From the conclusion of the decision given by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida:
(emphasis mine)
The existing problems in our national health care system are recognized by everyone in this case. There is widespread sentiment for positive improvements that will reduce costs, improve the quality of care, and expand availability in a way that the nation can afford. This is obviously a very difficult task.Regardless of how laudable its attempts may have been to accomplish these goals in passing the Act, Congress must operate within the bounds established by the Constitution.Again, this case is not about whether the Act is wise or unwise legislation. It is about the Constitutional role of the federal government.
For the reasons stated, I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate. That is not to say, of course, that Congress is without power to address the problems and inequities in our health care system. The health care market is more than one sixth of the national economy, and without doubt Congress has the power to reform and regulate this market. That has not been disputed in this case. The principal dispute has been about how Congress chose to exercise that power here. Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications. At a time when there is virtually unanimous agreement that health care reform is needed in this country, it is hard to invalidate and strike down a statute titled “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” …
In closing, I will simply observe, once again, that my conclusion in this case is based on an application of the Commerce Clause law as it exists pursuant to the Supreme Court’s current interpretation and definition. Only the Supreme Court (or a Constitutional amendment) can expand that.
For all the reasons stated above and pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment (doc. 80) is hereby GRANTED as to its request for declaratory relief on Count I of the Second Amended Complaint, and DENIED as to its request for injunctive relief; and the defendants’ motion for summary judgment (doc. 82) is hereby GRANTED on Count IV of the Second Amended Complaint. The respective cross-motions are each DENIED.
I've read at least 150 articles about the Egyptian uprising with many different opinions regarding what's going on, who's involved, and the eventual outcome. Some may be right and some may be wrong. One thing I can say with certainty - none of us really know what is going on, and to state otherwise is folly. Oh sure, we can piece together little nuggets from different sources and form our version of a reality which may or may not be correct.
Feel free to paint me with the brush of cynicism and distrust (a fairly normal reaction for someone of my advanced age.) Why the cynicism and distrust? Glad you asked.
Does anyone really think we are hearing the entire story? All that the internet and incessant tweeting has accomplished is to make sure misinformation and personal opinion travels faster than the speed of light, while the ongoing behind-the-scenes activity constitute things we may never know about.
This morning, Rush said almost word for word what I related in the first paragraph. Thanks for backing me up, Rush.
Mark, my favorite attorney over at Ordered Liberty, said this yesterday:
As an American, I have a certain level of sympathy for almost any people who rise up to demand government by their consent, but before those of us in the United States get too enthusiastic about what is happening in Egypt right now, it might be a good idea to have a better knowledge of the players involved and what their agendas are. I don't know very much about Egypt -- aside for what I read on the internet and hear on the radio, so I know that I don't know enough to have a valid opinion about what is happening there. read it all
How's that for a bit of honesty? A well educated "alert reader" like Mark says, "I don't know." Best thing I've read in two days - and I thank him!
The closest I'll get to an opinion is to back up what Reaganite Republican said today:
So IMHO, anybody thinking this unholy alliance of ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood is an improvement over the current regime -in any way- must have bumped their head in the shower or something- because if Mubarak goes, it's an unmitigated disaster for the US, Israel, the west as a whole. read it all
The coveted Quote of the Day goes to Pundette - and we thank her:
The lie of abortion has been exposed over and over again, but women and girls still file into clinics to have their babies destroyed. Reason may be absent from their decision-making process, but so is hope and love. Abortion, held up as an act of empowerment, is an act of despair. That's a spiritual problem.
We are off later today to see a movie - in a real theater. The King's Speech is our movie of choice. One of our newer theaters is located in the Riverstone Development along the river in Coeur d' Alene.
Here is the developement when it was about half done. The theater is off to the left of the pond.
There's shopping:
Parks:
and fine dining. We'll be eating at Azteca after the movie.
As always, while I'm gone: play nice, keep the sand in the sandbox, and use your indoor voices.
which is most certainly not contributing to global warming by cranking up Air Force One (and the attendant cargo planes), the One's helicopter, and a giant motorcade for a one day visit to Wisconsin.
Your tax dollars at work.
Taking the WTF Tour on the Road
The day after the most eloquent speech in the history of the Republic, Big Guy kicked up his WTF campaign, 2012 version, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. read the rest
“Well, speaking of last night, that was a tough speech to sit through and try to stomach because the president is so off base in his ideas in how it is he believes government is going to create jobs. Obviously, government growth won’t create any jobs. It’s the private sector that can create the jobs. His theme last night in the State of the Union was the WTF, you know, “Winning the Future,” and I thought OK, that acronym, spot on. There were a lot of WTF moments throughout that speech.”
Bachmann: Good evening. My name is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota's 6th District.
I want to thank the Tea Party Express and Tea Party HD for inviting me to speak this evening. I'm here at their request and not to compete with the official Republican remarks.
The Tea Party is a dynamic force for good in our national conversation, and it's an honor for me to speak with you.
Two years ago, when Barack Obama became our president, unemployment was 7.8%, and our national debt stood at what seemed like a staggering $10.6 trillion. We wondered whether the president would cut spending, reduce the deficit and implement real job-creating policies.
Unfortunately, the president's strategy for recovery was to spend a trillion dollars on a failed stimulus program, fueled by borrowed money. The White House promised us that all the spending would keep unemployment under 8%. Not only did that plan fail to deliver, but within three months, the national jobless rate spiked to 9.4%. It hasn't been lower for 20 straight months. While the government grew, we lost more than 2 million jobs.
Let me show you a chart. Here are unemployment rates over the past 10 years. In October of 2001, our national unemployment rate was at 5.3%. In 2008, it was at 6.6%. But just eight months after President Obama promised lower unemployment, that rate spiked to a staggering 10.1%. Today, unemployment is at 9.4% with about 400,000 new claims every week.
After the $700 billion bailout, the trillion-dollar stimulus, and the massive budget bill with over 9,000 earmarks, many of you implored Washington to please stop spending money that we don't have. But instead of cutting, we saw an unprecedented explosion of government spending and debt. It was unlike anything we've ever seen before in the history of the country.
Well, deficits were unacceptably high under President Bush, but they exploded under President Obama's direction, growing the national debt by an astounding $3.1 trillion.
Well, what did we buy? Instead of a leaner, smarter government, we bought a bureaucracy that now tells us which lightbulbs to buy and which may put 16,500 IRS agents in charge of policing President Obama's health care bill. Obamacare mandates and penalties may even force many job-creators to just stop offering health insurance altogether, unless, of course, yours is one of the more than 222 privileged companies, or unions, that's already received a government waiver under Obamacare.
In the end, unless we fully repeal Obamacare, a nation that currently enjoys the world's finest health care might be forced to rely on government-run coverage. That could have a devastating impact on our national debt for even generations to come.
For two years, President Obama made promises, just like the ones we heard him make this evening, yet still we have high unemployment, devalued housing prices, and the cost of gasoline is skyrocketing.
Well, here's a few suggestions for fixing our economy. The president could stop the EPA from imposing a job-destroying cap-and-trade system. The president could support a balanced budget amendment. The president could agree to an energy policy that increases American energy production and reduces our dependence on foreign oil.
The president could also turn back some of the 132 regulations put in place in the last two years, many of which will cost our economy $100 million or more. And the president should repeal Obamacare and support free-market solutions, like medical malpractice reform and allowing all Americans to buy any health care policy they like anywhere in the United States.
We need to start making things again in this country, and we can do that by reducing the tax and regulatory burden on job-creators. America will have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Think about that. Look no further to see why jobs are moving overseas.
But thanks to you, there's reason for all of us to have hope that real spending cuts are coming, because last November, you went to the polls, and you voted out the big-spending politicians and you put in their place great men and women with a commitment to follow our Constitution and cut the size of government. I believe that we're in the very early days of a history-making turn in America.
Please know how important your calls, visits and letters are to the maintenance of our liberties. Because of you, Congress is responding, and we're just beginning to start to undo the damage that's been done the last few years, because we believe in lower taxes, we believe in a limited view of government and exceptionalism in America. And I believe that America is the indispensable nation of the world.
Just the creation of this nation itself was a miracle. Who can say that we won't see a miracle again? The perilous battle that was fought during World War II in the Pacific at Iwo Jima was a battle against all odds, and yet this picture immortalizes the victory of young GIs over the incursion against the Japanese. These six young men raising the flag came to symbolize all of America coming together to beat back a totalitarian aggressor.
Our current debt crisis we face today is different, but we still need all of us to pull together. But we can do this. That's our hope. We will push forward. We will proclaim liberty throughout the land. And we will do so because we, the people, will never give up on this great nation.
So God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
not a complete waste as we managed to eat dinner at the same time. I know...
Even the AP blasted him.
FACT CHECK: Obama and his imbalanced ledger
WASHINGTON – The ledger did not appear to be adding up Tuesday night when President Barack Obama urged more spending on one hand and a spending freeze on the other. read the rest
Last week I did a post on Idaho being one of the first states to possibly use nullification to stop Obamacare. They are being joined by 6 or 7 other states. My learned attorney friend, Mark of Ordered Liberty, disagrees.
Mark said this in the combox:
Well, I'm going to disagree with you on this one. Interposition and nullification are not legitimate constitutional remedies for congressional over-reach. A state has no ability to, in a question of federal law, defy the federal government. While Jefferson & Madison proposed nullification as a remedy for the Alien & Sedition Acts, no court has ever agreed with the idea. John C. Calhoun supported nullification as a way of fighting federal tariffs, which adversely impacted the slave-states of the South prior to the Civil War. The last time nullification was seriously proposed was during the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's and 60's, when the Southern power-structure sought to defy congressional and judicial defense of the equal rights of all American citizens.
It is a discredited idea, and one that has never been embraced as part of our constitutional structure. I cannot imagine that a federal court, as a consequence, would uphold a state's defiance of a validly enacted congressional statute.
Since I'm not an attorney and would never get into a discussion of the legality of nullification, all I can offer is an opinion based on common sense. It seems to me, and to quite a few other people, that the Federal government is completely out of control. They have taken over vast areas of the economy, interfered in areas that should be reserved to the states, and operate in a manner that brings to mind a school yard bully.
Every year the citizens of this country turn over vast amounts of their hard earned money to the Feds - money that is held hostage and subsequently doled out to finance things they have no business being involved in to begin with. This has been going on so long that the citizens seem to think it's just the way things should be. When ObamaCare came along, people began waking up to the fact that perhaps things really are not quite right.
I believe that many (actually - almost all) of the things the Feds are doing are unconstitutional and should be returned to the states to regulate. Instead, what I have witnessed during my lifetime, is the states rolling over, theoretically shrugging their shoulders, and saying, "What can we do - it's Federal law?" Now, that just strikes me as weird.
If we are to believe that in all cases Federal law trumps state law, then there is really no reason to have states to begin with. We should just become one big blob of a country ruled by some elites in Washington, DC. And that, my friends, is about what we have become. If Washington doesn't get their way by passing a law, they invoke regulations through departments such as the EPA and Department of Education, which I believe are unconstitutional. Are we not to be governed by representation? I didn't vote for these rogue agencies, nor the people appointed to run them, and I didn't vote for Obama's 30 plus "czars."
Nullification appears to be a viable way for the states to say, "Whoa, dude - that's not constitutional and I think we'll take a pass." Enter the Supreme Court, who will of course say, "sure it's constitutional because the Constitution is a "living document", and we'll twist it any old way we want." Naturally, Roe v Wade and the matter of abortion comes to mind - an issue best referred to the individual states.
In the New York Ratifying Convention of 1788, Hamilton stated:
"I maintain that the word "supreme" imports no more than this: that the Constitution, and laws made in pursuance thereof, cannot be controlled or defeated by any other law. The acts of the United States, therefore, will be absolutely obligatory as to all the proper objects and powers of the general government. The states, as well as individuals, are bound by these laws: but the laws of Congress are restricted to a certain sphere, and when they depart from this sphere, they are no longer supreme or binding."
The federal government does not exist and has no power outside of the Constitution. Thus, the States have the absolute right to nullify any act outside the Constitution.
It appears to me we have people who are trying to uphold the Constitution, while others are trying to turn it into some sort of document that changes and morphes to suit purposes that may or may not be constitutional. It is clear we can't always depend on the SCOTUS to interpret things correctly, or we wouldn't have decisions like Roe v Wade.
The case of Cooper v. Aaron, (1958), resulted from the Brown v. Board of Education decision ending racial segregation in schools across the country and is the most quoted when it comes to discrediting nullification. The Court held that, “The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land per the Supremacy Clause of Article VI." But I think desegregation was also something that should have been handled by the states. If it had been handled by the states, the outcome would have probably been better. So we have the Supreme's declaring the Federal government the top dog based on a law that in my opinion is unconstitutional. Sort of turns into a big circle, doesn't it?
While the concept of nullification may not be viable constitutionally, as my friend Mark has stated (the above statement by Hamilton is, after all, not part of the the Constitution), it seems to me that something should be in place to protect the rights of the states. If, as I believe, the constitution is there to protect the states as well as the country as a unity of states, then we should start paying heed to the correct interpretation. Otherwise, the next step could well be either revolution by the people, or the imposition of a police state by the Feds, and I don't think anyone wants either of those scenarios.
John Carey over at Sentry Journal has posted an hour long video of Thomas Woods on state nullification. I have not had time to watch, but it's on my list for later today. According to Mr. Carey, Thomas Woods book Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century is one of the driving forces behind Idaho and six other states exploring nullification of Obamacare.
During August 2010, the People of The State of Missouri approved Proposition C and nullified key parts of “obamacare”. As a matter of constitutional principle, may the People of the States lawfully do this? Or must they submit to every law made by Congress whether it is constitutional or not? Are federal judges the final authority?
I will prove that the States have the Right and the Duty to nullify unconstitutional acts of Congress. The only real question is whether Americans have the Will to reclaim our Constitutional Republic & the Rule of Law, or whether they will submit to the rulership of men who “don’t care” what the Constitution says, and who see obamacare as a way “to control the people”. click on title to read the rest
The aforementioned Tom Woods has this to say about the issue
And the Dumbest Guy in the World Is…
…Ian Millhiser of the hilariously misnamed ThinkProgress, who says, “The Constitution expressly states that Acts of Congress ’shall be the supreme law of the land…anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding,’ so our founding document specifically denies the states a veto power over federal laws.”
This guy has a law degree, people. A law degree. And he thinks he has defeated Thomas Jefferson with this third-grade analysis.
What the Supremacy Clause actually says is: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof…shall be the supreme law of the land.” read the rest
I'll have to leave it to the legal beagles of the world to quote case law and wrangle over what's constitutional and what's not. As for me, I'll continue to rely on common sense with a bit of Occam's razor, the Peter Principle, and the Word of God to help me.
[...]These aren't the obscure rants of some raving idiot out in the progressive netroots fever swamps. Piven is establishment. But taking the Times' propaganda one step further is useful idiot Steve Benen:
If you've never heard of Frances Fox Piven, don't feel bad. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't either. Apparently she wrote some radical stuff about poor people and political activism in 1966, and the voices in Beck's head tell him this is important and relevant in 2011, never mind the fact that the vast majority of liberals haven't read her work and have no idea who she is.
That's a lie. Anyone who reads The Nation knows exactly who she is.
Leftists are liars.
They're liars. They're propagandists. And they're evildoers.
After listening to what will no doubt be a state-of-the-union speech full of platitudes and incomprehensible nonsense syllables strung together trying desperately to make sense, it will be nice to hear from an adult.
BOISE, Idaho -- After leading the nation last year in passing a law to sue the federal government over the health care overhaul, Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama's signature bill null and void.
Lawmakers in six other states -- Maine, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming -- are also mulling "nullification" bills, which contend states, not the U.S. Supreme Court, are the ultimate arbiter of when Congress and the president run amok. read the rest
If you can deliver an almost full term baby, stab the back of the neck before the head emerges and suck the brains out, what is wrong with "snipping" the spinal cord one minute after delivery?
Forgive me if I don't share your sudden outrage...
and neither does DaTechGuy: “We’re fighting the bloody Lot”
To me this is no different from the thousands of abortions that are done every day. To me, the outrage isn’t that this doctor is out there, the outrage is that hundreds of others are killing children every day and are considered pillars of the community ... read the rest
Perhaps all you women who favor a "woman's right to choose" should try choosing to keep your legs together.
From Liberty Juice:
The loose attitudes we have towards sex in this hyper-sexualized society, teaching our kids that if you are going to have sex, just wear a condom. We put emphasis on protecting their bodies but we are failing their spirits, their emotions and their hearts. And more than promoting “safe sex” most of these programs are just promoting “more sex.” read the rest
The Baby Butcher - Pro-choice absolutism and the grisly abortion scandal in Philadelphia.
Should abortion be allowed late in pregnancy? Some feminists say yes. In recent months, several have stepped forward to condemn talk of compromise between pro-choice and pro-life moderates. Women's autonomy, they argue, must be absolute. speaking of grisly - read the quotes from "feminists" in this article. Appalling!
If you are one of the majority of folks in this country that espouses conservative views, every time the lefty loonies attack Sarah Palin, they attack you.
From Robin of Berkeley at American Thinker*
"People on the left hate Palin for one simple reason: because she is everything they are not. She is their polar opposite because her life journey has diverged from the prescribed liberal path."
Leftists loathe Palin because she has retained something that was stripped from them years ago: a wholesomeness, a purity of heart. People on the left despise Palin because she shines a bright light on their shame and unworthiness, which they try desperately to deny.
and from Morgan K Freeberg at Washington Rebel**
Palin represents something much bigger than Palin. It isn’t hockey moms or Momma Grizzlies or lipstick or GILFs or nice-lookin’ legs. What she represents is perceptive intelligence, the kind of intelligence you have to have if you work for a living, but don’t have to have if you talk for a living. You need to perceive…and based on your perceptions…make a decision that affects how, and if, you’re going to be getting your work done.
The next time someone says they hate Palin, ask why. The usual answer? She's stupid. I know from personal experience that these words are also being directed to the person asking "why." The next time someone calls Palin "stupid", remember they are calling you stupid. I think that calls for some incivility.
Hubby attended a jam session at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane and walked right by the site of the bomb just hours before discovery.
Local news:
Lindsey Reiswig and her coworkers got the first indication something wasn’t right Monday morning when a Spokane Police officer came by Auntie’s Bookstore and said they needed to clear the building because of a suspicious backpack across the street. read the rest
FBI: Bomb placed at MLK Day parade was ‘domestic terrorism’
Device capable of inflicting 'multiple casualties'
A bomb left in a backpack on the route of a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, Washington, has been described as being in the "realm of domestic terrorism" by the FBI. read the rest
because these things are percolating in the background while we are constantly being distracted by smaller issues.
Back in September I posted on Agenda 21 and Livable Communities Act S.1619.
Think the UN's Agenda 21 doesn't affect you? It does. Google ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) and the name of your city and see what comes up. ICLEI is the backdoor approach to usurping your rights as a citizen of the United States and is linked up with the UN's Agenda 21.
After doing that, check to see if one or more of your local schools has the IB (International Baccalaureate) program.
From Wiki (emphasis mine)
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development. More than 1200 cities, towns, counties, and their associations in 70 countries comprise ICLEI's growing membership. ICLEI works with these and hundreds of other local governments through international performance-based, results-oriented campaigns and programs. It provides technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. ICLEI's basic premise is that locally designed initiatives can provide an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national, and global sustainability objectives.
Exactly how is paying for ICLEI people to come into your town and teach you how to stick a plant in the ground going to save you money? Do you really need the UN to help you build bike lanes? Or in the case of Fort Collins, Colorado,ripping out traffic lanes to add additional bike lanes?
And in my own backyard is Coeur d'Alene high school.
So how many IB Diplomas were produced in 2010 with the district's $1.3 Million investment thus far?Eight (8). How can anybody call these results something to be proud of? source
Imagine my surprise to see this article in Big Government this past evening:
and then research these issues and see what's going on in your own schools and neighborhoods. If you don't like what you see, write a letter and make some phone calls. Not once - but over and over.
Mr. Surber's "I'm fed up and not going to take it anymore" article, I do not want civil discourse,
may well end up the most linked in history. And for good reason.
While many people, including those on the right, were swooning over Obama's "unifying speech" at a political rally masquerading as a memorial, the real story was percolating in the minds of people who have become fed up with being called stupid, redneck, racist, right-wing terrorists, who cling to their guns and religion.
While Obama's machine might be thinking their manipulation of the real incivility that has taken place this past week is working to the benefit of the lefties of this country, the exact opposite is happening. People have been given a clear view of the minds of those who would use the deaths of innocent people to advance their agenda - and it's not a pretty sight.
Fuzzy Slippers puts into words what we encountered this past week:
I was in shock, to be honest. I mean it's one thing to have ideological differences, and it's quite another to accuse someone, or multiple someones, not only of being capable of, but of actually carrying out, murder. It's one thing to have two different visions for the direction of our country, and quite another to so easily, so readily, so happily believe that our fellow citizens are not only capable of, but actually keen on, committing murder. It's mind-boggling, if you think about it.*
While many of us are not willing to put up with being attacked in a vicious manner by those on the left, the method of fighting back is not as clear. The cute little video below sheds some light on dealing with the left, whose disdain of logic and their denial of reality eventually forces them into name-calling because it's really all they have. Unlike the video, many of these people will devolve into full blown rage because you are a threat to their world view that they have invested a lifetime in constructing.
To argue with someone who lacks any semblance of logic and lives in a reality of their own making is like using a cloud for a sparring partner. You may come away from the encounter thinking you've improved your boxing but the reality is you've wasted your time.
Dr. Sanity sums it up nicely for us:
Today's political left are the hands-down, gold medal winners in the Denial of Reality Sweepstakes. Watch them spin, lie, distort and finally resort to personal attacks on their critics without any debate on the facts--and learn all you need to know about their creatively dysfunctional coping.
Reality is coming for them. The spectacle would be interesting if only they did not intend to drag the rest of us along with them into the abyss.
They can rage against reality all they want. It won't change anything. But I imagine that getting all those intense feelings out will be sufficient for the children of the left, since that is the only 'reality' they care about or understand. **
It is my contention that by paying attention to these people, they are encouraged and driven to escalate their attacks. The vile Hollywood types thumb their noses at us while we fill their pockets with more money by attending their movies. The Bill Maher's and Joy Behar's of the world spread filth and we link to them. Conservative bloggers spend more time linking to these moonbats than the left does, and as Stacy McCain would probably say, "there's no such thing as a bad link." We waste time by engaging in petty online verbal gymnastics with lunatics while the real work goes undone.
I learned early on that when someone asked what I came to call "the Catholic questions"about my faith to make my response, "Are you asking because you really want to know, or do you just want to argue? Because if arguing is your intention, I don't have time."
Let's start treating the lefties the same way - with indifference. While it isn't necessary to accept their foul attacks, fight back by not making time for them, spending money on their products, watching their TV shows, or going to their movies. Try ignoring their online rants and not linking them. Instead, call your Congressman or write a letter to your Senator with all that extra time you'll have.
Other people who are unwilling to put up with the lunatics anymore:
I thought he was going to focus "with laser-like intensity" on jobs.
Silly me!
Trouble Lurking Ahead For Obama's Education Focus
WASHINGTON -- Signs of trouble are arising for President Barack Obama's plan to put education overhaul at the forefront of his agenda as he adjusts to the new reality of a divided government. read the rest
Solution? The feds need to close down the Department of Education and let the states run their own schools. The states need to sell the schools and privatize them. End of problem.
I'm linking the above article again because it is so well done, and because it's so important to understand what is going on in today's world. We have been morally and intellectually dumbed-down to the point where right reason has all but been obliterated from our citizens. We are quickly becoming a nation of people who worship only Hollywood stars and gorge our minds on the sinkhole of MTV.
Deviancy continues to be defined down (thank you Mr Moynihan) and we now accept as "normal" the most appalling behavior, and simply shrug and say, "it's just the times we live in."
Quote of the Day goes to:
Randy of Randy's Roundtable referring to Ron Reagan and his new "tell all" book "My Father at 100" (don't buy it!)
What is it with you lefties trying to rewrite history? You are a small man Jr. who has done nothing with your life, other than make a cheap living off your parents name spouting crap on any left wing show that will have you. Trying to make a name for yourself Ron? Smearing Ron and Nancy just earned you another. Rat Bastard Of The Year!
First you give it a name. Then you make some T-shirts and programs in bright red and blue. Finally you make sure the audience (mostly college students) were not given instructions on behavior. Viola! A campaign kick-off worthy of the narcissist-in-chief.
Last night and today, there are many members of the "right" climbing all over themselves to prove how bi-partisan they are by praising Obama's "eloquent" speech. A speech that was primarily focused on Gabrielle Giffords, who is, if I'm not mistaken, still alive.
Two of the victims most reported on were Roman Catholics and probably the rest of them were Christians. What better way to soothe the families then by having a pagan blessing by a part native American waving a feather around, and whose Mexican half received rousing cheers. It's difficult to even find the names of the other victims because they don't advance the agenda quite as well as a federal judge and a lovely little nine-year old girl.
Nope. I'm not impressed, and neither is Casey Fiano:
Kicking off the 2012 campaign on the shoulders of the dead
Everyone is buzzing about the Tucson pep rally memorial service yesterday. The consensus seems to be that Obama was presidential and gave a wonderful speech that hit all the right notes. Ed Morrissey went so far as to say it might be the finest moment of his presidency. Rich Lowry called it a magnificent performance. Jim Hoft said it was the best speech he’s ever given. William Jacobsen called it a good speech, better in writing than in delivery. Charlie Martin was pleasantly surprised at the tone of the speech. And on and on and on. The overwhelming response seems to be fawning praise. It’s so amazing! The president gave a good speech! How wonderful!
[...]It is time we on the Right realize that there is no reasoning with the Left, that they will not listen.
Their minds are closed and bolted shut to any arguments because they believe they have found THE ANSWER, the Way. The Progressives believe they are the only Enlightened Ones and that we are, at best, misguided idiots, and, at worst, dangerous and insane lunatics. This is what they believe. Don’t kid yourself that they view us as anything but fools or thought criminals. Just think of the ways they describe us and our ideas…go ahead, think…I’ll wait…well? In their depraved way of thinking, the Left believes that the Right is evil. read the rest
This craziness could be stopped instantly if the current holder of the title president would actually stand up and speak the truth instead of using the current bilge being spewed by the media for his own political agenda.
But you're not going to hear that any more than that Tim Pawlenty will stand up for the truth.
From Nice Deb:
Man-Up Tim Pawlenty
2012 presidential hopeful, Tim Pawlenty, is taking some well deserved heat, this morning from conservative bloggers because of his “weak-tea” responses to a questions posed to him about Sarah Palin’s “crosshairs” map. read the rest
He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right. interview here
and the majority of the teachers are not going to like it one teeny, tiny bit.
BOISE - Idaho would eliminate tenure for new teachers, limit all collective bargaining agreements with teachers to one year and raise class sizes in grades 4-12 to fund a big new emphasis on technology and accountability, under a sweeping plan outlined to lawmakers this morning by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna. read the rest
Like millions of Americans I learned of the tragic events in Arizona on Saturday, and my heart broke for the innocent victims. No words can fill the hole left by the death of an innocent, but we do mourn for the victims’ families as we express our sympathy.
I agree with the sentiments shared yesterday at the beautiful Catholic mass held in honor of the victims. The mass will hopefully help begin a healing process for the families touched by this tragedy and for our country.
Our exceptional nation, so vibrant with ideas and the passionate exchange and debate of ideas, is a light to the rest of the world. Congresswoman Giffords and her constituents were exercising their right to exchange ideas that day, to celebrate our Republic’s core values and peacefully assemble to petition our government. It’s inexcusable and incomprehensible why a single evil man took the lives of peaceful citizens that day.
There is a bittersweet irony that the strength of the American spirit shines brightest in times of tragedy. We saw that in Arizona. We saw the tenacity of those clinging to life, the compassion of those who kept the victims alive, and the heroism of those who overpowered a deranged gunman.
Like many, I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance. After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.
President Reagan said, “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.
The last election was all about taking responsibility for our country’s future. President Obama and I may not agree on everything, but I know he would join me in affirming the health of our democratic process. Two years ago his party was victorious. Last November, the other party won. In both elections the will of the American people was heard, and the peaceful transition of power proved yet again the enduring strength of our Republic.
Vigorous and spirited public debates during elections are among our most cherished traditions. And after the election, we shake hands and get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in D.C. and elsewhere. If you don’t like a person’s vision for the country, you’re free to debate that vision. If you don’t like their ideas, you’re free to propose better ideas. But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible.
There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal. And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those “calm days” when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren’t designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government. Our Founders’ genius was to design a system that helped settle the inevitable conflicts caused by our imperfect passions in civil ways. So, we must condemn violence if our Republic is to endure.
As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, “We know violence isn’t the answer. When we ‘take up our arms’, we’re talking about our vote.” Yes, our debates are full of passion, but we settle our political differences respectfully at the ballot box – as we did just two months ago, and as our Republic enables us to do again in the next election, and the next. That’s who we are as Americans and how we were meant to be. Public discourse and debate isn’t a sign of crisis, but of our enduring strength. It is part of why America is exceptional.
No one should be deterred from speaking up and speaking out in peaceful dissent, and we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace evil and call it good. And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults.
Just days before she was shot, Congresswoman Giffords read the First Amendment on the floor of the House. It was a beautiful moment and more than simply “symbolic,” as some claim, to have the Constitution read by our Congress. I am confident she knew that reading our sacred charter of liberty was more than just “symbolic.” But less than a week after Congresswoman Giffords reaffirmed our protected freedoms, another member of Congress announced that he would propose a law that would criminalize speech he found offensive.
It is in the hour when our values are challenged that we must remain resolved to protect those values. Recall how the events of 9-11 challenged our values and we had to fight the tendency to trade our freedoms for perceived security. And so it is today.
Let us honor those precious lives cut short in Tucson by praying for them and their families and by cherishing their memories. Let us pray for the full recovery of the wounded. And let us pray for our country. In times like this we need God’s guidance and the peace He provides. We need strength to not let the random acts of a criminal turn us against ourselves, or weaken our solid foundation, or provide a pretext to stifle debate.
America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy. We will come out of this stronger and more united in our desire to peacefully engage in the great debates of our time, to respectfully embrace our differences in a positive manner, and to unite in the knowledge that, though our ideas may be different, we must all strive for a better future for our country.
After reading hundreds of comments on many different sites, I will have to concede that liberalism is indeed a mental disorder. It reminds me of some of the computer generated videos about liberalism where the little cartoon liberal keeps saying. "I don't care" as answer to any actual facts presented by the conservative.
The irrational meme continues that for some reason, Sarah Palin is 99% responsible for a shooting perpetrated by a person who is most likely a paranoid schizophrenic. The other 1% of blame is shared by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and all people who have a love for this country.
When a person's response to reality is to metaphorically place their hands over their ears, close their eyes, and say, "la la la la la, I can't hear you", you are dealing with a person who may be as seriously disturbed as Jared Loughner.
Remind a liberal of the "vitriol" (the lefts new favorite word) spewing forth from the president, and their response is, "I don't care." In their minds it is perfectly acceptable for the president to say, "they bring a knife, we bring a gun."
Obama is winging his way to Arizona where he will read from a teleprompter and try his best to "act presidential." Good luck with that, Barry.
"Defending ourselves against what? Some a-hole on MSLSD with no numbers, no ratings, no audience, no substance, no common sense making an allegation. We know without question that the murderer in Tucson was mentally ill, a liberal pothead and all the rest of it. We know this for a fact." Mark Levinin response to the latest attack by Chris Matthews
More:
American Thinker: Incitement to Tyranny
[...]
The big-government cultists' reaction to the Arizona madman's rampage couldn't possibly have been more predictable. Mounting a "never let a crisis go to waste" assault on the nation's airwaves, liberals have spun this tragic and insane act exactly as an unnamed Democrat source told Politico they should: "They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers. ... Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people." read the rest
American Thinker: The Media Has Declared... WAR!
[...]
The media is a massive failure spawned by the hate-filled humanities departments of our major universities.
"Why" is no longer a question to most of the media. The media knows "why." It just needs backing to say it. Put it this way: when a reporter goes on a story, he/she is not seeking to ask questions that will provide a story; he/she is seeking answers to questions that will fill the story he/she has already chosen to write. The media at large is openly choosing to do a story that will forever diminish conservatives and white men. It is simply seeking the quotes and attribution to fill this story. It is not covering events; it's mining for proof. read the rest
You will see no hand-wringing over the injustices done to the Tea Party, 912's and Second Amendment advocates over the past few days. Who would do that hand-wringing anyway? The media? The Democratic Party? They see nothing wrong with threatening the very lives of conservatives with their baseless charges of political violence as they almost encourage their supporters to demonize and trivialize the lives of conservatives. read it all
Tomorrow is my haircut/Costco (I "heart Costco)/Grocery Outlet/assorted errand day. I may stop by in the morning (unless I sign up for Freedom which is not likely)
As always - play nice while I'm gone and use your indoor voices.
Update: Linked by Reaganite Republican - and we thank him.
