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Janine Turner's Politico Articles
December 28, 2010
Yes, we cannabis
Drug addiction is a non partisan malady. Marijuana is a drug. One drug, no matter how "safe," leads to other drugs. It has been proven that the use of alcohol reduces the mental, emotional and spiritual defenses that would otherwise resist drugs and thus leads to drug use. The use of drugs, regardless of their level of potency, impairs mental capacities, stunts inspiration, disconnects from reality and impedes Divine paths and destiny.
Alcohol abuse and drug overdoses are rampant in our country. Drugs and alcohol are the cause of broken homes, deflated spirits, lost souls,physical abuse, DWI traffic deaths, and a malaise upon college campuses crippled by alcohol and drug use.
Legalizing majiuana is a death warrant for our nation's youth. It is the guillotine that beheads our nation's vitality. There are times when a responsibility to the life of a child and to the lives of American citizens supersedes political activism.
Every person, every political figure, who speaks in favor of legalizing marijuana should look into the eyes of a child who lives in an alcoholic home or into the eyes of a mother who has lost a child to a drunken driver or into the eyes of a prisoner whose life is ruined because of "one too many" drinks or into the hazy, glassy eyes of a college student who is laying in a stupor from the drugs he, oh so easily, ascertained on a college campus.
Janine Turner
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December 20, 2010
What will be Nancy Pelosi's legacy as House speaker?
“Making history” is an accomplishment that wields a double-edged sword. When one is remembered by a great feat there is always a high degree of scrutiny. Nancy Pelosi made history as the first female speaker of the House. As a woman, I was, at first, inclined to be proud of the fact that a woman finally broke through the ceiling and reigned grandly with the gavel.
But was Nancy Pelosi’s use of power grand or grandiose? At a certain point the gender gap degenerates in importance. In fact, her female intuition seemed to have gotten lost in the climb to the top. The speaker of the House, in a republic, in the position representing the House of the American people, and not just San Francisco, owes an allegiance to the “genius of the people,” as Alexander Hamilton states repeatedly in the Federalist Papers. Speaker Pelosi’s sixth sense became severed by a hunger for power and a passion for personal persuasion.
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December 9, 2010
Should President Obama forsake House Democrats on taxes?
James Madison wrote, "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire." This remains true today. Faction plays an important role in keeping America honest and balanced. Most importantly, it prevents the rise of a dictatorship or autocracy. Such friction keeps a Republic viable.
President George Washington, however, was perplexed and distressed by the partisan discord that threatened to rupture the fragile union. In his farewell address he expressed such fears for both the present and future United States of America, Today the relevancy remains.
Many times presidents, from President George Washington to President George W. Bush,
have had to make unpopular and difficult decisions. True leadership is carved by such courage.
There are times when the president, Congress and the American people must stand united to preserve the union. Our union is in desperate need of a growing economy.
The people have spoken on this matter. Perhaps the Democrats in Congress will listen. Perhaps President Obama will stand resilient against the rains of resistance from the far left and try to pass the tax plan. History has proven that tax increases during a bad economy is disastrous. The American people deserve true hope and direction not despair and wavering wisdom.
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December 2, 2010
A tax cut-for-START grand bargain?
In the middle 1770’s the British were alerted of a growing threat from the colonies, not from the occasional skirmish, but from the willingness of the colonists to sacrifice. The colonists refused to buy British goods, decided to forgo luxuries, essential foods and basic cloths that would in any way benefit the British. Our Revolutionary forefathers and their families saw the bigger picture. They mutually pledged their, “lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.”
Many of these brave men and women did lose their fortunes, their loved ones but not their honor. Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration, lost his properties and saw his wife taken prisoner by the British. The British imprisoned Judge Richard Stockton, a delegate of the Continental Congress. His family became destitute and had to live off charity. Wives were left to fend for themselves as men went off to war. Eliza Pinckney, entrepreneur and mother of Revolutionary heroes Charles and Thomas Pinckney, lost her homes and her lands and did not have a place to lay her head. Times were not easy but their future, their dignity, their freedoms, their God given rights depended upon such sacrifices.
We, as a country, are facing such times today. Our sagging economy, our debt is going to absolutely destroy our country, our future, our dignity, our freedoms and our rights, if we do not unite and become willing to make sacrifices for the good of our country. Short-term gain belies long-term security. If our Republic falters, if debt drives our economy off the cliff, then our enemies will prey upon our great land with an avarice beyond our scope of understanding. All of our rights will be forsaken. All of our freedoms will be trampled and repealed. We fool ourselves if we do not see the writing on the wall. The enemy is in the field.
The next decade will be one of cleaning house and getting our country back on track and we must do this as “the people.” After all, in the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton refers to the, “genius of the people,” many times. It is “We the People” who must set the example even if those in Congress are slow to transform. “We the People” set the bar and the pace.
As a conservative in Hollywood I feel the deep sacrifice in my pocket book. I am ironically willing to take the hit for the sake of preserving my first amendment rights from the salivating jaws of our foes awaiting our defeat.
Statistics have proven that people wait for unemployment checks to cease before seeking a full-time job. If the tax cuts remain in effect and if the economy improves, let’s hope that there is a job for all of us. In the meantime, we may rest on the foundation of faith in knowing that though times are lean now, we are preserving our country, our life, liberty and pursuits of happiness, for ourselves and our posterity.
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December 1, 2010
DADT not dead yet?
When the flames of fire come raining down upon a soldier, does it matter if that soldier is gay or straight? Would a fellow soldier rushing in to save his life really stop and say to himself, “Oh, this person is gay. I don’t want to help save him.” The eternal element of grace that lives within us creates the hero that looks beyond all differences and rises above the mire when duty calls. A love for country and the strength to defend it is not predicated on one’s sexual orientation. Peril unites. Division dissolves when life is lit by the torch of terror. Humanity is fragile. But courage knows no boundaries and carries no precedents.
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November 30, 2010
Should GOP leaders take on Palin?
Joe Scarborough can try to bring Gov. Sarah Palin down, as so many countless others have tried to do, by being tactless and tirelessly redundant. But Gov. Sarah Palin is not going to throw in her gloves. She is in the arena to stay.
This brazenness alone drives her enemies crazy. She is compelled by a passionate love of her country and possesses a dogged determination to help prevent America from falling to ruin. Her followers realize her sincerity and relish her audacity to burn a new trail among the terribly trodden path of old fashioned politics. Her fresh approach is contagious, and let the political world beware, she is a force with which to be reckoned, no matter her distractions or distracters.
It would be quite fun to see the Republican establishment, “man up,” as Scarborough beckons. That phrase in itself, however, represents the problem. Women are on the move. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 2012 election evolve to be a race between Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton.
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November 9, 2010
Is Oklahoma's Shariah law ban constitutional?
Muneer Awad filed suit trying to bar the state of Oklahoma from adopting a constitutional amendment that forbids state courts from enforcing Islamic law.
Mr. Awad claimed that the measure violates religious freedom guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. While such a claim is a big stretch - just witness American courts and their dealings with Mormons and other religious minorities - the issue really highlights the fact of how far we’ve come from what our framers originally intended for us.
The United States Constitution states in the First Amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of a religion or prohibiting the free exercised thereof.” It also states that Congress shall not prohibit the free exercise thereof. It does not say that the States cannot prohibit the free exercise thereof. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, the States were always to remain sovereign. Congress couldn’t mandate a particular religion but States could, if they so choose. In the 18th century many states were specifically Puritan and/or Catholic and some were open to all religions such as Pennsylvania, or Penn’s Forest, as Pennsylvania was called during it’s inception. As the founders agreed, Oklahoma actually could bar the practice of Sharia law or require it if it wanted.
But that's not the real issue today. And frankly the fact that a judge could so readily strike down a duly passed amendment by the people of Oklahoma demonstrates a second problem - how much power modern judges have.
Ironically, the Founding Fathers never intended for the courts to yield so much power. As they explain in the Federalist Papers, they considered and intended for the judicial branch to be the weakest. The Supreme Court’s first chief justice, John Jay, actually abandoned his post as the first chief justice to return to New York to be the state’s governor. State governorship was the more powerful and influential position.
To the point of Muneer Awad, he should understand that the United States Constitution does not allow a dual system of secular courts and religious courts in America. That is the real issue here and essentially that is all the Oklahoma amendment does. It ensures that only Oklahoma law is applied for disputes that occur in Oklahoma courtrooms. Upholding this Constitutional stipulation is not religious discrimination. It is simply living within the confines of our structure of government. Preserving America begins with preserving the United States Constitution and that begins with American citizens knowing and understanding its principles.
Political correctness is destroying our country and perilously leading American’s off course, like a train heading toward a cliff - an abyss of no return. The best way to counter political correctness is to truly know what is correct.
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November 8, 2010
Is Obama talking down the economy?
The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Debt drives democracy to demise. Voters want fiscal responsibility. Is anyone in the administration listening to the majority of the voters who spoke with their midterm votes? American citizens can't write bad checks. Why can our representatives? Not to mention, it's not their capital. A banker who handled a client's money in this type of manner would be fired.
Publius talked over and over again about the "genius of the people." The American populace should not be underestimated.
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