News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Novelist Vince Flynn died today, June 19, at the age of 47 from prostate cancer. He was politically incorrect, patriotic and his political thrillers constantly ended up on bestseller lists. He is survived by his wife, Lysa, and three children.
R.I.P.
Yes, Robert James, when the planet Uranus was discovered in 1781, English scientists named it George, in honor of George 3rd.
— William W. Lawrence Sr.
Michael Hastings Dies After Revealing Dem Hypocrisy — A journalist whose last story blasted the hypocrisy of Democratic Party leaders regarding the domestic surveillance practices of the National Security Agency died last night (June 18) in a fiery one-car crash in Los Angeles.
Michael Hastings, most recently of Buzzfeed, broke onto the national scene when he reported in Rolling Stone magazine the scorn top-ranking military leaders had towards the Obama administration.
The article led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was commanding U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.
Hasting’s final article was Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans and pointedly noted the support party leaders had for the NSA domestic spying program.
“Many of those Dems — including the sitting President Barack Obama,
Senator Carl Levin, and Sec. State John Kerry — have now become the
stewards and enhancers of programs that appear to dwarf any of the
spying scandals that broke during the Bush years, the very same scandals
they used as wedge issues to win elections in the Congressional
elections 2006 and the presidential primary of 2007-2008,” Hastings wrote.
Hasting’s was driving a brand new Mercedes when the crash occurred at 4:25 a.m. in the 600 block of North Highland Ave. in the Hancock Park section of the city.
A witness say the car jackknifed before striking a palm tree.
“It sounded like a bomb went off in the middle of the night,” resident Rochelle Frankel said. “My house shook. The windows were rattling.”
“I couldn’t have written a scene like this for a movie, where the engine flies from the car which was about 50-60 yards up right down here to this telephone pole,” said resident and producer Gary Grossman.
Hat tip Bridget Johnson of PJmedia.com
Child Abuse Bill Package Leaves Committee — The House Children and Youth Committee last week advanced a package of bills aimed at strengthening and enhancing laws pertaining to child abuse, says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
The keystone of the package is House Bill 726, which would expand and enhance the definition of child abuse in the state’s Child Protection Services Law. The bill lowers the injury threshold to mirror simple assault, expands the ability to substantiate serious emotional abuse, includes grooming activities, broadens serious physical neglect and expands the definition of perpetrator.
Other bills in the package include:
• House Bill 430, which would establish procedures for reporting suspected child abuse through advanced communication technology in an effort to improve the ability of reports to be made in a timely manner and made available to the proper investigative authorities.
• House Bill 433, which would establish additional safeguards and due process with respect to the outcome of a child abuse investigation.
• House Bill 434, which would remove the separate standards and procedures that exist for school employees accused of abusing a student and hold them to the same standards as parents, child care workers, and other perpetrators of child abuse.
• House Bill 435, which would enhance background clearance requirements for those who work with children or volunteer in a role where they supervise children.
• House Bill 436, which would expand the list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse, clarify a mandated reporter’s basis to report child abuse and enhance penalties for the failure to report.
This package is in addition to numerous other bills that have already passed the House.
Well, the President has lost Bill Ayers. The former domestic terrorist is demanding that he be tried for war crimes.
J. Christian Adams, the former Justice Department civil rights attorney who has made a crusade of fighting abuses by the Obama Administration, is saying the Supreme Court ruling overturning Arizona’s requirement that proof of citizenship be presented when voting is actually a huge win for the good guys despite the hand-wringing occurring in some conservative circles.
Adams says that only a insignificant technical point was overturned while allowing Arizona to continue the citizenship mandate via other means. He said the corrupters lost big and know it.
Toomey Praises New Fed Judges — The Senate, last week, Nitza Quiñones Alejandro and Jeffrey Schmehl as U.S. District Judges for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, reports Sen. Pat Toomey.
President Obama nominated these two judges last November upon a joint recommendation from Toomey and Sen. Bob Casey.
“Since joining the Senate, I’ve worked closely with Sen. Casey to fill Pennsylvania’s judicial vacancies with qualified, experienced judges who have unquestioned honesty, ability and integrity,” Toomey said. “I believe both of these individuals meet this high standard.”
Toomey said that in her 21 years on the bench, Nitza Quiñones Alejandro has presided over many cases incorporating different facets of the law. In addition to her extensive experience in the courtroom, she has also remained active in her community through her work with schools and mentoring summer law interns.
“She is eminently qualified and a committed public servant. Moreover, I am proud that Judge Quiñones will be the first Latina judge to serve in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,” Toomey said.
Toomey said that Jeffrey Schmehl’s colleagues appointed him president judge of the Berks County Court of Common Pleas in 2008, a sign of his fitness for the bench. He has also helped veterans in need of legal assistance by working to establish a veterans court in Berks County. He has a passion for the law and will be a dedicated jurist.
“I also am pleased that Judge Schmehl will be sitting in the Reading federal courthouse which has long needed a new judge,” Toomey said.
End Shuster Dynasty — Bill Shuster, the king of pork and earmarks who is representing Pennsylvania’s naturally conservative 9th District and is pushing for a disgraceful $1 trillion crony capitalist farm bill, is facing a primary challenge from Art Halvorson.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Here is what activist Bob Guzzardi gently says about Congressman Shuster and related issues:
Are the voters of US9 fiscal common sense conservatives or will they try re elect Bill Shuster?
Bill Shuster’s district no longer includes Squishy Cumberland County home of “not a registered Democrat” Pat Vance with familial ties to uber hack Mike Long.
Bill Shuster’s district now includes Indiana County and part of over-the-top hack Rob Gleason’s Cambria county.
The Shuster dynasty has ruled from1972 when national debt was ZERO. It is now $16 trillion, in part, to Shuster supported earmarks and vast expansion of ” transportation ” spending.
One Family Rule is not a Limited Government value. Sam Smith disagrees
Will challengers to Mike Fleck and Dick Hess emerge?
One minor quibble, Bob. The national debt has reached $16.87 trillion.
Rand Paul Defense Of Life — Rand Paul (R-Ky), who may be the freshest breeze to blow through Washington since Reagan, has unveiled The Life At Conception Act (S 583) which “declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being beginning at the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual comes into being,” and “prohibits construing this Act to require the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child.”
Paul, who has a doctorate of medicine from Duke and spent two decades in private practice, is following the evidence to where it leads and deserves only praise.
It would be adequate to simply seek to return the debate to the states — which means continuing the fight to overturn the legally and logically dubious Roe v. Wade decision — and far more safer politically. It would also be politically safer to make a stand using the traditional standard as to the existence of life which is the pulse and starts for certain four weeks after conception.
Still, if you want to be absolutely certain that another’s life is not being taken, then conception would be the starting place that you would chose.
To show support for the Senator’s bill go here.
Hat tip Regina Scheerer.
Senate Gets State Budget 2013— Members of the House voted last week to send to the Senate a $28.3 billion budget proposal for the 2013-14 fiscal year, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129). The plan does not increase taxes and focuses on education, public safety, health and human services, and the environment.
House Bill 1437 would do the following: Increase funding for basic education by $100 million; allocate funding for more than 300 new state troopers; add $7.2 million to the Department of Health to restore funding for health disease line items such as diabetes programs, epilepsy support, ALS support services and bio-technology research; and allocate $4 million in funding for county conservation districts.
Lawmakers have until June 30 to adopt a final budget. For the latest budget updates, visit PAHouseGOP.com.