Elections Matter

President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan to fill the Supreme Court vacancy soon to be created by the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.   Little is known about Kagan, except her leftist decision at Harvard to bar military recruiters from using campus facilities--a decision that has caught the attention of Senator Mike Johanns.  (Sen. Ben Nelson said he was "unfamiliar" with the details of the incident, just like he is unfamiliar about how an ATM works, unfamiliar as to how the Cornhusker Kickback made its way into the health care legislation, . . .  We digress). 

Rest assured that Kagan, like countless other Obama nominees, is a judicial activist.  One need look no further than nominees Robert Chatigny (2nd Circuit), Goodwin Liu (9th Circuit), Louis Butler (who actually got voted off the Wisconsin Supreme Court) and David Hamilton (7th Circuit).  These radical appointments have even led to the creation of a new website--ObamaVConstitution.com

If the Republicans dig deep into these nominees' backgrounds and stall the nominations, Ben Nelson and his fellow Democrats have only themselves to blame.  After all, it was the party of Ted Kennedy that shamelessly lied about Judge Robert Bork to kill his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The end justifies the means, right?   

More than anything, these judicial nominations serve as a reminder that elections matter.  A vote for the Democrats is a vote in favor of elitist, activist judges who will rewrite the Constitution and legislate from the bench.  A vote for the Republicans is a vote in favor of judicial restraint and judges like Justice Clarence Thomas--a man of tremendous character who is, as one of my Democrat attorney friends remarked today, "probably the most genuine, representative justice on the entire Court."

Justice Thomas was in Lincoln today to talk about leadership as part of the Leadership 101 seminar at UNL.   In addition to talking about character ("Without character, one cannot and should not lead."), Justice Thomas talked Nebraska football.

As for me, I would much rather have a federal judge who won't try to rewrite the Constitution, believes that character matters, drives an RV and follows the Huskers than a liberal elitist activist who, like Liu, hold such radical beliefs as a constitutional "right" to welfare benefits.

Ben Nelson and the Union Bosses

FedEx and UPS. Two of the most well known delivery companies in America. These two delivery rivals seem like quite similar companies, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

FedEx delivers 85% of it parcels by air; UPS delivers 85% of its parcels by truck. This vast difference in delivery methods is creating quite a battle in the United States Senate with FedEx on one side of the battle and UPS and the Washington Union Bosses on the other.  UPS is unionized by the Teamsters.  FedEx employees have thus far been able to avoid the reach and corruption of the Washington Union Bosses.

For more than a year now Congress has been dealing with the issue of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act. The legislation is being delayed thanks to language slipped into the Act that would make it easier for the Teamsters to unionize FedEx.

Each and every time the Teamsters seek a vote of the FedEx employees to bring their jobs under union control the employees vote no. The Teamsters know that they can’t get a majority of FedEx employees as a whole to vote to join the union but they know they have a chance if they can get their proposed language adopted and start picking off FedEx employees one by one.  More members means more union dues money.  More money from union members means more money the Teamsters can spend to fight the Republican agenda of a smaller, more efficient and responsible federal government, and more money they can spend to force Card Check to passage.

And where does Sen. Ben Nelson stand?  The Nebraska Narcissist has been playing coy, pocketing Union Boss money while promising Nebraska businesses he'll do what's best for Nebraska.  We've heard that before haven't we?  Simply put, he can't be trusted.  That is why it is important that Nebraskans make their voices heard by contacting Sen. Nelson’s offices to let him know that he needs to oppose this legislation.