Finally, it looks like there may be a change in store for Arkansans who are tired of the same ol’ same ol’ in the Senate. Republican Congressman John Boozman is out in front of either incumbent Democrat Blanche ‘Health Care’ Lincoln, or Lt. Governor Bill Halter according to a Rasmussen Poll.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/arkansas/election_2010_arkansas_senate

But that is just
My Arrogant Opinion

Eminent Domain.  Eminent domain refers to the power possessed by the state over all property within the state, specifically its power to appropriate property for a public use.  The Department of Homeland Security decided in a fit of exuberance to make major improvements to that hotbed of terrorist activity on Vermont’s border with Canada, and was planning on using eminent domain as the vehicle for confiscating the land needed from local farmers. Land that had been in their families for generations.

Janet, why not put this sleepy border town on hold and let your gaze drift southwest a bit.  Why would this quiet little border crossing in Vermont be a critical matter when your office is doing NOTHING about the flood of illegal aliens streaming across our southern borders?  Wouldn’t it be easier for a terrorist to cross into the United States across the broad open border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California?  Areas where the sheer numbers of crossings would make it much easier to slip through than through a sleepy farming area of Vermont, where border crossings are few and far between, where neighbors know each other and strangers stand out.

It seems that the inmates have taken over the asylum in Washington.  For whatever reason, the people in power in our Nation’s Capital think that we have ceded our sovereign rights and authority to them.  The seem to have forgotten that they are considered public SERVANTS, not public overlords.  Sadly, they seem to have shut their ears to our complaints and it looks as though we are going to have to absolutely sweep them out of the House and Senate come election day.  We also need to remember that only 1/3 of the Senate is being replaced this year, 2/3 of these usurpers will still be in office and they will have to be remembered when the time comes for their re-election campaigns.

But that is just

My Arrogant Opinion

I thought that we were a nation of laws and not subject to the capricious whims of our government.  Maybe I was wrong, the tone I am hearing out of our federal government agencies and officials is disturbing and frankly a little bit frightening.  When a law is written, debated, passed and signed into law by the governor of a state, it is ‘LAW’ until challenged in court and struck down by a higher authority.  Well, according to John Morton, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, “I don’t think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution.”   Oh really?  Who died and made you the King of these United States?

Morton is reported to have said that his agency will not necessarily process illegal ‘immigrants’ referred to the by Arizona authorities.  That is strange, I don’t believe I have seen anything about Arizona trying to arrest immigrants.  Their law is in regard to illegal aliens.  Immigrants have gone through the proper channels in order to gain admittance to the United States.  While there may be some who have scammed the system into getting immigration status illegally, these people would not be the ones the Arizona law is targeting as they would by definition, have the proper paperwork to support their status as immigrants.

But that is just

My Arrogant Opinion

Controversy has been surrounding the bill that the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, just signed regarding illegal aliens coming across their border.  The bill has ignited a firestorm of name-calling and accusations are flying all the way from Washington.  Arizona, tell ‘em all to go piss up a rope!  They haven’t read the bill or if they have, they are refusing to admit it so that they will be able to criticize it without being accused of ignoring the content.

I have looked at the bill and I don’t see anything in it that would or should cause all the fuss.  SCOTUS has already ruled on the constitutionality of requiring people to present their papers when asked, in a much broader sense than what is in the Arizona Bill.  In Meuhler vs Mena, SCOTUS in a 9-0 decision rules that it is not unconstitutional to ask someone to show their ID.

    The Court of Appeals also determined that the officers violated Mena’s Fourth Amendment rights by questioning her about her immigration status during the detention. 332 F.3d, at 1264—1266. This holding, it appears, was premised on the assumption that the officers were required to have independent reasonable suspicion in order to question Mena concerning her immigration status because the questioning constituted a discrete Fourth Amendment event. But the premise is faulty. We have “held repeatedly that mere police questioning does not constitute a seizure.” Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 434 (1991); see also INS v. Delgado, 466 U.S. 210, 212 (1984). “[E]ven when officers have no basis for suspecting a particular individual, they may generally ask questions of that individual; ask to examine the individual’s identification; and request consent to search his or her luggage.” Bostick, supra, at 434—435 (citations omitted). As the Court of Appeals did not hold that the detention was prolonged by the questioning, there was no additional seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Hence, the officers did not need reasonable suspicion to ask Mena for her name, date and place of birth, or immigration status.

Note the bolded areas in the text above which comes from the unanimous opinion.  The Arizona law prohibits such questioning, a police officer has to have reasonable cause to stop someone and only then can the suspect be asked for his/her ID.

President Obama, you might want to clue ol’ Eric Holder in on this bit of information, and by the way the SCOTUS Decision is relatively short, only about a page long, when you guys get through reading it why not send it out to California so the Mayor of LA can read it.

But that is just

My Arrogant Opinion

Once upon a time in a fantasy land filled with wonder, there were journalists who spent their time trying to dig out truth from the flood of statements and declarations made by politicians and others whose actions affect our lives.

Over time, these watchdogs of Liberty slowly gave in to the lure of being accepted into the halls where they once lurked, poking around to find the truth about what was going on. Popularity with the very people they were supposed to be watching had made them soft. They rested at ease as lapdogs for the politically powerful, accepting tidbits of ‘news’ as it was fed to them as absolute truth. They knew that to question the one who gave them the story was tantamount to biting the hand that feeds them.

Look here to see what happens when someone dares to ask a question of Al Gore about his theory of climate change:

Once in a while a true journalist shows up and remembers what those heady days of yore were like, or more accurately, they imagined how those days might have been since they were too young to have known them.

We need to support journalists when they dare to show their heads in this world. Let them know that they too are truly public servants whose job it is to open up the body politic and dig out the cancer that grows in the dark. Open it up to the air so that it can heal. Their job is not to lay on the rug before the fire accepting tidbits from their master, they are to stir around and find out what lies in the dark corners protecting the people from the cancer that is the lust for power that so many politicians suffer from.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion

After her vote for moving the health care bill to the floor on Tuesday, I wrote the following letter to Senator Lincoln of Arkansas:

Senator Lincoln

WHY?
It cannot possibly work, and you know it will raise taxes. I want answers, and not patronizing ones either! This is socialism, this is an overstepping of authority, and the bill hasn’t even been written yet. Is the Apollo Alliance going to write this one too? What special interests are being ‘taken care of’ with this health care monstrosity?

I want to know, by what authority granted in the Constitution, you felt that you even had a right to vote to proceed with this boondoggle.

Senator, since President Obama first took office there has been what seems to be an organized effort to destroy our Constitution. We were guaranteed the RIGHT to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

What right to life is left when our healthcare is in the hands of a government bureaucrat?

My liberty is being constrained by being forced by government to purchase a product I may or may not want.

How can I pursue happiness when my children’s future is being destroyed by government spending?

Senator Lincoln, I have voted for you in every election since you first went to Washington. Right now, unless there is a major change I cannot envision ever doing that again as I feel as if you have violated my trust and your responsibility.

Sincerely

I’ll let you know if I get answers to anything I have asked

But that’s just My Arrogant Opinion

Back in the day, back when the residents of our country were still subject to the Crown of England, people were neighbors.  They lived in small communities and even the largest of cities were small compared to the standards of today.  In fact, many people today drive farther to work each morning than our forefathers could travel in a day.

Being the mobile society that we have become, we have grown apart from our neighbors.  No longer do we gather at day’s end to hear the news over a mug of ale at the local tavern.  We get our news about what is going on in the country on the nightly news programs or cable, and increasingly from the internet.  Social networks have taken the place of the local tavern and we talk and gossip on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace.

Our elected representatives are seemingly isolated from us and many citizens feel unrepresented in Washington.  Our Constitution requires that the Congress meet at least once every year. Once a year?  It is to the point that we can barely pry them out of Washington.  The problem is, not only do we feel unrepresented, our representatives are not in touch with the mind of the people they represent.

Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and even the President feel that their agenda is what the people want and they refuse to listen to words to the contrary.  Protesters against taxes and government health-care are labeled extremists or they are accused of being shills for corporate interests.  Nancy Pelosi calls them ‘Astroturf’ meaning they are imitating a grass roots movement.  Representatives cancel ‘Town Hall’ meetings because they are afraid of being called out by informed constituents.

The problem is that our representatives are taking their cues from their party leaders instead of us, the ones with the power to take them out of office.  Let this be a wake up call to our Congressmen and Senators, We are by-passing your controlled news media outlets, we ARE meeting albeit not on the streets, we DO know what you are doing, and that you are not listening to us, but trust us, WE WILL BE HEARD!  If not now, then in 2010 and 2012. 

Like Japan found out after Pearl Harbor and more recently Al-Qaeda found out after 9-11, our representatives will find out after their votes are cast that we the people still have the last word, and they are being watched.  Don’t cause this sleeping giant to stir because their isn’t much call for an out of work politician.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion

Damn it! Look, if you have enough waste in government programs to pay for this freakin’ health care program you want, fix the damn waste first! Then let’s talk. Until then, take a long walk down a short pier!

In an article in The New York Times, Mr. Obama tells us,

Two-thirds of the costs for covering new people will be paid for by taking waste out of the system

That is a lie from the pit of Hell and it smells like smoke! Stop trying to treat us as if we were children.

But that’s just, My Arrogant Opinion

Insurance, a sore subject lately. Mr. President let’s take a look at this shall we? First of all, we are talking HEALTH insurance, not AUTO insurance. They are not the same, and they are not purchased for the same reason. Auto insurance is purchased for the same reason we buy homeowner’s insurance, to protect the lender, that is comprehensive. Liability, the part you keep trying to associate with your plan for forcing us to buy health insurance isn’t to protect our vehicle, it is to protect us from legal actions resulting from our incompetent use of the vehicle.

Now the way I understand this is that you are planning on fining me $3800 if I don’t buy insurance. What was that again? You are making me a lawbreaker for not buying insurance? Okay, where are my rights? Do I have a right to a jury trial? What about an attorney? Can I just go to jail if I refuse to pay? And if I do go to jail, who pays for my health insurance there?

Let’s get real, shall we? Who are you going to have enforcing this, since you are getting dangerously close to making it unprofitable for me to work at all, I would be just as well off in jail and letting the government take care of my needs.

GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BUSINESS AND LEAVE ME ALONE!

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion

President Obama, I understand that you find the alleged actions of the rogue ACORN workers inappropriate.  Personally I find them criminal, but here are a few things I do find inappropriate.

I find it inappropriate that you have abandoned your promise to not raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 and can do so with seemingly no shame.  By the way, I think if you would ask most people, they would agree with George Stehanopoulos that forcing someone to buy insurance or be penalized is a tax, and that is just one of many I am hearing proposed.

I find it inappropriate that you would show up on five different news programs this morning yet manage to snub the one that doesn’t fawn over your every word.  I find it even more inappropriate for you to spend an hour on  The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday. Don’t you have things you need to be doing? 

I find it inappropriate that you don’t pay enough attention to what is going on in this country that you aren’t even aware that ACORN is getting millions of tax payer dollars but with no information about the situation you are willing to call the Police officers at Harvard stupid  when they are doing their job, just because it was one of your buddies that was arrested.

President Obama, I really feel you need to keep your happy butt at home and do the job we hired you to do and keep your hands out of our wallets.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion