Gun dealer wins!

December 04, 2009
Federal Appeals Court Rules Against D.C. in Gun Suit
A federal appeals court today revived a suit filed by the owner of a Virginia security company who was targeted, but not arrested, for prosecution in the District of Columbia on an unregistered firearms charge.

The suit, filed last year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges the police acted in bad faith in securing a warrant for the arrest of Robert Ord, the owner of Falken Industries. Ord is licensed to carry a firearm in Virginia. Since 2006, he has provided security service in the District.

Last year, District lawyers abandoned the case against Ord. But he still sued, on the grounds that the threat of prosecution has cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts. Ord said he is unwilling to work in the city out of fear he will be arrested and prosecuted on a gun charge. His suit, which seeks damages, was thrown out last year. Judge John Bates said Ord’s fears of prosecution were “mere conjecture.”

But on Dec. 4 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in Ord’s favor, finding that the suit met certain thresholds. The court ordered additional hearings. “Obviously we are pleased the matter was reversed,” said Ord’s lawyer, Matthew LeFande, a solo practitioner in Arlington, Va. “Ultimately, we got the decision we wanted.” The court heard oral argument in September.

“Ord’s injury stems from his inability to travel to D.C. and carry on his security business here while armed without fear of prosecution,” wrote Judge David Tatel, who was joined by Judge Judith Rogers. Judge Janice Rogers Brown agreed in part. “That injury is imminent because the District of Columbia has made clear its specific intention to prosecute him.”

District lawyers, including D.C. Solicitor General Todd Kim, said Ord’s claims are meritless since he was never arrested. There was neither a search nor seizure in the case, District lawyers said. The appeals court disagreed.

“True, Ord may not have been seized in the traditional sense, but the arrest warrant effectively exiled him from the District of Columbia, thus restricting his ability to travel and causing substantial injury,” Tatel wrote. (Click here for the opinion.)

The Second Amendment Foundation, represented by Alan Gura of Alexandria, Va.’s Gura & Possessky, supported Ord as an amicus. Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Area, was also on an amicus brief supporting Ord.

(culled from http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/12/federal-appeals-court-rules-against-dc-in-gun-suit.html )

[Via http://readthisor.wordpress.com]

This is what Obama wants our health care system to look like...Socialized Medicine

Obama's Idea of Health Care Reform

Patients needs will be met despite cuts, Edmonton officials claim. This is the totally awesome socialized health care system Obama, and his progressive loons, are attempting to install right here in America. Time and time again, we hear about how great these systems are (because Obama and progressives are liars) and then we get stories like this from Canada and the U.K.

EDMONTON — Even though Albertans shouldn’t expect to see a balanced budget by the new health authority until 2011-12, pinching pennies won’t come on the backs of patients, says a top health executive with Alberta’s health superboard.

“When they need the health system, our responsibility is to make sure the system is there to meet their needs,” said Mike Conroy, executive vice-president of corporate services for Alberta Health Services. He spoke one day after The Journal detailed a presentation he made in B.C. that suggested Alberta could face a projected health deficit between $500 million and $1 billion in 2010-11, in addition to the current $1.3-billion debt.

“Our focus now is to identify every opportunity for efficiency that doesn’t compromise quality and access, and take advantage of those.”

If this doesn’t sound familiar, get use to it if ObamaCare is passed. If you don’t have the funds [taxes] to pay for services, services will be cut to control the costs. Here is something of concern that should be pointed out in the article…

“We’ve been running deficits with the health regions for some 10 years now. Typically what happens is there’s an arrangement made that cash is advanced, and in some cases in the past budget deficits have been picked up,” Liepert said, adding his department is working with Alberta Health Services to address the$1.3-billion shortfall for 2009-10.

Obama, Pelosi and Reid love socialized medicine and you should be certain that their brand of big government-run health care will follow in the same footsteps. Check out how RomneyCare worked out in Massachusetts and you will realize what will happen if we turn over our health care system to progressives. Deficits, health care rationing [look at the mammogram and PAP test recommendations that just created a firestorm] and long lines. It’s not deficit neutral when the government takes taxes away from the citizens.

[Via http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com]

The Greatest Generation Speaks....

Think Safety – Fly Safely
 
This old Salt hit a home run!  Keep it going.  

 
 
 WW II Battleship sailor tells Obama to shape up or ship out !
 
This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii
for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes
all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body,
he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now.
He dictated this letter  to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.
 
Dear President Obama,      
         
     My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year.  People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.
 
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate.  Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor , allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.
 
One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.
 
So here goes.
 
I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.
 
I can’t figure out what country you are the president of.
You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
             ” We’re no longer a Christian nation”
             ” America is arrogant” – (Your wife even
                 announced to the world,” America is mean-
                 spirited. ” Please tell her to try preaching
                 that nonsense to 23 generations of our
                 war dead buried all over the globe who
                 died for no other reason than to free a
                 whole lot of strangers from tyranny and
                 hopelessness.)
I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you.  To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.
 
After 9/11 you said,” America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”
 
Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British?  Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War?  I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.
 
I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination.  You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.
 
Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.
 
Shape up and start acting like an American.  If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue .  You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.
 
And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts , who was putting up a fight?  You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.
 
One more thing.  I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son.  Do your job.  When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him.  But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out.  The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.
 
You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.  
You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy.  That’s not our greatest threat.  Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.
And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.
 
Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes
 
When a 95 year old hero of the “the Greatest Generation”
stands up and speaks out like this, I think we owe it
to him to send his words to as many Americans as
we can.

[Via http://thehick.wordpress.com]

Indian HC in Kabul turned into RAW headquarters: Pakistani Minister

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Shipping Nabeel Gabol said Indian High Commission in Kabul has turned into RAW headquarters.

While commenting on India’s stance about involvement in Balochistan in an exclusive interview to Geo News, Gabol said the goal of Indian High Commission in Kabul is to target Pakistan and India is not only involved in Balochistan but it is also responsible for recent blasts in Peshawar and Pakistan has evidences of Indian involvement.

Minister of State said a three-star Indian General planned the blasts occurred in Peshawar last month and RAW agents used kidnapped Afghans for suicide attacks. Indian agents supplied weapons in a attack on Sri Lankan cricket team. Pakistan will inform India and international community about this.

Replying to a question, Gabol said India is involved in Balochistan since six years. India had killed 300 to 400 people in response of Mumbai attacks. Pakistan is fully capable to reply but Pakistan wants peace in the region. The issue had been discussed with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Pakistan and we will provide evidences to India through international community, he added.

[Via http://siyasipakistan.wordpress.com]

WH Budget Director: "May be DECADES before Health Care System Works

The ONLY Government-run program that is DEFICIT NEUTRAL. That will be a real CHANGE

The longer the health care debate goes, the more information comes out. Harry Reid admits that the health care bill will cost at least $2.5 trillion. Howard Dean admits that it will cost trillions and trillions of dollars. Now Obama’s White House Budget Director, Peter Orszag, admits it will take DECADES before the health care reform will work. Does that still “bend the curve” down by not adding to the deficit? I don’t think the CBO scored the health care bill by DECADES. They scored it for a single decade on the assumption that everything goes as planned.

“It will be years to decades” before the nation has a properly working health care system that rewards quality over quantity, Peter Orszag told reporters. He said improving the quality of health care “is more like a lifelong nutrition or diet, not studying for an exam,” but he added that continuous progress is a crucial goal.

That is how a government-run plan works. It’s all a big guessing game that will cost taxpayers trillions upon trillions of dollars. Of course, it always costs exactly what is projected. Look at Medicare and Medicaid for proof.

[Via http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com]

U.S. Should Keep China Away from U.S. Space Program Technology

When President Obama visited China last week he announced that the “United States and China look forward to expanding discussions on space science cooperation and starting a dialogue on human space flight and space exploration … the two sides believed that the two countries have common interests in promoting the peaceful use of outer space and agree to take steps to enhance security in outer space.  The two sides agreed to discuss issues of strategic importance through such channels as the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and military-to-military exchanges.”   The Chinese space program is an arm of the Chinese military.  Any cooperation with China that affords it access to sensitive U.S. technology in this area should be a non-starter.

Eric Sterner of the George C. Marshall Institute pens in Aviation Week that closer space cooperation with China will likely lead to “greater opportunities for China to acquire sensitive technology.” He argues it could contribute to Chinese military modernization and, a more than certain scenario, the proliferation of sensitive U.S. technologies to state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other countries that have no business acquiring cutting-edge U.S. technology.   A former Congressional and NASA staffer, Sterner reminds readers of China’s long record of illegal trafficking in sensitive U.S. technologies.

International space cooperation should come second to U.S. technological and security superiority.  If we are going to closely cooperate with foreign powers, it should be with our allies that are not out to undermine U.S. interests in a myriad of ways.  While the U.S. export control regime toward China is good, it could be better.  At this juncture, opening the door to more access to U.S. technology via outer space cooperation is not the way to go.  While it is unlikely to take this step, before the Obama Administration opens this cooperation portal, it should seriously consider a September 2008 Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendation that “Commerce should suspend the [Verified End User] VEU program to China until an amended or new agreement is reached to conduct onsite reviews and VEU-specific procedures for conducting on-site reviews are established.”

The Bush Administration put in motion the VEU program.  The program authorizes the export of certain sensitive technologies to China without export licenses from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).   Barely a few years in operation, a paper by the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Controls shows that some pre-approved Chinese companies in the VEU program have been “linked to proliferators, to violators of U.S. export controls, and to China’s military production complex.”  And it is not just the VEU program that poses risks, there are problems right here in the U.S.  For a good summary of 2008 Chinese industrial espionage cases, take a look at Appendix B of the Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage released this summer by the National Counterintelligence Executive (NCIX).

A bottom up review of the U.S. export control regime with regards to China is long overdue.  The United States needs a better handle on what controls need updating or, in some cases scrapping, before it expands cooperation in sensitive fields such as outer space exploration.  We want to keep and strengthen our competitive and security advantage, not give it away or unwittingly weaken it.

 

[Via http://jasonpoblete.com]

Blog:Obama sends Marines to spearhead surge into the Taleban’s heartland

President Obama has ordered his top military commanders to begin carrying out his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, the White House announced yesterday, a move that will mean the deployment of at least 30,000 additional US troops.

Now that Mr Obama has formally set in motion an expansion of the war, attention turned to what his new strategy will actually look like on the ground and the chances it has for success, given the unreliability of the Afghan Government and growing opposition to the conflict at home. The first wave of new troops is expected to comprise 9,000 US Marines and an additional 500 British troops in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, a Taleban stronghold and heart of the opium industry, which funds much of the Taleban’s war effort.

“The first troops out the door are going to be Marines,” General James Conway, the Marines’ top officer, told troops in Afghanistan at the weekend. “We have been leaning forward in anticipation of a decision. And we have got some pretty stiff fighting coming.”

The Marines are expected to be followed quickly by about 1,000 US Army trainers. They will land in Afghanistan early next year to hasten the growth of the Afghan Army and police force, another critical component of Mr Obama’s new strategy.

The additional 30,000 US troops will deploy to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months. The first priority will be to dislodge the Taleban from the Helmand town of Marjeh. Despite months of often intense fighting, the 9,000 Marines already there have failed to retake the city, which is a hub of the country’s opium trade. It is also a Taleban stronghold where many of the roadside bombs, the biggest killer of foreign troops, are made.

Another focus will be to build a security cordon around the southern city of Kandahar, another Taleban hotbed. The aim will be to protect the civilian population from Taleban attacks, part of the classic counter-insurgency strategy that General Stanley McChrystal, the ground commander, has already begun pursuing.

Mr Obama is also expected to lay out in a prime-time speech tonight an aggressive goal for greatly increasing the size of the Afghan Army and police force. It will call for increasing the size of the Army to 134,000 troops by next October, four years earlier than the initial goal of 2014.

The accelerated training of Afghan forces is central to Mr Obama’s hopes of handing over responsibility for the country’s security to the Afghans themselves as quickly as possible.

Analysts also believe that another crucial element of the new strategy will be to use the additional troops to secure the main highway between Kandahar in the south and the capital Kabul. This central road is currently not controlled by Nato forces.

“When the allies couldn’t secure the route between Baghdad airport and Baghdad, that told you everything you needed to know about Iraq,” said Peter Bergen, an Afghan expert at the Washington-based New America Foundation. “The fact that you cannot take the road from Kandahar to Kabul tells you everything you need to know about Afghanistan right now.”

Mr Obama told America’s senior military leadership about his long-awaited decision on troop numbers and strategy at a 5pm Oval Office meeting on Sunday, said the White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

Mr Obama conveyed his decision, which has been more than three months in the making, to Robert Gates, his Defence Secretary, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, and General David Petraeus, chief of US Central Command.

The meeting was immediately followed by a secure video conference with General McChrystal and Karl Eikenberry, the US Ambassador in Kabul, when they were also formally instructed about the new strategy.

Mr Obama held a series of calls yesterday with foreign leaders, including Gordon Brown, to brief them about his decision. He also called President Sarkozy of France, President Medvedev of Russia, and personally briefed Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, who is in Washington on an official visit.

In tonight’s speech Mr Obama will attempt to convince a sceptical American public that the surge of troops, which will bring the number of American forces in Afghanistan to 100,000, is the right option.

The decision brings to an end weeks of deliberation by Mr Obama, including ten meetings with his war Cabinet, about how to proceed in a war that is now onlysupported by only a third of the US public, and where any troop increase is strongly opposed by much of his own Democratic Party.

In his address, delivered from the US Military Academy at West Point, Mr Obama will focus heavily on the importance of an exit strategy, and will make clear that there is no open-ended commitment in Afghanistan.

He is planning to set lay out a “time frame” for scaling back the US involvement there, US officials said.

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