Civil Rights

Polling suggests that House icon John Dingell is in trouble in his reelection bid, and to many conservative groups, an unlikely ally is likely to speed to his rescue — the National Rifle Association.

This will drive many conservative bloggers, writers and erstwhile leaders nuts, but as a former NRA lobbyist, let me state this clearly — the NRA owes nothing to the conservative movement or the Republican Party. It is the NRA’s job to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans, not just Republicans, independents, Democrats or non-participants, but for all Americans.

It is clear to me that the right to free speech trumps proper decorum,  and in that vein, I defend Pastor Phelps’s right to protest at military  funerals. He is careful to follow all the laws and guidelines for  protesting at a funeral.

However, the right to do something does not mean it is the right thing to do. One day Pastor Phelps and his ilk are going to protest the wrong funeral. On that day, a grieving family member is going to snap and a brawl will ensue.

Last week, lost in the Colbert hoopla, Christopher Coates, a former head of the Department of Justice’s Voter Rights Division, testified, “Opposition within the voting section was widespread to taking actions under the Voting Rights Act on behalf of white voters in Noxubee County, Miss.”

Coates confirmed last year’s testimony by former DoJ official J. Christian Adams that the government was wrong to drop an open-and-shut case against the New Black Panther Party for claims of voter intimidation during the 2008 election.

It’s a holistic pride within human nature that desires to shamelessly document all of our greatest victories with a sign of success for the world to see. The American flag on the moon is one of these glorious achievements that will be enshrined in history forever. This sentiment, which has been used to cultivate pride among nations, is being used against America with the building of the Ground Zero mosque. 

Americans, and especially the families of innocent victims of the terrorist attack, have been tortured enough. No proud American should stand by to allow salt to be thrown into the wounds of our great nation and people again.

I am not going to get into politicians and pundits waving their wet fingers in the air to get a sense of the wind on this one. Forget the vagaries of the silly season — three months before an election, as important as one might think that is. I am not going to get into local vs. national responsibility, where it should or should not be built — two blocks, 10 blocks, in another state. I am not even going to get into religious freedom or the First Amendment or the history of building churches and synagogues in this country.

This is directed at all the people who claim they are all for the First Amendment rights of the Muslims who want to construct a mosque at the 9/11 site but insist it's an "insult" to build it there — a "stab in the heart," as Sarah Palin puts it, for the millions who have intense feelings about the Sept. 11 attacks. More than one politician cries out that the proposed Islamic center would violate "sacred ground.”

Question: What do you think about the plans of Glenn Beck to hold a "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial? Did I mention it is scheduled 47 years to the day after Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" rally on the very same spot?

Puh-leeze! Can we come to our senses when it comes to the proposed Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero?

The arguments being made against it by Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani and other political cheap-shot experts are absurd.

First, they insist, this is “hallowed ground.” No, it’s not. The mosque would not be built at Ground Zero, but two blocks away — on a busy commercial street. Two blocks from Ground Zero today, you can already find a strip club, an off-track betting parlor, a McDonald’s and Burger King, an Irish pub, pizza joint and Dunkin’ Donuts. They’re OK and a mosque is not? Puh-leeze!

It is a little startling to hear Judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox Business publicly explaining to millions of viewers ideas that were considered seditious and marginal five years ago.

Tea Party ideas demonized by the MSM. Crazy Jeffersonian ideas from the Libertarian ghetto suggesting that states have sovereign rights protected by the Constitution. “Are you serious?” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) replied when the idea was first suggested to her.

The Hill invites two established bloggers from either side of the political spectrum to sound off in original commentary.

The ease with which the NAACP and other organizations dismiss the Tea Party debate by crying racism — and the vitriol reserved for those black Americans who deigned to disagree — tells us that the same old racial fault lines remain in this country.

While racial discrimination is nowhere near the insurmountable barrier it once was, we still can’t seem to get beyond the same old paradigms: Blacks must support the Democrats and anyone who thinks otherwise is labeled a racist — something we've seen reprised in recent months regarding Obama.