et ceteras

I already weighed in about Arizona’s immigration law and the nonsense reaction it has received from Obama & Co. Now, Obama’s misnamed Justice Department has sued Arizona, effectively declaring war on the states. The lawsuit is so baseless that it would be foolish to dismiss Jon Kyl’s allegation that our president is holding border security hostage to force his agenda on an unwilling public.

Speaking of that misnamed Justice Department, the MSM is continuing to ignore an evolving story surrounding the New Black Panthers. It started when members of that organization were videotaped engaging in threatening behavior at a polling place during the 2008 election, apparently trying to intimidate white voters who they assumed were not voting for Obama (you can see two of the videos here). According to a Justice Department whistleblower, after legal cases against those members had all but been won, higher-ups in the department: 1) ordered that the charges be dropped or drastically reduced, and 2) ordered him to not comply with a subpoena from the Civil Rights Commission. You can read more about the story here, here, and here.

Let’s see, is there anything else out there to darken your day when it comes to how untrustworthy our federal government is? Absolutely! Much ado is being made about Obama doing an “end around” of the Senate by using a recess appointment to make Donald Berwick the Director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. While there are good reasons to criticize this example of a president exploiting his ability to make recess appointments, the main problem is that Obama wanted Berwick in the post at all, because Berwick’s devout beliefs on public health care are opposite to what Obama told us about his beliefs when he was trying to get support for Obamacare. For an excellent take on this issue, please allow me to refer you here.

I know this et ceteras has sounded downcast, but I am not a downcast kind of guy and I want to end on a positive note. Fortunately, I know what that note is. A former co-worker of mine (along with her husband and two others) has decided to open a faith-based outdoors store in Franklin, NC. Exactly how they will merge the themes, I don’t know -- but knowing this individual, I am confident they will do it, and because I usually find myself driving through Franklin a couple times each year, I will make a point to stop in and see. The store’s web site is here, and plans are for it to open in the fall. The principled entrepreneurship of its owners is what makes America great, and the fact that they are forging ahead in these times is a sign that the American spirit is alive and strong. And that is a positive thing indeed.