Governing Ourselves
A La Mesa man who posted racial epithets and a call to "shoot" Barack Obama on an Internet chat site was engaging in constitutionally protected free speech, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in overturning his criminal conviction. Walter Bagdasarian was found guilty two years ago of making threats against a major presidential candidate in comments he posted on a Yahoo.com financial website after 1 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2008, as Obama's impending victory in the race for the White House was becoming apparent. Bagdasarian told investigators he was drunk at the time.
Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state's plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers' whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — storing that information indefinitely where local cops, staties, feds and prosecutors could access it as they choose.
By now, you likely have heard of Dr. David Ludwig, Harvard professor and child obesity specialist at Children's Hospital in Boston. He and attorney and research partner Lindsey Murtagh authored a piece in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggesting that severely obese children might require the government to remove them from custody of their parents. If this doesn't convince you that liberals support a nanny state, nothing will. As a child psychologist with over 20 years of experience, I can say with supreme confidence that taking a child from his or her parents is almost always traumatic. Sometimes it is justified, of course; in cases of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, the child is sometimes far better off living without the offending parent. Similarly, when a parent evidences a profound inability to provide the basic needs of a child, the child might be safer with a relative or, rarely, with a foster parent. But removing a child from the home because the parent doesn't adequately assist the child in losing weight? This is nothing short of ridiculous.
Those Algorithms That Govern Our Lives (video)
Several long-time Republicans dissatisfied with the crop of candidates running for president have developed an unorthodox plan to upend what they consider a flawed GOP nomination process. The other half of Garlington's troubles: Because his missing driver's license is still valid, the DMV won't issue an alternative photo ID to use at the polls. "If they had an election today, I couldn't vote," said Garlington, 59. Garlington was among more than 40 people who appeared at an NAACP town hall meeting Monday where opponents said they would do everything in their power to see that the state's new voter ID law never gets used. Many said it is no more than an attempt to rekindle Jim Crow through a modern-day poll tax. [GREAT BLUBBERING BOO HOOS! What a bunch of nonsense!]
The government's ability to make us buy light bulbs we don't want is crucial, he says, because "if we take away government and society's tools to even attempt to respond to a world of limits in a collective fashion, I'm not sure how we'll survive." Let me try to unpack that argument as charitably as I can.
Fluorescent lighting makes me feel like I'm dead, and am just haunting whatever room I happen to be in. It makes me feel like the top of my head has been replaced with something clammy and toxic. It makes me feel like filling up my 15-passenger van with overpriced gas and barreling nonstop to Al Gore's house and smacking his silly, fat face around until he admits that his main goal is and always has been to make each and every day for the entire human race a little less bearable.
The House on Friday morning moved to block federal light bulb efficiency standards without even a roll call vote. ... forbids the Department of Energy from enforcing the standards in the next budget year. ... only fixes the problem through September 2012.
Lawmakers passed on a voice vote an amendment to energy-spending legislation for fiscal year 2012 barring the Energy Department from implementing or enforcing lighting-efficiency standards set by 2007 legislation.
After a decade in which spending increased by more than 60 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars and the debt limit was raised no fewer than 10 times, the government is about to max out its $14.3 trillion credit line, leading to fears that Washington is going to default on its bonds, stop cutting Social Security checks, and destroy the economy more than it already has. But the current debate over the debt ceiling is full of malarkey for at least three reasons. [video]
Despite the fact that city authorities have temporarily dropped a case against Oak Park resident Julie Bass for growing a vegetable garden in her front yard after the story received nationwide attention, Bass has now been hit with a new criminal charge for owning unlicensed dogs, clear evidence says Bass that she's the victim of a vendetta.
An Oklahoma lawmaker is pushing to make sure welfare recipients aren't abusing the system. Sen. Randy Brogdon wants anyone who applies for help under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program would have to be tested for drug and alcohol use. "If the state government is going to offer welfare assistance to anyone, it is a very reasonable expectation to make sure none of those taxpayer dollars are being spent on drugs and alcohol," Brogdon said. ... The Department of Human Services is expressing concern about the cost of Brogdon's plan, saying it would set the agency back about $3 million every year. [And SAVE how much at the same time? Oh, never mind.]
President Obama unleashed his inner Alinskyite on Wednesday, storming out of a meeting with Congressional leaders and White House staff after threatening the GOP House Leader Eric Cantor with a parting "Eric, don't call my bluff." Presidential it wasn't, and loyalists in the MSM immediately began to spread covering smoke from Obama allies like Harry Reid blaming the GOP Leader for refusing to be filibustered or bullied in the long series of pointless meetings arranged by a desperate president to try and change a political dynamic that sees his approval rating plummeting in poll after poll. [h/t to Cuz BD http://twitter.com/#!/brandondutcher/statuses/91917856811393024]
The US is holding the entire world hostage, and it's the Republicans that are playing with fire. [????]
The Wall Street Journal by Jim DeMint & Olympia Snowe: Before we consider saddling our children with even more debt, we must enact significant spending cuts and enforceable caps on future spending. For the long term, to prevent both this Congress and its successors from hijacking the promise of American prosperity, we also need a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, like the one we and all 47 Senate Republicans have introduced. ... The last time the Senate considered a balanced budget amendment was on March 4, 1997—and it failed to pass by one vote. On that day 14 years ago, the nation's outstanding debt was $5.36 trillion. Today it is $14.3 trillion, or nearly three times that amount. [Unfortunately, if the balance doesn't include some limits on spending, it really doesn't matter. They'll just keep raising taxes....]
Even when a mother is literally killing her children with deep-fried, chocolate-covered kindness, it is counter-intuitive for her to listen to criticism of the way she is performing that most basic of womanly tasks: bringing up baby. I do, in fact, have a sneaking sympathy for some among such misguided parents — although plenty of people don't. Take Tam Fry, chairman of Britain's Child Growth Foundation, who doesn't mince his words at all; he calls the stuffing of children's already fat faces 'a form of child abuse'.
Meet John Rolczynski: The Grand Forks, N.D., resident has been trying to tell his legislators that an error in the state's founding document means that technically, North Dakota is not a state. Sounds like the ravings of a grumpy old man, but as it turns out, Rolczynski was right. News of uncertain statehood has put North Dakota in the spotlight and garnered big buzz. Here's the story: Back in 1889, North Dakota was carved out of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union at the same time as South Dakota. Or so everyone thought. But the state founders who drafted the constitution left out the key requirement that the governor and other top officials take an oath of office, putting the state constitution in conflict with the federal one. So Rolczynski has been arguing for the last 16 years that the omission made the state illegitimate.
Law enforcement representatives are planning to endorse a proposed federal law that would require Internet service providers to store logs about their customers for 18 months, CNET has learned. The National Sheriffs' Association will say it "strongly supports" mandatory data retention during Tuesday's U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the topic.
Many who govern in America's capital think that they can wave their legisla tive wands and unleash beauty -- free of costs and complications. Of course, reality rarely cooperates. Consider Washington's ban on the incandescent light bulb. If left unchallenged, Jan. 1 will herald stricter standards that Congress designed in 2007 to electrocute Thomas Edison's invention and dragoon Americans into using more energy-efficient alternatives. Americans are enduring a parade of unforeseen consequences as "the experts" try to extinguish this landmark contribution to humanity. Compact Fluorescent Lamps, which Washington hopes will replace incandescent ones, brighten slowly, function poorly with dimmer knobs and emit a color of light that many find unappealing. Even worse, according to EnergyStar.gov, each CFL contains 4 milligrams of toxic mercury. An average CFL includes enough mercury to pollute 528 gallons of water.
Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone... said in a statement late Thursday that Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties should form the new state of South California. ... would allow officials to focus on securing borders, balancing budgets, improving schools and creating a vibrant economy....
The Far Left wrongly suggests that constitutional conservatism is retrospective. Instead it recognizes that in less than two centuries constitutional conservatism made the United States the most powerful, prosperous, successful, and free nation in world history. This was no accident. Constitutional conservatism is what allows us to achieve such heights, and will reinvigorate America and brighten our future to the extent that we return to those principles. Constitutional conservatism is a unified governmental philosophy. Despite attempts to fracture conservatism into economic, social, and national security factions, constitutional conservatism shows how each of these three builds on the other two in the context of limited government. Flourishing businesses and safe homes are vital to strong families. A vibrant economy and virtuous citizens are essential to fuel national security. And stable families and secure communities are necessary for long-term economic prosperity.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Starting Friday, Tennessee drivers caught with obscene or patently offensive bumper stickers, window signs or other markings on their vehicle visible to other drivers face an automatic $50 fine.
To recap, the Houston National Cemetery Director, Arleen Ocasio, requires grieving families to not use the words "God" or "Jesus" at any personal funeral ceremony without her written approval. ... Ms. Ocasio is not being inclusive of other religions, she is against freedom of religion and against freedom of speech. Her tyranny in treating our veterans and their families as "customers" must no longer be tolerated. ... Houston wants a new Director. Immediately. We demand it. Political correctness is out of hand in our country. Today is Independence Day and here in Houston, Texas, just as what began 235 years ago, we stand with our veterans, their families and friends in declaring our freedom from tyranny again.
Houston National Cemetery.... Cemetery officials ordered volunteers to stop telling families 'God bless you' at funeral and said that the words 'God bless' had to be removed from condolence cards, according to court documents filed this week in federal court.
I am an atheist and appreciate that the Constitution protects my right to be so... First Amendment... Which, I take to mean that the government cannot force you to practice a religion of its choosing nor interfere with your practice of a religion of your choice, or choosing to not practice one at all. So if I'm correct about that…then where, exactly, does the Department of Veterans Affairs get off telling anybody they can't say "God bless you" to the family of a fallen soldier?
When Illinois Senator Dick Durbin looks at a crowd of Tea Partying American citizens, he sees extremists and a bunch of fringe wackos who don't speak for America. When he looks at a roomful of illegal aliens he sees the future of America, and maybe even the next US president.... He must also see a constitutional amendment to allow that to happen — but why should Durbin let a little piece of antiquated paper mess up his DREAM?
Talks imploded Thursday between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders in the final hours before a midnight deadline, and Minnesota began a historic government shutdown.
Old and busted: Rigging elections New hotness: Rigging elections by preventing other people from rigging elections This seems to be the central theme of E.J. Dionne's latest polemic against election reform laws currently being enacted around the country. Of course these efforts at "voter suppression" are cleverly disguised and, to be sure, they aren't taking place everywhere. Just where conservatives are in power.
Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a bill Friday that could have eventually required voters to provide a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. In the closing days of the legislative session, lawmakers passed an amendment to the state's constitution mandating a photo ID to vote and a bill putting the amendment into practice. Voters will have the final say next year on the amendment, but by vetoing the implementation bill Nixon has prevented the law from going into effect even if it is approved by voters.
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