Here is one court case that every American should be concerned about.

The Eighth Circuit court of Appeals has ruled that driving with large sums of cash is evidence of drug trafficking, and the money can be confiscated by authorities whether or not other evidence supports the illegal sale of drugs.

Now, the plaintiffs in the case clearly were very stupid. They were driving around with $125,000 in cash in the vehicle. They were stopped by police who confiscated the money after a police dog smelled drugs. However, there was no evidence that the drug scent was not merely left over from a previous owner. When you have that much cash, the chances are high that at least one bill was involved in a drug deal in the past. Nevertheless, the bills were confiscated even though the men were not charged. (more…)

President Bush signed a bill today that would transfer the land that the Mt. Soledad cross in San Diego sits on to the federal government. The cross, which is part of a Korean War memorial, has been under attack for years by atheists who deem it a violation of separation of church and state for the cross to be on city land.

What this transfer does is force the issue to be decided in the federal courts independent of the California constitution. The federal constitution has been widely interpreted to contain fewer restrictions on church and state than the state constitution.

This should just about end the controversy. If this cross is unconstitutional, then it would have to be deemed that all crosses and religious symbols on federal land are in violation. That means the displays in Arlington and Gettysburg, among other places, would have to go as well. (more…)

With the rejection of Joe Lieberman in their Connecticut US Senate Primary, the Democratic party has declared that it is truly the party of cut and run.

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This week while in Washington I had an opportunity to sit down with Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the chairman of the Kurdish Redevelopment Corporation.

The KRC is an organization that seeks to promote investment and capital projects in the Kurdish region, which is composed of northern Iraq as well as parts of Syria, Iran, and Turkey. The Kurds have their own democratic government and parliament separate from the above nations. The “host” nations only provide some national security and financial needs; everything else is done by the government of Kurdistan. (more…)

The Bee had a feature story this morning about parents keeping tabs on their teenage kid’s driving habits.

This is the type of thing that we need to help curb teen driver accidents, not silly legislation forcing kids to put a sticker on the back of their car (as was proposed by one Senator). Although some of the suggested measures are a little extreme in my opinion (ie: No driving after dark, and limiting what roads your kid can drive on) I agree with the basic premise of having a contract and would strongly urge all parents and kids to consider the ideas in the article.

A very good read.

I am playing catch-up this weekend on stories about two things – a state program and some political shenanigans – that Governor Schwarzenegger needs to wake up and put a halt to.

The first is the restoration of $6 Million in the state budget for the Institute for Labor and Employment at the University of California. The supposed purpose of the organization is to support efforts to educate the public about the history of unions and such. But it has in reality become a publicly funded shrill for big labor, producing biased studies and organizing workers against businesses. (more…)

I know that I have been writing a lot about Planned Parenthood and other abortion supporters lately. But I wanted to bring to your attention yet another stunning and hidden admission from the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Today Planned Parenthood came out with a report on “Reproductive Rights” in the state of Okalahoma. Most of it is the usual speel against pro-life laws, until you get to the second to last bullet.

Oklahoma recently passed Bill 1742, which, among other things, increases funding for so-called “abortion-alternative” programs and offers women ultrasound so they can see the fetus prior to abortion. (more…)

This story really irks me. A social services agency is asking for a court order to force a 16 year old cancer patient to undergo chemotherapy for a second time. But after going through it once, he doesn’’t want to do it again, and his family agrees.

It would be a much different story if this were a little kid and the family was reckless in avoiding necessary and uncontroversial treatment. But that is not the case here, as there are definite reasons why the patient would not want to experience that very excruciating process.

This is a penultimate example of one of the biggest battles in this culture war: Who owns kids, their parents or the state?

Note to New York Times Editor Bill Keller: This could be the scene in the New York subway underneath your plush offices if you do not stop leaking national security secrets.

It is this that you are risking here in America by your irresponsible stories - nothing less, and perhaps much more.

Cindy Sheehan is at it again in her latest column about her protest and fast at The White House: (more…)