Tunku Varadarajan, in this article at Forbes.com, argues that 'going Muslim' is the new 'going postal.' I disagree, because I think the term paints to broadly. There are patriotic American Muslims, some of who have given all for this country.
'Going jihadi' would be more accurate.
09 November 2009
Watching The World Wake Up From History.
20 years ago today the Berlin Wall fell. 20 years ago today the Cold War ended.
Free minds, free markets, and Ronald Reagan won the day. Marxism, detante, and Jimmy Carter lost.
While Barack Obama doesn't think this is something to be celebrated (gee, wonder why...), I do. Unlike our President, I visited Germany and Berlin back when each was divided into East and West (1983). I travelled in the DDR (East Germany) and saw a real Marxist country in action. I saw the Wall - from both sides - and saw the dull, dreary Marxist East Berlin so directly contrasted against the free, capitalist West Berlin.
While I thought myself a Republican before, a week in Berlin (East and West) made me understand why. It crystallized on a West German train heading to Berlin, when we were forced to stop at at the East German border for passport checks. The East Germans customs agents made us stay in our seats and put up the windows, while border guards with AK-47s stood on the platform. One young guard, in his green Grenztruppen uniform, funny helmet and Kalashnikov, walked up to our window, staring in. I asked, rather rhetorically, "I wonder what he wants?" An elderly German woman sitting next to me replied, in English: "He wishes he were you." Pow.
So in celebration, dear readers, here is today's required listening: Right Here, Right Now.
And lest we forget, today's required reading: Murderous Idealism.
Free minds, free markets, and Ronald Reagan won the day. Marxism, detante, and Jimmy Carter lost.
While Barack Obama doesn't think this is something to be celebrated (gee, wonder why...), I do. Unlike our President, I visited Germany and Berlin back when each was divided into East and West (1983). I travelled in the DDR (East Germany) and saw a real Marxist country in action. I saw the Wall - from both sides - and saw the dull, dreary Marxist East Berlin so directly contrasted against the free, capitalist West Berlin.
While I thought myself a Republican before, a week in Berlin (East and West) made me understand why. It crystallized on a West German train heading to Berlin, when we were forced to stop at at the East German border for passport checks. The East Germans customs agents made us stay in our seats and put up the windows, while border guards with AK-47s stood on the platform. One young guard, in his green Grenztruppen uniform, funny helmet and Kalashnikov, walked up to our window, staring in. I asked, rather rhetorically, "I wonder what he wants?" An elderly German woman sitting next to me replied, in English: "He wishes he were you." Pow.
So in celebration, dear readers, here is today's required listening: Right Here, Right Now.
And lest we forget, today's required reading: Murderous Idealism.
08 November 2009
07 November 2009
All Your Freedoms Are Belong To Us.
Queen Nancy gets her way.
The GOP gets a winning cause.
And Rep. Joseph Cao gets to find out that one is the loneliest number.
The GOP gets a winning cause.
And Rep. Joseph Cao gets to find out that one is the loneliest number.
Is The Mandate Constitutional?
Here is an excellent debate on the constitutionality of Congress mandating we purchase health insurance or be penalized.
After reading through Mr. Chemerinsky's Commerce Clause justifications for a mandate, I find them unconvincing.
The Commerce Clause, upon which Mr. Chemerinsky bases his mandate claim, concerns regulating commerce among the states. But the purchase of health insurance is, by law, strictly an intra-state economic activity. Since none of us can cross state lines to purchase health insurance, where is the interstate commerce that is affected? Insurance is a service, not a commodity, like wheat, that I can possess and sell in another state. My health insurance policy exists as a contract recognized and governed by the laws of my state - it is not enforceable in another state, and therefore has no value or standing in another state.
While the purchase of health insurance is an economic activity, and therefore (in this case intra-state) commerce, the failure to purchase is an economic inactivity, and therefore is clearly not commerce - intra-state or otherwise. Mr. Chemerinsky seems to be saying that the Commerce Clause gives Congress almost unlimited power - including the power to compel an economic activity for it to regulate! As Mr. Rivkin points out, United States v. Lopez and United States v. Morrison show that the Commerce Clause does not provide Congress with such such unlimited power.
And that's before we get to the 9th and 10th Amendment arguments against a mandate. If the Pelosi/Reed/Obama notion of socialized "reform" becomes law, I think the mandate will not long survive Constitutional challenge.
After reading through Mr. Chemerinsky's Commerce Clause justifications for a mandate, I find them unconvincing.
The Commerce Clause, upon which Mr. Chemerinsky bases his mandate claim, concerns regulating commerce among the states. But the purchase of health insurance is, by law, strictly an intra-state economic activity. Since none of us can cross state lines to purchase health insurance, where is the interstate commerce that is affected? Insurance is a service, not a commodity, like wheat, that I can possess and sell in another state. My health insurance policy exists as a contract recognized and governed by the laws of my state - it is not enforceable in another state, and therefore has no value or standing in another state.
While the purchase of health insurance is an economic activity, and therefore (in this case intra-state) commerce, the failure to purchase is an economic inactivity, and therefore is clearly not commerce - intra-state or otherwise. Mr. Chemerinsky seems to be saying that the Commerce Clause gives Congress almost unlimited power - including the power to compel an economic activity for it to regulate! As Mr. Rivkin points out, United States v. Lopez and United States v. Morrison show that the Commerce Clause does not provide Congress with such such unlimited power.
And that's before we get to the 9th and 10th Amendment arguments against a mandate. If the Pelosi/Reed/Obama notion of socialized "reform" becomes law, I think the mandate will not long survive Constitutional challenge.
06 November 2009
ACORN Has A Visitor.
According to the Pelican Institute, ACORN Headquarters in New Orleans was raided today. WWL-TV confirms.
Friday Morning Distraction.
Admit it - you would have worn this costume on Halloween if you had the chance. (Watch the video all the way through.)
C'mon, admit it.
C'mon, admit it.
Obama Lied. Jobs Died. (UPDATED)
Remember this statement Barack Obama made in support of the Democrat stimulus package, which passed a month later:
So, after Obama, Pelosi, and Reed put us, our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren in hock to "stimulate" the economy, unempleyment is now at 10.2%... and still climbing.
Keep this in mind when these very same folks tell you they can make health care affordable.
UPDATE: Exurban League nails it:
“Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and further out of reach.”Oops:
So, after Obama, Pelosi, and Reed put us, our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren in hock to "stimulate" the economy, unempleyment is now at 10.2%... and still climbing.
Keep this in mind when these very same folks tell you they can make health care affordable.
UPDATE: Exurban League nails it:
05 November 2009
04 November 2009
The Republican Alternative To ObamaCare. (UPDATED)
Yes, there really is one. How is it better? Well, for starters, it's 1,771 pages shorter... (Summary of the GOP proposal is here.)
UPDATE 05NOV09: A "grim milestone?" The ObamaCare bill is now over 2,000 pages long. Only a government mind would think making something bigger and more complex makes it more effective and cost efficient.
UPDATE 05NOV09: A "grim milestone?" The ObamaCare bill is now over 2,000 pages long. Only a government mind would think making something bigger and more complex makes it more effective and cost efficient.
03 November 2009
The Best Analysis Of This Election Night. Period.
From Creative Minority Report on Twitter: "America's decision on Obama came quicker than Obama's decision on Afghanistan."
Um... Ouch.
Um... Ouch.
02 November 2009
At Least Everyone Got Out ALIVE.
Something to remember when you're listening to Holden/Futrell/Foreman, et. al., tell you what a great idea it is to build an amusement park an Epcot on the Mississippi an "interactive adventure" "celebration" (fill in misty marketing superlative here) out into the Mississippi River:
Yes, that is a really big ship. And what is stopping it is the New Orleans' Riverwalk Marketplace shopping center.
Yes, that is a really big ship. And what is stopping it is the New Orleans' Riverwalk Marketplace shopping center.
31 October 2009
29 October 2009
Godspeed, Dave Treen.
Former Louisiana governor Dave Treen died today in Metairie.
Treen was one of the first Republicans I ever campaigned for (I was 12), and a major reason I am interested in politics today. He was - like my parents - a Republican back when Louisiana was a one-party Democrat state, and he scared the hell out of establishment Democrats in 1971 with a stunning run against Edwin Edwards. Edwards won, but Treen's run put the GOP on the map in Louisiana as a contender, and led Edwards to create Louisiana's unique "open primary" law to keep the GOP out of office. It didn't work. The GOP grew with Teeen's efforts, and Treen did become governor in 1979.
Dave Treen was a man of honor and principle (which is the reason he only lasted one term), a true reformer, and the reason we have a two-party state today. He will be missed; but never forgotten.
Treen was one of the first Republicans I ever campaigned for (I was 12), and a major reason I am interested in politics today. He was - like my parents - a Republican back when Louisiana was a one-party Democrat state, and he scared the hell out of establishment Democrats in 1971 with a stunning run against Edwin Edwards. Edwards won, but Treen's run put the GOP on the map in Louisiana as a contender, and led Edwards to create Louisiana's unique "open primary" law to keep the GOP out of office. It didn't work. The GOP grew with Teeen's efforts, and Treen did become governor in 1979.
Dave Treen was a man of honor and principle (which is the reason he only lasted one term), a true reformer, and the reason we have a two-party state today. He will be missed; but never forgotten.
"Yeah You Rite."
For those who think New Orleanians talk like Scarlett O'Harah, or Belizaire the Cajun, watch this:
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