As many problems I have with the man and his administration, I have to say this. Without George Bush's SCOTUS appointments, yesterday's 5-4 vote in District of Columbia v. Heller that backed the true meaning of the 2nd Amendment and protected every American's right to keep and bear arms, surely would have gone 4-5 or even 3-6 against. Without Bush's appointments of Alito and Roberts, it would have been a very dark day today indeed.

You can read the decision here [supremecourtus.gov].

Barrack Obama now has his own offical seal. GMAFB!

Barack Obama appears with personalized presidential seal [nydailynews.com]

It really is amazing. This guy can lie, fib, break promises, and he NEVER gets taken to task for it. McCain, dare he point out any of Obama's horse shit, gets portrayed as the typical, mean, ugly Republican.

http://tinyurl.com/5meal4 [patterico.com]

This act by Obama reminds me that I'm reading a book right now, "Makers and Takers: Why Conservatives Work Harder, Feel Happier, Have Closer Families, Take Fewer Drugs, Give More Generously, Value Honesty More, Are Less Materialistic and Envious, Whine Less ... and Even Hug Their Children More Than Liberals" (author: Peter Schweizer). Very, very interesting it is. Liberals, of course, simply say the author is a lying, mean, money grubbing Republican. Check out an interview with Mr. Schweizer at C-SPAN.

The USMC has decided to appeal Col Folsom's ruling. Apparently, they've not yet spent enough of our damn money persecuting an innocent man. I guess they'll get to use their damn million dollar "media center" a bit more.

Unbelievable! [nctimes.com]

If you're comfortable with doing so, please write your Congressman or Senator. This has to stop!

Col. Steven Folsom dismissed charges [washingtonpost.com] against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani today. This is great news. Only one more left (SSgt Frank Wuterich)! I suspect the charges against this final "Haditha" Marine will be dismissed post-haste.

I wonder if we'll finally see charges brought up against the prosecutors, General Mattis, and Rep. Murtha for unlawful command influence?

UPDATE (Tue Jun 17 19:05:35 PDT 2008): Not sure if I'm supposed to do this, but I've recorded an interview Michael Savage did with LtCol Chessani's lead defense attorney Brian Rooney. Once I MP3-ize it, I'll upload it here. It's an eye-opening interview.

UPDATE (Tue Jun 17 23:12:56 PDT 2008): As promised, the interview with Brian Rooney.

I just got the following email from the Thomas More Law Center.

ANN ARBOR, MI – Last night, Military Judge Colonel Steven Folsom, USMC, informed counsel that the hearing in the Chessani case, originally scheduled for three days, June 16–18, has been changed to only one hour on Tuesday June 17, 2008 at 9:00am PST. Col Folsom indicated that the only business he will address is his ruling on the defense motion to dismiss LtCol Jeffrey Chessani’s case because of unlawful command influence.

On June 4, 2008, a military jury consisting of seven officers, acquitted First Lieutenant Andrew Grayson, USMC, of all charges related to the Haditha incident. After his acquittal, Grayson, referring to LtCol Chessani, declared that he was “one of the most steadfast men… He led by example and he knew the difference between right and wrong.”

After all the acquittals and 'not guilty' verdicts in the cases against all the Devil Dogs who actually did the fighting (LtCol Chessani was not even on the battlefield), I can't imagine this could be a bad thing for him. Here's to hope!

I ran across this intersting post [diplomadic.blogspot.com] at The Diplomad today. I've asked for comment from a few of my more liberal and more conservative friends. If I get anything worthwhile back, I'll be sure to post it (with their permission of course).

While I've been a rather vocal critic of many of the things President Bush has done, too many times I've found that weeks, months, or even years later I realized that I may have taken someone's cool-aid in a knee-jerk attempt to place blame for something I didn't fully understand. I may not agree that President Bush is a great president, but I do think The Diplomad makes many good points... things I used to feel about Bush in the early days. Perhaps the constant, aggressive push by the media and intelligentsia worshiping Eloi to paint the President as a bumbling, idiotic, and evil dictator have started to take root in the recesses of my considerable mind?

I guess the old saying will prove itself true again -- only time will tell.