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Although it was clearly not the outcome for which lawmakers in the state of Arizona had hoped, the ruling Wednesday by Federal District Court Judge Susan Bolton striking down the major portions of SB 1070 (the state's new illegal immigration enforcement law) was merely a formality in what will undoubtedly be a long and divisive road to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law went into effect at 12 a.m. this morning without the requirement directing police to question people about their immigration status if they suspect they are in the country illegally. That provision, as well as a couple others, was stripped out of the law thanks to the decision by Bolton (a Clinton appointee) in response to an injunction request filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the Barack Obama administration.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who supported and signed the law and has made its success a cornerstone of her re-election campaign, vowed to file an appeal today and said she will ask the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite its review. Although it is exceedingly likely that the highly liberal appellate court will side with the lower court, there is no question that eventually an appeals court will have no choice but to overturn Bolton's decision.

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SB 1070 Faces Long Road to Supreme Court originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 16:43:36.

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The RightOnline 2010 conference was held over the weekend in Las Vegas and reportedly drew 1,100 conservatives from all across the nation.

Now before all you liberals out there begin howling about RightOnline being a racist organization, relax. It didn't originate in reaction to the highly progressive policies of President Barack Obama (although that wouldn't necessarily qualify it for such a designation even if it had).

RightOnline was started in 2008 by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a grassroots organization dedicated to mobilizing activists who embrace the principles of limited government and free enterprise. According to the RightOnline web site, the two-day conference is aimed at inspiring and training conservative-minded activists to "more effectively impact public policy in favor of limited government and free enterprise."

The conference was originally aimed to counter the National Netroots Nation Convention (formerly known as the YearlyKos Convention), but, according to its site, it has developed into a fully-fledged political activist workshop.

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Share Your Experience from the 2010 RightOnline Conference! originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 19:01:31.

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Although the ethics charges brought against New York House Rep. Charlie Rangel haven't officially been released by the ethics panel that announced he would be facing them, the Associated Press released its version of the charges on Thursday.

Most of the charges seem rather mundane (although unquestionably wrong if they are true), but the common theme running through most of them is a carefully, almost premeditated, skirting of U.S. tax law and the use of his position in the House of Representatives to benefit himself and his pet projects. Rangel, who stepped down in March as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee after it was announcd he was under investigation, has pledged to fight the allegations, but there is no doubt that if he does, the saga will continue deep into the midterm election campaign, and that's a scenario none of his fellow House Democrats want. The last thing they need is one of their own facing ethics charges from a bipartisan House investigative body at such a critical time.

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Rangel Brought Up on Ethics Charges, But is He So Unusual? originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 18:58:38.

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Forget for just a moment that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is related to those other Bushes.

When you separate him from his presidential brother and father, Jeb Bush has all the makings of a winning presidential candidate. Especially in these difficult economic times.

Consider this: Bush is the only Republican to have ever won a second term as Florida governor. He was as popular when he left office in 2007 as he was when he was first elected in 1998. He has been able to maintain excellent relationships with Florida's Hispanic and African American communities despite an educational initiative he adopted in 2001 that virtually ended affirmative action programs throughout the state's university system. Nevertheless, the accusations of racial discrimination that dogged President George W. Bush after the Katrina hurricane in 2005 would be tough to lodge against the former president's younger brother.

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Jeb Bush: Could He Be Our Next President? originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, July 19th, 2010 at 13:07:58.

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Early last year, about a month after President Barack Obama became president, the NAACP celebrated its 100th anniversary.

In what should have been a moment of serenity for the organization, which has done so much for African Americans since it was founded in 1909, an interview with MSNBC reporter Peter Alexander called the group's entire relevancy into question when he remarked that the president was honoring "this nation's ... colored people ..."

Although Alexander apologized for the perceived slight during the next segment, his remark wasn't offensive in that it was racist; clearly, the context was one of celebration of African Americans. If the comment was offensive for anything, it was that Alexander -- a white man -- had used the antiquated term found in the group's name, "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."

The problem for the NAACP wasn't that it had been slighted. The problem was that the remark made many within the NAACP, as well as those outside it, question the organization itself was as antiquated as the term. There was even a call for the organization to change its name.

It would certainly seem these days that the NAACP has served its purpose. These days the organization isn't as focused on civil rights issues because the federal government has become a racial watchdog, implementing affirmative action programs in just about every area of public employment and demanding racial quotes for private sector industries that receive any form of federal, state or local funding. Instead, the NAACP has shifted its attention to political policy and has become essentially an lobby group for African Americans. It is no longer focused on racial harmony. If anything, the organization actually depends on racial strife, because its primary purpose is black advocacy.

And so it was with great surprise Tuesday that I heard the NAACP had indeed passed a resolutioncondemning the Tea Party's racist elements.

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NAACP's Racist Resolution Against Tea Party originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 00:48:38.

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Every day it seems as though there's some new outrage being perpetrated by the Barack Obama administration.

Take yesterday, for example. After campaigning on a platform of absolute transparency in 2008, President Obama waited until Congress adjourned for its 2010 summer break before appointing Dr. Donald Berwick to head the agency overseeing Medicare and Medicaid. His decision, which is even dividing Democrats, was made after it became evident Republicans were going to grill Berwick about the implementation of ObamaCare.

Berwick's comments supporting government-run health care initiatives -- including rationing -- are causing quite a stir, but the real outrage this week was the decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue the state of Arizona for defending itself from a foreign threat. Arizona, facing a deluge of illegal border crossings, did the only thing it could under the circumstances -- it passed legislation that will enact a new illegal immigration enforcement law on July 29.

The Justice Department's complaint, filed Tuesday by Assistant Attorney General Tony West, attempts to invalidate S.B. 1070 (the legislation establishing Arizona's new law) in a number of ways.

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The DOJ's Misguided Lawsuit Against Arizona originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 18:33:47.

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June's unemployment numbers arrived last week, and they didn't give many people cause to celebrate.

For President Barack Obama, though, they were just one more reason to party.

June's unemployment figures show the economy dropped another 125,000 jobs, bringing the total number lost on Obama's watch to 4.5 million -- the most since a two-year span in the early 1930s.

Yet President Barack Obama continues to boast about his job creation performance, and in his weekly radio address this weekend, he had the audacity to call out Republicans for obstructing a financial reform bill he claims will create jobs.

The Republicans have a right to be skeptical. After all, this isn't the first time the president has dangled the promise of job creation from a stick to get what he wants.

Obama seems to forget that his party has been in the majority since he became president on January 20, 2009. He had 18 months to do whatever he wanted, and only now, after Republicans have regained their ability to filibuster has he decided to accuse them of standing in the way of creating jobs.

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Obama's Dismal Job Creation Performance originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 23:48:34.

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Perhaps the most compelling moment in President Barack Obama's speech on immigration reform Thursday was his tacit acknowledgment that it is indeed a crime to be in the country without proper documentation.

Calling Arizona's new immigration enforcement law "unenforceable," the president said it not only puts pressure on state and local budgets, "it makes it difficult for people who are here illegally to report crimes, driving a wedge between communities and law enforcement, making our streets more dangerous and the jobs of our police officers more difficult."

So it appears as though the president understands that there is a constant and rampant violation of federal law occurring every day in Arizona, yet he has failed thus far to provide the state with the necessary tools to deal with the law-breakers. He has not sent the troops he promised, and he has not outlined a plan to deal specifically with the multitude of crimes happening in Arizona.

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Obama's Insidious Push for Immigration Reform originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 22:04:14.

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In a 5-4 ruling Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court extended the right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states, regardless of the laws and ordinances passed to the contrary by individual states or municipalities.

The decision in the case of McDonald v. Chicago comes two years and two days after the High Court issued an equally important (and equally divisive) gun rights ruling, D.C. v. Heller, which struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C.

Monday's ruling also comes on the first day of confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama's second Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. The president's first Supreme Court appointee, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, was among the High Court's dissenting minority.

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Supreme Court: Second Amendment Applies to All 50 States originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 12:59:15.

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Senate Republicans killed a bill yesterday that would have provided the third six-month extension of unemployment benefits for those who have been out of work for more than a year and a half.

Liberals and, obviously, the long-term unemployed are crying foul over the Republican-led blockage of a $110 billion bill that would have provided long-term unemployment benefits to about $1.3 million people, and for which Senate Democrats were willing to violate their own PAYGO law to enact.

Conservative Republicans objected to the bill for a couple of reasons; not only did funding for the bill add directly to the U.S. government's already bloated $1.4 trillion deficit, several economists who specialize in unemployment benefits argue that by providing a seemingly endless stream of benefits to the unemployed, the federal government would have actually encouraged more out-of-work people to remain unemployed longer.

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Understanding the Decision to (Finally) Kill Super-Extra-Long-Term Unemployment Benefits originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 20:25:57.

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In an intriguing look at the behavior of key leaders during the Gulf Oil leak, The New Republic's Jonathan Chase is defending the leisure activities of BP CEO Tony Hayward, and by extension President Barack Obama.

Hayward and Obama were both "caught" enjoying themselves this weekend; Hayward was seen yachting around the United Kingdom's Isle of Wight as he attended a yacht race, and President Obama enjoyed Fathers' Day weekend by taking in a round of golf and a baseball game.

Chase argues that an oil executive's free time should be his own. Hayward shouldn't pretend to be poor, Chase says, and no one seriously expects him to work seven days a week. Meanwhile, Obama's great defenders over at NBC are arguing that Obama has actually gone on less personal outings than George W. Bush did when he was president (of course, one would certainly hope so -- after all, Bush was president eight years; Obama has been president for less than two). Frankly, if this is the best defense Obama can muster from NBC, he's got much bigger problems than I thought.

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Why Outrage at Obama & Hayward is Legit originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 23:41:33.

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It finally hit me why I've been so troubled by President Barack Obama's speech from the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Forget about the fact that a new poll shows Louisiana residents believe President George W. Bush handled the Katrina disaster better than Obama has handled the BP oil leak. Forget about the fact that it took Obama 56 days to make a speech he should have made within the first week of the disaster. Forget about the fact that Obama has hired yet another czar to -- literally -- take care of his dirty work.

Obama chose the Oval Office to underscore the serious approach he claims he is (finally) taking to the worst environmental disaster in American history -- a seriousness many believe he has failed to exhibit until just recently. When Obama's speech is juxtaposed against the many historic speeches delivered from the Oval Office, one particular point seems to stand out: Obama seems to be suffering an identity crisis. Is he candidate? Or is he a president? If his schedule is any indication, he certainly hasn't shown much presidential leadership during the crisis.

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Oval Office Speech Reveals Obama's Deep-Seated Identity Crisis originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 14:02:03.

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It was bound to happen.

When it comes time for a great campaigner to finally get down to the business of governing, it can be tough to kick the habit of checking polls, watching pundits and promising from the pulpit. Politicians experience a powerful rush from standing in a room filled with thousands of adoring people. It is so intense for some, that they become obsessed with their image, paralyzed by what everyone else thinks of them.

President Barack Obama is exhibiting the classic signs of the campaign-addicted politician. He was already struggling with his image even before the British Petroleum disaster. Now, it seems, he can't make a move unless it is first dictated to him by public opinion.

The BP oil leak appears to have caught the president off-guard, as though suffering a drop in public opinion over an issue involving the environment (of all things!) was the last topic on his mind. After all, Obama is a liberal. He owns the environment issue, as far as he is concerned, and yet ... here he is, being criticized for his campaign's administration's response to an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Helplessly Addicted to Campaigning, Obama Becomes Paralyzed by Public Opinion originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 12:30:16.

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She may have been the longest-serving member of the White House press corps, but Helen Thomas was no journalist.

Moments ago, Hearst Newspapers, the company for which Thomas has worked for nearly a decade, announced she is retiring.

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Helen Thomas' Welcome Retirement originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 13:07:33.

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Democrats and the liberal media are ardently standing by the White House and its efforts to fix Senate primary elections in Pennsylvania and Colorado by offering valuable or influential federal positions to Democratic incumbent challengers in exchange for their withdrawals from the campaign.

Yesterday, Colorado Democrat Andrew Romanoff, who is running for U.S. Senate, released e-mails supporting his claim that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina offered him not one, not two, but three job offers in exchange for him dropping his challenge to Democratic incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet. Romanoff's accusations come less than a week after the White House carefully defended itself against similar claims from Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak, who recently beat five-term incumbent and recently-turned Democrat, Sen. Arlen Specter. Although Sestak initially claimed he'd been offered a "job" from the White House (clearly implying it was a paid position), the White House clarified that it was actually former President Bill Clinton who, acting on behest of Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, offered Sestak a non-paid political appointment if he were to step down in his bid to unseat Specter.

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Obama's Primary Blunders: First Sestak, Now Romanoff originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 19:13:48.

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In perhaps his worst decision since the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico began five weeks ago, President Barack Obama on Tuesday authorized Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a criminal investigation into the events leading up to the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 men and ignited the worst environmental disaster in American history.

The probe will almost certainly center around British Petroleum (BP), the oil company that leases the oil rig from Transocean Ltd.

The act of publicly launching the investigation is a desperate attempt on Obama's part to appear pro-active in the face of growing criticism over his lack of urgency regarding the leak. Even the liberal media is now beginning to tire of the president's antics during the crisis. MSNBC's Chris Matthews recently joined liberal commentators James Carville and Maureen Dowd in expressing skepticism over the way the president is handling the crisis.

And yet the president continues to exhibit an eerie calm that borders on apathy. Tonight for example, he and First Lady Michelle Obama will take in a private concert at the White House featuring Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers and Paul McCartney.

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Obama's Oil Leak Strategy: Politicize, Deflect & Spin originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 10:50:20.

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U.S. soldiers salute during a ceremony at Camp Eggers in Kabul on May 31, 2010. American troops based at the camp gathered for a Memorial Day commemoration for soldiers killed in service.

To all the American troops stationed everywhere in the world, we thank you. To all those who have proudly served, we thank you. To all those who have given their lives to defend this nation, we thank you.

Your sacrifice is why America is free.

Happy Memorial Day.

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Thank You originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 00:21:13.

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Very often when discussing the issue of universal health care with liberals, they almost always resort to the argument that "we're the only nation in the free world that doesn't have universal health care. Other countries have figured out a way to pay for it, so why can't we?"

Well, now we know the answer to that question, thanks to a startling new article from the New York Times, entitled "Payback Time: Europeans Fear Crisis Threatens Liberal Benefits."

For years, liberals have turned green with envy at the European Union's 30-hour work week, its lengthy vacation packages, its wide-ranging early retirement benefits and its government-sponsored health care coverage. The European social model has been copied by countries outside the EU, and liberal American Democrats have put tremendous pressure on the federal government to adopt a similar framework for these government-backed spending sprees here at home. President Barack Obama has made great strides toward implementing the European Socialist form of government with passage of his recent health care reform plan, and his current push for amnesty is being described by liberal Democrats as an answer to America's illegal immigration problem.

It appears, however, that the European Union is finally waking up to the fact that nothing in life comes for free. The citizens of the European Union are becoming angry as they realize they will have to pay dearly if they want to continue to enjoy their existing lifestyle or make dramatic spending cuts if they want to maintain the little wealth they have left. Greece was the first to wake up to a debt crisis, but every country in the EU is facing a similar fate. Most recently, Spain has succumbed to a crisis of its own.

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Europe's Sad Socialism Experiment & What America Can Learn From It originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 16:58:00.

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Kentucky ophthalmologist and Republican U.S. Senate nominee Rand Paul has come under fire recently for saying that he disagrees with Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits private businesses from discriminating against customers on the basis of race, religion or national origin. Paul said that although he does not favor repealing the act and would make no effort to do so if he were elected, he does believe Title II of the Act infringes upon people's Constitutional right to free speech.

At first blush, Paul's comments seem racist and uncalled for, but there is much more to the story. First, Paul was answering a direct question on the subject, and second, he has stated unequivocally that he disagrees with racism in any form. Liberals have used Paul's statement for race-baiting purposes, and even conservatives have distanced themselves from his comments. Lost in the controversy, however, is Paul's point.

Paul's contention is that just like everything else in a free-market society, the success or failure of a business depends on the willingness of its proprietors to accommodate its customers. Customers by and large abhor racism, so Paul makes the very reasonable observation that a business denying services to minorities, based on racist beliefs, won't last very long in a free market. That doesn't mean, however, that the federal government should deny these businesses the right to express the opinions of their owners -- no matter how unconscionable.

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Why Rand Paul Makes Sense originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 at 21:28:16.

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Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter never made any bones about being a career politician. Far from being insulted by the term, Specter embraced it.

Tuesday evening, however, Specter became a career politician without a career. Democratic voters, apparently displeased with the five-term incumbent for seeking temporary refuge in their party, tossed him out on his ear, choosing instead to nominate a lesser-known (and much more liberal) U.S. Congressman by the name of Joe Sestak.

Ultimately, Pennsylvania voters discovered that Arlen Specter has no party. He's called himself many things over the years -- a "moderate" Republican, an "ardent" Democrat (the list goes on) -- but if he was anything, he was the first real "Republicrat" America has ever seen. Willing to go wherever the winds blew him, Specter was happy as long as his rear-end was planted comfortably -- and firmly -- in what he saw as his Senate seat.

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Goodbye Snarlin' Arlen originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 11:35:49.

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