Casey Anthony Surveillance Video

Prosecutors failed to get this jailhouse footage into evidence during the Casey Anthony murder trial. The judge unsealed the video yesterday, and it is now in the public domain.

Judge: Alabama Immigration Statute Not Preempted By Federal Law

When a federal judge issues a temporary injunction that prevents a law from going into effect, it is usually a precursor or figleaf for subsequently throwing out the entire law. Surprise: U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn Wednesday gave the green light to most of Alabama's immigration enforcement law, House Bill 56, that she had put on hold in August. Unlike Obamacare, for example, the Alabama law contained a severability clause that allows a judge to pick and choose among acceptable or unacceptable provisions.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn ruled that federal law does not prohibit state officials from checking the immigration status of students or suspects pulled over by police. Blackburn also refused to stop provisions that make it a misdemeanor for illegal immigrants not to carry immigration papers, allow police to hold suspected illegal immigrants without bond and bar state courts from enforcing contracts entered into by illegal immigrants.

Another example of misplaced priorities: Instead of running around the country suing states for taking action against illegal immigration, the Justice Department and the Obama administration should be using federal resources to securing our borders and enforcing existing law.

In her decision, Judge Blackburn wrote, in part, that

Nothing in the text of the [federal Immigration and Naturalization Act] expressly preempts states from legislating on the issue of verification of an individual’s citizenship and immigration status. There is also nothing in the INA which reflects Congressional intent that the United States occupy the field as it pertains to the identification of persons unlawfully present in the United States.

Read the full 115-page opinion here.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley comments on the ruling:

The Most Unpopular Governor in the U.S. is...

If Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is in as bad shape as some reports claim, will Connecticut's governor order flags to flown at half mast? Presumably the ailing Chavez is Governor Dannel (a.k.a. Dan) Malloy's role model, given the heavy-handed way Malloy has been behaving in office. But Malloy's tactics have come at a price.

According to Public Policy Polling, a Democrat outfit, Malloy is the most unpopular Democrat governor in America.

52% of Connecticut voters say that if they could do it all over they'd vote for Republican Tom Foley, compared to only 41% who would stick with incumbent Dan Malloy.

That desire to elect someone else is a product of Malloy's continuing unpopularity. Only 36% of voters approve of him to 52% disapproving. That makes him the most unpopular Democratic Governor in the country that PPP has polled on this year. His numbers with independents are bad at a 36/55 approval spread but the biggest problem for him is the party base- even with Democrats just 49% think he's doing a good job to 37% who disapprove. It's rare to find a major politician under 50% approval within their own party.

Malloy was narrowly "elected" in the first place only after some shady ballot counting in the city of Bridgeport.

Suspect Arrested in Alleged Plot to Bomb Pentagon with Remote-Controlled Model Airplanes

Why Did the Feds Sell Guns to Drug Gangs?

Despite Obama administration stonewalling, the "Fast and Furious" gunrunning scandal, which resulted in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and others, seems to be finally getting some traction in the mainstream news media.

Forbes.com observes the following:

Why a gunrunning scandal codenamed “Fast and Furious,” a program run secretly by the U.S. government that sent thousands of firearms over an international border and directly into the hands of criminals, hasn’t been pursued by an army of reporters all trying to be the next Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein is a story in itself.

Credit CNN's Anderson Cooper with doing a good piece last night (see video below) about how the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) sold guns to Mexican narco-terrorists. The version posted to the network's website leaves out, however, the interchange where the reporter alluded to a theory that gun control zealots in the Justice Department might have been responsible for this ill-conceived operation. Ordinarily this would be just another off-the-wall conspiracy theory, but given the radical ideologues installed in many federal agencies by this administration, is that really so farfetched?



Similarly, the New York Post editorializes that one possible explanation is...

that the anti-gun Obama administration deliberately wanted American guns planted in Mexico in order to demonize American firearms dealers and gun owners. The operation was manufacturing “evidence” for the president’s false claim that we’re to blame for the appalling levels of Mexican drug-war violence.

If this is true, then [Attorney General] Holder & Co. have got to go -- and the trail needs to be followed no matter where it leads. For the federal government to seek to frame its own citizens is unconscionable.

An alternative theory is that the administration was trying to arm one cartel to play it off another.

A Congressional investigation is ongoing. Fast and Furious came up at a Tuscon Town Hall conducted by U.S Rep. Paul Gosar this week:

The LA Times has more.

Obamacare Headed to Supreme Court Sooner Rather than Later

In what could be a risky political and legal strategy, the Obama administration has decided against requesting an en banc hearing at the Eleventh Circuit that would have reconsidered a ruling that earlier declared healthcare reform, so called, unconstitutional. This is a departure from the delaying tactics that the administration previously employed.

The constitutionality of the 2010 health care law could be determined by the Supreme Court this term, with a decision coming next summer in the thick of the 2012 presidential campaign. The Justice Department said Monday that it had decided not to ask the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta to take up the case. A three-member panel of the court decided 2-1 last month that Congress overstepped its authority in passing the Affordable Care Act, which requires virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance.

The vast majority of the American people oppose socialized medicine in the guise of Obamacare. The legal machinery often moves slowly, but a High Court decision (which will probably go 5-4 either way) that upholds Obamacare before the 2012 election could bring out even more voters opposed to the one-size-fits-all mandate. It's also hard to see how a loss at the Court would help the president's reelection prospects either.

Last week, in declaring the law unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Christopher Connor of Pennsylvania (a Bush appointee) determined that Congress exceeded its authority under the Commerce Clause in enacting Obamacare. "Conner concluded that Congress cannot compel individual citizens to buy health insurance as a condition of citizenship. He reasoned that the authority to regulate interstate commerce does not list the ability to order a lifetime financial commitment to buy health insurance." Recently, a three-judge panel at the Fourth Circuit (three of whom were Democrats, two appointed by Obama) dismissed an Obamacare challenge for technical reasons, but without ruling on the merits of the case.

Regardless of how the Supreme Court resolves the conflicting decisions, Obamacare has already failed in its stated mission to bring down costs as Investors Business Daily reports:

Until now, many of the fears about ObamaCare have been theoretical. But this year's 9% spike in premiums is concrete evidence of the substantial harm it's already doing to our health care system.As soon as the Kaiser Family Foundation's annual report on insurance premiums was released, ObamaCare defenders dismissed its most troubling finding: Insurance premiums for family coverage shot up an average $1,482 this year.

As far as the effect on the upcoming general election, Prof. Jacobson of Legal Insurrection echoes (but much more eloquently) our feelings stated above:

If the Supreme Court finds the mandate to be unconstitutional, it will deflate Obama’s presidency. In one fell swoop, the entirety of Obama’s agenda will come crashing down. It will be a political and personal humiliation.

If the Supreme Court upholds the mandate, Obama will be able to crow a little, but such a decision will leave the majority of people who hate the law with but one alternative: Throw Obama and Senate Democrats out in November 2012.

A pro-Obamacare ruling prior to the election will motivate the Republican base like nothing else, and will bring the independents along. If you thought the summer of 2009 was hot, just wait until the summer of 2012 if the only way for the nation to get out from under Obamacare is at the ballot box in November.

Guy Who Accused Tea Party of Being Racist Rumored to be Dating His Step-Grandaughter

In our society, consenting adults are free to do whatever they want as long as no one else is harmed in the process. However, if true, this is really creepy. According to various reports circulating on the Internet, newly divorced Morgan Freeman is allegedly involved in a relationship with his step-grandaughter, age 27.

Freeman recently caused a stir on a low-rated CNN program by smearing the Tea Party movement with false accusations of racism, the tired and feeble liberal narrative. Freemen, 73, a well-respected actor who is blessed with a powerful speaking voice, may be too busy with his social life to understand what the Tea Party is really about. And perhaps he is as yet unfamiliar with Herman Cain, a Tea Party favorite contending for the GOP presidential nomination. An invitation to attend a Tennessee Tea Party really has been extended to him.

[photo credit: CynSimp]