DNC panel agrees to seat Michigan, Florida (Politico)

Politico - The Michigan and Florida delegations will be seated at the Democratic convention this summer. The question now is whether Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign will continue fighting until then.

Clinton looks for fun on final primary days (AP)

AP - The candidate is on an outdoor stage, her shoulders bobbing and weaving as two reggaeton performers dance around her. Welcome to Hillary Rodham Clinton's most excellent adventure.

Obama Ditches Church 20 Years too Late

Copyright © 2008 Big Dog. Visit the original article at http://www.onebigdog.net/obama-ditches-church-20-years-too-late/.

On March 18^th of this year, after endless coverage of the incendiary remarks by pastor Wright, Barack Obama decided he needed to discuss the issue. Barack Obamessiah gave his More Perfect Union speech where he tried to explain the state of race relations in this country. During this speech he stated:

Going to great lengths and several times repeating his reason for his continued association to Wright and his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Obama said the pastor introduced him to his Christian faith and continues to perform God’s work on Earth.

“As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. … I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother,” Obama told an audience at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. [emphasis mine] Fox

Message for Obama’s grandmother, watch out. Today Barack Obama resigned from the Trinity United Church of Christ so it looks as if disowning grandma is not off the table.

Obama wrote a letter of resignation after a guest speaker (and Obama spiritual supporter) at the church gave a speech that hammered Hillary Clinton and made racist remarks about white entitlement. This came as Obama was repairing his damaged reputation that came at the hands of Pastor Wright, his other spiritual supporter (and adviser). Despite the many claims of his supporters and the MSM that Obama has not been harmed by the Wright episode, he has. This newest episode just confirms that Obama spent 20 years at a church that preaches hatred and despite his race relations speech, Obama is part of the racist mindset that exists there. His wife is certainly a black woman with a chip on her shoulder and her statements expose a woman who has a dislike for white people and a hatred for her country.

Interestingly, Obama said he was leaving the church with sadness and that he was doing so because he did not want his church experiences to become a circus (too late for that) and that he was leaving because of a cultural and stylistic gap. He also said that he was sorry for the attention his campaign has brought to the church. Obama said that reporters had taken church bulletins and were calling shut ins and the sick. I suppose what Obama is saying is that he has to quit because of the attention the church is getting not because of what it says or stands for.

I can understand why Obama is upset that his church got so much attention. I imagine he would have rather had the church and its racist philosophies kept under wraps until after the general election. He certainly would rather have won the presidency before anyone found out that he belonged to a racist church for 20 years and that he either agrees with them or is so inept he should not be the leader of our country. As it stands now, he has been harmed by Wright and now Pfleger. Democrats think this is a non issue but recent exit polls show that it made a difference among Democrats. Just think how this will play with Republicans and Independents.

Obama quit his church about 20 years too late and this will certainly play against him for at least the near future. His resignation, despite his faux reasons, only shows America that he finally realized that his church was the wrong one to belong to. It will also show that he was playing politics when he gave his race relations speech and that he actually can disown things.

Unfortunately, it appears he can only do so when it is to avoid political harm rather than when it is the right thing to do. For a new kind of politician he sure looks and acts like the the same old stuff.

Sources:
Politico
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The battle of Farmers Branch: Democracy versus the judiciary

They are wasting their time with this judge. It will have to go to appeal. But he is probably giving them useful advice towards making their laws more waterproof

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Farmers Branch ordinance designed to block apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants. And he minced no words in refusing to green-light a later ordinance the city’s attorneys had tailored to overcome legal issues related to the first. “The court has already held, at least as a preliminary matter, that five different versions of the [previous] ordinance violate the United States Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay wrote. “The new ordinance is yet another attempt to circumvent the court’s prior rulings and further an agenda that runs afoul of the United States Constitution.”

But Judge Lindsay did not rule against the newer ordinance. Instead, he said the city had “put the cart before the horse” in asking for an opinion on the measure when it has drawn no federal court challenge.

That, however, may be about to change. Once Judge Lindsay issues his final judgment - which an attorney for the city said would incorporate all of his rulings in the lawsuit against the original ordinance - the city will begin a 15-day countdown to enactment of the newer measure.

And Bill Brewer, who represents some of the plaintiffs in the suit over the earlier measure, said Wednesday that if the city tries to implement the newer version, he will challenge it, too.

Newly elected Mayor Tim O’Hare, who as a City Council member has led the city’s efforts to drive out illegal immigrants, said he expects Judge Lindsay to block the newer measure as well. “Then we would have two ordinances with which we can appeal to the 5th Circuit,” Mr. O’Hare said. “We’re confident in the end that we’re going to prevail.”

Judge Lindsay issued his permanent injunction barring implementation of the earlier measure, Ordinance 2903, a little more than a year after Farmers Branch voters approved it 2-to-1. “The people’s will, and people’s decisions, and people’s wishes once again get ignored and overturned,” City Council member David Koch said.

Judge Lindsay said in his ruling that he was aware of the widespread support for Ordinance 2903, and he recognized citizens’ frustration over federal failure to enforce immigration laws. But he said the court must decide whether the law passes constitutional muster. “This is not the first time - nor will it be the last - that a court has held a politically popular ordinance to be unconstitutional,” the judge wrote.

Mr. Brewer said, “Clearly, if we are not gaining popularity for our view, at least we are gaining credibility.” Ordinance 2903 would have required apartment managers or owners to obtain and maintain evidence that tenants are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Opponents argued that it would saddle apartment personnel with the duties of immigration officers, unfairly burdening them with deciding who was eligible to rent.

The City Council adopted the newer measure, Ordinance 2952, in January. It would require prospective renters to pay $5 and declare their citizenship or legal U.S. residency to obtain a license to rent a house or apartment. Landlords could rent to anyone with a license, but the city would check the tenants’ information against a federal database to confirm their legal status.

Judge Lindsay’s decision against Ordinance 2903 came in a summary judgment - without allowing the case to go to trial. He wrote that only the federal government may determine whether someone is in the country legally. And he said the city, rather than deferring to the federal government’s determination of immigration status, had created its own classification scheme for determining which noncitizens could rent apartments. “Because Farmers Branch has attempted to regulate immigration differently from the federal government, the ordinance is preempted by the supremacy clause” of the Constitution, Judge Lindsay said. He said numerous city proposals to revise the law failed because they would have required the court to essentially redraft the measure, which is not the court’s job.

Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU of Texas, which is one of the parties in the case, hailed the ruling. “It’s a very clear victory for those of us who said from the beginning there are other more constitutional solutions to the problems that Farmers Branch identified and that these solutions so far are not only impractical, not only implausible, but clearly unconstitutional.”

Michael Jung of Strasburger & Price, the law firm representing the city, expressed hope that Ordinance 2952 would ultimately withstand legal challenges. “The legal problems … [Judge Lindsay] identifies with Ordinance 2903 have been addressed and we believe resolved in Ordinance 2952,” Mr. Jung said.

At the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that wants more immigration restrictions, spokesman Ira Mehlman noted that tough laws have been upheld in Arizona and Oklahoma. “There are a lot of conflicting legal opinions floating out there,” he said, “and obviously, at some point, they are going to have to be bundled up by a higher court. Our view is that all these will be upheld.”

Source

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The “train of shame”

"After years of being accused of riding the Brussels gravy train, members of the EU parliament are about to step aboard a real one," writes Nicola Smith of The Sunday Times.

Long awaited, a new Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) service has been launched between Brussels and Strasbourg. But, in true style, when it comes to transferring MEPs (and their staff) between the two cities for the monthly meetings in Strasbourg, a special – i.e., exclusive train is being laid on.

The "Eurocrats-only" express service will be launched next month, enabling MEP to travel in luxury at 186mph between the two parliament buildings and, of course, the buffet car will be fully stocked. Staff, presumably, will travel in their own segregated facilities.

For this convenience, the long-suffering taxpayers will have to cough up about £158,000 for the return trip, by way of subsidy, but the fare-paying public will be banned from seeing how their money is spent. MEPs will pay £170 for a return ticket, but will then be reimbursed.

Ordinary passengers will have to make to with the rickety scheduled service which, from memory, takes about just over five hours – compared with the 3 hours 40 minutes for the TVG. The Times tells us this is known as "the cattle truck", and has no refreshments.

The new service replaces the two flights that are usually laid on for the same commute, at a slightly higher cost of £162,000 a month. This has the MEPs and officials bitching. Fast though it may be, the train cannot compete with the 90 minutes flying time and the time of arrival – 1.35pm – means the poor little darlings will be deprived "of their midday break and the possibility of a proper lunch".

Not only that, staff unions for the officials are complaining that the earlier start needed to compensate for the longer journey time means that some of them will have to come back from their weekend breaks on Sunday, rather than on the Monday morning, cutting into their leisure time.

Me, I used to go home for the weekend, and then drive down from Yorkshire on a Sunday, driving just over 500 miles (visiting one or other WWI battlefield on the way) before stopping in a fabulous hotel 40 miles outside Strasbourg - with a view you would kill for. After a leisurely breakfast, we (my passengers and I) would take the scenic route into Strasbourg, rolling in to the parliament at about 2-3 on Monday afternoon, after a relaxing lunch in some agreeable tourist spot.

It really is such a hard life being a Eurocrat – so you can keep your "train of shame".

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