The Assassination of an American Teenager

With all the outcry over Trayvon Martin, I’m curious… where is the outcry for Abdulrahman al-Awlaki?

If you’re like any number of Americans, you probably just said “Who?” aloud.

As reported by David Kretzmann:

On October 14, 2011, Abdulrahman Al-awlaki was killed by U.S. airstrikes in Yemen. Al-awlaki was a 16 year old American citizen who was eating dinner with a group of his teenage friends when U.S. airstrikes took their lives. Al-awlaki, born in Denver, Colorado, was the son of Anwar al-Awlaki. Anwar al-Awlaki, of course, was the U.S. citizen suspected (but never prosecuted) of working with Al Qaeda; Awlaki was assassinated by the U.S. on September 30, 2011.

I briefly touched on the administration’s willingness to forgo due process and kill American citizens in the name of the “war on terror” in a previous article.

So while everybody is up in arms about Trayvon Martin being killed, almost nobody is mentioning Abdulrahman. I’m guessing 99% of you had never even heard of him. I’m betting the same percentage of you had no idea that this young man was, like his father, an American citizen, who was assassinated by his own government on foreign soil.

“But… but… His dad was a scary terrorist man!” Well, that may be. But as Mr. Kretzmann already noted, he was suspected but never charged or prosecuted.

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Scalia: ‘If The Government Can Do This, What Else Can It Not Do?’

So, the Supreme Court has heard oral arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called Obamacare. At issue is the Constitutionality of the “individual mandate.” The legal complexity of this thing is astounding. But from my (simplistic) view point, the Government coercing a private citizen to purchase a product (insurance) from a private … Read more »

Choose the Form of the Destructor

Anybody raised in the 80’s surely must remember this dialog from Ghostbusters:

Gozer: Sub-creatures! Gozer the Gozerian, Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar, the Traveller has come! Choose and perish!

Ray Stantz: What do you mean, choose? We don’t understand!

Gozer: Choose! Choose the form of the Destructor!

Peter Venkman: Oh, I get it. Real cute! [to the others] Whatever we think of– if we think of J. Edgar Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover will appear and destroy us, okay? So empty your heads, don’t think of anything. We’ve only got one shot at this.

Gozer: The choice is made!

Peter Venkman: Whoa! Hold on!

Gozer: The Traveller has come!

Peter Venkman: Nobody chose anything! [turns to Egon] Did you choose anything?

Egon Spengler: No.

Peter Venkman: [to Winston] Did you?

Winston Zeddemore: My mind is totally blank.

Peter Venkman: I didn’t choose anything.

[All three slowly turn to look at Ray]

Ray Stantz: I couldn’t help it. It just popped in there.

Peter Venkman: [sternly] What? What “just popped in there?”

Ray Stantz: I- I- I tried to think…

Egon Spengler: Look!

[They all look over one side of the roof]

Ray Stantz: No! It can’t be!

Peter Venkman: What is it?

Ray Stantz: It can’t be!

Peter Venkman: What did you do, Ray?!

Winston Zeddemore: Oh, shit!

[They all see a giant cubic white head topped with a sailor hat]

Ray Stantz: [sighs, resigned] It’s the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

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Obama’s Goose Egg Budget

In a rare showing of bipartisanship, President Obama’s $3.6 Trillion budget was soundly defeated by the House of Representatives, 414 to 0. That’s 0… as in goose egg. Even Nancy Pelosi voted against it. It would be easy for one to find examples throughout history of bills that have unanimous support for, but against? This is either … Read more »

Newborn Seized in Hospital by Police, Social Worker

That’s right, don’t you dare ask any questions. The government really does know best.

You want to have a baby? You’d better not even think of trying to have it at home. And if hospital or government officials ask you questions, you had better cooperate, or they might just take yo kids.

That’s what Scott and Jodi Ferris found out.

Michael P. Farris, attorney and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association has taken up their case.

He said among the issues in the case: social service workers who called police when a new mother wanted tests before authorizing shots for her child, a hospital that ejected the new mom from its property over the issue, a social service “investigation” into the birth, and others.

Farris reports:

Jodi had gone into labor early and the midwife they had hoped would deliver their baby encouraged them to head to a hospital. They did.

“Their baby, whom I will call ‘Annie,’ was born in the ambulance in the parking lot of the Hershey Medical Center – a government hospital in Pennsylvania. Hospital personnel arrived very quickly and took charge of both baby and mom,” he reported.

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Wrong Place at the Wrong Time; Where is the Justice?

I can’t help but laugh at this picture every time I see it. This guy is a classic example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ouch.

But this is just humorous (well, ok, it’s probably not very funny to the poor lad who now has to swallow to return his manliness to its original position). What happens when it’s not funny?

Take the recent Trayvon Martin situation. Spike Lee retweeted an address which was purported to be that of alleged shooter George Zimmerman. The only problem is, it was the wrong address.

So what happens when an angry mob shows up in front of your house?

That’s exactly what happened to an elderly couple, aged 70 and 72, who were the unfortunate occupants of the address that was being passed around.

Apparently, the woman’s son is named William George Zimmerman, and he briefly lived at that address in 1995. When William Zimmerman pleaded with the man who tweeted the address, the man responded, “Black power all day. No justice, no peace” along with an obscenity.

So, I ask, where is the justice for this couple? Where is their peace? They have had to temporarily relocate to a hotel out of fear for their safety.

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The Trayvon Martin Shooting

I’m quite certain this will draw some (probably negative) attention to me. I’ve thus far refrained from commenting on the Trayvon Martin situation, because a) not being an eye witness, I’m very ill-informed on the situation, and b) tensions on both sides are so high, it’s impossible to take any position without angering one side or the other.

I’ve decided now to break my silence, and attempt to toe the line and not take a side on this issue, and provide only a little commentary.

First, let’s air some facts.

Fact #1: George Zimmerman, the alleged shooter (those who have any experience in the legal profession know why I included the word “alleged”) is just as white as President Obama is (that is to say, 50%). Mr. Zimmerman’s father was white, and his mother was Hispanic. To call this a “white on black” or “hate” crime, is at best a demonstration of being uninformed, and at worse is a blatant misrepresentation.

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