President Obama picks first Hispanic to U.S. Supreme Court

As reported by OneNewsNow.com, "Earlier today, Barack Obama made the first Supreme Court nomination by a Democratic president in 15 years. The president had stated publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy. If approved, Sotomayor -- who currently serves on the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York -- would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court. Sotomayor was first appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush, then named an appeals judge by President Bill Clinton in 1997. Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice believes Obama ultimately picked Sotomayor for no other reason than he felt tremendous pressure to select a woman and a Hispanic. Levey says the pick surprised him, but was consistent with the president's desire to appoint an empathetic judge. "I actually thought he was going to be smarter than that," Levey responds. "[I thought] that he would pick somebody who was sort of a closet judicial activist, not someone who can easily be found on YouTube joking with contempt about the fact that she makes policy as a judge; and [not] someone who had controversial positions on affirmative action and gun rights -- [and not] somebody who even liberals say is not an intellectual heavyweight. "I thought he would find someone who sort of met his activist view of a judge, but was not such an easy target," he concludes. Levey contends Sotomayor's decision to rule in a way that prevented the New Haven firefighters affirmative action case from receiving further review from the Supreme Court "went beyond ideology" and crossed an ethical line. Levey predicts Obama will likely lose some red-state Democratic senators in the Sotomayor confirmation process, and may have to pay a very high political price to guide her nomination through. He believes that any effort Obama has made to try to carve out a moderate stance on same-sex "marriage," Second Amendment rights, affirmative action, and the war on terror will be unraveled by this pick.

According to Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, Sotomayor has a mixed history in terms of decisions handed down while she served on the Second Circuit. "She does not believe that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to individuals," Staver points out. "On the other hand, she wrote a decision that upheld the 'Mexico City policy,' which at the time banned federal funding of abortion overseas. She's never written specifically on the abortion issue." The Supreme Court is very much aware of some of her rulings, Staver adds. "She has had five decisions reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, three of which have been reversed," he notes. "She's carried 11 of the 44 possible votes during those cases -- meaning that she hasn't gotten a lot of sympathy from the United States Supreme Court regarding her particular decisions. She's in favor of affirmative action, but she's upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act." Sotomayor is considered an activist judge, but Staver argues that no one will make it to Obama's short list without that characteristic. The Supreme Court nominee has written a book called The International Judge, which suggests that international law and policies should be considered in some court decisions.

Leftward lean? If approved, says Clark Forsythe of Americans United for Life, Sotomayor will help tilt the court to the left. "She clearly is a judicial activist who believes that her personal feelings, [that] personal politics are important in deciding cases, [and] that courts should and do make policy," he offers, "And this nomination is about expanding judicial power versus self-government." The pro-life spokesman points out that the fact that Sotomayor has been a contributor to Planned Parenthood might be a clue to her attitude towards abortion. "Whenever judicial power is expanded beyond the text of the Constitution, the right to self government shrinks," says Forsythe. "And Judge Sotomayor is clearly one who believes that judicial power should be expanded and that courts should make policy -- and that's very disappointing." Forsythe adds that judges should be servants of the Constitution and servants of the people in applying the text, history, and structure of the Constitution as it is ratified by the people. Judges, he contends, should not become political actors who shape and update the Constitution and the laws.

Oklahoma governor signs bill allowing Ten Commandments monument

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry has signed a bill to permit a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol.

Henry took the action Monday, rejecting arguments that the display would be unconstitutional.
The bill's House sponsor says he'll use family funds to pay the $10,000 cost of the monument, which he insists will honor the historical rather than religious significance of the Ten Commandments. The American Civil Liberties Union is considering challenging the measure. I'm glad to see a governor that is willing not to bow down to the liberal left propaganda and stand up for the principles of Christianity.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voting to support anti-American Harold Koh's as State Department legal adviser.

As reported by Concerned Women's of America, "This week, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to support Harold Koh's nomination to become the top State Department legal adviser. All freedom loving Americans should be concerned about his nomination and should call their senators (202-224-3121) and urge them to oppose his nomination when it comes to the floor for a full Senate vote.

There can be no doubt that Koh's influence at the State Department will have a grave impact on U.S. law and policy for years to come. Koh is a transnationalist. Briefly stated,1 he believes that U.S. courts must look beyond national interest to the "mutual interests of all nations in a smoothly functioning international legal regime."2 Let's get this straight then. According to Koh, U.S. courts should be working for the international community or "regime" as he calls it, not for the people of the United States of America. This begs the question: From where do judges derive their power? All power granted to the courts is given by "we the people" through our Constitution, isn't it? What would you think if you hired someone to paint your portrait and they came to you with a portrait of David Beckham (or the latest international superstar) because they felt it was more in tune with the "mutual interest of all nations"? What? You would probably say, "Hey, you work for me! I'm not paying for that."
Koh has already injected his poisonous view in several cases at the Supreme Court level, and he has had some success.

He filed an amicus (or "friend of the court") brief in the notorious Lawrence v. Texas3 sodomy decision, citing foreign constitutions, foreign court decisions, and international treatises the United States has not ratified to support his claim. He argued, "Other nations with similar histories, legal systems, and political cultures have already answered these questions. … This Court should pay decent respect to these opinions of humankind."

What Koh advocates is an attack on our own foundations. If his influence is allowed to continue to take root in our legal system and our foreign policy, we will cease to be a self-governing nation. It is that simple. Based on his radical views, U.S. foreign policy is likely to become more of a "one-world' policy. You know, the more sophisticated, progressive, humanitarian way of helping "mankind." As the State Department's top legal adviser, Mr. Koh would be in charge of helping set and implement U.S. foreign policy. It would be hard to think of a more influential and dangerous position from which he could advocate his radical views - unless, of course, he was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court (hint, hint ...)." Make no mistake about it. President Obama is keeping his promise of Change. And change is coming. Change that will be detrimental to our country and our Christian way of life. President Obama is quickly pushing America into a socialist country in where the citizens are not running the government, but instead the elitists that do not have any loyalty to our beloved U.S. Constitution and our founding fathers.
End Notes
1. For a fuller explanation of transnationalism see the series by Ed Whelan at the Ethics and Public Policy Center: Harold Koh's Transnationalism, http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.3793/pub_detail.asp.
2. Koh, Why Transnational Law Matters, 24 Penn St. Int'l L. Rev. 745, 749-750 (2006).
3. Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003).

'White African-American' Suing N.J. Med School for Discrimination

This shows politically correctness at its finest. Blacks are always calling themselves African-American. However, what if a White person is actually from an African country and becomes an American citizen? Is he an Africa-American? Of course, he is. He just happens to be a White, African-American. A person can be White and be from an African country. That is just the case in New Jersey where Paulo Serodio, a medical student has filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Medical School because he identified himself as a White-Afrcan American and was ulitmatley suspended for his identification. I have reprinted the whole story below from Sarah Nettermay of ABC news in its entirety.
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Paulo Serodio Says He Was Harassed, Assaulted After Defining Himself as African-American
By SARAH NETTERMay 13, 2009
Can a white guy be African-American? Paulo Serodio says he is. Born and raised in Mozambique and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, Serodio, 45, has filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey medical school, claiming he was harassed and ultimately suspended for identifying himself during a class cultural exercise as a "white African-American." "I wouldn't wish this to my worst enemy," he said. "I'm not exaggerating. This has destroyed my life, my career." The lawsuit, which asks for Serodio's reinstatement at the school and monetary damages, named the Newark-based University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and several doctors and university employees as defendants.

Filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, the lawsuit traces a series of events that Serodio maintains led to his 2007 suspension, starting with a March 2006 cultural exercise in a clinical skills course taught by Dr. Kathy Ann Duncan, where each student was asked to define themselves for a discussion on culture and medicine. After Serodio labeled himself as a white African-American, another student said she was offended by his comments and that, because of his white skin, was not an African-American. According to the lawsuit, Serodio was summoned to Duncan's office where he was instructed "never to define himself as an African-American … because it was offensive to others and to people of color for him to do so." "It's crazy," Serodio's attorney Gregg Zeff told ABCNews.com. "Because that's what he is."

Serodio, who lives in Newark, said he never meant to offend anyone and calling himself African-American doesn't detract from another person's heritage. Neither the American Civil Liberties Union nor the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People responded to messages seeking comment on the meaning of African-American. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines African-American as "an American of African and especially of black African descent." "There are people of all races who are African," Serodio said, adding that he's never had a problem identifying himself as an African-American until that day in Duncan's class.
Zeff pointed out that Serodio only labeled himself after his instructors asked him to do so and was then penalized for it.

Defending an Identity or Unprofessional Behavior?
Serodio said he is a third-generation African of Portuguese ethnicity whose great-grandfather emigrated to Mozambique. He came to the U.S. in 1984 after being accepted at New York University. He met his future wife and started a family and, after deciding to settle in the U.S. permanently, got his citizenship in the early 1990s. After doing research work on and off, including for UMDNJ, with pauses in between to be a stay-at-home dad, Serodio said he decided to become a doctor to follow in his parents footsteps. His plan, he said, was to become a doctor and join Doctors Without Borders where he could travel back to Africa to do charity work like his parents, either as an internist or possibly a neurologist. He started medical school, he said, when his eldest child was in first grade. The family, he said, had hoped to hold a joint graduation party this spring– for his son's passing out of fourth grade and for Serodio's graduation from medical school. But they will only be celebrating his son's achievements this year.
The lawsuit claims Serodio began to be harassed by other students who sought disciplinary action against him for his statement in Duncan's class, but was never given a chance to defend his views against the complaints.

UMDNJ spokesman Jeffrey Tolvin told ABCNews.com that university officials had not yet seen the lawsuit. "We have no comment on this matter," he said. In September 2006, Serodio said he again asked to define himself culturally as part of another course exercise. Again, according to the lawsuit he said he was a "white African-American." And again, he was called to the course instructor's office and told never to define himself that way again. According to the lawsuit, Serodio then wrote an article for the student newspaper, titled "A More Colorful View Than Black and White," in an attempt to explain his self-identification and to call for tolerance at the school. But when complaints started pouring into Dr. I. Thomas Cohen, then the dean of student affairs, the lawsuit alleges that Serodio was called in again and told by Cohen that if he "lay low for awhile" Cohen would see that a record of the incident would not be placed in Serodio's transcript.

Serodio told ABCNews.com that he believes that America has outgrown the labels of black and white, something he wrote about in the article. His own children, he said, are of mixed ethnicity – European and Chinese. In his own case, he said, "There's a distinction to be made here between ethnicity and being from Africa."

Spiraling Out of Control
The lawsuit claims Serodio tried to stop publication on the newspaper article, but was too late. In response, the professor of the latter cultural class posted a reply on the bulletin boards at the medical school stating that Serodio "had failed to learn professionalism and humanism."
That's when, according to the lawsuit, the harassment, some physical, began in earnest. According to the lawsuit, Serodio's tires were vandalized in December of 2006, other students put up posters slamming him and he was denied protection by the school.

In January 2007, Serodio was made to promise he would never again write in any public forum at the school at the risk of facing disciplinary action, according to the lawsuit.
But Zeff said that the same month, his client was designated as the person who would take notes from a particular class for posting online, as was customary. The notes, Zeff said, contained a few jokes and comments as was typical for students who posted notes online and had been approved by the class professor.

But after a fellow student complained, the same professor that approved the notes filed a complaint about their content, according to the lawsuit, and school officials demanded that Serodio submit to a psychiatric evaluation. The evaluation was given in April 2007 and Serodio was declared "fit for medical student functions," according to the lawsuit. But after a disciplinary hearing on April 1, which consisted of testimony from anyone claiming to be offended by Serodio's comments, he was notified of his suspension. The lawsuit claims Serodio was suspended on May 15, 2007 for a period "of not less than one year."
Messages and e-mails left with Duncan and Cohen as well as UMDNJ Dean Dr. Robert Johnson were not returned. His suspension, which Serodio said was for "unprofessional behavior," meant he was unable to take the board exams reserved for students preparing to enter third year and therefore could not transfer elsewhere to continue his education even though he completed all the second-year coursework.

Resolving the Issue
Serodio told ABCNews.com that he was technically reinstated last spring, but it was too late to start his third year because he still had not been allowed to take his second-year exams.
"I feel unprepared now," he said. "That was very penalizing to me." So Serodio said he decided to take a year's leave of absence to spend time with his children and get things sorted out with the school, while trying to stay current on his studies for the exam. The lawsuit is asking for reinstatement to UMDNJ and to the National Board of Medical Examiners so Serodio be allowed to take his board exams. The suit is also asking for recognition that UMDNJ's actions were discriminatory and retaliatory and for unspecified monetary damages.
"I felt this issue had to be resolved," he said. For now, Serodio is hoping to be able to get his medical degree and put what he considers to be the humiliation of the incident behind him.
"He's lost a part of his career," Zeff said. "He's lost two years of his life."

California public schools may soon be honoring sodomite pioneer

As reported by OneNewsNow.com, "The California State Senate is poised to vote on a bill making an official "homosexual day" in every public school.

It would be called "Harvey Milk Day" in honor of the openly homosexual San Francisco Board of Supervisors member who was shot and killed in 1978 along with the city's mayor, George Moscone. S.B. 572, which was approved 7-to-2 out of committee last week, says observances conducted on May 22 should recognize Milk's "accomplishments as well as the contributions he made to this state" -- and that "all public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe...and...conduct suitable commemorative exercises." Randy Thomasson of SaveCalifornia.com says the legislation designates just another day to indoctrinate children in the tenets of homosexuality. "That's why we've called California parents to get their kids out of the government schools and into the sanctuary of homeschooling or a good church-schooling instead," he shares. According to Thomasson, parental permission for children to participate in any related activities would not be required under S.B. 572, effectively trampling on parents' rights. He also contends the measure would "encourage public schools to positively portray to children any and all facets of homosexuality, bisexuality, and trans-sexuality -- and anything else that's 'in the closet.'"

This just again shows how important for Christian parents to remove their children from the public schools and homeschool them as our children are being targeted by the sodomites and others who want to destroy our children from being raised with Christian teachings.

Maine becomes 5th state to allow sodomite marriage and man detained for displaying "Don't Tread on Me" bumper sticker

On May 6, Maine became the fifth state to grant the freedom to marry same-sex couples or what I called sodomite marriage when Maine Gov. John Baldacci signed the legislation. This continues to show the downward spiral of our beloved country that had a Christian past, but no longer are we living in a Christian United States. And as our country becomes more and more of a non-White (European) and non-Christian country, and more of a resemblance of a socialist third world country, we will see more and more stories as I show below where the government will be coming after anyone that dares to speak out against the government. For Example, this is a story from Vision Forum of a man stopped by the police because he had a "Don't Tread on Me" sticker on the back of his car. I have reprinted the article in full below.

----------------The Department of Homeland Security Strikes Again----------------
May 6, 2009: A Special Report by Archie Jones, Adjunct Writer for American Vision
We just received a call from Rosemarie in Ball, Louisiana alerting us that her brother-in-law was stopped by small town Louisiana police and detained by the roadside for half an hour. A background check was conducted to determine whether he was a member of an “extremist” group. Why? Her brother-in-law (name not disclosed for privacy) had purchased and displayed a conservative “Don’t Tread on Me” bumper sticker on his car.

The bumper sticker is based on the famous flag designed by American Revolution era general and statesman Christopher Gadsden. The yellow flag featured a coiled diamondback rattlesnake ready to strike, with the slogan “Don’t Tread on Me!” underneath it. Benjamin Franklin helped make the rattlesnake a symbol of Americans’ reluctance to quarrel but vigilance and resolve in defense of their rights. By 1775 when Gadsden presented his flag to the commander-in-chief of the Navy, the rattlesnake was a symbol of the colonies and of their need to unite in defense of threats to their God-given and inherited rights. The flag and the bumper sticker symbolize American patriotism, the need to defend Americans’ rights, and resistance to tyranny’s threats to American liberty. Those threats included—and include—illegal taxation, profanation of Americans’ rights, and violation of the fundamental principles of American law.

The notorious Department of Homeland Security memo, which was apparently based on the infamous Missouri State Police Report that described supporters of presidential candidates Bob Barr, Ron Paul, and Chuck Baldwin as “militia”-type potential extremists and potential terrorists, is not the first effort of leftist radicals to slander their political opponents as “extremists.” Some observers have noted that similar “reports” emerged during the Clinton administration. But “liberals” and other leftists have been calling defenders of traditional American limited, constitutional government, free enterprise, and individual liberty “extremists” since at least the 1964 election.

The political left’s attempts to establish a false equivalence between genuine left wing extremists and those who oppose the left’s assault on our culture, law, and liberty is more than propaganda to fool the ignorant and manipulate public opinion. Combined with the power of government, it is an attempt to harass, intimidate, and silence all political opposition—and probably an attempt to demonize them as a prelude to governmental oppression and persecution. Keep in mind that the First Amendment states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Small town police misled by phony left wing “reports” are bad enough. Federal government agencies and their armed agents under the direction of leftist radicals are exponentially worse. They will tread on us. The time has come to let our voices be heard!

Maine Senate approves sodomite marriage.

Maine's Senate has approved same-sex marriage (or what I call sodomite marriage) and sent the bill to the House where it is expected to pass as well.

According to OneNewsNow.com, "Based on a recent communication, there is every indication the governor will sign the bill. The senate also axed a proposal to send the issue to the ballot for the people to decide. Michael Heath is with Maine Family Policy Council. "They voted that down by 24 votes, so it was a very significant margin and effectively killed off the possibility that it will be voted on," he explains. Heath notes an alternative called the "People's Veto." In Maine, the people are recognized in the constitution as a co-equal branch of government, and they can take action. "Five citizens can take out a petition, and if they gather 60,000 signatures in 90 days, then there is automatically a statewide vote," he adds. "And if the vote goes in favor of the veto, then the law is repealed." The council needs to raise $100,000 to conduct the veto petition drive. Heath is confident it can be accomplished with enough volunteers, financial resources, and prayer."