Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has severed his office’s relationship with King & Spalding after the firm abandoned its representation of the House of Representatives in the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In my view, Cuccinelli is right to do so. While I have long been critic of DOMA, I have been highly critical of the firm’s handling of the case and dumping a client under pressure. Paul Clement has now left the firm and will represent the House of Representatives as part of Bancroft PLLC.
Continue reading “Virginia Severs Ties With King & Spalding”
Category: Politics
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
We often read and hear about the Tea Party and its members being in favor of protecting the Constitution, lowering taxes, protecting state’s rights, reducing the size of government, and going back to the ideals of our Founding Fathers. You can imagine my surprise when I recently read that freshman Texas Congressman, Blake Farenthold, a member of the Tea Party Caucus, at a recent meeting with constituents, claimed that unemployment compensation does not give enough incentive for people to get a job! Continue reading “Tea Party Congressman Thinks the Unemployed are Lazy”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Da Vinci “originalists”, a term coined by Garrett Epps, look for hidden meanings in the Constitution, much like Robert Langdon found the “hidden” symbols in Leonardo’s Last Supper. Where the text is clear, the Da Vinci “originalists” find secret meanings. Such is the case with the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama announced that he was considering an Executive Order that would mandate that all contractors who receive Federal money must disclose their political contributions. Since I am not a big fan of Executive Orders and since President Obama was not a big fan of Executive Orders when he was a candidate, I was not especially enthralled about the possibility of another Executive Order. However, once I read what the proposed Executive Order was going to do, I have to admit that I embraced it with open arms. Continue reading “John Yoo Calls the Kettle Black”
After arresting hundreds of Christians for attempting to worship in unapproved services, the Chinese have turned to Buddhists for a crackdown that has reportedly taken the lives of two Tibetans. Chinese forces raided the Kirti Monastery (shown left) after accusing monks of disrupting social order and . . . wait for it . . . defaming their religion. That’s right, the government that occupied Tibet, killed Tibetan monks, sent the Dalai Lama in hiding, and destroyed countless temples has accused these monks of defaming their own religion.
Continue reading “China: Who Will Rid Us of These Meddlesome Monks?”
While the Obama Administration has commenced a third war in Libya and is spending billions every week in military operations from Kabul to Tripoli, it is shutting down various domestic programs for lack of funds. The latest is the Allen Telescope Array — a large number of small satellite dishes that search for extraterrestrial life in Northern California. The prohibitive cost? $1.5 million dollars a year (an additional $1 million is used on data collection and analysis). In the meantime, the Administration is refusing to yield to the latest Afghan official insisting that the country does not want or need U.S. troops and yet another case of an Afghan soldier killing U.S. personnel — this time eight U.S. soldiers and one contractor killed by one of our allies.
Continue reading “Administration Shuts Down SETI Telescope Array For Lack of Funds — While Continuing Operations in Three Wars”
It turns out Barack Obama is . . . is . . . a citizen. The White House has released President Obama’s long-form birth certificate to put the growing controversy to rest over his birth. Many of us have been critical of the birther conspiracy theories. However, I am not sure why the White House did not do this earlier since it addresses the allegations fully. It will be interesting to see that, now that Obama has produced the certificate, if the movement for state ballot laws declines. While it has been repeatedly stated that the laws are not about Obama, but we will see.
Continue reading “Aloha, Birthers: Obama Releases Long Form Birth Certificate”
A bus driver in Texas received an extraordinary $21,000 settlement for conduct that justifiably led to his termination. Edwin Graning received the settlement from the Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS) in Texas after he was fired for refusing to drive two women to a Planned Parenthood clinic last year. This seems a case of putting the CARTS before the horse in reaching a settlement before the other party has made a viable claim.
Waukesha (WI) Mayor Jeff Scrima promised fiscal responsibility in running for office, but he has drawn criticism for his decision to use city funds to buy books of a campaign contributor and Christian author — and telling agency heads to read and discuss the book with city employees.
Continue reading “Wisconsin Mayor Tells Agency Heads To Read and Discuss Book By Christian Author With City Employees”
Keith Cowing is a blogger on Space Ref, a science blog, and was surprised recently to receive a call from the White House. White House staffer Rick Weiss reportedly called to warn him that his inclusion of the seal of Executive Office of the President of the United States violated federal law because it could be viewed as a product endorsement. A review of the blog entry demonstrates the claim to be preposterous in my view and I am unsure why the White House is spending such much time searching for seal misuses rather than . . . let’s see . . . war crimes.
Continue reading “HEY LOOK, THE WHITE HOUSE SEAL IS NOW ON THE TURLEY BLOG!”
As expected, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s effort to bypass the appellate court has failed with a denial at the United States Supreme Court. The Rule 11 motion was turned down — as it is in the vast majority of cases. The Obama Administration opposed the motion and is expected to continue to try to slow the momentum of the challenge.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Denies Virginia’s Effort To Get Expedited Review”
Even for the most committed civil libertarians, it is hard to work up sympathy for Quran-burning Pastor Terry Jones. However, that is the plight of free speech advocates — you often end up supporting the most obnoxious members of our society. In Dearborn, Michigan, the order barring Jones from protesting utside of the Islamic American Center raises some constitutional concern.
Continue reading “Public Safety or Prior Restraint? Quran-Burning Pastor Barred From Protesting In Front of Michigan Mosque”
Various people had criticized the new groping searches by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) as assault and, when done on children, something akin to molestation. According to police, one alleged child pornography addict found the TSA the perfect job. TSA Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia has been arrested for uploading explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site. What is astonishing is that Gordon posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform.
Continue reading “TSA Screener Arrested For Child Pornography”
Michigan’s Republican State Sen. Bruce Caswell wants the poor to dress appropriately to their station in life — that is, with second-hand clothes. Caswell introduced legislation to require children in the state’s foster care system to buy clothes at stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army under restrictive “gift cards” that would give $79 clothing allowance for the kids. Caswell is the chairman of the DHS Appropriations Subcommittee.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) has proclaimed Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. He didn’t ask for any prayers to end the drought or put out the wildfires, he just asked for prayers for rain in the state of Texas. While looking at the weather radar tonight, it was raining somewhere in Texas, so I guess it worked. It’s a miracle.
Continue reading “Gov. Rick Perry Wants Texans to Pray for Rain”