Via our friend William Teach over at the Pirate’s Cove and the Blaze, comes the video of Vice President getting riled up in Ohio.
The “best” quote is around the 50 second mark:
My mother believed and my father believed, that if I wanted president of the United States, I could be, I could be vice president. [Actual quote as it was delivered]
Holy crap. This guy is in line for the presidency?
Biden alone exemplifies the judgement of Barack Obama.
Two new bits of information have been disclosed in the George Zimmerman trial.
ABC News is reporting they have gotten copies of the medical records for George Zimmerman who went to the hospital the day after the shooting. The records…
…found that Zimmerman was diagnosed with a “closed fracture” of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he fatally shot Martin during an alleged altercation.
Although it is not stated in the report, we suspect these are the medical records Detective Dale Gilbreath admitted he had not seen when testifying on during the charging hearing. During the hearing, Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara questions Gilbreath on Zimmerman’s medical condition after the incident:
GILBREATH: I know that that is an injury that is reported to have sustained. I haven’t seen any medical records to indicate that.
O’MARA: Have you asked him for them?
GILBREATH: Have I asked him for them? No.
O’MARA: Do you want a copy of them?
GILBREATH: Sure.
O’MARA: I’ll give them to the state. It’s a more appropriate way to do it. If you haven’t had them yet, I don’t want to cross you on them
On the other hand, 17 year old Treyvon Martin’s autopsy reveals his injuries were abrasions to his knuckles:
(more…)
The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville for discrimination against minority firefighters.
Firefighters seeking to be promoted within the Jacksonville (Florida) Fire Department must take a test. The test is one part of the process to be promoted. Statistically, African Americans are not passing the test as often as others. In addition, when they do pass the test, their scores are generally lower than other racial groups. The only “conclusion” one can reach is there must be discrimination within the test and the Jacksonville Fire Department – at least according to the DOJ.
This is the ol’ “disparate impact” theory which we have covered before. When Obama took office and appointed Eric Holder to the Attorney General spot, Holder said he would focus on cases of “disparate impact” rather than cases of actual discrimination.
As part of this shift, the Obama administration is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly. President George W. Bush’s appointees had discouraged such tactics, preferring to focus on individual cases in which there is evidence of intentional discrimination.
The problems with the DOJ’s claims in the Jacksonville case are many. First, unless the tests are asking “what is the secret handshake at meetings of the KKK?” it is difficult to see how a test can be discriminatory. If the test asks questions on procedures, regulations, safety, fire types, etc., we cannot see how the test itself is discriminatory. Answers are either right or wrong. In the case of a fire department, what happens when you have people in positions of authority who get questions dealing with the public safety wrong? Is the public better served by promoting people who can’t pass a test on subject matter pertaining to their job?
(more…)
When we first saw this, we thought it was a joke.
It isn’t.
The White House tried to make Mother’s Day part of the political conversation on the Affordable Health Care Act. The White House site advocated mailing the card below.
One of our “blogo-o-sphere” buds is William Teach over at the Pirate’s Cove. Teach actually encouraged us to start blogging (so you can blame him for this site.) In addition, Teach runs a nifty post every Sunday called “Sorta Blogless Sunday” where he gives links of interest to other blogs. The post is deceptively simple in appearance, but anyone who actively blogs knows the amount of work in compiling the list is huge. We are lucky to appear on the list periodically and are thankful that someone thinks we are saying things of value. We also appreciate the “advertisement” from the Pirate’s Cove.
Yesterday’s “Sorta Blogless Sunday” post had a link to a site called “the Strata-Sphere.” Teach described the article as:
The Strata-Sphere says George Zimmerman’s legal case may be in trouble
We hadn’t heard anything about case being “in trouble,” so we decided to head on over to the site and read the article.
What we found was mildly disappointing and factually challenged.
The author, AJStrata, tries to claim Zimmerman’s claim of self defense is the same as the case of Marissa Alexander, who was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 20 years in jail under Florida’s “10-20-Life” statute. The statute requires a mandatory sentence of 20 years in jail when certain crimes, such as aggravated assault, are committed when a firearm is present.
The story of Alexander is tragic. Alexander was involved in an abusive relationship. Her husband, Rico Gray, became enraged when he found texts from other men on her cell phone. She claims Gray became physically threatening. She left the house but according to her, left the keys to her car in the house. She retrieved a gun from her car in the garage, and re-entered the house. Upon re-entering the house, she fired a “warning shot” into the ceiling.
(more…)
Via the Institute for Justice:
You can get the report mentioned in the video here.
The video echos what is found in the book “The Right to Earn a Living,” by Timothy Sandefur of the CATO Institute.
The book chronicles how the government erects barriers to people entering the market through excessive and unwarranted licensing regulations. Sandefur takes the reader not only through the issues, but also the genesis (both social and legal) of such licensing schemes as well as showing licenses often hurts competition, keeps prices artificially high, prevents people from starting new businesses as well as denying the fundamental right of people to make a living.
It is a great read.
The State of Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Department of Education have joined together to ban bake sales.
That’s right.
Bake sales. Those fun loving, money raising events where parents, students and teachers work to support causes and issues they want. Need some money for new band uniforms? Hold a bake sale. Need some money for the chess club trip to the state competition? Hold a bake sale.
Not anymore.
The lack of thinking behind the ban is, of course, “it’s for the children.”
State Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lincoln), chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Public Health, said the problem of overweight children has reached “crisis” proportions.
“If we didn’t have so many kids that were obese, we could have let things go,” Fargo said.
“But,” she added, “this is a major public health problem and these kids deserve a chance at a good, long healthy life.”
