Thursday, August 19, 2010

Why Wasn’t United States v. Arizona Filed in the Supreme Court from the Outset?

Volokh Conspiracy "1. A federal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1251, provides that:"
(a) The Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction of all controversies between two or more States.
(b) The Supreme Court shall have original but not exclusive jurisdiction of:
(1) All actions or proceedings to which ambassadors, other public ministers, consuls, or vice consuls of foreign states are parties;
(2) All controversies between the United States and a State; (Emphasis added)
(3) All actions or proceedings by a State against the citizens of another State or against aliens.
In other words, the US did not have to go through lower courts first. That's significant, but I don't know why.

With a Whimper or a Bang — or Not at All?

Victor Davis Hanson "I don’t believe America is in inevitable decline or will falter, but I am starting to see things, superficially, that I have not observed in the past."....
"So the problems are solvable, given the natural and human strengths of the United States. I end with some eccentric suggestions that would have far more positive repercussions than we think."...
"...7.Insist on a national exit test for BA degrees. A simple test of common knowledge would do. When Johnny does not know what the Parthenon is, but thinks Harriet Tubman, not Grant and Sherman, won the Civil war, we are in deep trouble."...

Blago Holdout Juror Involved in Chicago Politics, Big Fan of NPR, Liberal Talk Radio

Big Government "Jurors who have been interviewed so far will not identify the juror, other than to say the juror was a female.
"FOX Chicago News reported that speculation is centering on juror Jo Ann Chiakulas of Willowbrook, after a second-hand acquaintance said that she has been saying for weeks that she would find Blagojevich not guilty."

Sources tell CBS 2 News that the holdout juror is Jo Ann Chiakulas, a retired state employee.

Politics or Civility?

Inside Higher Ed "...You know the stories -- mocked for displaying the American flag or a Ronald Reagan bust, shouted down for suggesting that that Iraq war is just, always in fear of earning a low grade for criticizing affirmative action or some other widely held belief among the left-leaning campus majority.
"Research presented here Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association affirmed that many conservative students feel that way, but also that many do not -- and that the latter group in fact thrive on the very campuses that tend to be portrayed as hostile to them."

Why 'Atlas Shrugged' is flying off the bookshelves (Updated)

Infidel Bloggers Alliance "What happened in Ayn Rand's narrative is coming to pass today, with an anti-business administration reviling private industry, capitalizing on crisis to expand and redirect investment within and between sectors of the economy -- setting quotas, prices and compensation. Businesses responded by retrenching -- ceasing to invest, innovate and expand. Whole industries contracted, closed down, or moved offshore; much like the U.S. gas and oil drilling industry is doing today. Then, just as now, management became frustrated and discouraged, reluctant to create jobs in an environment of excessive government meddling."

Atlas Shrugged, the book:  "The protagonist, Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity. In their efforts, these "men of the mind" hope to demonstrate that a world in which the individual is not free to create is doomed, that civilization can not exist where men are slave to society and government, and that the destruction of the profit motive leads to the collapse of society." Wikipedia.

Jon Stewart Rips Fox's GOP Contribution, Ignores Viacom's Dem Donations

Newsbusters "Unfortunately, Stewart failed to inform his viewers that Viacom, the parent company of Comedy Central, has so far given disproportionately to Democrats this year.
"Also missing in the "Daily Show" host's attack of FNC and Glenn Beck was that News Corp. prior to this contribution had historically given more to Democrats than Republicans."

Letter from a Pearl Harbor survivor to President Obama

Congress.org Corroborated by Snopes.com :
"...You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.
Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes

TYRANNY! PELOSI STYLE

Neal Boortz "It's well past time to put down the People magazines, turn off Inside Edition, forget Snookie, put the sports section aside for later ... and start paying attention to what is happening to us!"....
"The very idea that this hideous woman would call for an investigation of people, like the 911 Families, who oppose this Islamic monument to terror should be enough to turn every decent American into a fuming zealot dedicated to removing her from office. Unfortunately her constituency consists of tired old hippies, dedicated anti-capitalists and elitist footstools who are so impressed with their own liberalism that they've lost touch with anything resembling reality long, long ago."

Why it is better to run as a Democrat

American Thinker "As long you are a Democrat, you are good to go. However, if you are a Republican, the odds are that media reports will endlessly be against you, while your colleagues jump atop of each other to push you under the bus. "
 In televised debates, Democrats will be asked to share their wisdom from on high; Republicans will be grilled as suspects.

The Age of Entitlements Must End

Heritage "The Heritage Foundation’s Solutions for America chapter on The Entitlement Crisis recommends:"....
"President Obama told his supporters in Columbus yesterday that Social Security only needs “some modest adjustments in order to strengthen it.” It is exactly this type of head-in-the-sand denialism that has caused the vast majority of Americans to believe that our nation is “pretty seriously off on the wrong track.” Ending this country’s entitlement mentality is not just an economic challenge, but a moral one. It is simply wrong to make unsustainable promises to today’s adults by shackling our children and grandchildren with crippling debt or heavy taxes."

Radical Islam's conquest of America (Updated)

Washington Times "It is not coincidental that the mosque's name, Cordoba House, takes after the city in southern Spain that marked one of radical Islam's greatest conquests in Europe during the Middle Ages. Cordoba was a major center in the global caliphate being erected by the rampaging Islamists of the time - the very caliphate that Osama bin Laden and his allies seek to restore. A giant mosque was built upon the ruins of a Catholic church. For Islamists, erecting mosques on defeated territories is a sign of subjugation - the submission of infidels to Allah's rule."

One more reason (as if you needed it) to oppose Ground Zero mosque "The New York Post is reporting that Iran may help fund the mosque overlooking Ground Zero:"...Rick Moran

MORE ON THE MOSQUE OUTRAGE "While you may be a voter who votes in November solely based on a politician's stance on the mosque in NYC, don't forget that these people will have a direct affect on other aspects of your life. Make sure you know who you are putting into office in November. Look what happened last time we had people voting based on slogans and single issues ...." Neal Boortz.


The Cynical Brilliance of Imam Rauf "To the radical Islamists, a mosque rising near Ground Zero well before a new World Trade Center is constructed is a message of Islamic triumphalism — in the long tradition of minarets on the conquered Santa Sophia in Istanbul, the eighth-century Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem rising on the site of the destroyed Jewish Second Temple, and the great mosque at Cordoba retrofitted from the gutted Christian Church of St. Vincent. Again, there are thousands of sites in New York where another mosque could be built; but without the Ground Zero resonance, the irony would be lost." Victor Davis Hanson

Please, No More Teachable Moments

Victor Davis Hanson "We have learned that President Obama has a bad habit of impugning the motives of those with whom he disagrees. In the Gates case, he rushed to condemn Crowley and the police. Arizonans were not to be seen as desperate citizens trying to enforce federal law, but instead derided as bigots who harass minorities when they go out to get ice cream. And in the mosque case, the president disingenuously implied that opponents of a Ground Zero mosque wanted to deny the legal right of Muslims to build religious centers."....
"Obama has spent most of his life around academics, lawyers, journalists and organizers. That insular culture tends to pontificate and lecture others far more than do action-oriented business people, soldiers, doctors and farmers -- the doers who are few and far between in this administration."

Obama Enters Another Controversy  "It is becoming apparent for all to see that a man who has made his name as a community organizer does not have the skills to be president of these United States."...."... It is above the pay grade of a community organizer. That is what our president is. Increasingly, it is clear that the Democrats brought down on the country a community organizer as president. Maybe in the future, they will consider experience a qualification for the presidency. Possibly the age of charisma is behind us. Possibly Obama even lacks that dubious quality." Emmett Tyrrell.