We all have to go through the tumbler a few times
before we can emerge as a crystal.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional: THUMBS DOWN!
A NY federal court of appeals, in a split decision, has ruled the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Let's set the stage: in 1996 traditional marriage was the standard in all 50 states. Marriage has been traditionally regulated at the state level. Marriage at the federal level was de facto traditional, There was concern that special interest groups would open Pandora's box by getting nontraditional marriage a foothold in a state and then, slippery slope, use judicial activists to impose nontraditional marriage on the federal government and other states (through reciprocity arrangements): say, for instance, a Massachusetts gay "married" couple moves to traditional marriage Texas. The gay couple sues to get their marriage recognized in Texas after moving there. Texas gay couples then sue on equal protection grounds. In essence, judicial activists took a step in this direction here on the federal level.
In this case, a NY-based lesbian married a Canadian lesbian in Canada several years before NY legalized gay "marriage". The Canadian woman recently died, and the surviving partner got hit with a hefty estate tax on her inheritance from the federal government, which would have presumably been mitigated with federal recognition of the marriage.
I am sympathetic to the issue of onerous estate taxes in general, but the judges' decision arguing DOMA was discriminatory is laughably absurd. The traditional marriage is a socially evolved construct; It's a qualification, not a ban on alternative relationships like gay or incestuous couples or polygamy. The federal government has far more egregious majoritarian abuses like the Patriot Act or progressive income tax system or criteria for any government program (e.g., Medicare and Food Stamps).
I would much rather have seen the court invalidate the estate tax than set the stage for unintended consequences by messing with traditional marriage. I also point out that the morally bankrupt Obama Administration refused to defend DOMA; the Justice Department has higher priorities than defending DOMA or enforcing immigration laws it doesn't agree with--like going after filmmakers that offend foreign Muslims,
A Sore Point From the Debate
and the Misleading Obama: Energy
One of the favorite tricks sophists like Obama use is knowingly irrelevant, impressive-sounding statistics. For example, derivatives/swaps are a favorite scapegoat of leftists for the 2008 economic tsunami; they often use the face amount of the swaps, dwarfing world GDP. Here is a brief response synopsis from an unsympathetic (pro-regulation) source::
Volume estimates are affected by double and triple counting and other statistical problems. There are also significant disagreements about the significance of the size numbers.
Derivative professionals argue that derivative notional amounts (the face value of the contract) are a stock measure (like assets and liabilities). GDP is a flow measure (i.e. income). So strictly speaking they are not directly comparable.
Derivative professionals also argue that the outstanding value is irrelevant as it is only the notional face value of contracts. They focus on the current value (around US$25 trillion) that can be further reduced after netting between dealers to around US$4-5 trillion. If the US$4 trillion in collateral (cash and government securities) held to secure the current value is considered, then they argue that the exposure is a negligible amount.Obama, who is knowingly anti-fossil fuels and environmentalists are a significant constituency in his coalition, has to walk a thin line because well-paying blue collar, often union-organized jobs in developing national natural resources are at risk, adversely affecting another coalition group, unions, not to mention lower-income supporters, struggling to manage utility bills and gasoline payments.
Obama basically tries to appease the environmentalists by hobbling efforts to develop oil shale properties (e.g., fear-mongering over aquifer contamination) and refusing to lease up to 95% of promising acreage offshore, especially off the coasts of blue states (Northeast and the Pacific coast); he also falsely tries to demonize "subsidies" but really, as I've discussed, percentage vs, cost depletion: in the long run, percentage (where it is permitted) can exclude more income (and these accounting concepts apply to development of other natural resources, like mining as well). But many of the affected drillers are smaller, wildcatter companies, not the giant oil companies, which Obama knowingly implies. Obama also tries to argue that excluded areas cannot immediately affect prices (not true because large finds might lead producers to exploit today's higher prices vs. face lower prices in the future), and finally he tries to argue that oil companies are too lazy and incompetent: they already enough acreage to play with. For one thing, this is an artifact of how leases are bundled, not all acreage has oil and dry holes cost money (in addition to the lease).
I have mentioned before the Green River Basin (notice the cited project is BO (Before Obama)):
The largest Oil Shale deposit though, is located right here in the United States of America. The Green River Basin Formation is estimated to hold 1.30 - 2.0 Trillion Barrels of Oil from Oil Shale deposits. Not all of this oil can be recovered. Estimates for recoverable Oil in the Green River Basin is around 750 Billion Barrels of Oil from Oil Shale. Did you know that this is three times more then the total oil reserves of Saudi Arabia?
Eighty Percent of the locations that contain oil shale in the Green River Basin are federally owned. Back in 1930 the government tagged this land as federal territory knowing what was under the ground. They basically put this oil shale rich land away for a rainy day. Shell oil company is actually working on an experiment called the freeze wall which creates a barrier around the drilling area under ground so nothing would be contaminated. This freeze project started in early 2007 and will end around 2010-2012. A system will also pump out the water from the drilling area of the Shell Oil Freeze Wall. The freeze wall zone is about the size of a football field and is located in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. However, Shell is not allowed to develop the property, it is only for testing purposes..Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Four Tops, "Standing in the Shadows of Love". Another pop/soul classic.
