Two separate federal courts, one in San Francisco and the other in Los Angeles, just ordered the United States Navy to limit its use of sonar, the underwater radar essential for tracking enemy submarines and detecting the ocean floor. These rulings tie the hands of our Navy and are the latest outrage committed by judicial supremacists.
The lawsuits were brought by environmental groups on behalf of whales and other sea creatures, using the claim that their ears and brains might be damaged by the sonar. The court rulings allow environmentalism to trump what the Navy needs to do to protect our national interest.
These February rulings followed an anti-military ruling last November by the Ninth Circuit, which invited injunctions against the Navy to restrict its use of sonar. In NRDC v. Winter, the Ninth Circuit held that an "injunction would be appropriate" against the Navy to restrict its use of sonar.
The Navy says it already minimizes risks to marine life and has used sonar for decades without seeing any injuries to whales. The Navy has even said it will shut off the sonar when whales are spotted, but the judge said that's not good enough because visual monitoring might miss some dolphins and other small animals.
So, chalk up another victory for enemies of our armed forces, internal and external. It seems that the anti-military leftists have picked up judicial activists as their allies.
Why should our Navy have to grovel to federal judges for permission to defend U.S. national security? Most of our Navy's activities are not even in the United States, and judges should not have the power to interfere with the Navy's protection of our national interests.
Few persons on our modern judiciary have ever served in the military. Only one Supreme Court Justice is a veteran, Justice John Paul Stevens, and most of our appellate judges have no military service in their backgrounds.
Lawsuits are a poor way to debate and decide which military strategies work best for our nation. We do not want our enemies to have access to our military strategies and technology in open court, and the adversarial process of litigation is not appropriate to deciding what is best for our soldiers and sailors and the country they protect.
Perhaps liberals hope that one day they will be able to sue to obtain an order by a judge telling the President himself what he can no longer do in combating foreign threats. What if a federal judge had ordered President Truman not to drop the atom bomb on Japan because of its environmental impact?
Judges in black robes should not be telling our generals and admirals what they cannot do, and federal courts should not be interfering with the Navy's duty to patrol the oceans. The Constitution did not make the federal judiciary our Commander in Chief.
Environmentalists have no compunction about filing lawsuits to protect animals at the expense of national security. For years, their litigation prevented a fence from being built on our border at San Diego.
The REAL ID Act, passed in May 2005, withdrew jurisdiction from federal courts over challenges to a fence built on our southern border. This law enabled the San Diego fence to be built without further delay and is now preventing another lawsuit from stopping the building of a fence along the Arizona border.
Unaccountable federal judges should not be giving orders to the United States Navy as it tries to defend our freedoms. Just as power was taken away from federal courts over environmental challenges to the building of a border fence, power should likewise be taken away from federal courts so that they do not interfere with national security.
Congress (including many Democrats) has already stripped jurisdiction from federal courts over the detaining of enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay. When the Supreme Court found a way to bypass that law, Congress (including many Democrats) passed a new law to reinstate the withdrawal of jurisdiction more broadly, and that law is now before the Supreme Court.
When the anti-military MoveOn.org published its insulting attack against General David Petraeus last fall in the New York Times, the Senate voted 72-25 to condemn that ad. But talk is cheap, and Senate resolutions do not have the force of law.
It's time for Congress to assume responsibility to protect our national security by stripping the federal courts from jurisdiction over the U.S. Navy.
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I thing you have replaced the Cross with the Pentagon. Being a 26 year veteran, I cannot sahre your worship of the military industrial complex. Click here to reply to this post
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
Posted On: 02/23/08 12:00:49 PM
Age 64, OH
Dear friend this has nothing to do with religion or the industrial military complex. It has to do with the law of the nation. What part of Commander in Chief is not clear to you. Non elected officials should not be the leaders of our military. Lou Click here to reply to this post
Law of the nation?
Posted On: 02/26/08 07:31:43 AM
Age 48, CA
What does the Lord say about Nations? You place too much upon the existence of this nation. We are just another nation among many which come and go. Click here to reply to this post
AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE
Posted On: 02/28/08 09:08:11 AM
Age 64, OH
I am reminded of a vision that the Lord gave me many years ago. I would like to share it with you,hoping that the Lord can speak in it to you. We all can profit by the Lord speaking to us. - I was on the shore of a large bay that was used as a port. The first thing that I saw was this very fast speed boat. It was faster than any other on the bay, and was zipping around, going all over the bay. Everyone was watching the speedboat for it was not only fast but very loud and painted in bright red. Then I noticed this wooden pier. It was made from very large tree trunks and had seven tree trunks lashed together with steel cables to make each pillar of the pier. The pilot of the speedboat knew of the pier for that is where he docked his boat. But as the pilot of the speedboat was passing another slower boat that got in his way and he had to turn very quickly; he turned back to shake his fist at the slow boat. He had forgot where he was at for a second and did not see the pier and ran at full speed right into one of the giant pillars. It was terrible; the speed boat just exploded and disappeared in flames. I went over and looked at the pillar it struck. It was not even bent; but only had scars and pieces of shredded speedboat stuck in it. All were lost on the speedboat, the pilot and his family. Then the Lord pointed out a giant ocean going ship that I had seen earlier coming into port many hours ago. It was moving so slow it was hard to see it was moving at all. It had come close to the pier that I was looking at while I was watching the speedboat. The captain of the ship did not see the pier either and was heading straight for it; but at a very, very slow pace. As the ship had got close to the shore and where it was going to unload it had slowed even more. You could just see the gigantic ship barely moving closer and closer to the pier and a sure collision. The ship came up against the giant pillars and it was not spectacular in it's immediate impact but it was spectacular in the impression it left with me. The pillars did not explode and the ship did not explode either. But the pillars slowly gave way to the mass of the ship which was irresistible. The pier creeked and cracked and broke slowly to bits and was gone. The ship had nothing but a marred paint job. - The Lord was saying to me; slow down and have more impact on the world; instead of the world having so much impact on me. Your friend, Lou Click here to reply to this post
Friend how do you justify accusing me of worshiping the military or any of this nation. You are the one who was in the military, I never was. I was offered a complete scholarship to attend Harvard or MIT if I would sign on the line. I would then have been in the Navy as an officer. I was not yet a Christian but did not join because I did not want to have to take orders to do something that I thought would be against my sense of right and wrong. I do not worship the military or industry or even this nation in any way. None of my hope is in the USA but it is all in Jesus Christ and no one else. Quite frankly it seems you are a Muslim in disguise. Lou Click here to reply to this post
JESUS IS MY ONLY HOPE
Posted On: 02/28/08 08:27:52 AM
Age 64, OH
Dear friend you have a tendency to jump to conclusions instead of reading JUST what is written. I do not put ANY hope in this nation or any other, including Israel. I have NO hope, except for the Lord Jesus Christ. But I do believe the Holy Scriptures say we should obey the laws of the land if they are not against the laws of God. Lou Click here to reply to this post
The Judges have rules and therfore it is law
Posted On: 03/03/08 10:22:29 AM
Age 48, CA
When the courts rule in your favor, you stand behind it. When they don't, you scream about the law. Your worship of the military is a false faith. Being a veteran, I can tell you that the military is just another corrupt self serving government institution which is eager to arrest if not reverse the post cold war drawdown.
lamenting a judges decision has nothing to do with Scripture. The truth is that our military is currently too large to guard our national interests and too small to enforce the world empire you neocon christians want to achieve. We need to come up with a realistic policy and prune the military (And other governent agencies as well) in order to fit this policy. Currently, the military is our pwn worst enemy which is attacking our "Economic flank". Click here to reply to this post
A SINGER WITH ONLY ONE SONG
Posted On: 03/03/08 11:50:37 PM
Age 64, OH
You are but a trick pony. If you would learn another song, a lot more people might pay attention. Lou Click here to reply to this post
I thought Scripture was a "One trick"
Posted On: 03/04/08 02:54:17 PM
Age 48, CA
The subject of this entire article was about how judges have hindered "Our beloved military" You stand is that the President is Comander in Chief and that is that. Not so! The Courts are one of the three braches of government which provide a system of checks and balances. What is going on here is more complicated than you could understand but in a nutshell: During the cold war, Diesel powered submarines were considered "Not tactically viable" And therefore, not worth the effort to track. When a diesel sub is on the battery, it is more difficult to track than its nuclear counterpart. Today, times have changed and new active sonars are being used in order to track what was long thought to be obsolete. The frequencies of these new sonars appear to effect marine life more than earlier units and this is a concern which needs to be addressed. Click here to reply to this post
COMMANDER IN CHIEF
Posted On: 03/05/08 03:18:15 PM
Age 64, OH
Friend, our government does have three branches to have a system of checks and balances. But the other two branches DO NOT share in the Commander in Chief office that the president holds alone. This is guaranteed by our constitution. The judicial branch of government is NOT TO MAKE LAW. but only to interpret they laws that the legislators make. My daughters husband is a Captain in the US Navy and I understand that many obsolete weapon systems are now again hard to stop. This is why it was foolish for Clinton to mothball the large WW2 battleships for they were the only truly thick armor plated ships in the world and had many advantages. They could not be stopped with mere nonnuclear anti ship missiles. Any nation who is so foolish not to be able to defend itself in any situation will be slaves in short order. The only alternative to this strong defense is to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ to defend us, which is by far the best way. But this is no longer a Christian nation. The Christian church is almost nonexistent let alone the whole nation. Lou Click here to reply to this post
Once again, you worship the military
Posted On: 03/07/08 10:06:09 AM
Age 48, CA
The military is just another corrupt self serving government institution which is trying to justify its existence. Those Battleships you boast about are worn out and would require too much money to refurbish. Their obsolete propulsion systems reqire too much manpower. Their 16 inch guns do not provide the firepower you claim compared to the operating cost of the ship. It is also not as invulnerable as you might think. Two modern torpedos which explode under the ship instead of slamming into it would sink it. Also, the Silkworm missile can do a lot of damage to it.
Add to that, during a freidnly fire incident, a 20MM depleted Uranium round pierced it's 17 inch thick armor.
Those battleships are relics whose only real purpose is image over performance.
The issue if these new sonars adversly effect Whales and other marine life is a valid one and needs to be verified by science. To bemoan this and cry out for the military to be given a free hand does nothing for the Word of God. The gospel does not rest on a corrupt self serving military industrial complex. Click here to reply to this post
Supremacist Judges
Posted On: 02/21/08 12:45:59 PM
Age 67, CA
Clearly these judges have overstepped their Constitutional authority. Their job is to umpire and not to play the game. Since they choose to play the game, they have abrogated their judicial authority and the President, Navy, or citizen is no longer obligated to adhere to such decisions. The environmentalists can kick and scream all they want. If a law, Constitutionally derived by the Legislature and signed by the President, does not exist then the judge should be held in violation of his or her oath of office and impeached for bad conduct. Click here to reply to this post
Our constitution organizes our government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, with separation of powers. But now our judges try to impose their unlimited opinions rather than rule on the interpretation and application of law. If this was a matter involving the military vs. a one or a few citizens, it would be one thing, but Navy actions in international waters is quite another thing. This is just outrageous! Click here to reply to this post
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