has a great deal of appreciation for the service that many of our employees and their families have given to the country. We honor our veterans and active military through a variety of benefits and service programs. This was an isolated incident between two employees that we are working to resolve amicably. Both employees have family members who have served in the military. The disagreement was over the size of the flag and not what it symbolized. We have invited the employee to put the flag back up. We share their love of country and we appreciate the service of their family members as well as all members of the armed forces.

Rhonda Williams
Kindred Hospital Administrator

And this is the information for the hospital in Mansfield, Texas.

Kindred Hospital-Mansfield
http://www.kindredmansfield.com/
Mansfield, Texas 76063
(817) 473-6101

I have to applaud Kindred Hospitals and their administration staff for getting involved and bringing this highly volatile situation to a reasonable conclusion!

Sotomayor nominated to high court - first Hispanic

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as “an inspiring woman” with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely.

Obama said Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated, adding she has earned the “respect of colleagues on the bench, the admiration of many lawyers who argue cases in her court and the adoration of her clerks, who look to her as a mentor.”

Standing next to Obama at the White House, Sotomayor recalled a childhood spent in a housing project in the Bronx as well as her upper-echelon legal career: “I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government.”

Barring the unexpected, Senate confirmation seems likely, given the large Democratic majority. If approved, she would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court, the third in history. She would succeed retiring Justice David Souter.

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Sotomayor nominated to high court - first Hispanic

OK, we knew that Obama was going to nominate a libber to the SCOTUS, that was a given. It was suspected that he would nominate a female and a minority too, so, no real surprises there either. A libber president doing what a scumbag libber is expected to do, take this nation down the sewer by seating a scumbag libber on the SCOTUS. Just sayin’…

Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York, to Puerto Rican parents. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx, a short walk from Yankee Stadium. She was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at age 8. Her father, a tool-and-die worker with a third-grade education, died the following year. Her mother, Selena Sotomayor, a nurse, raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, Juan Sotomayor, who is now a doctor. Sotomayor has often stated that her mother is the one person that is her life inspiration. In 1976, Sotomayor married while a student at Princeton University and divorced in 1983. SOURCE: Sonia Sotomayor

So, we see that she is of Puerto Rican heritage. Good! At least Puerto Rico is an American territory. I was surprised that Obama didn’t name someone of Mexican heritage.

Abortion
In Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, Sotomayor upheld the Bush administration’s implementation of the “Mexico City Policy” which requires foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds to “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations”. Sotomayor held that the policy did not constitute a violation of equal protection, as the government “is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds”. SOURCE: Sonia Sotomayor

First Amendment rights
In Pappas v. Giuliani, Sotomayor dissented from her colleagues’ ruling that the NYPD could terminate an employee from his desk job who sent racist materials through the mail. Sotomayor argued that the First Amendment protected speech by the employee “away from the office, on [his] own time,” even if that speech was “offensive, hateful, and insulting,” and that therefore the employee’s First Amendment claim should have gone to trial rather than being dismissed on summary judgment. SOURCE: Sonia Sotomayor

I am wanting to see some opinion on the Second Amendment as well, but have none at this time. I am sure that the many gun blogs are busy, busy, busy looking all around for details! And while I’m on the topic of LIBBERS that are taking this nation down the sewer, let’s look at the RINO, One World Government moonbat that set a lot of this in motion.

Considered a political centrist by the American Bar Association Journal and others, Sotomayor was nominated on November 27, 1991, by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by John M. Walker, Jr. She became the youngest judge in the Southern District and the first Hispanic federal judge anywhere in New York State. SOURCE: Sonia Sotomayor

A lot like Bush 43 was going to foist Harriet Miers off on the American people a while back. Bush 43 made up for that travesty by appointing Sam Alito and John Roberts to the Court and we were successful in stopping the Miers mistake from happening, I don’t believe we’ll be successful at stopping Obama and Sotomayor.

EDIT TO ADD: 14:08:21 David Kopel has more. Including: the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right.

As Dave notes: Judge Sotomayor’s record suggests hostility, rather than empathy, for the tens of millions of Americans who exercise their right to keep and bear arms.

SOURCE: SayUncle - Sotomayor and guns