This week, the Senate votes on President Obama’s nomination of District Court Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit.  Because of Hamilton’s fundraising activities for ACORN, his leadership positions with the Indiana branch of the ACLU, his statements supporting judicial activism, and most importantly, his rulings putting liberal ideology above the rule of law, he is the first and only Obama circuit nominee to draw heated opposition.

There are many examples of Judge Hamilton’s tendency towards liberal judicial activism.  However, the most bizarre and controversial instance is Hamilton’s 2005 ruling prohibiting prayers that mention Jesus Christ in the Indiana House of Representatives, but allowing prayers that mention Allah.  While troubling in any context, the religious double standard in Hamilton’s ruling is particularly deserving of close scrutiny in light of Major Nidal Hasan’s recent shooting rampage at Fort Hood. 

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We are speeding headlong toward a time when our Congress will have become just like Mad King George’s Parliament, that body from which in 1776 the American colonists separated with the rallying cry of “no taxation without representation.” Our national government is fast becoming just as unrepresentative of the people as far off Briton was when we went to war to become the United States of America.

Does that seem like a hyperbolic statement to you? At first blush, it might. But a considered look at the direction in which we are quickly heading will prove that, compared to the British Parliament that raised the ire of our forefathers so long ago, today’s Congress shows many signs of the same, oppressive, haughty, disinterested politicians that considered their national government more important than the local’s interests and needs.

Representation is the key word, here. What does it mean? What did it mean then? Of course, the problem was that it meant two different things to the opposing sides of the Revolutionary era, hence the conflict. In England, representation meant that Parliament “represented” the whole of the country and that each member of that body was elected from their home to go forth and become a member of the whole. British politicians generally did not imagine that they were representing their hometown when they went to Parliament.

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While a little late and lacking an official position against her, the National Rifle Association has expressed its “very strong concerns” with the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and Republican Ranking Member Jeff Sessions, the NRA used particularly harsh language for an organization often hesitant - to say the least - to appear partisan. To wit:

But the organization’s letter is far from partisan - rather, it focused intently on Judge Sotomayor’s dismal record regarding, and lack of respect for, the Second Amendment and the right of American citizens to keep and bear arms.

Six states are currently looking to add an “opt out” law to their books to protect citizens from the possibility of a national healthcare plan imposed by federal fiat.

Arizona started the ball rolling by introducing the Health Care Freedom Act, a voting initiative that will be put before voters on the 2010 ballot. If accepted by the majority of the voters, Arizona will be able to opt out of any federal healthcare laws passed by Washington. Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and Wyoming are considering similar measures.

The arrogance of Congress and the president worries many of these state lawmakers, some even consider Obama’s healthcare policies a naked power grab.

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Let’s ignore, for a moment, that he introduced his Defense Secretary as William Gates.

Barack Obama has been out for over a year claiming George Bush was destroying the constitution.

Today, Barack Obama stood in front of the real, physical constitution in the National Archives with bright lights shining on the constitution.

Anyone who has been there knows that they won’t even let you have a camera flash go off near the document because it’ll cause irreparable damage to the document.

So while Bush is accused of figuratively destroying the constitution, Barack Obama actually does destroy it.

UPDATE: Well, there goes my fun. Jake Tapper says it was a copy of the Constitution back there. The National Archives didn’t bring the real one up from the vault. Thanks Jake. Of course, there’s as much fun to be had by the idea of Obama standing in front of a fake constitution.

Consider this an open thread.

The folks at The Hill alerted me to the fact that the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) have decided to oppose any reinstitution of the inaptly named Fairness Doctrine. I know, imagine that… as lefty a group as the SPJ actually agreeing with conservatives that the Fairness Doctrine is an abomination of our Constitutional right to free political speech! You can knock me over with a feather, and all.

The Hill is right to quip that this makes for strange bedfellows, but it would seem like a no-brainer for anyone interested in Constitutional rights and a jealous protection of free speech no matter whose it is.

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Once again The New York Times unleashes a not-so-hidden agenda on its reading public. Here the Times is regurgitating the debunked claim that “90%” of Mexico’s recovered guns used in crime south of the border are from U.S. gun dealers. There is a lot of misdirection in this piece against gun dealers and gun shows, as well. Contradictory claims are made with no proof offered but the say so of The Times.

The Times begins its tall tale by talking about Mexican gun smugglers that find it easy to buy “military style” weapons at U.S. gun shops to be smuggled into Mexico. The story talks of these “lightly regulated” gun dealers and blames them for the smuggling apparently because no records are kept or buyer’s identities ascertained. And near the top half of the story is the debunked “90%” claim.

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Texas Governor Rick Perry – like all other Governors – has a responsibility to protect the interests of the people of his state. It should come as no surprise, then, that he endorsed a resolution in the Texas legislature supporting states’ rights under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This topic has been covered by quite a few folks, recently. Pete Randall posted here on RedState an interesting comparison with Georgia (which is doing nothing) and you can catch both transcripts from Rush Limbaugh’s commentary about it and audio clips of Governor Perry on Sean Hannity’s radio show here.

In his support of the measure, Governor Perry stated, “I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.”

Well said.

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Wait a minute Mom. Don’t let little Johnny go to his buddy Tommy’s house. Tommy’s parents are psychos that own — **gasp** — GUNS! This is the message that ABC is telling parents in an April 10 piece headlined, “Before Arranging Playdates, Ask About Guns.”

Here ABC attempts to make every gun owner seem like a lunatic just ready to blow and encourages parents to be deathly afraid of anyone that owns a gun. It encourages parents to pry into the lives of family members of their kid’s friends and bases it all on the lies passed off as scary gun violence statistics.

Naturally, ABC’s back up for this anti-gun screed is by a supposedly “non partisan” anti-gun group called PAX USA, an organization with board and advisory councils filled with left-wing Hollywood actors such as Richard Belzer, Tim Robbins, and Rob Reiner among many others.

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I propose that “Dueling Banjos” replace our current national anthem. Remember the 1972 movie Deliverance with Burt Reynolds? OK, recall that scene of the goofy looking kid plucking out “Dueling Banjos” on the porch? That kid was supposed to represent a backwards, inbred, and half sentient hillbilly if you’ll recall. Well, that is officially the United States of America today.

No, I am not saying that the country is like a slack-jawed southerner, but is instead like an inbred, uneducated fool. I am not talking about genetic inbreeding here, either. I am saying this country has become like a dumbed-down, socially and historically illiterate, inbred, incurious, fool, one that understands one thing and one thing only: entertainment. We can thank our putrefying “education” establishment for this as well as the coarsening culture about us.

The reason I am drawn to this sad conclusion is the complete ignorance of the people of this country to the rule of law. Not just the ignorance evinced by the self-empowering politicians and the activist judges, but the bulk of the population. The Constitution has at last become a document that has no meaning to the largest number of Americans.

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Co-contributor Francis Cianfrocca did an excellent job this morning noting many of the more surprising and odious aspects of the hastily (and emotionally) hashed-together “clawback” legislation that recently breezed through the House.

Those aspects are bad enough - and they represent an ugly and dangerous turn in “policy.”

But there’s an even more important issue.

Is this “clawback” provision blatantly unconstitutional?

More below the fold….

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In the coming weeks and months, Democrats will unleash a volley of attacks on the Constitution of the United States and our nation’s founding principles. This, of course, we expect… and it starts next week.

The question, however, is whether Republicans – particularly Mitch McConnell and Senate Republican leadership – have the will to stand up and defend the Constitution without bowing to Democrat bluster and offering some “cover-vote” as an alternative they can supposedly “be for?”

We will find out soon enough – the following are the known direct assaults on the Constitution lurking right around the corner:

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Want a gun in Illinois? Fine. Then you’ll be forced to carry an expensive, million dollar insurance policy to be “allowed” to observe your Second Amendment right. At least, that will be the law if lefty gun-banner Kenneth Dunkin has any say in the matter.

Dunkin (D, Chicago) has made this attempt to undermine the Second Amendment even worse than a mere “insurance” policy. He has also slipped into this unConstitutional morass a provision that says gun owners will be liable if their gun is used in a crime after it has been stolen from them. The bill also authorizes the State Police to confiscate the firearm owner’s ID (FOID) from any citizen that doesn’t comply with purchasing the hefty insurance policy.

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You would think that a president who taught constitutional law would understand one of the most basic constitutional concepts. But a look at the Obama Administration’s version of the White House website whitehouse.gov reveals that this may not be the case.

In the section of the site under Our Government —> The Constitution, there is a brief discussion of the Bill of Rights, and then each of the first ten amendments is listed, but not in the original language of the constitution itself. Instead, an interpretation of what each amendment means in the view of the Obama administration is presented.

Take at look at how Team Obama describes the second amendment on the White House website:

“The Second Amendment gives citizens the right to bear arms.”

What is wrong with this picture?

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