Modern Role Models

I watched Tuesday as two subjects were being shown on TV most of the day, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. The biggest subject of course was the Michael Jackson Funeral. I watched the memorial service held in a dark room, while lifetime acquaintances recalled intimate moments. After each speaker was finished the family of brothers greeted them with one white glove and dark sunglasses.

I found myself just shaking my head, wondering how a music star who was not only charged with pedophilia once, but paid off countless other victims to avoid prosecution, could garner such attention. The memorial service looked more like a Halloween Party then a funeral. Even Corey Feldman appeared in full “Thriller” garb, I suppose in respect for Michael.

Shortly after Michael’s death the Congressional black caucus, asked for a moment of silence in the house for the passing of Michael Jackson. My question is…..have they ever done that for fallen soldiers? Then my second question would be what other then music, did Michael do to obtain this super human status? His strangeness was known worldwide, and his reclusive nature after his trial was well documented. His inability to reign in his monetary excesses, in some way mirrors the state of California’s inability to budget money. Yet the State of California spent money they didn’t have to send off one of their favorite sons, in much the same way the family did on the extravagant funeral.

I’m sure when the toxicology results come back we will find out yet another strange part of Michael’s life that robbed him of normalcy in his later life, similar to the robbery of his childhood caused by his father Joe.

The second event yesterday appeared on ESPN in what appeared to be a special presentation of the return of Manny Ramirez after his 50 game suspension for using illegal steroids, and what it meant to the children of Washington Heights. It’s no wonder he glides through life ignoring the rules of the very sport that is responsible for his rather vulgar wealth. Now some reports have claimed there were many people at his first game back that brought their signs of disapproval, but coverage of them was rather sparse on ESPN.

I am so confounded on the moralistic direction of our country after viewing these two events yesterday.

I am encouraged however by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who is taking a much tougher stance on Plaxico Burress and Michael Vick’s future in the NFL. Until he sees some sort of repentant attitude the suspensions will continue. Children look up to these athletic and musical stars, and until the bad behavior gets punished, the poor role models will continue.

The "Brown Shirt Nazis" of Belair

I only wished I had been in Belair for the 4th of July Parade, it seems that one democrat in particular saw fit to censor free speech, only to insert his opinion! Rick Impallaria Maryland Delegate reports:

The theme of the parade was "Patriots Then and Now". A quick review of our history will recall that, in the years prior to 1776, England had instituted repressive taxes against the colonists to pay for their ongoing war with France. In response, the colonists protested by throwing Tea Parties -- not only in Boston, but also in Cecil County and Annapolis. The protests eventually led to our independence being declared on July 4, 1776, the event which we were celebrating in the Bel Air parade. That was Patriots Then.

Patriots Now are fed up with government's overspending, with paying taxes to bail out institutions, with government endangering our children's and grandchildren's future by monstrous debt. In response they are emulating their forefathers' example. They are holding Tea Parties -- in Boston, in Cecil County, in Annapolis, and all across the country. They are patriots determined to take our country back from the tyrants.

So, in the spirit of that theme, my parade signs read: "Delegate Impallaria says, Stop the Taxing," "Delegate Impallaria says, Stop the Spending," "Delegate Impallaria says, Support the Tea Parties," "Delegate Impallaria says, Support the Constitution," "Delegate Impallaria says, Happy Birthday, America."

We carried these signs in the Kingsville Parade earlier in the day. As we approached the reviewing stand, the parade marshall read out each and every one over the loudspeaker, and then thanked me for supporting the positions of their community. So these signs represented not only my views, but the views of the Kingsville spectators, who voiced their agreement during the parade.

At the Bel Air Parade, however, my supporters and I were attacked by Mr. Michael Blum, the parade marshall, for carrying signs which clearly expressed the theme of the parade -- Patriotism Then and Now.

If there truly had been objectionable material in anyone's signs, the proper place for removal would have been the staging area, before appearing in public. But Mr. Blum stopped us on the parade route, ripping the "Support the Tea Parties" sign off our lead motorcycle, then stripping signs away from children as young as eight years old. Fortunately, my one niece, who is a true patriot, hid her sign, and for the remaining route we were left with "Stop the Taxing."

As Mr. Blum and his cohort attacked the members of my group, the spectators were outraged at what they saw, and started booing Mr. Blum, calling him a "sign Nazi" and "a Communist", and yelling "This day is all about patariotism and free speech." It was obvious that the spectators were not offended by the signs, but were offended by Mr. Blum's censoring of them.

Then, like true Nazis or Communists, they not only prevented my free speech, they attempted to confiscate my private property by refusing to return the signs. I was not about to stand for this. I repeatedly demanded they place the signs in my vehicle, and they repeatedly refused. All this was taking place in public, which was an embarassment to me, my family, and my supporters. When the van driver, my brother, got out and joined me, they realized that, in the famous words of Martin Luther King, Jr., "We shall not be moved," and the parade would be held up even further, they finally returned the signs.

As one blogger put it, "he is sick and tired of *&%^ politicians walking in the parades." I 100% agree with him, and that is exactly why we carried those signs. I believe it is the right of the people to know exactly what their elected officials stand for. If they do not support what I stand for, it is their option to boo or ridicule me. If they do, they have the right to support me for my representation of them.

Mr. Michael Blum's actions are a total disgrace. He owes a public apology to every true American who believes in freedom of speech. He should also attend classes on the Constitution given by the Institute on the Constitution which are held at Boyle Buick. Or, he should just openly admit to his fascist/community beliefs which he so clearly demonstrated at the Bel Air Parade.

As for my family, my supporters and myself, we stand 100% behind the positions we have taken, and we proudly say that we will continue to support the patriots of the past by doing all we can to be patriots of the present.

Rick Impallaria
Delegate, District 7
rick.impallaria@house.state.md.us



I salute you Rick, keep up the "good fight"

We the People………..

We the people of the United States of America need to be heard, we feel disenfranchised, and we feel that our elected representatives no longer reflect what we see as being in our best interests. You vote on issues right now that will affect the well being of our grandchildren. As a whole (republicans and democrats) we don’t like what congress and our president is doing. We want something better than we are paying for.

These are our grievances:

We are tired of the idea that Congress is our leader, we are the leaders and you work for us!

We are tired that the federal government has not addressed the illegal alien problem. We don’t think that illegals should be entitled to money that legal citizens have paid into a system to have it merely disappear to people who have never paid a dime into.

We are tired of the arrogant nature of the congresses attitude. They vote in their own raises, they vote in their own retirement program, they vote in their own healthcare. Let’s make them adhere to the same things every other American has to. Find their own healthcare, beg for raises, and adhere to the same retirement system that any other civil service employee has to. Better still who gave them the right to vote on ANY of the things of this nature?

We thought it was a good idea after FDR’s presidency to limit a President’s term. Why is it good for a presidency and not for congress? Why would Congress vote on a bill that limits their own reign of terror? Let’s eliminate that!

What President has ever come in front of a world audience and apologized for the past actions of previous administrations, and the attitude of it’s citizens? What gives him the right to do so? What gives the President the right to release confidential and top secret documents of a past administration? What legal precedence does the President use to rationalize the takeover of private industry? What right does the President have to limit pay to those same companies executives?

What right does the President have to ignore the “science” of global climate change, and instead install his own politically driven opinion as the scare factor needed to tax carbon emissions?
What is the Constitutional precedence that allows the President to name “czars” who don’t answer to the public and only the President? We don’t live in Russia and don’t even appreciate you naming these people for past rulers.

We the people feel the President needs to move on and admit his effect on the economy now, and take full responsibility for it. The recent spending has been irresponsible and without rational behavior.

We the people believe in the Constitution word for word, not as a living document to be altered at the mere whim of a politician. We believe that any item not addressed in the Constitution is solely the responsibility of the states, as the document clearly declares.

We the people feel that healthcare is NOT a right, it is a product that everyone pays for, one way or another. The American people don’t want a mandate on healthcare they want a choice, if you want everyone to have healthcare, then demand everyone have it, but give them a choice, not a demand.

We the people feel that the direction of our country for the last 232 years has been one of a democratic society, that direction has been challenged, and is in the midst of being changed. This is not the “change” we voted for, there are plenty of socialistic countries in the world, but we don’t want that for our country.

We the people demand that our government works for us, and not the other way around.

Simply Pathetic

Simply Pathetic
Kevin Bryant

I walked out on my front lawn around 9:30 pm last Friday evening to just take a break after all the hassles from work and stuff just so I could clear my head. I just wanted some peace and quiet and a chance to relax. Looking up at the stars, I couldn’t get my mind off the crap and tax bill (known as cap and trade) that passed the house earlier that day.

By every definition available except that which is written in the Constitution, Barack Obama is a traitor to the people of the United States. He hides behind the Constitution when it suits his purpose and he has the Attorney General twist the writings and intended meanings when it does against his agenda. Then we have a congress that would also fall into that same category of traitors in every sense of the word except as defined by the Constitution. As much as I hate to admit this, even our very own supreme court is dangerously close to (if not already) falling into the traitorous category.

There has not been a single piece of meaningful legislation passed that has not either raised taxes, redistributed wealth or created loopholes to allow for government takeover or control of businesses. Yes, bills have passed and been signed into law that did not raise taxes or do any potential damage to this country, but the percentage of those is rather small.

BHO claims he does not want to run a car company much less two of them. Alright, give them back to their rightful owners. I’m sure those senior shareholders that you stole Chrysler and GM from would gladly take them back if you would let go of your control. You say you have no desire to run banks and insurance companies. Give them back to the shareholders and allow the institutions to pay back the bailout money that they took and release the nooses from around their necks that you placed there. The banks I use didn’t take a dime of bailout money and now thanks to you I will be buying Ford products until you squeeze them into submission and then most likely Toyota products. I want nothing to do with government run industry.

Let us take a look at what is currently on your agenda to ruin. First up is healthcare. BHO, since you claim to be too busy to run the healthcare system, then why are you pushing for a single payer system? Better yet, just be honest with the people. You claim that your plan is to provide an alternate to private healthcare and that we are free to choose. Tell the people what that really means. Tell them that your plan actually will drive up healthcare cost for insurance companies to the point that they will no longer be able to provide quality insurance for people and once you have forced them out of business, you will have the primary objective you have been seeking all along, mandatory universal healthcare for all because no other affordable alternatives will be available to the lower and middle classes.

The other item currently on your agenda is Cap & Trade. This is not a climate control bill and you know it but that’s exactly what you are pushing it as. Global temperatures have held steady for the past 7 years. This is why Al Gore switched from calling it “Global Warming” to “Climate Control” even though media, the left, yourself and Al Gore are still calling for same dooms day type results. Cap & Trade is nothing more than a tax on the people of the United States. You campaigned by telling people that 95% of Americans will get a tax break. You just conveniently failed to mention the “break” was their bank accounts because the lower and middle classes will no longer be able to pay for electricity and other utilities. You admitted in an interview that the cost of energy would quote: “skyrocket”. Now you are claiming it won’t but the CBO, Heritage Foundation, Rand Institute and every one else says it will. You say this bill will create jobs, but in truth, it will cost hundreds of thousands of Americans their jobs. It will close factories, destroy industries and what remains will move their operations overseas where it is cheaper because that will be the only they will be able to stay in business. This is nothing more than a massive spending bill and thievery so that you can pay back the people who contributed heavily to your campaign.

BHO, you use words like: crisis, catastrophe, emergency, imperative, absolute necessity and others to scare people into believing that what you are doing is necessary but in fact, had you done nothing at all, most Americans would be better off today than they are. America wouldn’t be looking at a 2+ trillion dollar debt in 2010. Unemployment would have been lower than the figures you projected when you used fear tactics to pass your so called stimulus package.

Beginning your 6th month in office BHO and you still “Blame Bush” for everything. You have no right to say that anything is still a crisis left over from the previous administration. The Bush recession ended when you passed your stimulus bill. Everything from that point going forward is yours. Be a real man for once and own up to it. I’m not holding my breath here. Your ego will never allow you to admit you were wrong.

Everything the current administration has done up to this point can be reversed with minimum damage to this country. If Cap & Trade and Universal Healthcare do clear congress, it will take decades for this nation to recover. It would be cheaper to go to war with China than it would to pay for these two economy killing bills.

Governor O’Malley’s mixed up priorities

While our unpopular Governor O’Malley travels on his whirlwind multi-country trip to set up foreign offices to attract business to Maryland, his past administration as mayor kept such poor records that Baltimore City stands to lose $8.2 million in stimulus money from the Obama Administration, through what Vice President Biden refers to as the “smell test,” if it smells funny it will be denied. One thing the O’Malley Administration has been known for ever since taking office is their ability to fail the smell test!

O’Malley feels that his foreign offices have the ability to add 250 jobs to the state. Now my question here would be, are these jobs in the private sector or are these just more government jobs to man those offices. If they are jobs to man those offices, will those positions be filled by Marylanders or will they be filled by citizens of the respective countries they represent? It would make good business sense to fill those positions by their citizens, and if they do, how exactly did Marylanders benefit? He now has 12 foreign offices manned and ready to increase business, and has personally enjoyed all the globetrotting needed to set up this new budgetary bleed on our citizens.

O’Malley has found enough extra time to cut a new CD with his musical group O’Malley’s March, but yet he has procrastinated all year to make the necessary cuts in the budget to assure Maryland’s liquidity. His torture of the wealthiest citizens of Maryland has led to a mass exodus of 1/3 of our states millionaires, whom he said, “are willing to pay their fair share.” He sits on the fence of the Constellation Energy regulation problems, offering a combination of re-regulation and new rules, after he admitted that Glendenning’s de-regulation was a bad idea. He ran on the premise that he would fight the “big bad electric company,” then proceeded to abandon us after the election. He had a good teacher in throwing people under the bus, as his savoir in Washington has done that so often himself.

The Stimulus Plan has allowed O’Malley to continue his poor budgetary practices with Maryland’s taxes, and in fact Obama has encouraged it! When faced with serious budget cuts he always throws our educational system under the bus first, while securing his additional social agenda that in actuality should go FIRST! Like his benefactor in Washington, O’Malley thinly veils his short comings to the “past administration.” Eventually they will have to take criticisms on THEIR agendas, and expenditures. Obama and O’Malley share one thing in particular, they have both have increased expenditures to a monumental level, one never seen before.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.stimulus05jun05,0,6760977.story
http://www.gazette.net/stories/06262009/poliras155440_32524.shtml
http://www.gov.state.md.us/pressreleases/090610.asp
http://www.somdnews.com/stories/06192009/weektop115248_32188.shtml

Implied Rights

Implied Rights
Kevin Bryant

Stupidity has reached a new low here in the state of Missouri. It has been determined that the people of Missouri no longer have the right eat at McDonalds, buy an air conditioner, use deodorant or drive Fords. In fact, people of Missouri do not even have the right to drink water.

The Missouri State Court of Appeals decided a case recently involving the rights (or lack of) cities to impose smoking bans and have the ability to apply that ban to some businesses but not others. I myself do not have a problem with smoking bans in public schools, churches, restaurants or other places frequented by children. Children for the most part do not have the right to choose where their parents take them, and I do not advocate that children disobey their parents.

The Missouri State Court of Appeals decided in favor of the cities. No big shock there even though I strongly disagree with smoking bans and think it should be left up to the individual businesses to decide if they want to restrict or regulate smoking and other behavior within their own establishments. What I strongly disagree with is the reason the court gave for siding with the cities. Their reasoning was that since there is no law specifically granting Americans the right to smoke, the cities have a right to regulate the activity as they see fit. It is my constitutional right to life but there is no such law that states I have a right to suck out oxygen from the atmosphere. So does this mean I have the right to live but not the right to breathe?

What ever happened to implied rights? If I decide to go out on my deck just to soak up some run rays, does the government have the right to arrest me because there is no such law that states that sitting in the sunlight on one’s own property is a specific right? The Constitution states that all Americans have the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The part about “as allowed by the government” must be in the small print that I failed to read.

The decision of the court sets a very dangerous precedence. This decision opens the door for total government control. Unless struck down by the Missouri Supreme Court, this ruling could easily lead the way of Missouri becoming the first communist or socialist state within the United States. Think about this, you have the right to own a business but no where does it say you have the right to make a profit from that business. You have right to own land but no where is it specifically written that you may choose what type of flowers you may grow on that property. If you paint your house yellow and I being your neighbor wake up one day and decide that I don’t like the color yellow anymore, I can take you to court over it and the court can force you to paint your house a different color. It’s not written anywhere that you have the right to choose what color your house can be. Illinois has the motto: Land of Lincoln. Missouri should consider changing theirs from: The Show-Me State to Land of the Oppressed.

Implied rights: The Constitution was written not strictly by a bunch of lawyers but it sure is being ripped apart by them. The Constitution was written so as to allow for the use of that little something called Common Sense. We all know common sense is dead at the federal level of government and in some state governments as well. Missouri has now become a member of that select group of states that include California, Washington, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan and a few others where common sense is no longer applied or allowed.

The Next Best Thing

The Next Best Thing
Kevin Bryant

I inadvertently told a fib in my last piece. I stated that I was going to write the Missouri legislature. Well, as it turns out, they are not currently in session as per the Missouri Constitution and there is not a single email address that will reach all them at once. Since I don’t have the patience to gather all those email addresses and put them into one single email, I instead did the next best thing. I wrote to the Governor instead. Since the website only allows for 2000 characters per correspondence, I had to make it a little shorter than I would have liked.

Below is my letter to the Governor of Missouri. I’ll let you know if I get a response.

Governor Nixon,

Leadership should always come from the top down, never from the bottom up. It has become quite apparent in the past 5 months that leadership on the federal level only wants to strip more power from the states and absorb that power at the federal level.

I do not understand why so many Governors are allowing this to happen. The Constitution of the United States specifically states that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people. The only Governors I see questioning the federal government is Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal & Rick Perry.

Are these the only ones that are willing to question the leadership of the federal government and ask the questions of "where in the Constitution does it state that you have that authority"?

Americans believe that we have no voice anymore at the federal level. We have no leadership at the federal level and coming soon we will have no state governments allowed to stand up and protect the rights of its citizens because the federal government will have taken any and all rights from the states.

Governor, do you want to be re-elected? The actions of our current President and his administration has conservatives and most moderates absolutely livid at the actions which it is taking and liberties they are taking at twisting the Constitution or just ignoring it completely. If you don't want to be caught up in the democrat downfall that is going to take place starting 2010 and peaking in 2012, then you need to call upon all members of the Missouri legislature to stand up as one and demand that the rights and powers of the state not be infringed upon. Call upon the Governors of other states to do the same, and lead the charge calling for a Constitutional convention so that all states may retain their proper authority as our Founding Fathers meant for them to have and properly define the limitations of the federal government.

Respectfully,
Kevin Bryant