Eight years.........

We make gruesome, blood filled, violent movies and we do not watch the horrific, painful events that occurred that day. What is wrong with us as a nation? I do not relish those images. I watch them for the same reason I viewed the Daniel Pearl video. So I will NEVER, EVER, EVER forget what they did to us and what we NEED to do to them. I was a Continent away in the west.....I smelled nothing. I heard nothing. I saw nothing. But for the images captured on tape, it was far away from me. I pray to GOD I never get closer.
We need to keep vigilant if we are to stave off these types of attacks into the future. Bush wanted to keep us safe.....and he did. Obama does not seem to have the same gut level instinct to protect the nation he has sworn to protect. Palosi down right opposes its protection. For generations our sons and now daughters have taken an oath to. They do not flinch from it but go headlong into the danger so I can sit comfortably at this keyboard, sipping a latte and airing my opinions. I bless them for keeping me safe these years and I extend my sympathies to all of those lost, and all of those who lost someone, 8 --- yes eight years ago this day.

HARRY the HATER Mugs Now Available!

Get your brand spankin new Harry the Hater cup! Rightzilla has some elves hard at work who have produced a fine cup for you to pleasantly sip your morning brew whilst knowing that Harry is going to get a little Nevada Justice! Heck, Rightzilla could beat him in an election today! So, click through to get your cup today and be the first in your cube to own one!

REID or....uh..... REID??

Sandoval gives up a lifetime appointment many say was only given to him by Harry Reid in order to keep Sandoval from running against him for the U.S. Senate. Tho locals are predicting he has given up the prestigious and lucrative job in order run for governor. After all, Jim Gibbons pretty much jumped the shark even before his election. Nobody but Jim thinks he is re-electable. Conventional wisdom says that should he run for Governor of Nevada, his opponent in the general election would be none other than Rory Reid, son of the useless, onerous Senate Majority Leader Himself. Rory has been around Nevada politics for a long time. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Rightzilla thinks he may ahve his eye on another Reid, the old man himself.........Icky Harry...you know...he is the one who calls tourists stinky. I say, which ever position Mr. Sandoval (former Attorney General, Assemblyman and Federal Judge) decides to take on, he must be pretty confident he has the cash coming and support to beat a Reid. I hope so, because like cockroaches, you gotta squash them all to get rid of the pleague they present.

If Mr. Sandoval prevails in either fight, it is Rightzilla's hope that he will put Yucca back on the map as a storage facility for nuclear waste. It has to go somewhere and it was quite a process, beginning clear back in 1978, even getting to the point where Yucca was the choice. Then we spent BILLIONS getting it built only to see NOBAMA begin to deliver the final deathnell. We will keep our eye on this as it develops.

DASHING DASCHLE

Well. The chickens are coming home to roost. In the early days of his presidency, Obama is getting a lesson in cronyism gone bad. Seems that TomTom is a tax evader. So is the commerce head. easy to vote to raise taxes if you do not pay your own. Makes one wonder what went through ol' TomTom's cranium when he decided to skip all that tax obligation. Is he too GOOD to pay taxes? Is he thinking he already pays too much in taxes? Any Republican would say he likely has too high a tax burden...the rich do. They really do. But given the "jobs/stimulus" package passed by nearly every democrat in the house (and not ONE republican vote) they NEEEEEEED all the money they can get from productive people to pay for the layabouts with their hands out. OH...and lets not forget the:

• $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

(credit: rightpundits.com).

Not bad for those who don't pay taxes anyway. Whether because they don't work or cheat like the sanctimonious liberal elites we are flushing out into the light. Isn't it TomTom who disdained those who did not pay their taxes????? What a hypocrite. But, he is not alone. I will be running a DEMO-TAX-RAT list right here at Rightzilla!

OBAMA DRAMA

The orderly transition of power has taken place again in what I believe is the best country on the face of the planet. Most comforting to me is that two grueling years of full time media campaign coverage has ended. Now, for at least two years, we can pay attention to governing. Make no mistake, I did not support Obama. I do NOT expect that his policies will be to my liking. That is how it works and I know that. So, until we are dragged kicking and screaming into the depths of yet another onerous campaign, we can perhaps focus on issues and not politics.......if there is still a difference. We live in a wonderful country. But let us not lose site of the fact that our lives here are not all about who is governing.......we have friends and families that are far more deserving of our attention than to get sucked into the media vortex that is created during a campaign. Think of them when we think of policies. Understand that one person's solution may be different than your own with good reason. If discussions take place, they should focus on learning about each other, not attacking the past or Nay saying the future. Maybe things closer to my heart are tempering my voice right now. But if we lose sight of that which is close to our hearts, we don't need this country or any other one. 'Nuff said.

WHOOPS, I Missed Again

We heard the President speak tonight regarding his new plan in Iraq. It was a concise and coherent briefing on what would happen next. No real surprises. However, what was interesting was Dickie Turban's response. After spending the beginning of his remarks poo-pooing the presidents plan and painting a grim picture of the Iraq experience, he started reeling off what we had given the Iraqis while we have been there........we had captured their dictator, seen through to his execution, gotten to the point where they were holding elections and on and on. Afterwards, I expected the talking heads to point out the obvious contradiction in Turbans remarks: HE ACKNOWLEDGED MUCH SUCCESS IN IRAQ!!!!!!!!!! It stymies me when these things simply float over the heads of those who sit in their chairs, powder on their faces where egg should be. They pontificate about what they heard but miss the nuances that a good debater would chomp down on like a pit bull on a wiener dog. Weeks. Months. Years of how we have done nothing good in Iraq, spent too much money and lost too many lives. Yet on the heels of such remarks look at all we gave them. CHECK-MATE. The liberals lose. We HAVE had much success. And as far as war goes, we have had little in the way of American human loss. (insert caveat that each life is valuable). Fact is, war is death and we see as much death in an American city as we have seen throughout this entire war. Difference being those dead in the cities did not sign up for the job of ... er... SOLDIER.

Goodbye, Mr. Ford

The passing of President Ford has been an interesting study in political equivocation. He was a man largely forgotten, sandwiched between President Nixon who stepped down in scandal, and President Carter, who injects himself into politics to this day in just as ineffectual a manner as he did during his tenure in office. He lost his re-election, which actually was his election campaign, and then simply waved goodbye and sank into the backs of our minds, rarely conjured up except for when he was useful as the butt of a good golf joke.

The most memorable action of our 38th president was his controversial pardon of Richard M. Nixon. He was berated by the democrats and people claimed he was simply playing favorites with his predecessor to save him from deserved criminal action. But this man was no dummy. He knew that the country was in a spiral after Watergate, the Viet Nam War and the scandals that elevated him to the highest office in the land. But rather than not do what was controversial and make sure that instead he could live another four years at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he did what he thought was right and he issued the pardon. Historians today widely credit him with having committed the act that single handedly began a national healing that was badly needed, and not any too soon.

Now the liberals, many the same ones who so vehemently opposed him, praise his actions. Even our own Harry Reid has doubled back on his view of the pardon.

My favorite John Wayne movie is The Quiet Man. It is the story of a strong but silent man who overcomes his demons of the past to stand his ground and maintain his pride. For 30 years, Ford sat back and awaited the taming of his demon while standing his ground and maintaining his pride. No sooner had he passed into the hereafter then his demons were tamed. He did not have to demand his place in history, or engineer the historical record to get there, he simply had to await the unfolding of history and let what he believed to be true play itself out. I am glad for men like Gerald R. Ford. They work for what they truly believe is right and they accept their fate as a result of their actions. Many times, as with Ford, fate shines upon their memory and affirms their good choices. R.I.P., President Ford.

The Hot Summer Days

It has been quite a summer. All of the bar prep classes have done more to create anxiety than to make me feel prepared.

Lance is not in the tour, which makes it a much less interesting race. Some good wrecks, though. Talk about broken colllar bones.

Hezbolah sure messed up the summer. I wish Isreal would simply UNLEASH on Lebonon and get it over with. Some real Shock and Awe. William Techumsa Sherman knew that if you fight a war, it has to be ugly. Real ugly, or it won't end. Soldiers fighting soldiers aren't enough to stop it, the war has to be like the Blitzkreig to get people's real attention.

Gotta stomp on Iran and Syria while we are at it.

The summer storms in Vegas are always nice. Thunder ... lots of good light storms. But the fires in California screw up the air.

116 in the afternoons lately. Makes me wish I was in the pool. But not to be yet.

One week from tomorrow the bar exam begins. This is my Mount Everest in my seven summit quest over the last seven years. I am anxious and have some trepidation going in. But that is what they want. It is an all out war to get a ticket to earn a living and the bar examiners are not your friend. I have been in boot camp for four years and officer's training all summer. This is the big dance and then the long silence until October when they deem to tell us our fate. What a system.

Big Bad Harry

So. It is his JOB to take free stuff from people who have a stake in the way he votes. He should take MORE stuff. Harry Reid is the embarrassment of Nevada that keeps on giving....er....taking. The little boy from Searchlight must be proud that he now has a job where perks are better than wages and ethics is a living, changing thing.....like the Constitution. Mold it bend it and make it fit the situation. I can only hope that people finally get the picture with Harry the Bad. He seems to feel a sense of comfort in the five years remaining in his term and I predict his behavior will only get worse.

Objection!!!!!!!

On any given day you can watch the news and hear someone upset that the jury was not allowed to see all of the evidence, but if they had, the defendant would certainly have been convicted/aquitted. Evidence at trial is tricky business. It involves a complex set of rules all of which have exceptions. One thing the court does not allow is a witness to get up and tell us all what she heard others saying. This is because our constitution requires that the defendant be allowed to confront and cross examine the persons who have something to say about his being locked up. However there are over 20 exceptions to the hearsay rule. I like evidence. It is part of what makes trial work exciting because you have to be on your toes in order to launch your objection. You can't yell out "I OBJECT!" prior to the question being completed, but then again neither can you wait until the witness has answered in some situations. You have to think all the time and be prepared to explain the theory on which you base your objection. Though Robert Duval in A Civil Action says that when you have fallen asleep in court and wake up, the first thing you do is fire off an objection, I would advise against it. It maight wake up the judge.

Essay Hell

So, this is Memorial Day weekend. I am doing a multitude of multiple choice questions and writing way too many essays. I am told this is the way to prepare for the Nevada bar...one of the most difficult in the country. I did the PMBR early bird six day lecture series. My iPod plays PMBR lectures all night as I sleep. I am a week in to Bar/Bri. I have to spend today writing several essays. The schedule given to us by Bar/Bri generously suggests taking tomorrow off. However, THAT cannot happen and get the work assigned done as well. I could skip it. But will that be just the thing that puts me under the line when the bar exam is graded. Can't take the risk. This is war. This is combat, this is ESSAY HELL!!!!!!!!!

Passing the Bar

ERWIN CHEMERINSKI - DUKE LAW

It is a time tested rite of passage to take and pass a bar exam to actually be able to practice law. No matter that you just plunged yourself into six figure debt and endured professors who had as their goal to single handedly suck every last vestige of conservative thought from your brain. The courts of the land, read: good ol' boys, have maintained that it is no violation to require this abuse.

Interestingly, now that law school is over and class is done, the tassel on my mortorboard is still wagging and I find myself back in the classroom. This time, it is to learn to actually PASS the bar exam. Now, being of Irish decent, passing a bar is counterintuitive. Wait. Can I say that, or is it too insensitive to suggest the Irish like their drink? Those damned liberal profs!

It is no secret that a person undergoing bar prep has a single minded, one note song playing from now until the end of July. Rightzilla is no different. Wait, that is Rightzilla, J.D. now.

Erwin Chemerinski was in the classroom the past two days. I do not like his politics. But I own his book Constitutional law: Principles and Policies and enjoyed him. I have admired his intelect for years. He is a smar-T-pants with a capital T. Does the entire outline without notes and is unflappable. I felt I got my money's worth from those lectures, let me tell ya.

Chemerinski is a law professor a Duke. He is a premier brainiac on constitutional law. I was surprised, then, that he revealed he had recently represented a plaintiff in a Texas case wherein they were suing to force the removal of a 6 foot high, 3 foot wide monument from the Texas state house property because it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. It contains the Ten Commandments. You see, there are 22 other such monuments on the property with a variety of inscriptions and therefore, no endorsement of religion. Seems so straight forward that would be the case. It is like the bullying often done by the ACLU in such cases. Thank God, (no pun intended....uh....yes there was) they lost the case. To me, the only reason to even think that that case had more than an ice cube's chance in hell (note additional pun here) of prevailing was to find an activist judge who would ignore the full application of establishment clause law and just throw the monument out. I was disappointed by this. But I cannot deny his incredible knowledge and grace in presenting information.

You will tire of Rightzilla's bar prep. But no more than will Rightzilla.

Graduation Time

Listen to a graduation address by Michelle M. at Hot Air!
http://hotair.com/archives/vent/2006/05/19/conservative-commencement/

I am back

Sorry to be gone so long. Much is going on in the world and I have had my head burried in law books. But Michelle Malkin has launched Hot Air and it is top shelf! It will be an important website as we continue to find ways to get conservative thought and news in front of people. Rightzilla loves it!

I am learning about such blog essentials as tagging etc. so that Rightzilla can emerge as a meaningful contributor to the conservative web culture. Be on the lookout for more as time goes on (and after the bar exam is done).



RIGHTZILLA Right Now!!

Giant Head of Ted Nearly Explodes!

It's a nice color on him. Purple. It contrasts well against the little half glasses he wears with the ear pieces straining not to break as they hug his corpulent head. He huffs and puffs and smoke emits from his ears. Those EARS. I've never seen ears like that. Those lobes are quite the flappers. And when Ted is in full flight, it is truly a beautiful thing. That is what we were privileged to see today at the Alito Hearings. It happened when Arlen grew some gonads and told Ted he was not in charge of the committee and was not going to be able to run it. I kept rubbing my eyes as I saw Ted morph into W.C. Fields and back again, over and over and over. His hands trembling because he had likely had to go more than an hour without a cocktail in them. Shaken, not stirred. Meanwhile, Alito sat calmly at his seat watching the whole process devolve into bickering amongst the elected elite.

Ted tried, but failed, to resurrect his issue regarding the Vanguard trial. He beat that dead horse until it was nothing but a puddle of Elmer's glue. Too bad that stuff was always non-toxic.

Ah yes. Then there was that CAP group that Ted and his ilk want to depict as some Neanderthal organization, one step away from hoods and crosses. But, once again they fall short. As each question regarding Alito's involvement is preceded by some lengthy description of human rights violations, Alito simply states he has not participated in any of the activities described by Ted. This gives Ted an opening at looking as though he may be on to something. But once those outside the hearings and with actual knowledge of the group begin to explain its purpose, this false advancement of the left vanishes as the big lie it is. These hearings are great recreation for those of us who are tired of the Ted's, the Harry's, the Dan Rathers and the Feinsteins of the world. More to come.

Alito too Smooth for the Dems

I spent time watching the Alito confirmation hearings today. I was not surprised by Kennedy's questions, which were more him making statements that were misleading with a question mark at the end. I also was not surprised by the stupified looks these guys had on their faces when Alito's answers left them no way to exclaim AH HA!!!!!!!! What surprised me was that the media decided that the reason the hearing went off without a fight today was that the Dem's just didn't have their game faces on. The truth of the matter is, Alito was too smart for their sophomoric antics. He gave good answers and therefore, the senators simply could not continue to try to get their answers where they did not exist. Alito has a brain. Kennedy has a pickled chunk of hardened grey matter floating in Gin. Shumer has an I-beam keeping his head from simply imploding in on itself. They had their game on, it is simply a substandard game. It is Podunk High v. The Yankees. I, for one, am not sure what about their own voices gives these guys such a charge, but Alito politely chewed them up and spit them out. He had the patience of a saint. I would have had to ask Teddy to pour another Beafeater's and pull his pants up. It will be interesting to see how things go in the coming days. In the end, we will have another member of the actual thinking public making the most critical legal decisions society comes up with. No married-to-the-ACLU Ginsburg. No Turncoat like Suter.

To You From Rightzilla

I have been writing on the blog for about a week. It has been fun getting started and I hope to supply plenty of good reading to those who wander in. I encourage comments and hope that you will tell your friends about Rightzilla. My only caveat is that in comments, posters refrain from using profanity. Since I am the boss of the blog, I get to determine what that is.

We live in an interesting time. One where there are many Orwellian manifestations in the mainstream media. A sort of Bizarro world where the truth is replaced with a type of propaganda that aims at ripping at the fabric of moral society. We have situational ethics and moral relativism. There are no absolutes in today’s world.

But, as the fight for the conservative movement heats up, we will only be met by more of the very same manufactured truth from the Left. They seem to thrive on sidestepping the truth in order to lie, accuse, and misinform anyone who is willing to listen in order to get the power back. They would even see the destruction of our country to achieve their goal. Like selfish, bratty, screaming children. When Harry Reid does this, it is important for Nevada and the Nation to get the true back story. That is one of the goals of Rightzilla. To show the true Harry Reid, not the small town yuk he wants the world to think he is, but the ruthless hatchet man who hid behind Tom Daschle and is now right out there for all to see. A good recent example of this type of behavior is the article Death and Harry Reid.

Evolution Works!

Thank God for evolution. Well, I guess it wouldn’t be right to thank God for that, now would it. After all, it is preposterous to think a God would exist who would be smart enough to do in six days what random chaos could do in millions of years. It is much sexier to think that a bunch of pond scum mixed together like flour and eggs to make me. And now that we are all upright and walking, evolution will ensure the continuation of the strong while the weak are lost to time for their inability to adapt. We will only have the smartest, brightest, and purest in our societies. Sound familiar?

The problem with natural selection is that for it to truly be natural, thinking, reasoning beings cannot intervene. Whether it is intervening to protect spotted owls, or preserve unsophisticated tribal cultures. If one group develops beyond another and thus the less developed group is lost, shouldn’t we rejoice that evolution is working? Isn’t it true that the true beauty of evolution is the ultimate, utopian, pinnacle of life? Sort of like the perfect representation of evolution resulting in a being that has no flaws, is perfect, blameless, knows what to do about any situation. Seems to me, that is what God is. So we have a group that prefers to think God created us and a group that works toward being God, at least organically.

So what does the evolution score card look like? Are we getting close? We are living longer. But we are not getting along better. We are not pairing up in ways that produce healthier and healthier babies and families. As a matter of fact, much of what we do to live longer and lower the infant mortality rate has to do with a kind of band-aid evolution. We eat better as parents and therefore our babies are better off. It is not just the case where only strong people are having babies that survive, either. Sick babies are made better through artificial means as opposed to biological evolution. People are kept alive longer with drugs and hospital care, not a better body. Evolution does not include an element of free will. It is purely scientific and humans simply are not able to function like Spock of Star Trek fame. We are greedy and manipulative and self centered and mean. Certainly evolution should have made some headway on that front by now. But, just like the caveman who pulled his woman back into his cave by her hair, we are still beating our wives and kids, kicking the dog and murdering our neighbors. Maybe someone could just explain to me what I am missing. Because it seems to me, the further we get from God, the more we devolve.

Can We Continue to Make Headway?

It has been acknowledged that the mainstream media has had an uphill battle against the Right's radio dominance. It is also clear that bloggers have had an impact as well. However, has the surge by the Right gone to the heads of some of the very people who helped it happen?

1. Hannity.

Now, Hannity is just too "nice." He spends a lot of time making sure each of his guests knows he likes them and that they are great friends. Really. How can you like people who are systematically tearing apart this country? Start nailing these people instead of wasting segment time snuggling up to them. When you do finally get mad, don't just repeat what you have been saying for months, but directly challenge their points head on like a speeding train. I recall argument after argument that just fall by the wayside as a result of Hannity not being quick enough on his feet - not the least of which was the interview where he admits not hearing (was it Boxer, Feinstein or Pelosi?) state that people outside the metro area had no brains.


2. O'Reilly,
He does o.k. But he often argues with lawyers about the law without having his ducks in a row. He needs to understand that the law functions a certain way, right or wrong. He can't just say it shouldn't be a certain way and feel he has won when the law, as explained by legal experts, differs. Furthermore, turn off the mike on those who just give speeches instead of answer questions.

We certainly have the moral high ground, but we have to start calling it as we see it instead of placating the Left. There simply is no reason to pretend we think the Left is engaged in the discussion they so often claim we quash. Unless we say what they want to hear, they call foul. So, let's take off the gloves and start really dismantling the arguments of the Left.

Death and Harry Reid

So, thanks to Harry Reid, the Patriot Act is dead. He killed it. He even said he did. Funny - an attorney who would admit to murder. You would think he would know better, you know, since he is a lawyer and all. Now he has back paddled so fast he looks a year younger. But he didn't start spouting about his rights against self-incrimination. He is that out of touch with reality. But then, I do feel sorry for the guy, given by his own claim he didn't even have an English class in that one room school/double for a chicken coop he had to attend. Poor guy whining about not having a silver spoon, which in his peanut brain seems to come with an Oxford dictionary, giving him a large disadvantage against the big boys. I bet he walked four miles uphill in snow to get to school each day, too. Any school with no English class must have a lot of snow and bad weather. Out there in the far reaches of Searchlight, I am not sure what language they speak. According to his own website he still lives there and is "guided by the lessons that he learned there." Golly. That is a bit scary given he has the job of addressing some pretty complicated stuff and never even had English in school! And to think he was partner in a law firm in Las Vegas!

Well, a closer read of the ol' web site reveals that he could be telling the truth about English in Searchlight. That is, if you realize he attended middle school and high school in Henderson Nevada. Perhaps he got caught up there. Here is where the story really takes off! On the generosity of others he was able to attend COLLEGE. Of Course, Homey didn't go to school in Nevada--- he went to Utah State. Now, I am not sure, but I do believe, even in the olden days of the 50's and 60's, UNR was open for business. As a matter of fact, a check of the University of Nevada Reno reveals that there were 2000 students attending there in 1958 in what would have been Harry's freshman year. Moreover, if this guy really had a hankering to see his home state be more than a rest spot for the mob, he would have attended UNLV for all they offered and then transferred on to a degree granting school. Next, this guy who is lucky he can read the funny papers went to George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C. In 2005 that school was ranked 9th. Pretty impressive. Private, too. I guess Mr. Entitlement learned his ways early on. Of course, who am I to even open my mouth? I had English in school from top to bottom and attended a much lower ranked, public law school - William S. Boyd at UNLV. Seems it would be kind of tough for him to criticize me though, given he would have to abandon his own arguments against the Goliaths he faces every day. But then, he commonly backs himself into corners. We'll keep our eyes peeled on old Harry.