Wisest Latina or wisest judge?

Much has been said and written about Judge Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comments in her speeches. She has been called "bigoted" and "racist" by those opposed to her confirmation to the Supreme Court.

I don't think her opinions and judgments warrant such name calling and I believe her explanations to the Senate committee.

What bothers me more is the silence about the nomination itself. Was President Obama completely sex and color blind in nominating her? Was she the very best candidate in all the land to be nominated to the court? Or was she just the best female person of color he could find? I hope she is the best in both categories.

Atlantic City, NJ High School Dress Code

Robert's Note: The colors allowed last year for pants were navy blue or khaki. Since there was some confusion between dark blue and navy blue and between khaki and tan, the Board of Ed solved the confusion by allowing only black for pants and black or white for shirts. Wouldn't it have been easier to allow dark blue or light brown? Or how about giving the students some freedom and letting them choose their own clothes? These are the adults in charge of educating the children. I am speechless.

Revised Dress Code for 2009-2010 School Year

Shirts for Students

Acceptable:
-Three Buttoned Collared golf shirts (long or short sleeved).
-Shirts must be loosely fitted and midriffs must be covered and dress shirts must be buttoned above the chest line.
-Shirts colors are only solid white or solid black.
- Items worn under golf shirts must be solid colors: white or black.

Not Acceptable:
-Turtlenecks, No branding or logos of any kind (i.e. Nike symbol, Polo symbol, etc.)
-Tank tops, T-shirts, thin-strapped tops, tube tops, mesh, fish-net styles, spandex-type materials or clothing which exposes the back, chest, shoulders or midriff and low cut shirts.
-Material cannot be sheer, see-through, or shiny nylon denim or denim-like.
-Shirts may not be altered.

Sweaters and Sweatshirts for Students

Acceptable:
-Crew-necked, V-necked or cardigans over collared shirts. (colors as specified)
-Sweaters and sweatshirts must be loosely fitted.
-Sweater and sweatshirt colors are only solid white or solid black.

Not Acceptable:
-Hooded sweaters and hooded sweatshirts.
-Jackets, coats, windbreakers, warm-up jackets, hats, gloves and any type of outer garment may not be worn in the classrooms, hallways, or the cafeteria during the regular school day.
-Material cannot be sheer, see-through, or shiny nylon denim or denim-like.

Pants and Shorts for Students

Acceptable:
-Docker-style, corduroy, or dress pants with no more than five regular size pockets.
-Capri pants
-Pant cuffs must be within the heel to toe of student’s footwear.
-Pants must be approximately sized and worn at the waist.
-Pant colors are black only.
- Bermuda or walking shorts must touch the knee.
(September 1 – November 1 and April 1 – End of the Year.)

Not Acceptable:
-No Skirts and skorts
-Shorts above the knee or gym shorts.
-Material cannot be sheer, see-through, or shiny nylon.
-No chain, link or personalized belts.
-Stretch type material (i.e. dance pants) will not be allowed.
-No cargo pants, no parachute pants, no outside side pockets, no painter’s pants, no overalls, and no hip-huggers.
-Sweatpants
-Leggings
-Pajama pants
-No drawstrings on the bottom of pants.

Footwear for Students

Acceptable:
-Socks must be solid white or black.
-Shoes with rubber or hard soles and sneakers.
-Boots that are soft leather with rubber soles (i.e. hiking boots, Uggs, etc.).
-Dress sandals must have a heel-strap and toes covered.

Not Acceptable:
-Flip-flops
-Shower shoes
-Bedroom slippers
-Work boots (i.e. hard leather with hard soles).

Athletics

Acceptable:
Students participating in athletics may wear their team uniform top only on the day of the event.

Not Acceptable:
-Wearing team uniform out of season.
-Wearing any team apparel other than the team uniform (i.e. team t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, or warm-ups, etc.).

An Open Letter to the President

The author is State Representative Samuel E. Rohrer - PA 128th District (R-Berks) and House Republican Finance Committee Chairman.

An Open Letter to the President-

July 3, 2009

Dear Friends,

In just another day, we will all observe Independence Day. Yet, like you, we all realize that our freedoms have never been so threatened both from within and without. We wonder what actions we should take. We wonder what happens if we wait too long? I know we all wish for some clarion call from some leader with a response commensurate to the challenges we are seeing. A recent news analysis from Rachel Maddow (MSNBC News) of a major policy speech made by our President in May prompted me to write this open letter to the President as my next step. I hope my letter will further develop your thinking as we celebrate Independence Day. While I stop short of suggesting a specific collective action that American citizens can take, I believe that history lays out the pattern.



Dear Mr. President,

I write to you as one elected official to another on behalf of average American citizens. We listen to your words and measure them carefully. With hope, we watch your actions. We then look to history and compare the events of our day with the events of yesterday. We look to our Founders and read carefully their intellectual discourses and their moral debate. They ultimately concluded that the actions of the king were best described as tyranny, because they could not be honestly described any other way. Having come to such a serious and reasoned conclusion, their path was charted—unknown as to its outcome—but certain as to its demand upon them. Mr. President, we are doing what Americans have done before.

Many of your words, at face value, inspire and offer some level of hope. This is why many Americans cast their vote for you. Yet, now that you are in office, your actions are inspiring fear and distrust. At nearly every level, Americans, regardless of political party, are being forced to walk down the same road our Founders were forced to walk – questioning, analyzing, and looking deep within their souls. The similarities between the past and the present are amazing. If you desire to test the American people’s resolve and challenge their patience, you are accomplishing your goal. You know what is happening within the hearts and minds of the average American. That is why state legislatures are offering and passing resolutions, re-affirming the 10th Amendment and state sovereignty issue. That is why the Tea Party movement is growing by the day and is attended by rich and poor alike. That is why you and Congress are hearing from the American public in record numbers on an increasing range of major issues including the bail-out, the stimulus plan, “cap and tax”, and government intrusion into health care.

Your speech sounds sensitive to the economic and emotional needs so heavy on our people. Yet, your continued references to being guided by the “Rule of Law” (our Founders knew this meant God’s Higher Law and the Highest Law of the Land – the Constitution) are hollow and disingenuous. Your recent speech in front of the original Constitution of the United States of America in the National Archives makes it all so clear that your words mean nothing. Your agenda and you yourself appear to be that “rule of law” – effectively setting aside all Constitutional constraints. It’s unfortunate that I must be so direct, but you are leaving the American people with very few options.

Mr. President, it is clear by your speech and actions that your oath to the Constitution is not binding to you and, therefore, is a broken oath. On many fronts, so much of significance has happened in such a short time. You (and the Congress) are overriding state sovereignty and encouraging the states into unsustainable programs through Stimulus Funds: this will force them to beg you and the elite in Washington for help when the funding runs out. Your policies are destroying the wealth of hard-working Americans by plunging this nation into inescapable debt to our enemies and by justifying the disastrous printing of trillions in fiat money. What you and the Federal Reserve do not destroy immediately by exploding our debt, will be completely devoured by the ensuing hyper-inflation. What an insidious way for you and Congress to spend what you do not have by robbing it from every hard-working American who has responsibly worked and saved!

You have violated historic contract law by choosing who wins and who loses, while Chrysler and General Motors is eviscerated and turned into ‘Government Motors’. You have thumbed your nose at the ‘Balance of Power’, so carefully conceived and implemented by our Founders, by appointing unaccountable “Czars” to function as your direct emissaries over fundamental areas of public policy, thereby blatantly by-passing the checks and balances of Congressional oversight. You pursue special interest agendas motivated by the faddish science of “Global Warming” or “Climate Change”, or whatever it will be called next. In the ‘cap and tax’ plan, you justify the biggest tax assault on the American people ever conceived. Yet, you boldly assure the American people that it will cost them nothing, since only the “polluters” will pay. But, in the process you will destroy thousands of truly sustainable jobs (in exchange for temporary “green” jobs – like insulating buildings and re-caulking windows). Bringing America to its knees in financial dependence, in energy dependence, and a gutted manufacturing sector is sadly what’s happening. It appears that in reality, the “Change” you promised is just your personal change—clearly not what the American people so desperately hoped for.

So Mr. President, these things that I and the American people have come to observe and conclude are bringing this nation to a point closer each day that resembles the circumstances that forced the hearts, the minds and then the hands of our Founders. As we quickly approach the remembering of Independence Day – July 4, 2009, please remember that as you make your choices, so must we. May you and all the American people reread the Declaration of Independence – very carefully. Identify the principles they clearly stated and then apply them to today. Feel the intensity of the letter sent to the King. Understand the careful steps they undertook to make the moral case for freedom and independence in the context of the history of mankind. Note in particular the foundational precepts woven into paragraph two, written as much for the benefit of Americans yet unknown and unborn as it was a message to King George. As the President who holds the highest elected position in both honor and responsibility in this Republic, place yourself in the position of the King, look in the mirror, and then look across this great land at the faces of our great people and listen to their pleas. The King didn’t know for sure all that Declaration Letter would mean for him, but I am certain that he knew he had ignited the will and passion of a freedom-loving people for which only time would prove the outcome.

So it is today. Now, we have the Constitution against which to compare the words and actions of those in public office. The people, Mr. President, are awaking. They are realigning their priorities, purifying their motivations, and galvanizing their wills. Their freedom and their families are what they love and, thankfully, what they will defend. As to what comes next, I cannot say. I do know that another Declaration Letter is not necessary since this country already belongs to us. Our freedom and this republic are already ours. It is the return of freedom they demand. It is nothing less than the adherence to the Constitution and to the oath we have both taken that they demand. We, continuing to carefully note and compare as our Founders did, are also coming to serious and reasoned conclusions. Our path is charted – unknown perhaps as to its ultimate outcome – but certain as to its demand upon us.

From all those who love their Freedom

Immigrant high school student endures detainment

By HELEN O'NEILL

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — He was born on the Fourth of July, an irony he would learn to appreciate later, during the dark period of his life, when liberty and freedom came to mean something far more real than words in his high school history book.

Daniel Guadron has been fighting the odds all his young life, mostly as a happy warrior, winning admirers and supporters at every turn.

It's not just that he excelled in school: The straight-A student mastered English within months of emigrating from Guatemala at 13, then mastered French. He's aced every math test he has ever taken.

Or that he is blessed with a sunny nature, sparkling mind and ever-flashing smile.

Or that he shines on the soccer field and on the wrestling mat.

The handsome, crewcut young man has always possessed something more, a wisdom that radiates from his deep brown eyes, a thirst for knowledge and for self-improvement, a clarity of vision about the nature of the world, good and bad, and what he can achieve in it.

Everyone could see it — his teachers at Trenton Central High, his coaches, the running buddies who trained with him for his first 10K race, co-workers in the restaurant where he works at weekends, even a lawyer he befriended in the corporate building he cleans at nights. "Mr. Professor," the lawyer dubbed the cheerful teen who swept floors even as he dreamed of becoming an engineer.

Daniel's guidance counselor called him "everyone's shining star."

And then, one chilly day in April 2008, the 18-year-old star disappeared.

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