At the establishment of our constitutions,
the judiciary bodies were supposed to be
the most helpless and harmless members of the government.
Experience, however, soon showed in what way
they were to become the most dangerous;
that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them
a freehold and irresponsibility in office;
that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only,
pass silent and unheeded by the public at large;
that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent,
sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and
working its change by construction,
before any one has perceived that
that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance.
In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life,
if secured against all liability to account.
Thomas Jefferson
Earlier One-Off Post: Kessler's Disingenuous Critique of Giuliani on Whether Obama Loves America
I was working on a different one-off complementary post when I decided Washpo's Kessler's obnoxious, widely-cited fact check deserved a special response. I initially dismissed the original kerfuffle as much ado about nothing, but I think when it got to the point that people started piling on and distorted what Giuliani was saying, even calling him a "racist", I decided to look more closely at things. In brief, I would not have phrased the point as Giuliani did, but the reality is that Barry Obama has somewhat of a passive-aggressive communication style--and I've noticed this throughout the history of the blog. He does it in speeches, debates, etc. He repeatedly will anticipate his opponent's talking point and dismiss his caricature (he'll then say that he "addressed" the issue, and his minions will cite his preemptive reference as if it was substantive in nature). Obama is the kind of politician who will say 'America is great' and then he'll follow it with qualifiers like 'we've got environmental problems' and 'a lot of Americans live in poverty'; the end result is that when you look at the full context he's really not saying 'America is great' but his minions will quickly point to where he said 'America is great' if you dare challenge him. Kessler is one of those minions. He somehow missed the entire point Giuliani was making when Giuliani said he wasn't questioning Obama's patriotism and he is trying to debunk a straw man--Giuliani never claimed that Obama didn't say some positive things about America; Obama has some internal compulsion to provide what he considers a "balanced" perspective. Of course, if and when a man loves a woman, the woman is not perfect, has flaws and limitation, and may not share the same perspective. But most of us are inspired by absolute, unconditional love and acceptance, not by a laundry list of petty annoyances, past mistakes or missing qualities. What has Obama done to inspire young people to start their own businesses when when message is "you didn't build that", when monetary policy discourages saving, when he increases investment taxes, when he creates a mind-numbing, costly tsunami of government mandates and regulations? Consider the following:
The [liberal] Brookings Institution found that for the first time on record U.S. businesses are being destroyed faster than they're being created. In fact, the American economy is less entrepreneurial now than at any point in the last three decades.Finally, this note from Libertarian Republican:
It's certainly not uncommon for businesses to fail, but normally startups replace them. That's no longer the case. Businesses are now dying at a faster clip, despite the end of the recession. The rate of business births has plunged since Obama took the reins of the economy in 2009.
The study doesn't answer why — "the reasons explaining this decline are still unknown" — but the reason is obvious. According to other studies, Obama's massive top-down regulations are making it too costly to start a new business or too uncertain to risk capital.
YouGov's latest research shows that Americans do tend to think that Barack Obama does, in fact, love America. 47% say that the president loves America, while 35% agree with Rudy Giuliani that the president does not. 58% of Americans, including 54% of Democrats, say that Rudy Giuliani loves America. Only 10% say that he does not.Tweet of the Day
I propose a law that would require a permit to introduce new tax legislation, tax legislators for voting for it. http://t.co/KeTp3iGESW
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) February 26, 2015
Image of the Day
Underpaid Government Worker Fact of the Day
17,000 Federal Employees Earned More Than $200K Last YearPension Tsunami Fact of the Day
Via the AP:
Convicted of extortion and illegal gambling, Savannah's former police chief will continue to collect a pension worth nearly $130,000 a year while he serves 7 ½ years in federal prison. City Attorney Brooks Stillwell told council members Thursday a state law that forces convicted public employees to surrender a chunk of their pensions can't be applied to the ex-chief. Lovett was hired before the law took effect.Tim McGraw's Oscar Performance of Glen Campbell's 'I'm Not Gonna Miss You"
I promised to post this if and when I saw a "legal" copy available on Youtube. I assume this is, because it already has a quarter million views and the sound quality is outstanding compared to earlier copies I found. The two blondes at 2:27 are Glen's wife Kim and daughter Ashley. Ashley is a talented musician in her own right, and I enjoy the father/daughter dueling banjo segment in the following video from his 2012 farewell tour in Missouri.
Towards Legalizing Half-Gallon Beer Growlers in Florida
Choose Life
Remember When You Used to Earn Interest For Bank Deposits?
Via an investment email:
"The world has changed," Jerome Schneider, managing director at PIMCO, told the Wall Street Journal. "Investors who want their cash to be safe no longer have a free ride."Facebook Corner
(IPI). Under a new proposed law, any business that wants to sell sugary drinks would have to apply for a permit and pay a fee of $250.
I propose a law that would require a permit to introduce new tax legislation, tax legislators for voting for it.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Steve Kelley via Townhall |
James Taylor, "Everyday"
