Army Concerns Over Palin Book Signing Trumps First Amendment!

The U.S. Army plans to prevent media from covering Sarah Palin's appearance at Fort Bragg on Monday, fearing the event will turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama, officials said Thursday.

Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press that the military post's garrison commander and other Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin's book signing, which will not include a speech.

"The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform," he said. "There are Army regulations that basically prohibit military reservations from becoming political platforms by politicians."

Those Army regulations have never been bought to bear against any other politicians. Senators and Congressional representatives have made political speeches on military installations for decades, and now, suddenly, there is an enforcement of those regulations? How about this fact - Sarah Palin is not presently a "politician". She holds no political office, nor has she announced her candidacy for any political office. How is she a "politician"? She is, at this point in time, a private citizen.

Since when does the "Army's" concerns over what may be, at an otherwise open to the public event, allow the garrison commander to suspend the First Amendment rights of Sarah Palin and the press? Or, could it be that the Fort Bragg garrison commander is taking his directions from higher up the chain of command? And if that's the case, how high up did the order originate? The Pentagon? Or the Pentagon by direction of the White House? That's where the real politicians are. Generals are appointed, so Colonels (Captains in the US Navy) and above suck up to every Congressperson and Senator they can find, hoping that their name will be passed along to the President. The President nominates military and naval officers for the rank of Brigadier General (or Naval equivalents) and above, and that nomination is historically rubber-stamped by the Senate.

It's a sad state of affairs when our Constitution is so easily contravened by the government and/or the government's agents. Will this decision be upheld? We will just have to wait and see. The AP and The Fayetteville Observer are protesting the decision to ban media. Let's hope they are successful! It appears the Democrats and the liberal left fear Sarah Palin more than they fear Muslim terrorists - they are taking every opportunity to belittle, berate, denigrate and marginalize everything Sarah says or does. If they didn't fear her, they would ignore her.

BLOGGER'S NOTE: 24 HOURS AFTER THIS POSTING, THE ARMY APPARENTLY SAW THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS AND DID WHAT WAS RIGHT.

Sarah Palin "Stand Up For Our Nation" - The Third Political Party

It has been my contention for years that what we need in this country is a viable third political party. Yes, we do have several alternative political parties, but none that is really viable. There is the Green Party of the United States, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party. Then there are the lesser-known "fringe parties", such as the American Party, the American Independent Party (I'm still trying to figure that one out, since the word independent means non-aligned), the America's Independent Party (not related to the preceding AIP), the American Nazi Party (there's one we can all be proud of, right?), the American Reform Party, the Communist Party USA (another anathema to the Democratic Republic, as is the Nazi Party), and the Freedom/Socialist Party... plus about two dozen other - virtually unknown outside their miniscule membership - political parties.

This creates a lot of simply wasted votes in any election. When we get to the fringe parties, there is not one of them that is the least bit viable, yet there is a substantial number of people who will consistently vote for a non-starter. (These are undoubtedly the same folks who would bet on a 3-legged horse to win the Preakness.) Let's look at the three main alternatives, which - combined - have never drawn 5% of the vote:

1. The Green Party: The informal US-affiliate of the leftist, environmentalist European Greens movement. Their "champions" tend to draw votes away from Democratic candidates, and their platform noticeably less than all-encompassing.

2. The Constitution Party: If nothing else, I love the name! On the other hand, I believe that every party should be focused on supporting the tenets of our Constitution, since that is the document which allowed this country to achieve world-class greatness in less than 200 years. The party is strongly pro-life, anti-gun control,anti-tax, anti-immigration, trade protectionist, "anti-New World Order," anti-United Nations, anti-gay rights, anti-welfare, and pro-school prayer. Personally, I find little in that with which I disagree, so long as school prayer was voluntary, allowing those who did not wish to participate to leave the classroom for the 60 seconds it might take, and it was anti-gay special rights.

3. The Libertarian Party: The Libertarians are neither left nor right. They believe in total individual liberty (pro-drug legalization, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-home schooling, anti-gun control, etc.) and total economic freedom (anti-welfare, anti-government regulation of businesses, anti-minimum wage, anti-income tax, pro-free trade, etc.). I see little to argue with here either. However, I believe that some government regulation of interstate commerce is necessary, as it also is in the pharmaceutical industry. Public safety first!

Let's get back to the "viable 3rd party" idea, though. What has been lacking in all of these alternative parties - thusfar - is not just a nationally recognized name... but a national name with positive recognition. We don't need social radicals, whether they be tree huggers, dope lovers, or preachers. We also don't need to be represented by those who would sell out the people of this country to the interests of big business or foreign governments. What we do need is radical Americans in our government! We need those who believe that our Constitution is the basis for all that is good and right with the USA, and that our laws, as they are currently written, provide for "equal treatment under the law". We need to be represented ONLY by those people whose concerns are first and foremost for our country and its citizens.

Sarah Palin is obviously one of those people. Why else would the left spend so much time, energy and money demonizing her? Why is Sarah David Letterman's favorite punching bag? Why do Adriana Huffington - and her cadré of communist co-conspirators - show such disdain for Sarah Palin?

BECAUSE SHE SCARES THE HELL OUT OF THEM!

She is seen as the single most likely American to burst their temporary, socialist bubble in 2012. Team her with a successful businessman - and experienced state's Chief Executive - like Mitt Romney, and the Democrats will suffer immediate bladder control problems. Sarah Palin WILL "Stand Up For Our Nation". God bless Sarah, and God bless America!