The First Amendment

Because we conservatives are often unfairly accused of not having any ideas with which to counteract liberal meanness, I hereby provide the answer to the alleged problem of corporations, President Obama's "special interests," supposedly using their constitutional rights to steal elections:

AMEND THE CONSTITUTION

That is a long, involved process which may take years to accomplish, giving everyone ample time to consider the fact that every time we deny rights to others, we lose some of our own. I cannot recommend we tinker with the First Amendment, but after I'm gone, you can suffer with any kind of totalitarianism that your surrender to socialism provides you.

The Constitution

Even after last weeks's stirring victory for the people with the election of Scott Brown, the fight for freedom goes on. Last night, in his Misstate of the Union speech, President Obama, who hates the Constitution, said that the Supreme Court, in its recent decision, "reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests. . . to spend without limit in our elections." Wrong! The Court merely corrected those previous mistakes which unconstitutionally limited the freedom of speech.

Two days of comments on my usually unbiased television station reflected only forms of the President's improper interpretation, and not one of my three submissions, which are presented here, was used:

"What you and I and Senator Schumer think of the Supreme Court's ruling is irrelevant. The Court's only job is to assess the constitutionality of the laws brought before it, and their decision, with Antonin Scalia, the great constitutional scholar, in the majority, cannot and should not be challenged."

"It was extremely depressing to see the number of viewers who misunderstand the function of the Supreme Court and the meaning of freedom of speech. The Constitution says that no one's right to express his or their opinions can be abridged just because someone doesn't want to hear them, and the Court's decision confirmed that."

"Please stop repeating those who have been spewing the liberal concept that some people don't deserve the constitutional freedom of speech. You and I and even corporations can support political candidates under the First Amendment, and we must defend that right."

The "tasty" news of 1910

"Considerable curiosity was aroused a few days ago when it was noticed that several large palm trees by the Presbyterian church lot had been cut down and were being cut into small sections. . .

"Some said the fibrous wood was to be made into souvenirs such as pin cushions. . .

"It seems that among the curious. . . was a farmer who resides near town. He was told that the pulpy wood of the palm tree was the finest kind of food for hogs and that the porkers went simply daffy over the toothsome morsels. He was also told that the hogs would find in it a medicinal quality which would fortify them against the ravages of cholera. . . Mr. Farmer asked for a load, which was presented to him free. Gleefully he took home his wagonload. . . and more gleefully he lifted some into his hog pen, for this was fattening hogs at little expense.

"The porkers, however, and much to the surprise of the farmer, turned up their snouts at the new style of breakfast food, despite the raise in prices of other food stuffs. They had no intention of turning their stomachs into saw mills and so passed the alleged luxury by without a NIBBLE."

(Was cholera more toxic than Obama?)

Thank you, (AS PUBLISHED 1/25)

thank you, thank you to the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for electing Scott Brown to the "people's" Senate seat formerly held by Teddy Kennedy. Unless the Democrats subvert the process, he should be promptly seated and we, the vast majority of the American people, may be able to glimpse the light at the end of the health care tunnel. Hopefully, Congress will then begin tweaking the system, one issue at a time, instead of committing trillions of dollars to creating 118 boards and commissions and fining and imprisoning law-abiding citizens. We thank Massachusetts for speaking for us, and we encourage Mr. Brown to stand firm in opposing the tyranny of the government takeover of 1/6 of the American economy.

"In the end, we're all Americans." Freshman Felicia Forte

I imagine you don't know that the federal government is actively promoting racism. As reported by the Sacramento Bee, "The federal No Child Left Behind requires schools to ensure students of all races achieve proficiency in English and math by 2014. So the agency is pressing schools to identify all students by race in 2010-11 or face penalties." Please note the reference to punishment, a favorite liberal technique for compelling cooperation.

"According to the Federal Register, there will no longer be a 'no race and/or ethnicity unknown' category and schools will use 'observer identification'. . . but California refuses to force schools to rely on 'third-party observation'. . . " Therefore many students at Laguna Creek High School, a college preparatory institution in the Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento, have taken a positive step toward eliminating racism by listing their race as "multiple/no response." In fact, statewide, the incidence of students and parents indentifying themselves in this manner has increased 70% in the last three years. This is a very encouraging sign which is being mirrored by students in higher education, and recognizes the basic humanity in all of us.

As Laguna senior, Jessica Mae Belcher, 17, whose roots are African and Cherokee, said, "I'm not saying we're going to forget where we came from, but we can all see similarities from different hardships, [and by eliminating racial categories], we can make racial hatred go away."

How many?

On this, my trombonic birthday, I present five of my recent email submissions to my local NBC affiliate. The first two have already been used; the third and fourth may yet be. Last week, the station let me criticize NBC for showing "The Biggest Loser," and they also printed my repudiation of reality presented here. I value their willingness to present all viewpoints.

For years, the people of California elected school boards, the school boards hired superintendents, and the superintendents hired teachers and principals. It created the best educational system in the U.S. What makes the government think they can improve on that?

There are terrorists in every country in the world. Heck, there was one at Ft. Hood. Everyone entering the U.S. should be submitted to exactly the same stringent scrutiny [rather than profiling travelers from selected countries].

Technology, religion and government are three separate things, and the less each interferes with the others, the better our lives will be. The best way "to promote the general welfare" is to encourage creativity, respect freedom, and keep government out our everyday lives.

Giant savings could be had if government weeded out millions of instances of fraud being perpetrated by illegal aliens, deadbeats who refuse to work, those who fake disabilities, and anyone else who knowingly accepts an entitlement which he or she does not deserve. In addition, government income increases when taxes are cut, and that should be done to encourage employment.

I want to thank my fellow viewers for joining me in ignoring Jay Leno in prime time. What we want is the return of good dramas at 10 p.m., but what do you bet we'll get more cheap reality nonsense? [Is it a permanent "Goodbye NBC" at ten?] (USED AS [EDITED].)

BY THE WAY: My children and I once spent a night in the "Meredith Willson Suite" (room) in a motel in Iowa City. The "continental breakfast" was a donut and coffee.

Happy

It's a new year. Not surprisingly, it looks remarkably like the old one. In addition, it's kind of dark and rainy.

I've seen many new years, and this may be the least encouraging yet, but there is one glimmer of hope. In Novenber, we will have the opportunity to alter the composition of Congress, and with some judicious choices, we may be able to reverse the disastrous course upon which the Obama administration is embarked. Pray it won't be too late, and he has not already had Rahm Emanuel and his black shirts abolish or eradicate Congress.