Volokh:
In Boumediene, the Court challenges congressional power as well as the executive. It strikes down as unconstitutional several provisions of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the MCA. This is a nearly unprecedented situation where the Court rejected an important assertion of wartime power backed by both of the other branches of government. To my knowledge, virtually every previous case in which the Court ruled an important wartime policy unconstitutional was one where the policy in question was adopted by the executive acting alone.
In fact, the summary of the decision presents language which is almost combative in its slap at Congress' enactment of MCA. It was as though the Court had extended its middle finger, albeit in rather elegant language. A silk-gloved middle finger, so to speak.
The difficult question is whether habeas corpus applies to enemy combatants seized in operations abroad (I don't doubt that the Bush Administration was wrong to assert that it doesn't apply to US citizens accused of terrorist acts and captured in the US).
In another venue I had had some lengthy discussions with a friend who is an attorney. He adamantly defended the expansive 14th interpretation which allowed for "anchor babies." This decision also cites the 14th--I suspect in the same general vein.
But it is impossible to understand, except through the lens of mental disease or defect, how the Court arrives at the conclusion that habeas applies to enemy combatants who are NOT held in the US or its territories (or, for that matter, to unlawful combatants--that is, people who attack US troops, or the US, without a formal State sponsor; people who are NOT part of an organized army.) Kennedy admits as much:
...the lack of a precedent on point is no barrier to our holding
Uh-huh.
Roberts, in dissent:
One cannot help but think, after surveying the modest practical results of the majority’s ambitious opinion, that this decision is not really about the detainees at all, but about control of
federal policy regarding enemy combatants
...which, in the Court's exalted opinion, belongs to the Courts:
The Court does eventually get around to asking whether review under the DTA is, as the Court frames it, an “adequate substitute” for habeas, ante, at 42, but even then its opinion fails to determine what rights the detainees possess and whether the DTA system satisfies them. The
majority instead compares the undefined DTA process to an equally undefined habeas right—one that is to be given shape only in the future by district courts on a case-by-case basis.
The recipe used by Screechin'Shirley to determine rights to self-defense, by the way...
Scalia, to my point on 'who GETS Constitutional rights':
Today, for the first time in our Nation’s history, the Court confers a constitutional right to habeas corpus on alien enemies detained abroad by our military forces in the course of an ongoing war.
...
My problem with today’s opinion is more fundamental still: The writ of habeas corpus does not, and never has, run in favor of aliens abroad; the Suspension Clause thus has no application, and the Court’s intervention in this military matter is entirely ultra vires
And Scalia cites--guess who? SCOTUS, no less:
“We are cited to [sic] no instance where a court, in this or any other country where the writ is known, has issued it on behalf of an alien enemy who, at no relevant time and in no stage of his captivity, has been within its territorial jurisdiction. Nothing in the text of the Constitution extends such a right, nor does anything in our statutes.”
...
Eisentrager thus held—held beyond any doubt—that the Constitution does not ensure habeas for aliens held by the United States in areas over which our Government is not sovereign
Ah, well.
Were Bush equipped with the necessary cojones, he would quote Andy Jackson: "So the Court rules. Let the Court enforce it."
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Gitmo Habeas: The Citizenship Question
The question is: how a non-citizen enjoys Constitutional rights.
The answer:
Because the Constitution’s separation-of-powers structure, like the substantive guarantees
of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, see Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 374 (1886), protects persons as well as citizens, foreign nationals who have the privilege of litigating in our courts can seek to enforce separation-of-powers principles, see, e.g., INS v. Chadha, 462
U. S. 919, 958–959 (1983).
This is (mutatis mutandis) the same rationale as the "anchor baby" answer. Somehow, the 14th Amendment now includes everyone on the face of the Earth.
Well, fine. If that's the case, then the 16th Amendment applies as well, right?
Tax the bastards. That's worse than jail-time, anyway.
The answer:
Because the Constitution’s separation-of-powers structure, like the substantive guarantees
of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, see Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 374 (1886), protects persons as well as citizens, foreign nationals who have the privilege of litigating in our courts can seek to enforce separation-of-powers principles, see, e.g., INS v. Chadha, 462
U. S. 919, 958–959 (1983).
This is (mutatis mutandis) the same rationale as the "anchor baby" answer. Somehow, the 14th Amendment now includes everyone on the face of the Earth.
Well, fine. If that's the case, then the 16th Amendment applies as well, right?
Tax the bastards. That's worse than jail-time, anyway.
GWB's Current Fatuous Move
Poor GWB. Now he's gone and honored a Certified Opponent of Free Speech.
According to a White House press release (Update II, below), President Bush has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a woman who did her best to stamp out freedom of speech while chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Donna Shalala
...Shalala was architect of the infamous speech code at Wisconsin which, before it was declared unconstitutional in 1991, was among the most draconian in the nation. She also crafted the "Madison Plan" at UW, through which she mandated quotas for hiring minority professors, doubling the number of minority undergraduates, passed an ethnic studies requirement, and opened a multicultural center
The article then quotes Evans & Novak:
Shalala herself is the epitome of today's wholly politicized educator. In the 1988 presidential campaign, she signed a full-page New York Times advertisement assailing Ronald Reagan's record and affirming 'America's liberal tradition.' In 1991 she opposed the university regents' efforts to consider reinvestment in South Africa in view of racial progress there. In 1991 she personally lobbied the Pentagon to end the military ban on homosexuals, and joined a lawsuit for that purpose. In 1992 she commended gay and lesbian students for requesting their own university housing, while ruling it out as unconstitutional. In 1992 she helped found a new national abortion rights committee after the last Supreme Court decision
Shalala didn't change her spots at U of Miami, either.
At the University of Miami, where Shalala took the helm on June 1, 2001, her administration worked to clamp down on dissent--defined as conservative student groups. In April, 2003, FIRE wrote (PDF) to Shalala objecting to her administration's refusal to recognize a newly formed conservative group, the Advocates for Conservative Thought (ACT). The U's Committee on Student Organizations told the four students who sought to launch ACT that, given that Miami already hosted the College Republicans, a conservative group, and the Council for Democracy, which was politically oriented, that no other conservative or political groups were needed.
In the end, the group was approved, but only after repeated barrages by FIRE and the press. Shalala blamed underlings for not apprising her of the situation.
THIS is the sort of stuff about which McCallum should have complained.
According to a White House press release (Update II, below), President Bush has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a woman who did her best to stamp out freedom of speech while chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Donna Shalala
...Shalala was architect of the infamous speech code at Wisconsin which, before it was declared unconstitutional in 1991, was among the most draconian in the nation. She also crafted the "Madison Plan" at UW, through which she mandated quotas for hiring minority professors, doubling the number of minority undergraduates, passed an ethnic studies requirement, and opened a multicultural center
The article then quotes Evans & Novak:
Shalala herself is the epitome of today's wholly politicized educator. In the 1988 presidential campaign, she signed a full-page New York Times advertisement assailing Ronald Reagan's record and affirming 'America's liberal tradition.' In 1991 she opposed the university regents' efforts to consider reinvestment in South Africa in view of racial progress there. In 1991 she personally lobbied the Pentagon to end the military ban on homosexuals, and joined a lawsuit for that purpose. In 1992 she commended gay and lesbian students for requesting their own university housing, while ruling it out as unconstitutional. In 1992 she helped found a new national abortion rights committee after the last Supreme Court decision
Shalala didn't change her spots at U of Miami, either.
At the University of Miami, where Shalala took the helm on June 1, 2001, her administration worked to clamp down on dissent--defined as conservative student groups. In April, 2003, FIRE wrote (PDF) to Shalala objecting to her administration's refusal to recognize a newly formed conservative group, the Advocates for Conservative Thought (ACT). The U's Committee on Student Organizations told the four students who sought to launch ACT that, given that Miami already hosted the College Republicans, a conservative group, and the Council for Democracy, which was politically oriented, that no other conservative or political groups were needed.
In the end, the group was approved, but only after repeated barrages by FIRE and the press. Shalala blamed underlings for not apprising her of the situation.
THIS is the sort of stuff about which McCallum should have complained.
Up for Some Fun?
In Pennsylvania, it is not illegal to carry a weapon openly. (Same here in Wisconsin, by the way.)
So a few folks in Pennsylvania took their families out to dinner at the Old Country Buffet. They were all carrying, openly.
And they all got arrested. The usual stuff: Disorderly Conduct, yada yada yada.
Now, they are all suing the authorities...
Sounds like fun.
So a few folks in Pennsylvania took their families out to dinner at the Old Country Buffet. They were all carrying, openly.
And they all got arrested. The usual stuff: Disorderly Conduct, yada yada yada.
Now, they are all suing the authorities...
Sounds like fun.
Land Price Down 30%
A few years ago, a new (and somewhat small) residential development became available in the Pewaukee area, a bit north of us.
The lots were not large, but the main drawback (to our mind) was that the development was extremely close to an active railroad right-of-way.
Lots were advertised for $90K+.
Went past the place the other night and noticed that the lots were now priced at $60K+.
S'pose something changed in the last three years?
The lots were not large, but the main drawback (to our mind) was that the development was extremely close to an active railroad right-of-way.
Lots were advertised for $90K+.
Went past the place the other night and noticed that the lots were now priced at $60K+.
S'pose something changed in the last three years?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Another Reason for Firing USAF Commander?
The heat is on in DC--and maybe SecDef Gates has more than one reason to dump the USAF top commander. Recently, the Air Force decided to award a contract to Airbus.
As you know, U.S.-based Boeing has formally protested the decision with the General Accounting Office and the deadline for the GAO decision is rapidly approaching. As this deadline gets closer, even more information has come out about this alarming decision.
You already know many of the troubling aspects of this decision. But did you know that the Air Force actually admitted to the General Accounting Office that the winner of their aerial refueling tanker contract, a product based on the French Airbus, will actually cost American taxpayers more than the U.S.-based Boeing KC-767?
That's right!
Yesterday, a posting on the "Tanker War Blog" reported that redacted copies of documents, including the Air Force's response to Boeing's protest, have been released. Interestingly enough, in this document, the Air Force admits that the winning French Airbus tanker has a higher Most Probable Life Cycle Cost (it costs more to operate) than the Boeing KC-767.
I'm not a fan of Boeing, which has a reputation for sleaze of its own.
But when the long-run cost numbers demonstrate that Boeing's offering is better than that of Airbus (not to mention the national security implications) then something's rotten in Denmark.
And in DC.
As you know, U.S.-based Boeing has formally protested the decision with the General Accounting Office and the deadline for the GAO decision is rapidly approaching. As this deadline gets closer, even more information has come out about this alarming decision.
You already know many of the troubling aspects of this decision. But did you know that the Air Force actually admitted to the General Accounting Office that the winner of their aerial refueling tanker contract, a product based on the French Airbus, will actually cost American taxpayers more than the U.S.-based Boeing KC-767?
That's right!
Yesterday, a posting on the "Tanker War Blog" reported that redacted copies of documents, including the Air Force's response to Boeing's protest, have been released. Interestingly enough, in this document, the Air Force admits that the winning French Airbus tanker has a higher Most Probable Life Cycle Cost (it costs more to operate) than the Boeing KC-767.
I'm not a fan of Boeing, which has a reputation for sleaze of its own.
But when the long-run cost numbers demonstrate that Boeing's offering is better than that of Airbus (not to mention the national security implications) then something's rotten in Denmark.
And in DC.
China Is Our Friend, Part 74,559
Yup.
Two House members said Wednesday their Capitol Hill computers, containing information about political dissidents from around the world, have been hacked by sources apparently working out of China.
...The two lawmakers are longtime critics of China's record on human rights.
In an interview Wednesday, Wolf said the hacking of computers in his Capitol Hill office began in August 2006. He says a computer at a House committee office also was hacked, and he suggested others in the House and possibly the Senate could be involved.
The FBI declined to comment.
Wolf said that in his office, the hackers "got everything," including all the casework regarding political dissidents around the world.
In comments to The Associated Press earlier in the day, Wolf suggested the problem probably goes further. "If it's been done in the House, don't you think that they're doing the same thing in the Senate?"
Why not the Senate? Well--in Herb Kohl's case, the PRC would obtain a lot of info about.....
Hmmm.
Two House members said Wednesday their Capitol Hill computers, containing information about political dissidents from around the world, have been hacked by sources apparently working out of China.
...The two lawmakers are longtime critics of China's record on human rights.
In an interview Wednesday, Wolf said the hacking of computers in his Capitol Hill office began in August 2006. He says a computer at a House committee office also was hacked, and he suggested others in the House and possibly the Senate could be involved.
The FBI declined to comment.
Wolf said that in his office, the hackers "got everything," including all the casework regarding political dissidents around the world.
In comments to The Associated Press earlier in the day, Wolf suggested the problem probably goes further. "If it's been done in the House, don't you think that they're doing the same thing in the Senate?"
Why not the Senate? Well--in Herb Kohl's case, the PRC would obtain a lot of info about.....
Hmmm.
Coathangers and Cluster B Disorders
We all know that the coathanger is THE symbol of "bad-old-days" abortions. It is iconic--desperate women had to do something---anything---to become un-pregnant.
But the coathanger bespeaks a syndrome which may not be directly abortion-related.
Despite their being no rational medical reason to stick a metal hanger up a birth canal other than to self mutilate, there is minimal evidence (at best) to link the use of coat hangers ever being typically used as devices for “back alley” or do-it-yourself self abortions. There is, however, no shortage of evidence linking those with specific “cluster B” Personality Disorders with genital mutilation , some of which have been associated with the behaviors of sticking sharp objects such as coat hangers, pencils, and other sharp objects up into their genitalia. (Also, see Caenis syndrome).
Those who develop a Borderline Personality Disorder are predominately angry women (with histories of sexual abuse) who are consciously or subconsciously driven to deliver a hurtful revenge onto others. They typically have poor self images and are consequently highly sensitive to rejection and constantly haunted by the fear of being abandoned. As a result, they are willing to take drastic measures to avoid loneliness and solitude, which can often include self mutilation, suicide threats and attempts.
It's a grown-up version of the 2-year-old's temper tantrum (albeit for those who were abused, it is differently-caused.)
As a way to inflict pain unto those who have or may abandon them, self-mutilation somehow releases the rage by witnessing and showing her pain to those whom she feels, has disavowed the value of her own life. Consequently, among the more mentally healthy population, the coat hanger symbol used as an abortion device never quite made sense; while, those who may not be as mentally “healthy” would have no problem accepting this as unadulterated truth.
Well, if Whoopi Goldberg believes it, it MUST be true, right?
HT: CosmosLiturgy
But the coathanger bespeaks a syndrome which may not be directly abortion-related.
Despite their being no rational medical reason to stick a metal hanger up a birth canal other than to self mutilate, there is minimal evidence (at best) to link the use of coat hangers ever being typically used as devices for “back alley” or do-it-yourself self abortions. There is, however, no shortage of evidence linking those with specific “cluster B” Personality Disorders with genital mutilation , some of which have been associated with the behaviors of sticking sharp objects such as coat hangers, pencils, and other sharp objects up into their genitalia. (Also, see Caenis syndrome).
Those who develop a Borderline Personality Disorder are predominately angry women (with histories of sexual abuse) who are consciously or subconsciously driven to deliver a hurtful revenge onto others. They typically have poor self images and are consequently highly sensitive to rejection and constantly haunted by the fear of being abandoned. As a result, they are willing to take drastic measures to avoid loneliness and solitude, which can often include self mutilation, suicide threats and attempts.
It's a grown-up version of the 2-year-old's temper tantrum (albeit for those who were abused, it is differently-caused.)
As a way to inflict pain unto those who have or may abandon them, self-mutilation somehow releases the rage by witnessing and showing her pain to those whom she feels, has disavowed the value of her own life. Consequently, among the more mentally healthy population, the coat hanger symbol used as an abortion device never quite made sense; while, those who may not be as mentally “healthy” would have no problem accepting this as unadulterated truth.
Well, if Whoopi Goldberg believes it, it MUST be true, right?
HT: CosmosLiturgy
Next Time the Utility Goes Down...
We mentioned earlier that one major electrical blackout was likely a result of hacking.
There could be lots more. And they might be water- or sewer- or natural-gas failures.
Attackers could gain control of water treatment plants, natural gas pipelines and other critical utilities because of a vulnerability in the software that runs some of those facilities, security researchers reported Wednesday
...the vulnerability could have counterparts in other so-called supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems.
The attack-method is simple: buffer-overflow.
There could be lots more. And they might be water- or sewer- or natural-gas failures.
Attackers could gain control of water treatment plants, natural gas pipelines and other critical utilities because of a vulnerability in the software that runs some of those facilities, security researchers reported Wednesday
...the vulnerability could have counterparts in other so-called supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems.
The attack-method is simple: buffer-overflow.
Even HIGHER Cost of Ethanol
The Ethanol Oligopoly succeeds in sucking the life out of consumers.
The never-ending downpours and cool temperatures are likely to mean still higher prices for farmers and more pain at the supermarket for consumers
The U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday lowered its projections of this year's corn harvest and forecast that livestock producers will cut back on production because of the higher cost of grain to feed their animals
The department estimated that farmers will produce 11.7 billion bushels of corn this year, 390 million bushels less than the Agriculture Department expected a month ago.
The Agriculture Department lowered its projected national yield by five bushels to 148.9 bushels per acre.
The more pessimistic forecast "reflects slow planting progress, slow crop emergence and persistent, heavy rainfall across the Corn Belt," the department said in its weekly report on global commodity supplies and demand.
Corn prices reached a record high for the fourth day in a row on the Chicago Board of Trade. July corn futures rose 16 cents to more than $6.73 a bushel
If Chuck Grassley remains bought-and-paid-for, you will also pay these poor farmers several hundred million dollars in subsidies.
HT: FoxPolitics
The never-ending downpours and cool temperatures are likely to mean still higher prices for farmers and more pain at the supermarket for consumers
The U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday lowered its projections of this year's corn harvest and forecast that livestock producers will cut back on production because of the higher cost of grain to feed their animals
The department estimated that farmers will produce 11.7 billion bushels of corn this year, 390 million bushels less than the Agriculture Department expected a month ago.
The Agriculture Department lowered its projected national yield by five bushels to 148.9 bushels per acre.
The more pessimistic forecast "reflects slow planting progress, slow crop emergence and persistent, heavy rainfall across the Corn Belt," the department said in its weekly report on global commodity supplies and demand.
Corn prices reached a record high for the fourth day in a row on the Chicago Board of Trade. July corn futures rose 16 cents to more than $6.73 a bushel
If Chuck Grassley remains bought-and-paid-for, you will also pay these poor farmers several hundred million dollars in subsidies.
HT: FoxPolitics
It's About Time for Brookfield to Open North Ave.
A few days ago, the City of Brookfield closed North Avenue between Barker Road and Derrin Lane (meaning Brookfield Road for through-bound traffic.)
Made sense at the time; the road was under about 12" of water at the Fox River bridge; some morons would blow through the water hazard and drown their engines in the process, making a REAL mess out of an inconvenience.
But the Curious Blogger decided to take a look today, and discovered that one can see the road-stripes for the entire distance that the road is underwater.
Meaning that the water-depth is roughly 2"-4" or so--meaning that sensible drivers can go through without concern.
So OPEN THE ROAD, already!
Made sense at the time; the road was under about 12" of water at the Fox River bridge; some morons would blow through the water hazard and drown their engines in the process, making a REAL mess out of an inconvenience.
But the Curious Blogger decided to take a look today, and discovered that one can see the road-stripes for the entire distance that the road is underwater.
Meaning that the water-depth is roughly 2"-4" or so--meaning that sensible drivers can go through without concern.
So OPEN THE ROAD, already!
Jacking Profits by Fixing the Laws
Two widely disparate examples from today's batch of readings.
Mercedes [Clemens] has a thriving massage practice in Rockville that offers both human and animal massage. In addition to being a licensed massage therapist, Mercedes is certified in equine massage — a growing trade that calms horses, improving their temperament and making them easier to handle — and has even taught the practice to others.
In February, two politically connected groups decided to use their power to monopolize the practice of animal massage and shut down Mercedes’ business. The Maryland Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which licenses massage therapists who work on humans, joined forces with the Maryland State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners to threaten Mercedes with thousands of dollars in fines and criminal prosecution unless she spends four years in veterinary school — where massage is not even taught.
Can't say that I have a horse in that fight. But it's exactly what we see below, courtesy of P-Mac:
Congress is stirring against hospitals owned by doctors. St. Elsewhere preserve us, lawmakers beg, from doctors being in charge of doctoring.
This perennial rage about doctor-run specialty hospitals is practically the definition of special-interest legislation. It would use law on behalf of powerful incumbents to crush nimble competitors.
...Just after [Milwaukee Heart Hospital] opened, Congress temporarily banned any expansion, cutting off the hospital’s prospects. Wilson says Milwaukee-area hospital chains barred their physicians from referring any patients. Since hospitals here control most doctors by owning many group practices, this was fatal
There is no longer any question that the "hospital oligarchy/oligopoly" in SE Wisconsin is a leading cause of the highest health-care costs in the Known Universe.
The only remaining questions: 1) how much does it cost us, and 2) how many lives does it cost?
Mercedes [Clemens] has a thriving massage practice in Rockville that offers both human and animal massage. In addition to being a licensed massage therapist, Mercedes is certified in equine massage — a growing trade that calms horses, improving their temperament and making them easier to handle — and has even taught the practice to others.
In February, two politically connected groups decided to use their power to monopolize the practice of animal massage and shut down Mercedes’ business. The Maryland Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which licenses massage therapists who work on humans, joined forces with the Maryland State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners to threaten Mercedes with thousands of dollars in fines and criminal prosecution unless she spends four years in veterinary school — where massage is not even taught.
Can't say that I have a horse in that fight. But it's exactly what we see below, courtesy of P-Mac:
Congress is stirring against hospitals owned by doctors. St. Elsewhere preserve us, lawmakers beg, from doctors being in charge of doctoring.
This perennial rage about doctor-run specialty hospitals is practically the definition of special-interest legislation. It would use law on behalf of powerful incumbents to crush nimble competitors.
...Just after [Milwaukee Heart Hospital] opened, Congress temporarily banned any expansion, cutting off the hospital’s prospects. Wilson says Milwaukee-area hospital chains barred their physicians from referring any patients. Since hospitals here control most doctors by owning many group practices, this was fatal
There is no longer any question that the "hospital oligarchy/oligopoly" in SE Wisconsin is a leading cause of the highest health-care costs in the Known Universe.
The only remaining questions: 1) how much does it cost us, and 2) how many lives does it cost?
How To Reduce Gasoline Prices
The Democrat plan is to the left (of course.)
The Republican plan is not only to the right--it IS right.
Congressman Blunt provided the picture, and 'splains his methodology, which was based on the work of Speaker-Ette (and Queen) Pelosi:
Methodology: Retail gasoline prices are the result of literally hundreds of factors including crude oil supply, global demand, refinery capacity, regulation, taxes, weather, the value of the dollar, etc. Therefore it is impossible to say with certainty what one individual action will do to the overall price. However, based on what we know about the impact of crude oil supply and prices it is possible to develop some potential ranges of impact on gasoline prices for certain policy changes. For example, using the methodology employed by Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats that suspending shipments into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (between 40-77,000 barrels of oil a day) would reduce gas prices by at least 5 cents, bringing ANWR online (at least one million barrels of oil a day) could impact gasoline prices by between 70 cents and $1.60.
Hey--it was HER method.
HT: Powerline
Which College for Your Kids?
Here's a hint:
Hillsdale College students may soon have a place to store and shoot their firearms.
About 72 acres of land, roughly three miles south of campus on Bankers Road will open as a shooting range this fall, Hillsdale College officials said this week. The range will open initially without frills, though building storage areas for firearms is part of the long-term vision for the range.
...The first phase of the shooting range, anticipated to debut in September, will include temporary traps at the range site with 100-target capacity and the resources necessary for some physical education classes on target shooting. Péwé said the college also plans to purchase ammunition, targets, safety equipment and several shotguns to start Hillsdale College's shooting program.
So--an A.B. .22? How about a Masters' in Trap?
Hillsdale College students may soon have a place to store and shoot their firearms.
About 72 acres of land, roughly three miles south of campus on Bankers Road will open as a shooting range this fall, Hillsdale College officials said this week. The range will open initially without frills, though building storage areas for firearms is part of the long-term vision for the range.
...The first phase of the shooting range, anticipated to debut in September, will include temporary traps at the range site with 100-target capacity and the resources necessary for some physical education classes on target shooting. Péwé said the college also plans to purchase ammunition, targets, safety equipment and several shotguns to start Hillsdale College's shooting program.
So--an A.B. .22? How about a Masters' in Trap?
Van Hollen Was Right
As one would suspect, the more that one knows, the worse Ms. Kelly looks.
Agent Jim Sielehr told investigators that Kelly loudly discussed her displeasure with Van Hollen in a crowded Madison restaurant just after the attorney general announced the retirement of Jim Warren, former chief of the Justice Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation. Warren, who led the division for 10 years, was Kelly’s boss and friend.
“Kelly engaged in a loud rant against the attorney general over the Warren matter,” Sielehr told investigators. “People could hear. . . . She was using profanity and showing her disdain for the administration. She called the Van Hollen administration ‘(expletive) idiots,’ that they were a joke and said that everything J.B. had just told us was a complete lie.”
One could overlook a one-time rant; but it was not "one-time."
Records show Kelly became more openly critical of Van Hollen’s top aides after Warren chose to retire instead of accepting a transfer to run a different division — a move Warren considered a demotion.
The records also suggested there was a troubled culture in the Division of Criminal Investigation under Warren, who declined to comment Tuesday.
For example, Robbie Lowery, director of the division’s Gaming Bureau, told investigators: “Kelly did not work well with anybody, in my opinion, but she was in Warren’s ‘lunch crowd,’ and I was not. There were two camps in DCI — the people that Warren would speak to and everyone else."
What you had here was a cancer problem--not unlike what shows up in professional athletic teams now and then.
Best treatment: surgery. That's what Van Hollen did.
Agent Jim Sielehr told investigators that Kelly loudly discussed her displeasure with Van Hollen in a crowded Madison restaurant just after the attorney general announced the retirement of Jim Warren, former chief of the Justice Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation. Warren, who led the division for 10 years, was Kelly’s boss and friend.
“Kelly engaged in a loud rant against the attorney general over the Warren matter,” Sielehr told investigators. “People could hear. . . . She was using profanity and showing her disdain for the administration. She called the Van Hollen administration ‘(expletive) idiots,’ that they were a joke and said that everything J.B. had just told us was a complete lie.”
One could overlook a one-time rant; but it was not "one-time."
Records show Kelly became more openly critical of Van Hollen’s top aides after Warren chose to retire instead of accepting a transfer to run a different division — a move Warren considered a demotion.
The records also suggested there was a troubled culture in the Division of Criminal Investigation under Warren, who declined to comment Tuesday.
For example, Robbie Lowery, director of the division’s Gaming Bureau, told investigators: “Kelly did not work well with anybody, in my opinion, but she was in Warren’s ‘lunch crowd,’ and I was not. There were two camps in DCI — the people that Warren would speak to and everyone else."
What you had here was a cancer problem--not unlike what shows up in professional athletic teams now and then.
Best treatment: surgery. That's what Van Hollen did.
DNR: Oopsie!
The Wisconsin DNR is a very well-funded outfit. It's also known for being high-handed, arrogant, and ......ahhh......aggressive in enforcing its rules.
And it makes mistakes. Big ones.
Last night, Channel 6 reported that the DNR's estimate of Wisconsin's black-bear population was erroneous. DNR reported 13,000 of the critters LAST year, but revised its figure THIS year.
Now the number is 26,000--a 100% increase.
Oh, well.
Obviously, DNR's officers were too busy invading homes and finding suburban deer-feeding stations.
And it makes mistakes. Big ones.
Last night, Channel 6 reported that the DNR's estimate of Wisconsin's black-bear population was erroneous. DNR reported 13,000 of the critters LAST year, but revised its figure THIS year.
Now the number is 26,000--a 100% increase.
Oh, well.
Obviously, DNR's officers were too busy invading homes and finding suburban deer-feeding stations.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Noonan to Go All Obama?
So opines Roeser:
Judging from her columns in the “Wall Street Journal,” get ready for Peggy Noonan to be the next to defect to Barack Obama. The White House, you see, didn’t make her director of communications despite her taking a leave to campaign for Bush in 2004…so the posy, highly artificial scribe who is a gifted wordsmith grew discontented and started kicking about the callousness and political obtuseness of the White House.
At the same time she has been very caustic about Hillary Clinton, almost to the point where her rants against the first woman to make a serious run for the White House seem like gender self-hatred. Her gushiness about Obama seems very like the early “thoughtful” parsing Doug Kmiec did for Obama before he defected.
Not a word from either on the great dichotomy between Obama and pro-life, an issue which both Kmiec and Noonan profess adherence to. The war…the economy…the need to ingratiate ourselves with foreign nations and not be hated…global warming-all seem of equal weight which means that if they are all equal, it’s easy to come down on the side of Obama on sheer numbers of equal issues alone.
Watch for Dear Peggy to follow the exit route and shake her golden tresses in the limelight as an Obama devotee.
Her unhappiness with GWB has been very obvious in the last few weeks; some of her criticisms have been over the top. It's one thing to say that GWB was incapable of assembling and articulating a coherent policy on X or Y (or Iraq.) It's another thing to buy, whole, the McCallum book.
However, she DID fairly criticize Bush for bringing McCallum to the White House. One expects that Bush agrees with her--now.
Judging from her columns in the “Wall Street Journal,” get ready for Peggy Noonan to be the next to defect to Barack Obama. The White House, you see, didn’t make her director of communications despite her taking a leave to campaign for Bush in 2004…so the posy, highly artificial scribe who is a gifted wordsmith grew discontented and started kicking about the callousness and political obtuseness of the White House.
At the same time she has been very caustic about Hillary Clinton, almost to the point where her rants against the first woman to make a serious run for the White House seem like gender self-hatred. Her gushiness about Obama seems very like the early “thoughtful” parsing Doug Kmiec did for Obama before he defected.
Not a word from either on the great dichotomy between Obama and pro-life, an issue which both Kmiec and Noonan profess adherence to. The war…the economy…the need to ingratiate ourselves with foreign nations and not be hated…global warming-all seem of equal weight which means that if they are all equal, it’s easy to come down on the side of Obama on sheer numbers of equal issues alone.
Watch for Dear Peggy to follow the exit route and shake her golden tresses in the limelight as an Obama devotee.
Her unhappiness with GWB has been very obvious in the last few weeks; some of her criticisms have been over the top. It's one thing to say that GWB was incapable of assembling and articulating a coherent policy on X or Y (or Iraq.) It's another thing to buy, whole, the McCallum book.
However, she DID fairly criticize Bush for bringing McCallum to the White House. One expects that Bush agrees with her--now.
McCain's REAL Challenge
His real challenge is NOT winning the election. It's more important.
...other run-ins with conservatives, some Republicans say, have revealed the depth of the challenge facing McCain: mollifying Republican constituencies that have distrusted many of his policy positions, in order to build the machinery needed to push voters to the polls in November.
If McCain tried to gather his volunteers in Ohio, "you could meet in a phone booth," said radio host Bill Cunningham, who attacks the Arizona senator regularly on his talk show. "There's no sense in this part of Ohio that John McCain is a conservative or that his election would have a material benefit to conservatism."
So reports the LATimes, in an article describing a dreadful meeting between an Ohio conservative and McCain's people.
HT: Rich Leonardi
...other run-ins with conservatives, some Republicans say, have revealed the depth of the challenge facing McCain: mollifying Republican constituencies that have distrusted many of his policy positions, in order to build the machinery needed to push voters to the polls in November.
If McCain tried to gather his volunteers in Ohio, "you could meet in a phone booth," said radio host Bill Cunningham, who attacks the Arizona senator regularly on his talk show. "There's no sense in this part of Ohio that John McCain is a conservative or that his election would have a material benefit to conservatism."
So reports the LATimes, in an article describing a dreadful meeting between an Ohio conservative and McCain's people.
HT: Rich Leonardi
Doyle Ditched From Obama Site
In news not reported by the MSM, we learn that the "Faux-Catholics Advising Obamamamama" have been dropped from the Obama website. Quoting Bill Donahue, K-Lo breaks the story:
“On May 2, I issued a news release calling on Sen. Obama to dissolve his Catholic National Advisory Council. My principal reason for doing so was his selection of dissident Catholics to advise him: for example, most of the public officials are so pro-abortion that they had a 100 percent NARAL record. On May 8, most members of the Advisory Council faxed me a letter defending themselves; I answered the same day taking them to task for their lame defense. But it now appears that my initial recommendation—to dissolve the group—may have been accepted.
“There is no mention anywhere on the Obama website of the Catholic National Advisory Council. On Friday, we placed three phone calls to his campaign: two to media relations and one to Mark Linton, Obama’s National Catholic Outreach Coordinator. We were told each time that someone would get back to us, but no one did. I then personally e-mailed Linton informing him of the three phone calls, requesting that he respond to my question: ‘I would like to know whether the Catholic National Advisory Council for Sen. Obama is still operative.’ He has not replied.
“It would appear, then, that the group no longer exists. It is not hard to understand why. After being criticized by the Catholic League, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City rebuked one of Obama’s Catholic advisors, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius: she was instructed not to present herself for Holy Communion (she is a rabid defender of abortion). At about the same time, radical Chicago priest Rev. Michael Pfleger bailed on Obama by withdrawing his name from the Advisory Council. Now we find that there is no listing for the group on the Obama website.
“Looks like the Obama campaign’s decision to quietly drop its Advisory Council didn’t work. We found out, and we’ve never been accused of being quiet.”
As noted in this blog (and others,) DarthDoyle, our abortion-loving Governor, was a member.
“On May 2, I issued a news release calling on Sen. Obama to dissolve his Catholic National Advisory Council. My principal reason for doing so was his selection of dissident Catholics to advise him: for example, most of the public officials are so pro-abortion that they had a 100 percent NARAL record. On May 8, most members of the Advisory Council faxed me a letter defending themselves; I answered the same day taking them to task for their lame defense. But it now appears that my initial recommendation—to dissolve the group—may have been accepted.
“There is no mention anywhere on the Obama website of the Catholic National Advisory Council. On Friday, we placed three phone calls to his campaign: two to media relations and one to Mark Linton, Obama’s National Catholic Outreach Coordinator. We were told each time that someone would get back to us, but no one did. I then personally e-mailed Linton informing him of the three phone calls, requesting that he respond to my question: ‘I would like to know whether the Catholic National Advisory Council for Sen. Obama is still operative.’ He has not replied.
“It would appear, then, that the group no longer exists. It is not hard to understand why. After being criticized by the Catholic League, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City rebuked one of Obama’s Catholic advisors, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius: she was instructed not to present herself for Holy Communion (she is a rabid defender of abortion). At about the same time, radical Chicago priest Rev. Michael Pfleger bailed on Obama by withdrawing his name from the Advisory Council. Now we find that there is no listing for the group on the Obama website.
“Looks like the Obama campaign’s decision to quietly drop its Advisory Council didn’t work. We found out, and we’ve never been accused of being quiet.”
As noted in this blog (and others,) DarthDoyle, our abortion-loving Governor, was a member.
Smarmy, Yes. We Pay For It!
The Waukesha County Tech College announcement:
On Thursday, June 26, discover what we can all do to reach across divides of privilege, power, and difference to ensure an inclusive campus climate. Author of the Gender Knot and Privilege, Power and Difference, Dr. Allan Johnson presents a guilt-free way of thinking about systems of privilege and oppression.
Frankly, I always liked privilege and power. Now I can be guilt-free, too!!
On Thursday, June 26, discover what we can all do to reach across divides of privilege, power, and difference to ensure an inclusive campus climate. Author of the Gender Knot and Privilege, Power and Difference, Dr. Allan Johnson presents a guilt-free way of thinking about systems of privilege and oppression.
Frankly, I always liked privilege and power. Now I can be guilt-free, too!!
Monday, June 09, 2008
No Wonder The French Just Give Up
Ahh....in France, such things as defense...there is no need, m'sieur
Most of France's tanks, helicopters and jet fighters are unusable and its defence apparatus is on the verge of "falling apart", it has emerged.
According to confidential defence documents leaked to the French press, less than half of France's Leclerc tanks – 142 out of 346 – are operational and even these regularly break down.
Less than half of its Puma helicopters, 37 per cent of its Lynx choppers and 33 per cent of its Super Frelon models – built 40 years ago – are in a fit state to fly, according to documents seen by Le Parisien newspaper.
Two thirds of France's Mirage F1 reconnaissance jets are unusable at present
Looks like their military strategy is a continuation of the Maginot Line, mutatis mutandis.
Most of France's tanks, helicopters and jet fighters are unusable and its defence apparatus is on the verge of "falling apart", it has emerged.
According to confidential defence documents leaked to the French press, less than half of France's Leclerc tanks – 142 out of 346 – are operational and even these regularly break down.
Less than half of its Puma helicopters, 37 per cent of its Lynx choppers and 33 per cent of its Super Frelon models – built 40 years ago – are in a fit state to fly, according to documents seen by Le Parisien newspaper.
Two thirds of France's Mirage F1 reconnaissance jets are unusable at present
Looks like their military strategy is a continuation of the Maginot Line, mutatis mutandis.
Neumayr Agrees
A few days ago, I mentioned that gay 'marriage' may become the law of the land--but that those who rejoice at that thought have no cause to rejoice, because what the State gives the State may also take away.
George Neumayr makes a more general point:
Speaking to the US bishops on April 16, Pope Benedict XVI made the arresting comment that an “almost complete eclipse of an eschatological sense” marks “many of our traditionally Christian societies.”
...The profound and the pastoral are intrinsically linked, and the Pope’s call for a renewal of an “intellectual culture” that rests on a sound and comprehensive account of nature, man, and God, an account in which revelation reinforces and purifies reason while building upon it, is central to “charity.” As the grim chapters of history illustrate, false philosophy and theology have real, not abstract, consequences; errors about man’s ultimate destiny, while they may at first seem like harmless differences of “opinion,” show up immediately and destructively in politics and culture.
Deliberating on the good of man without consulting the God who determined it—in other words, the mode of public life that has held sway for decades—produces not human utopias but civilizational chaos, spiritual torpor and poisonous conceits: a concept of “freedom” that enslaves, “rights” that devour each other, and a rhetoric of “human dignity” that degrades.
Worth thinking about, folks. That 'natural law' stuff is not disposable. You will also note that the Pope did not call for 'all men to become Catholic,' but rather that there is a grave deficiency in thinking about eschatology.
Which, my friends, results in attempting to create Heaven on Earth.
That ain't going to happen.
George Neumayr makes a more general point:
Speaking to the US bishops on April 16, Pope Benedict XVI made the arresting comment that an “almost complete eclipse of an eschatological sense” marks “many of our traditionally Christian societies.”
...The profound and the pastoral are intrinsically linked, and the Pope’s call for a renewal of an “intellectual culture” that rests on a sound and comprehensive account of nature, man, and God, an account in which revelation reinforces and purifies reason while building upon it, is central to “charity.” As the grim chapters of history illustrate, false philosophy and theology have real, not abstract, consequences; errors about man’s ultimate destiny, while they may at first seem like harmless differences of “opinion,” show up immediately and destructively in politics and culture.
Deliberating on the good of man without consulting the God who determined it—in other words, the mode of public life that has held sway for decades—produces not human utopias but civilizational chaos, spiritual torpor and poisonous conceits: a concept of “freedom” that enslaves, “rights” that devour each other, and a rhetoric of “human dignity” that degrades.
Worth thinking about, folks. That 'natural law' stuff is not disposable. You will also note that the Pope did not call for 'all men to become Catholic,' but rather that there is a grave deficiency in thinking about eschatology.
Which, my friends, results in attempting to create Heaven on Earth.
That ain't going to happen.
Gun Control By Other Means
Evidently the locals expect that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will soon overturn local concealed-carry restrictions, as the drumbeat of 'news' stories (and fables) is beginning.
Today the Milwaukee MSM presents a 'story' which is simply silly.
Gun suicide [which is much different from homicide] and homicide rates were about 25% lower when background checks on gun buyers were performed by local authorities as opposed to federal or state agencies, according to a study by the Medical College of Wisconsin
And it carries on in that fashion until someone points out the obvious:
However, the study looked only at who was doing the background checks, not other local or state laws that might affect how easy it is to buy a gun, said Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.
It might be that when background checks are done locally, the community also has more restrictive laws and that the laws, not the background checks, are reducing the gun death rates, he said.
Uh-huh. Look at the map above (or the JS link.) Note that New York, New Jersey, and Washington State (among others) are "local-check" models. It is well-known that while CCW is legal in New York, obtaining a permit in NYCity is virtually impossible. Same can be said about some larger cities in New Jersey, as well as Seattle. And no, I am not mixing up the CCW vs. background-check issues.
What local authorities (especially in Milwaukee) would prefer to see is State legislation which permits gun purchases, but only if the local police chief authorizes them. Obviously, that will impact purchases for purpose of carrying concealed.
It's merely a different way to prevent CCW--as well as any other gun purchase.
In other words, they'd like the New York model: "Yes, we have CCW permits. But you'll be 165 years old before you obtain one."
By the way, suicides are irrelevant. Gun-suicide is merely easier than knife-suicide, car-suicide, or suicide-by-cop. Suicides will continue regardless of the method.
DC's "Papers, Please" Checkpoint: Unconstitutional
We mentioned the "Papers, please!" checkpoint a while back.
Volokh is on this, and concludes that it is un-constitutional.
However, a "drunk-driver" checkpoint IS constitutional. That was an idea that Paul Bucher advanced during his campaign for AG--and was the specific reason that I was distinctly un-enthused about him.
IOW, the Supremes were wrong in their conclusion.
Volokh is on this, and concludes that it is un-constitutional.
However, a "drunk-driver" checkpoint IS constitutional. That was an idea that Paul Bucher advanced during his campaign for AG--and was the specific reason that I was distinctly un-enthused about him.
IOW, the Supremes were wrong in their conclusion.
Chipmunk Dilemma
So on Sunday morning, there sat the neighborhood chipmunk, munching happily on dropped birdseed.
Until the deluge came along.
When it hit, the water flowed down the hill and effectively surrounded the chipmunk. He could get high enough to avoid the rushing groundwater, but then he was sitting in a forceful shower coming from the overflowing rain-gutter.
He couldn't leave, and he did NOT like the involuntary dousing.
Problems everywhere, for everyone.
Until the deluge came along.
When it hit, the water flowed down the hill and effectively surrounded the chipmunk. He could get high enough to avoid the rushing groundwater, but then he was sitting in a forceful shower coming from the overflowing rain-gutter.
He couldn't leave, and he did NOT like the involuntary dousing.
Problems everywhere, for everyone.
Open Carry in Wisconsin?
Apparently the 'open-carry' idea is gaining traction nationally.
For years, Kevin Jensen carried a pistol everywhere he went, tucked in a shoulder holster beneath his clothes.
In hot weather the holster was almost unbearable. Pressed against his skin, the firearm was heavy and uncomfortable. Hiding the weapon made Jensen feel like a criminal.
Then one evening he stumbled across a site that urged gun owners to do something revolutionary: Carry your gun openly for the world to see as you go about your business.
In most states there's no law against that.
As a matter of fact, there's no law against it in Wisconsin, either. And there IS a Constitutional Amendment (the 25th) which would seem to bless open carry.
But there IS a caveat--it is the practice of the Milwaukee police department to arrest folks who 'open-carry,' and the DA has charged such folks with Disorderly Conduct under an interpretation of the ordinance which is (to say the least) rather expansive.
See Patrick's blog for further discussion.
For years, Kevin Jensen carried a pistol everywhere he went, tucked in a shoulder holster beneath his clothes.
In hot weather the holster was almost unbearable. Pressed against his skin, the firearm was heavy and uncomfortable. Hiding the weapon made Jensen feel like a criminal.
Then one evening he stumbled across a site that urged gun owners to do something revolutionary: Carry your gun openly for the world to see as you go about your business.
In most states there's no law against that.
As a matter of fact, there's no law against it in Wisconsin, either. And there IS a Constitutional Amendment (the 25th) which would seem to bless open carry.
But there IS a caveat--it is the practice of the Milwaukee police department to arrest folks who 'open-carry,' and the DA has charged such folks with Disorderly Conduct under an interpretation of the ordinance which is (to say the least) rather expansive.
See Patrick's blog for further discussion.
City of Milwaukee Dumps into Lake. Again
You have to break the code to know whose poop is in Lake Michigan.
The tunnel system has a capacity to hold 494 million gallons of sewage and stormwater, and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Executive Director Kevin Shafer said it was "basically empty" at the time the storms hit.
Sounds good, eh? About 500 million gallons could have been stored.
He said district policy during storms is to keep 250 million gallons of that storage capacity set aside to deal with sanitary overflows.
That means combined sewer overflows can be authorized before the system fills to prevent overflows from the sanitary sewer lines that serve most of the district.
"Combined sewer" is Milwaukee poop-and-rain.
Recall that ONLY Milwaukee (and Shorewood) have "combined" sewers, and actually only a portion of Milwaukee has them. The reason MMSD was created was so that Milwaukee residents would not have to spend the money to separate poop from stormwater.
...because the rain fell so fast that the district's computers automatically closed gates to allow combined sewer overflows into area waterways. At the time, the tunnels held only 34 million gallons
Friggin' genius at work there, no?
So Milwaukee tossed another poop-bomb into Lake Michigan after several gazillion dollars were spent to prevent Milwaukee residents from doing what they should have done in the first damn place.
And 450++million gallons' storage space remained empty.
It goes without saying that the gurus who legislated this failure were Democrats...
The tunnel system has a capacity to hold 494 million gallons of sewage and stormwater, and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Executive Director Kevin Shafer said it was "basically empty" at the time the storms hit.
Sounds good, eh? About 500 million gallons could have been stored.
He said district policy during storms is to keep 250 million gallons of that storage capacity set aside to deal with sanitary overflows.
That means combined sewer overflows can be authorized before the system fills to prevent overflows from the sanitary sewer lines that serve most of the district.
"Combined sewer" is Milwaukee poop-and-rain.
Recall that ONLY Milwaukee (and Shorewood) have "combined" sewers, and actually only a portion of Milwaukee has them. The reason MMSD was created was so that Milwaukee residents would not have to spend the money to separate poop from stormwater.
...because the rain fell so fast that the district's computers automatically closed gates to allow combined sewer overflows into area waterways. At the time, the tunnels held only 34 million gallons
Friggin' genius at work there, no?
So Milwaukee tossed another poop-bomb into Lake Michigan after several gazillion dollars were spent to prevent Milwaukee residents from doing what they should have done in the first damn place.
And 450++million gallons' storage space remained empty.
It goes without saying that the gurus who legislated this failure were Democrats...
Oddities in Elm Grove
Interesting.
St. Mary's Catholic Church in Elm Grove and Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield have established gender-neutral [restrooms].
The news-article discussion centers on transgender/bisexual needs, but there is mention of the "small-children" restroom need.
St. Mary's Catholic Church in Elm Grove and Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield have established gender-neutral [restrooms].
The news-article discussion centers on transgender/bisexual needs, but there is mention of the "small-children" restroom need.
Rain Report
Here in the borderland between Brookfield and P-ville, we caught a minimum of five inches on Saturday afternoon/night, and topped off the tanks with another three inches on Sunday morning and evening.
The Fox River at Springdale Road has risen three feet since Friday.
The Fox River at Springdale Road has risen three feet since Friday.
Fed Grant Here, Fed Grant There...
Here a grant, there a grant, everywhere a grant-grant...
At the renovated train/bus station in Milwaukee:
Greyhound is now seeking a federal grant to lower the overhead costs. Greyhound spokesman Dustin Clark declined to provide details of the talks, but said federal aid would be helpful.
Uh huh. After all, it's for thechildren ......?
(Maybe you can fill in the blank. I can't.)
At the renovated train/bus station in Milwaukee:
Greyhound is now seeking a federal grant to lower the overhead costs. Greyhound spokesman Dustin Clark declined to provide details of the talks, but said federal aid would be helpful.
Uh huh. After all, it's for the
(Maybe you can fill in the blank. I can't.)
Friday, June 06, 2008
Madison Bishop Stays With the Pope
Bp. Morlino has taken a leadership position on a number of issues (think: opposition to the Legislature's mandate of "Plan B," inter alia.)
And he's done it again.
...At the Corpus Christi Mass in the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, the local Bishop, H. E. the Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, in his homily made express reference to the pope's example of three days before and encouraged everyone present and physically able to receive the Blessed Sacrament on their tongues and on their knees out of reverence on this solemn occasion. For this purpose, there not being an altar rail, kneelers were put in front of the sanctuary for Communion.
...The Mass was followed by a Procession from the church (the Cathedral had burnt down three years ago) to the State Capitol and then to another church for Benediction. The whole procession was almost an hour an a half long
Kudos to the Bishop!
And he's done it again.
...At the Corpus Christi Mass in the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, the local Bishop, H. E. the Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, in his homily made express reference to the pope's example of three days before and encouraged everyone present and physically able to receive the Blessed Sacrament on their tongues and on their knees out of reverence on this solemn occasion. For this purpose, there not being an altar rail, kneelers were put in front of the sanctuary for Communion.
...The Mass was followed by a Procession from the church (the Cathedral had burnt down three years ago) to the State Capitol and then to another church for Benediction. The whole procession was almost an hour an a half long
Kudos to the Bishop!
Tradition, Democracy, and Madmen
G K Chesterton sums it up for you.
I HAVE never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. It is trusting to a consensus of common human voices rather than to some isolated or arbitrary record.
The man who quotes some German historian against the tradition of the Catholic Church, for instance, is strictly appealing to aristocracy. He is appealing to the superiority of one expert against the awful authority of a mob.
It is quite easy to see why a legend is treated, and ought to be treated, more respectfully than a book of history. The legend is generally made by the majority of people in the village, who are sane. The book is generally written by the one man in the village, who is mad.
Those who urge against tradition -- that men in the past were ignorant -- may go and urge it at the Canton Club, along with the statement that voters in the slums are ignorant. It will not do for us. If we attach great importance to the opinion of ordinary men in great unanimity when we are dealing with daily matters, there is no reason why we should disregard it when we are dealing with history or fable.
Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes -- our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. [Hint: Legal Postivists such as those who occupy SCOCA or SCOUSA.]
All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth: tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom. Tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father.
So if there is a flaw in 'republican' government, it is the implicit aristocracy of the elected representatives--who, after all, are more dangerous when walking around than when at room temperature.
I HAVE never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time. It is trusting to a consensus of common human voices rather than to some isolated or arbitrary record.
The man who quotes some German historian against the tradition of the Catholic Church, for instance, is strictly appealing to aristocracy. He is appealing to the superiority of one expert against the awful authority of a mob.
It is quite easy to see why a legend is treated, and ought to be treated, more respectfully than a book of history. The legend is generally made by the majority of people in the village, who are sane. The book is generally written by the one man in the village, who is mad.
Those who urge against tradition -- that men in the past were ignorant -- may go and urge it at the Canton Club, along with the statement that voters in the slums are ignorant. It will not do for us. If we attach great importance to the opinion of ordinary men in great unanimity when we are dealing with daily matters, there is no reason why we should disregard it when we are dealing with history or fable.
Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes -- our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. [Hint: Legal Postivists such as those who occupy SCOCA or SCOUSA.]
All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth: tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom. Tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father.
So if there is a flaw in 'republican' government, it is the implicit aristocracy of the elected representatives--who, after all, are more dangerous when walking around than when at room temperature.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
More Thought on Gay "Marriage"
From R R Reno at First Things.
...in the old system, the state presumed the existence of a substantive, natural reality that required legal adumbration: the union of a man and a woman, and the children resulting from their sexual relations. Now the Canadian government sees that it must intervene and redefine marriage and parenthood in order to give fixed legal standing to otherwise fluid and uncertain social relations. When the gay friend donates his sperm to the surrogate mother hired by a lesbian couple, the resulting “family” is a purely legal construct, one that requires the power of state to enforce contracts and attach children to adoptive parents.
The result is the opposite of the libertarian dream of freedom. As Farrow observes, with gay marriage we are giving over the family to the state to define according to the needs of the moment. The upshot, he worries, will be a dangerous increase in the power of the state to define our lives in other realms once thought sacrosanct. “Remove religiously motivated restrictions on marriage,” he writes, “and it is much easier to remove religiously motivated restrictions on human behavior in general, and on the state’s power to order human society as it sees fit.” The libertarian dream turns into the totalitarian nightmare. Who can or cannot be a spouse? That’s for the state to decide. To whom do children belong? It’s up to the state to assign parents as its social workers and judges think best.
That libertarianism leads to tyranny is not news. ANY system which sets out to re-fashion society according to "ends" which are either un-natural or in defiance of Creation (and the Creator) is dangerous--mostly because those who fashion such a system are substituting themselves for the Creator.
Reno re-states what's been said here before:
Much like the current abortion regime and the slavery jurisprudence of the antebellum era, proponents of gay marriage imagine that they can redefine inconvenient, permanent realities and remove traditional barriers to the relentless human desire to get what we want. The idea that “bride” and “groom” are not gender specific is a current sign of the absolute triumph of the political will. When we accept that judges and legislators possess the power to define the meaning of marriage, then it’s hard to imagine what would limit the state’s power to redefine social reality other than “personal autonomy,” which turns out to be no limit at all, since everything is desired by somebody somewhere. For all we know, Leona Helmsley wanted to marry her dog.
That 'personal autonomy' was enshrined by Kennedy in Casey, by the way...
As to the larger implications, Reno cites Burke.
Edmund Burke saw that revolution motivated by the unattainable ideal of equality would destroy the deep, pre-political social mores that restrain the will, including the political will; and this restraint is essential for the preservation of liberty. Our contemporary cult of tolerance differs from older fantasies of equality, but the notion that we can accommodate everybody’s desires is just as unrealistic...Human beings cannot live together without a felt force of restraint. What should worry us is the migration of that force outward and into the hands of political actors.
One can only hope that the libertarians and social reconstructionists pause to think. For if Positive Law (political law) becomes regnant, what the State gives the State may well take away, and the reactionary swing of the pendulum may not be to the liking of the libertarians.
...in the old system, the state presumed the existence of a substantive, natural reality that required legal adumbration: the union of a man and a woman, and the children resulting from their sexual relations. Now the Canadian government sees that it must intervene and redefine marriage and parenthood in order to give fixed legal standing to otherwise fluid and uncertain social relations. When the gay friend donates his sperm to the surrogate mother hired by a lesbian couple, the resulting “family” is a purely legal construct, one that requires the power of state to enforce contracts and attach children to adoptive parents.
The result is the opposite of the libertarian dream of freedom. As Farrow observes, with gay marriage we are giving over the family to the state to define according to the needs of the moment. The upshot, he worries, will be a dangerous increase in the power of the state to define our lives in other realms once thought sacrosanct. “Remove religiously motivated restrictions on marriage,” he writes, “and it is much easier to remove religiously motivated restrictions on human behavior in general, and on the state’s power to order human society as it sees fit.” The libertarian dream turns into the totalitarian nightmare. Who can or cannot be a spouse? That’s for the state to decide. To whom do children belong? It’s up to the state to assign parents as its social workers and judges think best.
That libertarianism leads to tyranny is not news. ANY system which sets out to re-fashion society according to "ends" which are either un-natural or in defiance of Creation (and the Creator) is dangerous--mostly because those who fashion such a system are substituting themselves for the Creator.
Reno re-states what's been said here before:
Much like the current abortion regime and the slavery jurisprudence of the antebellum era, proponents of gay marriage imagine that they can redefine inconvenient, permanent realities and remove traditional barriers to the relentless human desire to get what we want. The idea that “bride” and “groom” are not gender specific is a current sign of the absolute triumph of the political will. When we accept that judges and legislators possess the power to define the meaning of marriage, then it’s hard to imagine what would limit the state’s power to redefine social reality other than “personal autonomy,” which turns out to be no limit at all, since everything is desired by somebody somewhere. For all we know, Leona Helmsley wanted to marry her dog.
That 'personal autonomy' was enshrined by Kennedy in Casey, by the way...
As to the larger implications, Reno cites Burke.
Edmund Burke saw that revolution motivated by the unattainable ideal of equality would destroy the deep, pre-political social mores that restrain the will, including the political will; and this restraint is essential for the preservation of liberty. Our contemporary cult of tolerance differs from older fantasies of equality, but the notion that we can accommodate everybody’s desires is just as unrealistic...Human beings cannot live together without a felt force of restraint. What should worry us is the migration of that force outward and into the hands of political actors.
One can only hope that the libertarians and social reconstructionists pause to think. For if Positive Law (political law) becomes regnant, what the State gives the State may well take away, and the reactionary swing of the pendulum may not be to the liking of the libertarians.
What's the Matter With Kansas?
Well, for openers, Kansas' Supreme Court is infested with raving Lefties who will apparently do damn near ANYTHING to protect the nation's leading baby-butcher: Planned Parenthood.
In Kansas there has never been a conservative governor and most of the time the governor’s a Democrat anyway, so it’s not surprising that the Kansas court is as liberal and as activist as they come — the sixth-most-referenced court in the nation, according to one recent survey conducted by UC Davis.
But the moment Judge Anderson said the records looked fishy, the court went from activist to downright aggressive: It silenced the judge, conducted secret hearings with Planned Parenthood, put a gag on the health department and told Kline the department’s records have now been put off-limits. In at least once instance, the court apparently even violated its own seal order to give anti-Kline information to participants in a grand jury investigation.
It’s all “highly unorthodox,” Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst, told me.“The Kansas supreme court has no right to intercede in this,” Napolitano explained. The court simply doesn’t have a role to play “unless a case is brought to it.” Gagging witnesses was just mystifying to Napolitano. “If a judge is witness to a crime, he has as much a right and obligation to testify as any other citizen,” he said. What the judge appears to have seen, Napolitano said, is evidence of “obstruction of justice. . . . And that’s what they got Scooter Libby on. It’s a serious crime.”
Briefly, Judge Anderson found it likely that Planned Parenthood had committed crimes to cover its misdemeanors, and DA Kline wants to prosecute.
But the Court, appointed by such as Gov. Sibelius, is getting in the way--to say the least.
For all his trouble, Kline has been pestered by Planned Parenthood’s lawyers who continue to try to sue him into paralysis. He has now amassed some $200,000 in personal legal bills.
"We will bury you"--the watchword of PP.
This week, in the case’s latest set of turns, Kline found himself asking for the supreme court to stop silencing Anderson and at the same time, moving to block a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood seeking to get back the records that are at the heart of the case, and would be used against them in a trial. Allowing criminal defendants to sue prosecutors to retrieve the evidence that could be used against them is another Kansas Supreme Court novelty
What's at stake here? About $300 MILLION in Federal money granted to PP nationally. If PP/Kansas loses, so will national PP.
And $300 million is more than even Lynde Uihlein can toss into the pot.
HT: Dreher
In Kansas there has never been a conservative governor and most of the time the governor’s a Democrat anyway, so it’s not surprising that the Kansas court is as liberal and as activist as they come — the sixth-most-referenced court in the nation, according to one recent survey conducted by UC Davis.
But the moment Judge Anderson said the records looked fishy, the court went from activist to downright aggressive: It silenced the judge, conducted secret hearings with Planned Parenthood, put a gag on the health department and told Kline the department’s records have now been put off-limits. In at least once instance, the court apparently even violated its own seal order to give anti-Kline information to participants in a grand jury investigation.
It’s all “highly unorthodox,” Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, Fox News senior judicial analyst, told me.“The Kansas supreme court has no right to intercede in this,” Napolitano explained. The court simply doesn’t have a role to play “unless a case is brought to it.” Gagging witnesses was just mystifying to Napolitano. “If a judge is witness to a crime, he has as much a right and obligation to testify as any other citizen,” he said. What the judge appears to have seen, Napolitano said, is evidence of “obstruction of justice. . . . And that’s what they got Scooter Libby on. It’s a serious crime.”
Briefly, Judge Anderson found it likely that Planned Parenthood had committed crimes to cover its misdemeanors, and DA Kline wants to prosecute.
But the Court, appointed by such as Gov. Sibelius, is getting in the way--to say the least.
For all his trouble, Kline has been pestered by Planned Parenthood’s lawyers who continue to try to sue him into paralysis. He has now amassed some $200,000 in personal legal bills.
"We will bury you"--the watchword of PP.
This week, in the case’s latest set of turns, Kline found himself asking for the supreme court to stop silencing Anderson and at the same time, moving to block a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood seeking to get back the records that are at the heart of the case, and would be used against them in a trial. Allowing criminal defendants to sue prosecutors to retrieve the evidence that could be used against them is another Kansas Supreme Court novelty
What's at stake here? About $300 MILLION in Federal money granted to PP nationally. If PP/Kansas loses, so will national PP.
And $300 million is more than even Lynde Uihlein can toss into the pot.
HT: Dreher
"Papieren, Bitte!" ?
LawDog expresses his opinion:
In one of the most absolutely cocked-over ideas I've seen in all my born days, the City of Washington D.C. has decided to set up "Neighborhood Safety Zones" in certain areas of the District of Columbia.
Once a neighborhood is declared a "Neighborhood Safety Zone" DeeCee Police will stop all vehicles entering these zones and demand identification proving that the driver lives in the neighborhood, or provide a -- and let me be accurate here -- "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood".
Anyone not providing papers identification or a "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood" will be -- and I quote -- "forced to leave".
Anyone objecting to being refused entry into the "Neighborhood Safety Zone" will face arrest for failing to obey police.
Hmmmmmm.
American citizens do not -- I will say again my last, slowly, for the DC City Government -- American citizens do not need to give a reason -- legitimate or otherwise -- for driving anywhere on any Freyja-be-damned tax-payer-funded public sodding street.
How dare you stop a tax-paying American citizen driving on a tax-payer funded American street and demand -- demand, by God! -- a "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood" ... here's your "legitimate reason" -- damn your eyes -- because I want to and it's none of your penguin-squicking business!
Hmmmmm.
What is next? Tell me, do. What is next -- issuing various coloured triangles to undesirables?
Hmmmmm.
Tell me, truly -- are you going to train your cops to say, "Papieren, bitte" before demanding a "legitimate reason" to be about on a public road?
LawDog is an LEO who works in an environment far different from that of ....say...16th/Lincoln, or 24th/North. I don't think he's encountered the faux-Vice Lords of RiverSplash infamy (or the real ones in Chicago) on his beat.
But the question he raises is interesting.
In one of the most absolutely cocked-over ideas I've seen in all my born days, the City of Washington D.C. has decided to set up "Neighborhood Safety Zones" in certain areas of the District of Columbia.
Once a neighborhood is declared a "Neighborhood Safety Zone" DeeCee Police will stop all vehicles entering these zones and demand identification proving that the driver lives in the neighborhood, or provide a -- and let me be accurate here -- "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood".
Anyone not providing papers identification or a "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood" will be -- and I quote -- "forced to leave".
Anyone objecting to being refused entry into the "Neighborhood Safety Zone" will face arrest for failing to obey police.
Hmmmmmm.
American citizens do not -- I will say again my last, slowly, for the DC City Government -- American citizens do not need to give a reason -- legitimate or otherwise -- for driving anywhere on any Freyja-be-damned tax-payer-funded public sodding street.
How dare you stop a tax-paying American citizen driving on a tax-payer funded American street and demand -- demand, by God! -- a "legitimate reason to enter the neighborhood" ... here's your "legitimate reason" -- damn your eyes -- because I want to and it's none of your penguin-squicking business!
Hmmmmm.
What is next? Tell me, do. What is next -- issuing various coloured triangles to undesirables?
Hmmmmm.
Tell me, truly -- are you going to train your cops to say, "Papieren, bitte" before demanding a "legitimate reason" to be about on a public road?
LawDog is an LEO who works in an environment far different from that of ....say...16th/Lincoln, or 24th/North. I don't think he's encountered the faux-Vice Lords of RiverSplash infamy (or the real ones in Chicago) on his beat.
But the question he raises is interesting.
Van Hollen Pushes
This will get the Lefties' heads to explode.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen for the first time issued a state permit Wednesday allowing a retired investigator to carry a concealed firearm
And the usual suspects disagree:
Among those declining to issue the permits are the Capitol Police, State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources' Law Enforcement Bureau and University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.
Van Hollen issued under Federal law and believes he has the right to do so under that law.
Some of us contend that the Federal law is a "more equal than YOU" sorta thing--meaning that there is a right to self-defense which inheres to ALL citizens, given the usual conditions, which happen to be referenced in the Federal legislation:
Under the 2004 federal law, police agencies can permit former officers to carry concealed firearms if they retired in good standing, worked as an officer for 15 years or more, have met state firearms training standards within the past year, and are not otherwise barred from possessing a firearm under federal law.
This should be fun to watch.
UPDATE: Wiggy, an adroit observer and thinker, opines:
It would be interesting if Dane County suddenly decided to get into a fight with Van Hollen over this, especially with the addition of Gableman to the Supreme Court
Wigderson understands that Wisconsin's 25th Amendment voids Wisconsin's prohibition of concealed carry.
Let's hope that Blanchard and Mrs. Bock get all law-suity about this...
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen for the first time issued a state permit Wednesday allowing a retired investigator to carry a concealed firearm
And the usual suspects disagree:
Among those declining to issue the permits are the Capitol Police, State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources' Law Enforcement Bureau and University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.
Van Hollen issued under Federal law and believes he has the right to do so under that law.
Some of us contend that the Federal law is a "more equal than YOU" sorta thing--meaning that there is a right to self-defense which inheres to ALL citizens, given the usual conditions, which happen to be referenced in the Federal legislation:
Under the 2004 federal law, police agencies can permit former officers to carry concealed firearms if they retired in good standing, worked as an officer for 15 years or more, have met state firearms training standards within the past year, and are not otherwise barred from possessing a firearm under federal law.
This should be fun to watch.
UPDATE: Wiggy, an adroit observer and thinker, opines:
It would be interesting if Dane County suddenly decided to get into a fight with Van Hollen over this, especially with the addition of Gableman to the Supreme Court
Wigderson understands that Wisconsin's 25th Amendment voids Wisconsin's prohibition of concealed carry.
Let's hope that Blanchard and Mrs. Bock get all law-suity about this...
Canadian "Rights"--Advancing South
Meanwhile, in Canada, The Agenda marches on.
A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal "hate crimes" law for quoting from the Bible, and he's being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report....
"What was Father de Valk's alleged 'hate act'?" Vere wrote.
"Father defended the [Catholic] Church's teaching on marriage during Canada's same-sex 'marriage' debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II's encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of who are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman," he wrote.
This sort of thing was predicted by Cdl. George of Chicago in the last year or so--although the Cardinal thought it would be occurring in the US.
...Vere raised the question that Canada now considers morality a "hate crime."
"If one, because of one's sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered 'hate'?" he asked.
...De Valk, who publishes the "Catholic Insight" magazine that "bases itself on the Church's teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time," is accused by a homosexual of promoting "extreme hatred and contempt" against homosexuals
Think that can't happen here? Think again.
Bishop Fred Henry has described the situation as "a new form of censorhip and thought control." Those are the same words leading Christians in the United States have used to describe the most recent "hate crimes" plan before the U.S. Congress, which specifically targeted for elimination criticism of alternative sexual lifestyles.
Interesting stuff.
So what do we read in today's JSOnline?
Madison Democrat Tammy Baldwin joined the only other openly gay member of Congress, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), on Wednesday to unveil a new House caucus focusing on gay rights.
... those who supported gay rights had focused most of their efforts on fighting proposals to diminish rights for gays and lesbians, Frank said. Now, he said, he and Baldwin are working together to act on Pelosi's commitment to helping gay people live and work free of discrimination
Uh-huh.
A priest is being investigated as a potential criminal under a federal "hate crimes" law for quoting from the Bible, and he's being targeted using a Canadian provision under which no defendant ever has been acquitted, according to a new report....
"What was Father de Valk's alleged 'hate act'?" Vere wrote.
"Father defended the [Catholic] Church's teaching on marriage during Canada's same-sex 'marriage' debate, quoting extensively from the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Pope John Paul II's encyclicals. Each of these documents contains official Catholic teaching. And like millions of other people throughout the world and the ages – many of who are non-Catholics and non-Christians — Father believes that marriage is an exclusive union between a man and a woman," he wrote.
This sort of thing was predicted by Cdl. George of Chicago in the last year or so--although the Cardinal thought it would be occurring in the US.
...Vere raised the question that Canada now considers morality a "hate crime."
"If one, because of one's sincerely held moral beliefs, whether it be Jew, Muslim, Christian, Catholic, opposes the idea of same-sex marriage in Canada, is that considered 'hate'?" he asked.
...De Valk, who publishes the "Catholic Insight" magazine that "bases itself on the Church's teaching and applies it to various circumstances in our time," is accused by a homosexual of promoting "extreme hatred and contempt" against homosexuals
Think that can't happen here? Think again.
Bishop Fred Henry has described the situation as "a new form of censorhip and thought control." Those are the same words leading Christians in the United States have used to describe the most recent "hate crimes" plan before the U.S. Congress, which specifically targeted for elimination criticism of alternative sexual lifestyles.
Interesting stuff.
So what do we read in today's JSOnline?
Madison Democrat Tammy Baldwin joined the only other openly gay member of Congress, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), on Wednesday to unveil a new House caucus focusing on gay rights.
... those who supported gay rights had focused most of their efforts on fighting proposals to diminish rights for gays and lesbians, Frank said. Now, he said, he and Baldwin are working together to act on Pelosi's commitment to helping gay people live and work free of discrimination
Uh-huh.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The Less Optimistic View on Gay "Marriage"
Mike Uhlmann:
...Activist federal judges present another question altogether, since even state constitutional provisions can be overridden in the name of federal constitutional supremacy. Here, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions give little reason for optimism. Doctrinal precedents extolling the right to privacy and individual autonomy are already in place. It is largely a matter of judicial will at this point whether the justices will imitate California by voiding preference for heterosexual marriage as an expression of mean-spirited anti-homosexual animus
See, e.g., Justice Kennedy's incoherent smarm in Casey and the comments of Scalia in his dissent on Lawrence.
...legal halfway houses, such as “civil union” legislation adopted by many states, are of little avail. Over the years California has made every imaginable accommodation to homosexual couples; they already enjoy all of the economic and social benefits available to male-female unions. The California court, however, turned this political accommodation on its head, arguing, in effect, that it demonstrated how little value the state placed on the distinctive virtues of traditional marriage.
In other words, being civil leads to uncivil civilization.
...Activist federal judges present another question altogether, since even state constitutional provisions can be overridden in the name of federal constitutional supremacy. Here, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions give little reason for optimism. Doctrinal precedents extolling the right to privacy and individual autonomy are already in place. It is largely a matter of judicial will at this point whether the justices will imitate California by voiding preference for heterosexual marriage as an expression of mean-spirited anti-homosexual animus
See, e.g., Justice Kennedy's incoherent smarm in Casey and the comments of Scalia in his dissent on Lawrence.
...legal halfway houses, such as “civil union” legislation adopted by many states, are of little avail. Over the years California has made every imaginable accommodation to homosexual couples; they already enjoy all of the economic and social benefits available to male-female unions. The California court, however, turned this political accommodation on its head, arguing, in effect, that it demonstrated how little value the state placed on the distinctive virtues of traditional marriage.
In other words, being civil leads to uncivil civilization.
Next Cardinal of NYC?
Here's an interesting tidbit:
The German daily Der Standard, picking up on the report in La Repubblica, said that if Cardinal Schönborn were to take the post, Cardinal Levada would have to return to the United States.
"The post" is Dottrina--Congregation for Doctrine (the Inquisition Seat.)
That would put Cdl Levada in play for NYC Archdiocese.
HT: American Papist
The German daily Der Standard, picking up on the report in La Repubblica, said that if Cardinal Schönborn were to take the post, Cardinal Levada would have to return to the United States.
"The post" is Dottrina--Congregation for Doctrine (the Inquisition Seat.)
That would put Cdl Levada in play for NYC Archdiocese.
HT: American Papist
Why Fr Pfleger Was Furloughed
Roeser nails it:
I said yesterday: when Democrats get fed up and unity of the ticket is threatened, the Catholic archdiocese acts. And so it did by suspending for several weeks…not removing permanently…Fr. Michael Pfleger
If it were a matter of Catholicism (either belief or practice), Pfleger would have been gone about 30 years ago.
I said yesterday: when Democrats get fed up and unity of the ticket is threatened, the Catholic archdiocese acts. And so it did by suspending for several weeks…not removing permanently…Fr. Michael Pfleger
If it were a matter of Catholicism (either belief or practice), Pfleger would have been gone about 30 years ago.
G K Chesterton on Us Westerners
A wonderful rumination.
EVERY man of us to-day is three men. There is in every modern European three powers so distinct as to be almost personal -- the trinity of our earthly destiny.
The three may be rudely summarized thus: First and nearest to us is the Christian, the man of the historic Church, of the creed that must have coloured our minds incurably whether we regard it as the crown and combination of the other two, or whether we regard it as an accidental superstition which has remained for two thousand years.
First, then, comes the Christian; behind him comes the Roman -- the citizen of that great cosmopolitan realm of reason and order, in the level and equality of which Christianity arose. He is the Stoic who is so much sterner than the Ancorites. He is the Republican who is so much prouder than kings. It is he that makes straight roads and clear laws, and for whom good sense is good enough.
And the third man: he has no name, and all true tales of him are blotted out; yet he walks behind us in every forest path and wakes within us when the wind wakes at night. He is the origins -- he is the man in the forest.
Some who visit here would only be two of those (and perhaps only one...). Perhaps that marks the retrogression, then.
EVERY man of us to-day is three men. There is in every modern European three powers so distinct as to be almost personal -- the trinity of our earthly destiny.
The three may be rudely summarized thus: First and nearest to us is the Christian, the man of the historic Church, of the creed that must have coloured our minds incurably whether we regard it as the crown and combination of the other two, or whether we regard it as an accidental superstition which has remained for two thousand years.
First, then, comes the Christian; behind him comes the Roman -- the citizen of that great cosmopolitan realm of reason and order, in the level and equality of which Christianity arose. He is the Stoic who is so much sterner than the Ancorites. He is the Republican who is so much prouder than kings. It is he that makes straight roads and clear laws, and for whom good sense is good enough.
And the third man: he has no name, and all true tales of him are blotted out; yet he walks behind us in every forest path and wakes within us when the wind wakes at night. He is the origins -- he is the man in the forest.
Some who visit here would only be two of those (and perhaps only one...). Perhaps that marks the retrogression, then.
Death of the SUV: Demographics Count!
There is inadequate consideration of the cause of deteriorating SUV sales.
One element which has not been considered is simple demographics. It's a fact that the Baby Boomers no longer have their children living at home with them (by and large), which reduces the "need" for multi-passenger vehicles capable of dragging kids, boat, trailer, and umpty-bags of luggage from Point A to Granny's house.
In other words, there is less "need" for land-yachts for the 50-60-year-old set.
Some car-stats type could probably define the numbers affected by this change.
In addition, there are many folks who purchased SUVs who simply did not "need" them, but liked the size, or weight, or the ability to see over the traffic which SUVs provided. But that "need" was a lot more fragile than the "need" to buy food rather than fuel.
Some car-stats type could probably define the numbers here, too.
One element which has not been considered is simple demographics. It's a fact that the Baby Boomers no longer have their children living at home with them (by and large), which reduces the "need" for multi-passenger vehicles capable of dragging kids, boat, trailer, and umpty-bags of luggage from Point A to Granny's house.
In other words, there is less "need" for land-yachts for the 50-60-year-old set.
Some car-stats type could probably define the numbers affected by this change.
In addition, there are many folks who purchased SUVs who simply did not "need" them, but liked the size, or weight, or the ability to see over the traffic which SUVs provided. But that "need" was a lot more fragile than the "need" to buy food rather than fuel.
Some car-stats type could probably define the numbers here, too.
Ed McMahon Borrowed $4.8 Million at HIS AGE?
Apparently he thinks he's going to live forever.
ReconTrust, a unit of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, on Feb. 28 filed a notice of default on a $4.8 million Countrywide loan backed by Mr. McMahon's home.
... According to the filing, Mr. McMahon was then about $644,000 in arrears on the loan. It isn't clear whether Countrywide still owns the loan or is acting on behalf of investors who acquired it.
Mr. McMahon broke his neck in a fall about 18 months ago and hasn't been able to work, [Howard Bragman, a spokesman for Mr. McMahon] said. That health problem, along with the weak housing market and economy, has forced Mr. McMahon into foreclosure proceedings ...
Clearly, Ed McMahon would rather be working, and like most people, I am very sorry that he is disabled by the injury.
But $4.8 MILLION in a mortgage?
ReconTrust, a unit of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, on Feb. 28 filed a notice of default on a $4.8 million Countrywide loan backed by Mr. McMahon's home.
... According to the filing, Mr. McMahon was then about $644,000 in arrears on the loan. It isn't clear whether Countrywide still owns the loan or is acting on behalf of investors who acquired it.
Mr. McMahon broke his neck in a fall about 18 months ago and hasn't been able to work, [Howard Bragman, a spokesman for Mr. McMahon] said. That health problem, along with the weak housing market and economy, has forced Mr. McMahon into foreclosure proceedings ...
Clearly, Ed McMahon would rather be working, and like most people, I am very sorry that he is disabled by the injury.
But $4.8 MILLION in a mortgage?
MPS: Free ACT Tests!!
This is a very generous offer--using someone else's dollars, of course.
The [MPS budget] committee also approved adding $210,100 to the budget to be used to offer ACT college entrance tests to all eleventh graders next year.
ALL 11th graders? Who are they kidding?
Someone can't scrape up the $40.00 for the ACT test?
The [MPS budget] committee also approved adding $210,100 to the budget to be used to offer ACT college entrance tests to all eleventh graders next year.
ALL 11th graders? Who are they kidding?
Someone can't scrape up the $40.00 for the ACT test?
Chamberlain and Hitler: Actual History
Sometimes it helps to know the actual history, rather than to repeat catchwords. Here's the very short course from PJB:
...By 1938, Germany had arisen, re-armed and brought Austria into the Reich, and was demanding the right of self-determination now be granted to the 3 million Germans in Czechoslovakia, who were clamoring to be free of Prague to rejoin their kinsmen.
Britain had no alliance with, and no obligation to fight for, the Czechs. But France did. And Britain feared that if Adolf Hitler used force to bring the Sudeten Germans back to German rule, France might fight. And if France declared war, Britain would be drawn in, and a second bloodbath would ensue as it had in 1914.
Chamberlain went to Munich because he did not believe that keeping 3 million Germans inside a nation to which they had been consigned against their will was worth a world war.
...after three trips to Germany that September, he effected the transfer of the Sudeten Germans to Berlin's rule, where they wished to be. He came home in triumph to be hailed as the greatest peacemaker of all time
So far, so good. The flaws of Versailles had been remedied.
Next up: Danzig.
...the British government agreed: Danzig should be returned. For of all the amputations of German lands and peoples at Versailles, European statesmen, even Winston Churchill, regarded Danzig and the Polish Corridor that sliced Germany in two as the most outrageous. The problem was the Poles, who refused to discuss Danzig.
Umnnnhhh...the Poles are a stubborn lot, and never really liked the Germans anyway.
Then, in March, Czechoslovakia suddenly began to fall apart. The Sudetenland had been annexed by Germany. Hungary had taken back its lost lands, and Poland had annexed the disputed region of Teschen. Slovakia and Ruthenia now moved to declare independence, and Prague began to march on the provinces.
Hitler intervened to guarantee the independence of Slovakia and gave Hungary a green light to re-annex Ruthenia. Czech President Hacha then asked to see Hitler, who bullied him for three hours into signing away Czech sovereignty and making his nation the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Now the conflict takes shape...and Chamberlain screwed up:
Chamberlain, now humiliated, mocked by Tory back-benchers, panicking over wild false rumors of German attacks on Romania and Poland, made the greatest blunder in British history. Unasked, he issued a war guarantee to Poland, empowering a Polish dictatorship of colonels that had joined Hitler in dismembering Czechoslovakia to drag the British Empire into war with Germany over a city, Danzig, the British thought should be returned to Germany.
It was not Munich. It was the war guarantee that guaranteed the war that brought down the Empire, and gave us the Holocaust, 50 million dead and the Stalinization of half of Europe.
One could argue, legitimately, that Hitler would have invaded Poland regardless--or found some other time and place to effect the Reich. And, of course, one could also argue that Hitler was determined to do just that: effect the Reich--no matter what Chamberlain and others did. Most likely that was the case.
But Munich was not "appeasement." It was justice for the Sudetens.
...By 1938, Germany had arisen, re-armed and brought Austria into the Reich, and was demanding the right of self-determination now be granted to the 3 million Germans in Czechoslovakia, who were clamoring to be free of Prague to rejoin their kinsmen.
Britain had no alliance with, and no obligation to fight for, the Czechs. But France did. And Britain feared that if Adolf Hitler used force to bring the Sudeten Germans back to German rule, France might fight. And if France declared war, Britain would be drawn in, and a second bloodbath would ensue as it had in 1914.
Chamberlain went to Munich because he did not believe that keeping 3 million Germans inside a nation to which they had been consigned against their will was worth a world war.
...after three trips to Germany that September, he effected the transfer of the Sudeten Germans to Berlin's rule, where they wished to be. He came home in triumph to be hailed as the greatest peacemaker of all time
So far, so good. The flaws of Versailles had been remedied.
Next up: Danzig.
...the British government agreed: Danzig should be returned. For of all the amputations of German lands and peoples at Versailles, European statesmen, even Winston Churchill, regarded Danzig and the Polish Corridor that sliced Germany in two as the most outrageous. The problem was the Poles, who refused to discuss Danzig.
Umnnnhhh...the Poles are a stubborn lot, and never really liked the Germans anyway.
Then, in March, Czechoslovakia suddenly began to fall apart. The Sudetenland had been annexed by Germany. Hungary had taken back its lost lands, and Poland had annexed the disputed region of Teschen. Slovakia and Ruthenia now moved to declare independence, and Prague began to march on the provinces.
Hitler intervened to guarantee the independence of Slovakia and gave Hungary a green light to re-annex Ruthenia. Czech President Hacha then asked to see Hitler, who bullied him for three hours into signing away Czech sovereignty and making his nation the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Now the conflict takes shape...and Chamberlain screwed up:
Chamberlain, now humiliated, mocked by Tory back-benchers, panicking over wild false rumors of German attacks on Romania and Poland, made the greatest blunder in British history. Unasked, he issued a war guarantee to Poland, empowering a Polish dictatorship of colonels that had joined Hitler in dismembering Czechoslovakia to drag the British Empire into war with Germany over a city, Danzig, the British thought should be returned to Germany.
It was not Munich. It was the war guarantee that guaranteed the war that brought down the Empire, and gave us the Holocaust, 50 million dead and the Stalinization of half of Europe.
One could argue, legitimately, that Hitler would have invaded Poland regardless--or found some other time and place to effect the Reich. And, of course, one could also argue that Hitler was determined to do just that: effect the Reich--no matter what Chamberlain and others did. Most likely that was the case.
But Munich was not "appeasement." It was justice for the Sudetens.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Fr Pfleger Gets Wrist-Slap
Fr Pfleger was asked to take a 2-week leave of absence by Cdl. George of Chicago.
The firebrand pastor of St. Sabina parish was removed from his duties there Tuesday, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Chicago.
In the statement, Cardinal Francis George says he asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger, 59, to "take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties." The statement said Pfleger "does not believe this to be the right step at this time." "While respecting his disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him to use this opportunity to reflect on his recent statements and actions in the light of the Church's regulations for all Catholic priests," George said
A two-week suspension is no big deal, and Pfleger knows it.
HT: ProEcclesia
The firebrand pastor of St. Sabina parish was removed from his duties there Tuesday, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Chicago.
In the statement, Cardinal Francis George says he asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger, 59, to "take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties." The statement said Pfleger "does not believe this to be the right step at this time." "While respecting his disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him to use this opportunity to reflect on his recent statements and actions in the light of the Church's regulations for all Catholic priests," George said
A two-week suspension is no big deal, and Pfleger knows it.
HT: ProEcclesia
Obama's Hunt for a Church
Now temporarily un-churched, Obama is reported to have said:
...that he is currently in the hunt for a new church to attend. "I am currently leaning towards an Amish or any Anabapist congregation. I really like the idea of them not using electricity, especially in their churches. No cell phone cameras, no live streaming of church services and events, no greatest sermons DVDs, and no possibility of something showing up on YouTube seems to be a definite plus for me. Though I am open to other options. So if you are a pastor of a totally non-controversial church please contact my staff."
That might leave him in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin!
HT: The Jester
...that he is currently in the hunt for a new church to attend. "I am currently leaning towards an Amish or any Anabapist congregation. I really like the idea of them not using electricity, especially in their churches. No cell phone cameras, no live streaming of church services and events, no greatest sermons DVDs, and no possibility of something showing up on YouTube seems to be a definite plus for me. Though I am open to other options. So if you are a pastor of a totally non-controversial church please contact my staff."
That might leave him in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin!
HT: The Jester
On Congressional Hearings
Mark Steyn:
I was watching the Big Oil execs testifying before Congress. That was my first mistake. If memory serves, there was lesbian mud wrestling over on Channel 137, and on the whole that's less rigged.
The rest is, of course, fun...
I was watching the Big Oil execs testifying before Congress. That was my first mistake. If memory serves, there was lesbian mud wrestling over on Channel 137, and on the whole that's less rigged.
The rest is, of course, fun...
National HealthCare: An Excellent Question
Found on 'The OTHER McCain's' blogsite:
Take, for example, proposals for universal health care. We are told that the annual cost will be X-billion dollars. But that estimate is based on current rates of utilization of health care. What will the utilization become when health care is "free"? What will happen when people develop an entitlement mentality about health care?
Which should have a lot of cachet in SE Wisconsin, which leads the universe in health-care costs, largely due to the old BlueCross/BlueShield model (for you youngsters, that model was "free.")
Take, for example, proposals for universal health care. We are told that the annual cost will be X-billion dollars. But that estimate is based on current rates of utilization of health care. What will the utilization become when health care is "free"? What will happen when people develop an entitlement mentality about health care?
Which should have a lot of cachet in SE Wisconsin, which leads the universe in health-care costs, largely due to the old BlueCross/BlueShield model (for you youngsters, that model was "free.")
How Stupidity Happens
Headless has a roadmap of "groupthink" symptoms, which include:
Illusion of Invulnerability, Illusion of Morality, Pressure for Conformity, Illusion of Unanimity
He even provides concrete examples--like AlGore & Co.
But don't for one second think that Gummint-types are the only "groupthinkers" out there. Just remember that the disease usually leads to death.
Illusion of Invulnerability, Illusion of Morality, Pressure for Conformity, Illusion of Unanimity
He even provides concrete examples--like AlGore & Co.
But don't for one second think that Gummint-types are the only "groupthinkers" out there. Just remember that the disease usually leads to death.
Kohl, Feingold: Pay More, Wisconsin!
"Cap-and-Trade," is Government health-care for the atmosphere. It will include bureaucracy on steroids, pipe-dream objectives, and costs. A LOT of costs--particularly to 'smokestack' industry.
So, given that Wisconsin still has a lot of "smokestack" industry, what do Wisconsin Senators do?
Vote for the pipe-dreams, costs, and bureaucrats.
So, given that Wisconsin still has a lot of "smokestack" industry, what do Wisconsin Senators do?
Vote for the pipe-dreams, costs, and bureaucrats.
"Swats" Are Not Abuse: SCOMN
The Minnesota Supremes have a good grip on reality.
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday that a father who spanked his 12-year-old son 36 times with a maple paddle did not commit physical abuse.
The unanimous ruling finalized the reversal of a lower court's decision, which did deem the punishment administered by Shawn Fraser of Bloomington, Minn., abusive.
..."We are unwilling to establish a bright-line rule that the infliction of any pain constitutes either physical injury or physical abuse, because to do so would effectively prohibit all corporal punishment of children by their parents," Justice Alan Page wrote for the court.
The law allows "reasonable discipline," the ruling said, and "it is clear to us that the Legislature did not intend to ban corporal punishment."
Justice Alan Page ought to know about physical abuse: he handed out plenty of it while playing for the Vikings.
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday that a father who spanked his 12-year-old son 36 times with a maple paddle did not commit physical abuse.
The unanimous ruling finalized the reversal of a lower court's decision, which did deem the punishment administered by Shawn Fraser of Bloomington, Minn., abusive.
..."We are unwilling to establish a bright-line rule that the infliction of any pain constitutes either physical injury or physical abuse, because to do so would effectively prohibit all corporal punishment of children by their parents," Justice Alan Page wrote for the court.
The law allows "reasonable discipline," the ruling said, and "it is clear to us that the Legislature did not intend to ban corporal punishment."
Justice Alan Page ought to know about physical abuse: he handed out plenty of it while playing for the Vikings.
Monday, June 02, 2008
It's Not the Obama Presidency Dems Seek
As usual, sparkling insight from Tom Roeser.
...For here in the strongest Democratic machine in the nation where one party rule has extended longer than the USSR existed, the first thought now as it has always been is the safety of the Cook county ticket which comes far before any consideration of the presidency. The highly publicized 1960 vote-fraud here that you have heard about was committed: no doubt about that…but was done for a major reason that far transcended the wish to elect John Kennedy president. It was committed to defeat a Republican state’s attorney (prosecutor) Benjamin Adamowski, who was running for reelection on the pledge to find enough corruption to indict Mayor Richard J. Daley and his cohorts. ]
It was for this reason that Democratic precinct captains flooded the lists with the graveyard vote. (And ever since that day, it has been the wish of many a dying Chicago ward-heeler that he be buried in Cook county so he can remain politically active). But all kidding aside, if blacks get the feeling that their party uses their votes as ballast for Irish, Polish and Hispanic candidates but deny (to them) a perfectly acceptable, quality candidate for president tens of thousands will drop out of the equation overnight…and will take Democrats a generation to woo back. The blacks would leave in droves. No, not to vote Republican, assuredly-- but drop out of the system by the mega-hundreds of thousands…even millions…forsaking the Democrats up and down the ticket-causing loss of important local offices…especially (horrors!) elected prosecutorial ones… that grease the wheels for machine victories.
It's the "down-ticket" that counts. The Dems recognize that Obama is weak--so weak, in fact, that he could actually lose to a candidate who has no Party except himself.
But who cares, if the Dems pull off victories in the Senate and House (and various State and Municipal) elections?
...For here in the strongest Democratic machine in the nation where one party rule has extended longer than the USSR existed, the first thought now as it has always been is the safety of the Cook county ticket which comes far before any consideration of the presidency. The highly publicized 1960 vote-fraud here that you have heard about was committed: no doubt about that…but was done for a major reason that far transcended the wish to elect John Kennedy president. It was committed to defeat a Republican state’s attorney (prosecutor) Benjamin Adamowski, who was running for reelection on the pledge to find enough corruption to indict Mayor Richard J. Daley and his cohorts. ]
It was for this reason that Democratic precinct captains flooded the lists with the graveyard vote. (And ever since that day, it has been the wish of many a dying Chicago ward-heeler that he be buried in Cook county so he can remain politically active). But all kidding aside, if blacks get the feeling that their party uses their votes as ballast for Irish, Polish and Hispanic candidates but deny (to them) a perfectly acceptable, quality candidate for president tens of thousands will drop out of the equation overnight…and will take Democrats a generation to woo back. The blacks would leave in droves. No, not to vote Republican, assuredly-- but drop out of the system by the mega-hundreds of thousands…even millions…forsaking the Democrats up and down the ticket-causing loss of important local offices…especially (horrors!) elected prosecutorial ones… that grease the wheels for machine victories.
It's the "down-ticket" that counts. The Dems recognize that Obama is weak--so weak, in fact, that he could actually lose to a candidate who has no Party except himself.
But who cares, if the Dems pull off victories in the Senate and House (and various State and Municipal) elections?
Medjugorje: It Ain't Real
Although the headline says "The Vatican" [said this,] that's not quite the case.
...one of the most respected voices in the Roman Catholic church has accused the visionaries of perpetuating a 'diabolical deceit'.
Andrea Gemma, 77, a bishop and once the Vatican's top exorcist, told a magazine in Italy: 'In Medjugorje everything happens in function of money: Pilgrimages, lodging houses, sale of trinkets..
'This whole sham is the work of the Devil. It is a scandal.' He said the Vatican would soon crack down on the group.
The Medjugorje phenomenon began on June 25, 1981, when six children told a priest they had seen the Virgin on a hillside near their town.
A church investigation dismissed the vision, and the Vatican banned pilgrimages to the site in 1985. But many Catholics ignored the ban.
Today, the seers own smart houses with security gates and tennis courts and expensive cars. One is married to a former U.S. beauty queen.
Catholic officials in the U.S. have recently banned the group from speaking on church property during their world tours, on which they allegedly take the Virgin with them.
This is not exactly news--but it's worth repeating. The 'money' situation is largely the work of the Franciscans who happen to occupy the site; the Diocesan Bishop long ago determined that there was no "there" there.
What IS 'news' is the explicit language about "demonic."
But that doesn't seem to hold much water for some people, including a priest from West Bend, WI.
HT: HatLady
...one of the most respected voices in the Roman Catholic church has accused the visionaries of perpetuating a 'diabolical deceit'.
Andrea Gemma, 77, a bishop and once the Vatican's top exorcist, told a magazine in Italy: 'In Medjugorje everything happens in function of money: Pilgrimages, lodging houses, sale of trinkets..
'This whole sham is the work of the Devil. It is a scandal.' He said the Vatican would soon crack down on the group.
The Medjugorje phenomenon began on June 25, 1981, when six children told a priest they had seen the Virgin on a hillside near their town.
A church investigation dismissed the vision, and the Vatican banned pilgrimages to the site in 1985. But many Catholics ignored the ban.
Today, the seers own smart houses with security gates and tennis courts and expensive cars. One is married to a former U.S. beauty queen.
Catholic officials in the U.S. have recently banned the group from speaking on church property during their world tours, on which they allegedly take the Virgin with them.
This is not exactly news--but it's worth repeating. The 'money' situation is largely the work of the Franciscans who happen to occupy the site; the Diocesan Bishop long ago determined that there was no "there" there.
What IS 'news' is the explicit language about "demonic."
But that doesn't seem to hold much water for some people, including a priest from West Bend, WI.
HT: HatLady
The Parlous Hand of 'Progress'
Risser's going for the gold.
One month after turning 81, State Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison) says he will seek re-election in November.
The longest-serving lawmaker in the nation, Risser said in a statement that there is "considerable unfinished businesses" that must be accomplished "if Wisconsin is to regain its reputation as a progressive and innovative state."
Of course, Freddie, some might think that your 1940's "thoughts" of "progress" are in fact retrograde.
One month after turning 81, State Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison) says he will seek re-election in November.
The longest-serving lawmaker in the nation, Risser said in a statement that there is "considerable unfinished businesses" that must be accomplished "if Wisconsin is to regain its reputation as a progressive and innovative state."
Of course, Freddie, some might think that your 1940's "thoughts" of "progress" are in fact retrograde.
More on Obama to Come?
Apparently there's a bit more yet to come on Obama. (You might have to wait quite some time for the site to load; it's taking quite a few hits.)
And the gig will be up when the Michelle tape hits the airwaves. One source described how this tape was acquired. Let’s just say that one of the republican candidates who is no longer in the race, but had a dandy oppo research capability, uncovered this gem. If Republican poohbahs have their way the tape will remain on ice until October. But when it comes out, Barack will be permanently branded with the Nation of Islam. That’s not a winning platform in November. And Barack’s bundlers understand this threat. I also have learned some major financial backers are asking the Barack team about the tape and are being stonewalled. It is a wild card in the political campaign that has not yet played out.
And it's not Obama; it's Michelle (my Belle) who is featured, along with Farrakhan.
On the other hand: it was Roger Stone who 'revealed' this--on Geraldo.
HT: Vox
And the gig will be up when the Michelle tape hits the airwaves. One source described how this tape was acquired. Let’s just say that one of the republican candidates who is no longer in the race, but had a dandy oppo research capability, uncovered this gem. If Republican poohbahs have their way the tape will remain on ice until October. But when it comes out, Barack will be permanently branded with the Nation of Islam. That’s not a winning platform in November. And Barack’s bundlers understand this threat. I also have learned some major financial backers are asking the Barack team about the tape and are being stonewalled. It is a wild card in the political campaign that has not yet played out.
And it's not Obama; it's Michelle (my Belle) who is featured, along with Farrakhan.
On the other hand: it was Roger Stone who 'revealed' this--on Geraldo.
HT: Vox
Dona Nobis Pacem, and Dona Ei, Elisabeth
About 125 current and former members of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus showed up on Saturday to sing at Elisabeth Witte's funeral. (Fully one-third of the group were former members, some traveling more than 100 miles to pay their respect.)
All had but one gift to give her--their vocal ability.
Doctors, lawyers, teachers, workmen, moms, dads, Lutherans, Catholics, UCC'ers, Jews, Democrats, Republicans, straights, and homosexuals--a unity of minds and souls in one very diverse group of people.
In that unity of sorrow and respect for Lis, the Chorus performed Part 4 of Brahms' German Requiem (Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wonungen) and the last chorus of the Bach B-Minor Mass (Dona Nobis Pacem.)
The church was packed, with extra chairs set up in the vestibule and a number of people who had to stand. None understood Dr. Gerhard Witte's act, but all understood that Lis is now relieved of the burdens she carried.
Another very big heart and smile has met her Maker. Pray for us, Lis, that we may overcome this sad parting.
All had but one gift to give her--their vocal ability.
Doctors, lawyers, teachers, workmen, moms, dads, Lutherans, Catholics, UCC'ers, Jews, Democrats, Republicans, straights, and homosexuals--a unity of minds and souls in one very diverse group of people.
In that unity of sorrow and respect for Lis, the Chorus performed Part 4 of Brahms' German Requiem (Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wonungen) and the last chorus of the Bach B-Minor Mass (Dona Nobis Pacem.)
The church was packed, with extra chairs set up in the vestibule and a number of people who had to stand. None understood Dr. Gerhard Witte's act, but all understood that Lis is now relieved of the burdens she carried.
Another very big heart and smile has met her Maker. Pray for us, Lis, that we may overcome this sad parting.
HRC, Pandering in Montana: Guns Are Fine!!
Just co-incidence that her campaign is in Montana, right?
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton told Montana reporters Friday that she no longer favors national handgun registration and licensing, even as she supports such measures in her adopted state of New York.
"What I came out for was the New York law," the U.S. senator said in a noon conference call Friday. "I don't think there is any contradiction between defending Second Amendment rights and trying to keep guns out of the hands of" criminals and the mentally ill.
Uh-huh. Slick, by the way, inserting that 'criminals and mentally ill' thing in there.
At this point, of course, she's irrelevant--unless Obamamamamama installs her as the AG.
HT: Of Arms
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton told Montana reporters Friday that she no longer favors national handgun registration and licensing, even as she supports such measures in her adopted state of New York.
"What I came out for was the New York law," the U.S. senator said in a noon conference call Friday. "I don't think there is any contradiction between defending Second Amendment rights and trying to keep guns out of the hands of" criminals and the mentally ill.
Uh-huh. Slick, by the way, inserting that 'criminals and mentally ill' thing in there.
At this point, of course, she's irrelevant--unless Obamamamamama installs her as the AG.
HT: Of Arms
Angelina Jolie in Real Life
Not all that much different from the picture above.
Angelina Jolie has a gun - and she's not afraid to use it.
The pregnant mother of four told the U.K.'s Daily Mail that she owns guns similar to the ones she used in "Tomb Raider."
Jolie and partner Brad Pitt are not against having weapons in their house for security reasons, she says.
"If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them," she said.
Well. That makes her my kinda gal, to quote John Lott.
Festivals and Police Overtime
At some point, it might make sense to ask the simple question:
"What's the actual benefit to holding 'festivals' which require significant police department overtime?"
Of course, that assumes somebody wants to make sense.
"What's the actual benefit to holding 'festivals' which require significant police department overtime?"
Of course, that assumes somebody wants to make sense.
Police Overtime and Summer Festivals
At some point in time, somebody's going to ask the question:
"Do we REALLY need 'festivals' which simply pile up police overtime costs?"
What's the economics here, folks?
"Do we REALLY need 'festivals' which simply pile up police overtime costs?"
What's the economics here, folks?
Sub-Prime Borrowers
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