HeavyHanded Jr. and his girlfriend of 2+ years:

HeavyHanded, Jr.



HeavyHanded Jr. singing
More Time at his high school concert.

HeavyHanded and daughters:

HeavyHanded's grandson:

Networks Ignore Trillion-Dollar Price Tag of Climate Cap Bill
The media regularly hype the threat of global warming as well as proposed fixes for it, but when a cap-and-trade bill left committee last week the networks were strangely silent about a policy that would raise energy prices for all.

Boston Globe:
Costs snarling Mass. health care overhaul
More residents report problems paying medical bills

Republicans Offer Alternative to Obama Health Care Plan
(CNSNews.com) – Republican lawmakers have proposed what they describe as a revenue-neutral, free-market-based alternative to universal health care. The bill is a response to the plan supported by President Barack Obama, who wants to establish a separate government insurance program to compete with private insurance programs.

New U.N. Climate Treaty Expected to Restrict U.S. While Exempting United Arab Emirates and China
(CNSNews.com) - A new United Nation's global warming treaty is expected to give some of the world's worst polluters--such as China--and some of the world's wealthiest nations--such as the oil-rich United Arab Emirates--a license to continue freely pumping carbon into the atmosphere while restricting the emissions of the United States.

White House Struggles to Defend Sotomayor’s Race Statement
(CNSNews.com) - Critics of President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court should be careful how they conduct the debate, warned White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Wednesday, as he struggled to explain a 2001 comment by Judge Sonia Sotomayor that "a wise Latina woman" would be more likely to reach a better conclusion "than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Sotomayor Ruled That States Do Not Have to Obey Second Amendment
(CNSNews.com) – Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ruled in January 2009 that states do not have to obey the Second Amendment’s commandment that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

"It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression ... that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary; ... working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped."

--Thomas Jefferson

U.S. concerned as chill sets in on ties with Saudis

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials are worried by what they described as a chill in relations with Saudi Arabia.

The officials said the Saudis have been dismayed by President Barack Obama's decision to seek a reconciliation with Iran. They said Saudi leaders have sent a.......

'Empathy' Is Code for Judicial Activism - WSJ.com

Both President Barack Obama and Republicans get something they want from the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.

Mr. Obama said he wanted to replace Justice David Souter with someone who had "empathy" and who'd temper the court's decisions with a concern for the downtrodden, the powerless and the voiceless.

"Empathy" is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of........

Denied Justice By the Country He Defended

Memorial Day 2009 in my small American town was like thousands of other celebrations across this great nation. Veterans and active duty military members marched proudly through our streets, honored by their neighbors in a public and jubilant way. Prayers, remembrances and tears punctuated the day as we were all called to remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives for our freedom.

Memorial Day 2009, however, marks the first of what may be 25 Memorial Days that Army Ranger 1st Lieutenant Michael Behenna will spend behind bars in Ft. Leavenworth. In March of this year, Behenna was sentenced to 25 years for killing known Al Qaeda operative Ali Mansur. Behenna has maintained, and forensic evidence supports, that the killing occurred in self-defense.

Mansur’s cell was active in Behenna’s area of operation and may have been directly

Waxman the Anchorman

The House of Representatives isn’t usually known for its shipbuilding skills. Nevertheless, thirty-six Members of the body have spent the past week crafting an enormous anchor to chain to the U.S. economy.

Led by master shipwrights Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the House Energy and Commerce Committee just concluded a multi-day marathon of amendments on the Democrats’ plan to send energy costs skyrocketing.

In his mad rush to get this command-and-control legislation out of committee by.......

Russia fears Korea conflict could go nuclear - Ifax

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is taking security measures as a precaution against the possibility tension over North Korea could escalate into nuclear war, news agencies quoted officials as saying on Wednesday.

Interfax quoted an unnamed security source as saying a stand-off triggered by Pyongyang's nuclear test on Monday could affect the......

US, S.Korea militaries gird for NKorean provocation - Yahoo! News

SEOUL, South Korea – The U.S. and South Korea put their military forces on high alert Thursday after North Korea renounced the truce keeping the peace between the two Koreas since 1953. The North also.......

The Importance of Vision
By Michael G. Franc

The Gallup Organization has asked voters to state their party preference for 70 years now. One insight the Pew Research Center gleaned from a close review of these polls is that, almost invariably, the president’s political party loses ground during his years in office.

At one level, this finding makes sense. Presidents invariably face hard realities in the Oval Office that require them to make tough decisions, the sort of decisions that expend their political capital.

So, Gallup found, when Democrats control the Oval Office, loyalty to the.....

NORTH KOREAN NUKES: O'S KICK IN THE TEETH
New York Post

A North Korean nuclear- weapons test, taken in iso lation, is bad enough. But put into a wider context, the underground blast over the Memorial Day weekend is worse than many realize.

A lot worse.

First, on the political front, North Korea's Kim Jong Il has challenged......

Reject the Value-Added Tax, Rein in Spending Instead

The Washington Post today ran an article on the possibility of lawmakers enacting a value-added tax (VAT) to pay for soaring government spending. A VAT is basically a national sales tax, and the possible 25 percent tax rate floated in the article would raise the cost of virtually all goods and services by 25 percent. It would devastate families and businesses, kill jobs, and hammer the economy.

Obama advisors also back communist UN leader who would fix economy with global taxes

While meaningless United Nations hand-wringing over the North Korean nuclear weapons program garners the headlines, the world body is moving ahead with a global conference to lay the groundwork for world government financed by global taxes.

Israelis: Obama 'wasn't empathetic to our needs'

JERUSALEM — Israel is bracing for what officials called a confrontational U.S. policy.

North Korean official reportedly executed for detente policies toward the South

North Korean official reportedly executed for detente policies toward the South
SEOUL — North Korea's increasingly belligerent Kim Jong-Il regime executed a key official who had pushed for reconciliation with South Korea, according to reports here.

Iran, in first, sends warships to the Gulf of Aden

NICOSIA — Iranian Navy commander Adm. Habibollah Sayyari said six warships had sent to the Gulf of Aden and "international waters".

Sayyari said this marked the first time the navy had projected power so far from Iran.

Fox News:
Report: Justice Department Probes Contractor With Murtha Ties

Regulation war: business in crosshairs
POLITICO.com

A battle royal is brewing on Capitol Hill for an already bruised business community.

The Treasury Department this week is expected to unveil its plan for revamping the patchwork of agencies that oversee the financial industry.

Judging from the talk of add-ons from Congress and even the White House, some business lobbyists figure the package might as well come with Santa wrapping, tinsel and lights.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has announced that he wants to attach a “shareholder bill of rights” to the package. And the White House is talking about adding a consumer board to the regulatory mix.

Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are kicking around ideas about outlawing some corporate executive pay practices — and applying the ban well beyond the financial sector.

Ecuador Pursues Unusual Carbon-Credit Plan to Leave Oil Untapped washingtonpost.com

QUITO, Ecuador -- Beneath the tropical jungles of northeastern Ecuador lies a vast pool of oil, representing one-fifth of the small Andean country's petroleum reserves and potentially billions of dollars in revenue. Directly above that pool, the Yasuni National Park is home to a diversity of wildlife that is among the richest on the planet, Ecuadoran and U.S. biologists say.

Faced with these two treasures, Ecuador is pursuing an unusual plan to reap the oil profits without actually drilling for oil.

Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses
USATODAY.com

EPA: Cap-and-Trade Bill Could Hurt U.S. Manufacturing, Send Factory Jobs Overseas
(CNSNews.com) – An analysis of climate legislation performed by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that the cap-and-trade system favored by President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats could potentially damage the U.S. manufacturing sector and force jobs to move overseas.

Obama’s Transportation Secretary Says He Wants to ‘Coerce People Out of Their Cars’ (CNSNews.com) - Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood, a former Republican congressman from Peoria, Ill., has become a champion of using the Department of Transportation and federal transportation spending to get people to take trains, busses, and ride bikes instead of driving cars. He told reporters at the National Press Club on Thursday that he wants to “coerce people out of their cars.”

Maryland's fleeced taxpayers fight back.

Millionaires Go Missing - WSJ.com

Here's a two-minute drill in soak-the-rich economics:

Maryland couldn't balance its budget last year, so the state tried to close the shortfall by fleecing the wealthy. Politicians in Annapolis created a millionaire tax bracket, raising the top marginal income-tax rate to 6.25%. And because cities such as Baltimore and Bethesda also impose income taxes, the state-local tax rate can go as high as 9.45%. Governor Martin O'Malley, a dedicated class warrior, declared that these richest 0.3% of filers were "willing and able to pay their fair share." The Baltimore Sun predicted the rich would "grin and bear it."

One year later, nobody's grinning. One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects ........

Fix is hard for Medicare, Social Security finances - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – There is no easy fix.

Medicare and Social Security will go broke sooner rather than later because of the recession. With millions of baby boomers beginning to leave the work force, the cost of these popular benefit programs threatens to swamp the government in debt in the coming years if nothing is done.

Congress and the White House are under increasing pressure to find a solution.

California high court upholds gay marriage ban
Yahoo! News

Being Green is not the job of the U.S. military
James Carafano
Washington Examiner

It was a momentous year. In 1973, CBS sold the Yankees to some guy named George Steinbrenner… the Supreme Court issued it Roe v. Wade ruling... America quit Vietnam.... President Nixon declared, “I am not a crook”… and, on Yom Kippur, the Arab states launched a short but vicious war against Israel.

The Arabs lost. In retaliation—and overnight—the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) doubled the price of oil.

Washington leapt into action and promptly made matters worse. New federal programs sprang.....

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Health Care Reform — A Giant Game of Tag Where Americans Are It « FOX Forum « FOXNews.com

Think about this for a moment: President Barack Obama says that we spend too much on health care (about $2.4 trillion annually) and that it’s hurting our economy. He also says we need to bend the curve (downward) on health care spending. So … we need to spend even more on health care to save money and “bend the curve.” Huh?

OBAMA'S DUBIOUS HEALTH-CARE CLAIMS - New York Post

PRESIDENT Obama may pretend otherwise, but if Congress passes his health-care agenda, America will be taking a giant leap toward Canadian-style, government-run health care. And many Americans will find themselves left with no choice but to sign on.

North Korea’s Nuclear Challenge

Pyongyang ’s eagerness to conduct a nuclear test so quickly after its long-range missile launch shows it has abandoned its previous façade of negotiations and is instead striving to achieve a viable nuclear weapon and ICBM delivery capability. North Korea ’s unflinching efforts to develop the means to threaten the US and its allies with nuclear weapons underscores the ongoing need to continue to develop and deploy a missile defense system.

THE DEATH OF ISRAEL

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

From Caroline Glick, deputy editor and op-ed writer for the Jerusalem Post, comes alarming news. An expert on Arab-Israeli relations with excellent sources deep inside Netanyahu's government, she reports that CIA chief Leon Panetta, who recently took time out from his day job (feuding with Nancy Pelosi) to travel to Israel "read the riot act" to the government warning against an attack on Iran.

THE DEATH OF ISRAEL

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

From Caroline Glick, deputy editor and op-ed writer for the Jerusalem Post, comes alarming news. An expert on Arab-Israeli relations with excellent sources deep inside Netanyahu's government, she reports that CIA chief Leon Panetta, who recently took time out from his day job (feuding with Nancy Pelosi) to travel to Israel "read the riot act" to the government warning against an attack on Iran.