Monthly Archives: May 2009

Courts: Win One, Lose One

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1. FORNICALIA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS GAY MARRIAGE BAN:

But allows the marriages of those already wed to stand.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The California Supreme Court has upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, but it also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.

The decision Tuesday rejected an argument by gay rights activists that the ban revised the California constitution’s equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it first needed the Legislature’s approval.

Mr Obama acquires the best of both worlds with this nomination: a female and a minority.  The first of likely two more nominations during his term, Obama gets to set the literal agenda for this nation by seeking to control the United States Supreme Court.
His nominee, Sonia Sotomayer, is currently a federal appeals court judge for the 2nd Circuit, which oversees Vermont, Connecticut and New York states.  She is known for ruling against white firefighters in a discrimination case where the City of New Haven, Connecticut threw out the results of a promotional exam when “too few” minorities yielded sufficiently high scores.  That case, oddly enough, is now before the US Supreme Court.
As a federal district judge in 1995, she ruled against baseball owners and for baseball players in that contentious labor strike which resulted in the cancellation of the season.
Mr Obama, if you recall, wants judges who do naught much more than “empathize.”  Mr Obama also believes that “compassion” is required to interpret the Constitution.  It would appear, once again, that the law and precedent will have little if anything to do with court decisions and that the workings of foreign nations will be considered equally or moreso than our founding document.  With the current configuration of Congress confirmation is pretty much a sure thing.  The GOP will likely stand back and kvetch only.
You win some, you lose some.
BZ
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God Bless America’s Warriors

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My father, RICHARD LEE ALLEY, WWII USAAC, USAF pilot veteran and BZ, ca 2007.



“To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one.  It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives.  Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man.  We make ourselves into one or the other.”
– Carlos Castenada
“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.  I love only that which they defend.”
– JRR Tolkien
“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”
– Gen. G.S. Patton
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.  Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”
– Gen. G.S. Patton
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
-Winston Churchill
“That’s what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end.”
-Lise Hand
“Ώ παίδες Ελλήνων, ίτε ελευθερούτε πατρίδ’ ελευθερούτε δε παίδας, γυναίκας, θεών τε πατρώων έδη,θήκας τε προγόνων νυν υπέρ πάντων αγών.” (“Forward, sons of the Greeks, liberate the fatherland, liberate your children, your women, the temples of your ancestral gods, the graves of your forebears: this is the battle for everything.”)
-Aeschylus

God bless our warriors, God bless this nation, God bless America, the best and last hope for this entire planet.

BZ
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CONSERVATIVES Are LOSING!

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That’s what the media says.

A digital war has broken out, and the conservative movement is losing. Read the comment sections of right-leaning blogs, news sites and social forums, and the evidence is there in ugly abundance. Internet hooligans are spewing their talking points to thwart the dissent of the newly-out-of-power.

And, of course, on top of that, there is always THIS:

Political leftists play for keeps. They are willing to lie, perform deceptive acts in a coordinated fashion and do so in a wicked way – all in the pursuit of victory. Moral relativism is alive and well in the land of Hope and Change and its Web-savvy youth brigade expresses its “idealism” in a most cynical fashion.

The ends justify the means for them – now more than ever.

Much of Mr. Obama’s vaunted online strategy involved utilizing “Internet trolls” to invade enemy lines under false names and trying to derail discussion. In the real world, that’s called “vandalism.” But in a political movement that embraces “graffiti” as avant-garde art , that’s business as usual. It relishes the ability to destroy other people’s property in pursuit of electoral victory.

Hugh Hewitt’s popular site shut off its comments section because of the success of these obnoxious invaders. Breitbart.com polices nonpartisan newswire stories for such obviously coordinated attacks. Other right-leaning sites such as Instapundit and National Review Online refuse to allow comments, knowing better than to flirt with the online activist left.

ARE Conservatives losing?  WHAT is the Truth?

“This is nothing more than the Internet version of Soviet disinformation,” Human Events editor Jed Babbin told me. “MoveOn.org and the little boys from ‘Lord of the Flies’ who run Media Matters want to make it appear that there’s huge dissension within conservative ranks on issues on which we’re most united.”

But then this:

AT FIRST BLUSH I would not disagree that there is a massive disconnect between the Republican Party and most Conservatives.  True Conservatives.

But here’s what the current administration doesn’t seem to remotely understand:

Your crush any freedoms now or currently, you crush freedoms now and in the future.  You crush freedoms past and freedoms extant.  

SOME would typify Conservatism as “losing.”

I’m not so quite convinced.

BZ

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Bike & Tower

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This is a view of my work site from multiple thousands of feet. The photo shows the area when it was a USAF SAC (Strategic Air Command) Alert Pad, attended by B-52s carrying nuclear weapons.

I chose the name “Bloviating Zeppelin” for my blog as I opine on politics, and I am not a small person. In 2004 and 2005, I happened to lose roughly 80 pounds. I have mystically managed to put a good deal back on, much to my chagrin.

As you can see, there are a number of roads here at work where I may walk, “run” or bike. I am trying to lose weight once anew.

Above, you can see my new bicycle, a Trek Navigator 2.0, with 21 speeds, a very comfy saddle for my ample derriere and an upright riding position in consideration of my ailing back.

Above the bicycle is a tower, originally utilized for security on the site.

My daily regimen at work consists of numerous laps on the bicycle, then it gets parked at the foot of the tower. From there, as many times up and down the tower as I can muster. I’m actually becoming consistent and religious in my daily workouts.

I’m starting to feel a lot better these days.

BZ

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