I know Nancy Pelosi doesn't think much of the Constitution, seeing it as an obstruction to creating a truly socialist state much like that of the old Soviet Union, but even she must realize that certain portions of the ObamaCare/PelosiCare bill she rammed down the throats of the House are unconstitutional. Not that she'll let that stop her. After all “the people” must be coerced into doing things she and her fellow socialists have decided is for the good of all, even if it will have just the opposite effect.
Democrats' health bills depend on forcing individuals to buy insurance or face severe fines or imprisonment. In 1994, the Congressional Budget Office said forcing individuals to buy insurance would be "an unprecedented form of federal action," adding: "The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States."
This year, the Congressional Research Service delicately said "it is a novel issue whether Congress may use the (Commerce) Clause to require an individual to purchase a good or service." Congress has the constitutional power to "regulate commerce ... among the several states." But a Federalist Society study by Peter Urbanowicz and Dennis Smith judges it perverse to exercise coercion under the Commerce Clause "on an individual who chooses not to undertake a commercial transaction." As Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says, there is "a fundamental difference between regulating activities in which individuals choose to engage" -- e.g, drivers can be required to buy auto insurance -- "and requiring such activities" just because an individual exists.
When asked whether any compulsory insurance purchases are constitutional, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was genuinely astonished: "Are you serious? Are you serious?" In 1803, in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote, "The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken, or forgotten, the Constitution is written." He was serious.
Nancy's reaction to the question illustrates either her ignorance of what the Constitution actually says or her willful choice to ignore it in favor of her own agenda and the American people's rights be damned.
Should the awful and onerous ObamaCare/PelosiCare bill become law I hope it will be challenged on constitutional grounds and struck down for being overreaching and in violation of the Constitution. But we can't count on such a thing happening. Therefore we must strive to let our Senators know how displeased we are with this legislation because we know its a disingenuous attempt to do an end run around the people's wishes, a flagrant attempt to violate the Constitution, and a blueprint for medical and financial disaster.
As John Stossel writes, it's not the taxes that are the problem, it's the spending.
Last week on "The O'Reilly Factor", we talked about California's and New York's enormous budget deficits and planned tax increases. Those states would have big surpluses had they just grown their governments in pace with inflation. But of course they didn't. Now the politicians act like their current deficits are something imposed on them by the recession.
But that's nonsense. They created the problem with their reckless spending.
--snip--
O'Reilly told me that America is ready for a tax revolt. I hope he's right. But I don't think it will happen until more people see the ruling elite for what it is: a gang of arrogant bullies that has the audacity to believe that they know how to direct our lives better than we do.
That's why, bad as the taxes are, I'm more upset about ObamaCare, Medicare, the "stimulus," the auto bailout, the bank bailouts, the Fannie/Freddie bailouts, the trillions in guarantees, and on and on.
The need for all those extra taxes would be reduced if government at state and federal level could get their spending under control. For the most part that's not going to happen because far too many of those in power like to “bring home the bacon” regardless of the actual costs to their constituents. Only those states forced to address their spending issues, like California, New York, New Jersey, and Michigan, to name a few, will actually have the opportunity to trim spending by billions of dollars. They won't have a choice because if they don't cut spending higher taxes won't fill the empty coffers and the states will face bankruptcy. They simply don't have the money to pay for all those really 'neat things' everyone thought they could afford during the good times. But the good times are gone and with them, the revenues the states had gotten used to having.
To paraphrase James Carville, “It's the spending, stupid!”
It wasn't the review itself that made me want to do so. It was the comments made of the review by those still suffering from PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) that moved me in that direction.
Not one of those commenting that posted negative reviews of the review itself had actually read Palin's tome. Not one of them posted anything that was any different from the same tired and long discredited tripe they wrote before the 2008 elections. Not one of them posted anything original. Just about every negative comment was a retread. No original thought was required. Only hatred, envy, and disdain made it into the comments.
So much for polite discourse or agreement to disagree.
The pathological hatred of Palin displayed by the Left is disturbing. It goes beyond all reason. (Yes, I know. I'm trying to ascribe reason to those showing absolutely none whatsoever.) It shows the old saying is true – We Hate That Which We Fear. The Left must be truly scared of Sarah Palin.
Yesterday was one of those not-much-got-done days. With the heavy rains and the feeling of lethargy that kind of weather tends to bring. Other than a trip to the local Lowe's and WalMart, we really didn't do all that much yesterday. This is the first real rain we've had this month and Mother Nature more than made up for the deficit yesterday.
At least today will be a nice day, allowing us to take care of more of our pre-winter work outside The Manse. We even let the fire go out in the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove, it was that nice a day.
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While President Obama dithers about Afghanistan, troop morale there is plummeting. Between long and repetitive tours of duty and a Commander-in-Chief incapable of making a decision in regards to their mission, is it any wonder morale is deteriorating?
It all comes down to this: “Mr. President, make the g**d*** decision!”
The longer he waffles, the harder it will get for our troops and the stronger the Taliban will become.
He's starting sound and act more like Jimmy Carter every day.
What happens when supporters of Obama/PelosiCare hold a rally and no one shows?
When the anti-Obama/PelosiCare rallies turn out hundreds or thousands and pro-Obama/PelosiCare rallies can only scare up a couple of dozen, one has to wonder if Congressional Democrats' claims of broad support of Obama/PelosiCare refelct reality to any degree.
I'd have to say the answer to that is a resounding 'no'.
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I have to admit to thinking the same thing as these folks on more than one occasion. I may have even thought it out loud. I'll even admit to thinking it far more often over the past few years.
Every year since he was 13, Henry Ladd Sr. has hunted deer, moose, bear and whatever else the forest provides. And each year, like clockwork, Ladd has hung the catch in front of his home, where it was gutted and drained of blood before the meat was cut.
That was until last week, when a neighbor who spotted a hanging doe called the police to complain about Ladd, who is now 81.
For the police, the call was a minor animal complaint, just one of many on Oct. 31, according to Sgt. Margaret Lougee. An officer spoke to Ladd, but there was nothing illegal about using his own property to process venison.
However, the idea that a neighbor would not understand a hunting tradition the Ladds have passed on for 68 years left a foul taste in their mouths.
"Did you tell them to go back to Massachusetts? That's what we do up here," Henry Ladd Jr., 43, recalled saying to the officer.
(emphasis added – ed.)
One thing that's always bothered me has been the folks moving up here to New Hampshire from Massachusetts and then trying turn their new home town into a clone of the very place they fled. As I've said to the them more than once, “If the place you came from was so damn good then why don't you go back there?”
Until they start speaking out, their silence will be taken as tacit approval of the actions of the militant jihadist factions within Islam.
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Obama has tripled the national deficit in less than a year yet Bush is still given the blame for everything regarding the economy. I still can't fathom the idea that people still believe the government can spend tons of money we don't have yet that such spending will somehow 'cure' the recession. That might work in the short term, but once the bill comes due the damage will be worse than the original problem.
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There certainly was a lot of hullabaloo about the possible federal bailout of a number of failing newspapers, which many feared would mean a media beholden to the government (specifically the Obama Administration) making them de facto propaganda arms of the government. But it turns out it wasn't the feds we had to worry about. Instead it was the Executive Council of the state of New Hampshire that voted unanimously to approve a bailout for a local failed newspaper in the western part of the state. This move was so out of character that it received coverage on Glenn Beck's show on Fox.
The statewide newspaper, the Union Leader of Manchester, NH is against the idea because it sets a bad precedent.
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Speaking of a bad precedent, the idea of using GPS in vehicles to allow taxation by mileage has two effects:
New London, N.H., police have arrested 105 students at a party where officers say underage youths were drinking.
Police said 91 of the youths arrested Friday night are from Colby-Sawyer College. Police said 55 students were charged with alcohol possession after their blood-alcohol levels registered at 0.02 percent or higher. The rest were released to their parents.
What lesson will these college students learn from this incident?
Don't let your kegger get so loud the police can hear it from the police station.
That would be a real kick in the teeth if the GOP takes the seat.
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The New England Patriots played a late game against the Colts in Indianapolis tonight. As I write this the game is tied 7-7 in the first quarter.
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BeezleBub and I finished cleaning out the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, removing the cushions, life jackets, tools, anchors, and just about everything else not otherwise attached. We also started assembling the winter storage frame, used to support the large tarp we use to shelter the boat over the winter. But unlike past years where we used store-bought lumber, we decided to use the materials we had at hand.
If you read last week's Thoughts On A Sunday I mentioned we were cutting brush around The Manse. There were a lot smaller trees Beezlebub downed that were originally destined for the burn pile or the wood pile. Instead we're using them to build the frame. On top of that we aren't using any metal fasteners (screws or nails) to put it together. Everything is being held together with wooden pegs and sisal rope (the only item we bought). The pegs have been fashioned from the smaller tree limbs trimmed from the trees taken down last week.
While it isn't beautiful it will serve the purpose for which it was constructed – protect The Boat.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather was warm, the stove has been allowed to go cold, and where our boat will soon be under cover for the winter.
It appears the budget deficit is going to be bigger than either the White House or the Congressional Budget Office had predicted.
That's not surprising considering federal revenues were 18% below projections. At least it didn't surprise me considering Congress and the White House ignored the Law of Diminishing Returns: Once you raise taxes and fees above a certain point the amount of revenue you collect will fall. It's a perfect example of the Laffer Curve in action.
On the other hand government spending hasn't dropped off nearly enough (only about 3%) to make up for the revenue shortfall. I have no doubt Congress will act to correct the problem...by raising more taxes and fees. This will have the effect of causing an even greater falloff in revenue. Congress shouldn't be raising taxes during a deep recession. They also shouldn't be spending money we don't have, either. But I don't expect Congress or the White House to do the necessary things to stem this flood of red ink.
Here in New Hampshire the state is seeing a similar falloff in revenues, being short about $38 million so far. A number of people within the New Hampshire legislature warned that revenue projections were unrealistic, particularly in light of the hefty increase in taxes and fees. This is the second budget cycle where the Democrat dominated legislature overestimated revenues and used those projected revenue figures to increase state spending by amounts that far exceeded the inflation rate. Over four years state spending has increased by 30%, but revenues haven't come anywhere near to covering the larger expenditures.
The state ended it's last budget cycle (New Hampshire has a two-year budget) over $100 million in the red. The legislature still has that budget gap to fill and has been trying to do so by raiding $110 million in surplus insurance premiums being held by the state chartered Joint Underwriting Association, a private organization created by the state to ensure doctors, medical practices, hospitals, and other medical facilities and personnel could get malpractice insurance. So far the state has failed in its attempts to confiscate those funds. A Belknap Count judge ruled in a suit filed by the JUA that the state had no rights to those funds because the law that set up the Association states surplus funds must be returned to the policy holders, past and present. The judge also ruled the state had no other claims to the funds because the JUA is a private entity, particularly in light of the fact that no state funds or state personnel are used to administer the Association. The state disagreed and has taken the case to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
You know it's getting bad when the state legislature figures it can raid private funds to plug a budget gap. I believe that's called theft. Of course the Democrats in the legislature see it as monies being withheld from them by greedy doctors when the state can make far better use of that money. Never mind that state law says otherwise. Never mind that the money isn't theirs to begin with.
It's going to be interesting (in the old Chinese curse definition) to see how the financial situation at the federal and state level will play out.
As if we need another reminder why the US Supreme Court got it wrong in regards to the Kelo vs New London decision.
The aftermath of Kelo is the latest example of the futility of using eminent domain as corporate welfare. While Ms. Kelo and her neighbors lost their homes, the city and the state spent some $78 million to bulldoze private property for high-end condos and other "desirable" elements. Instead, the wrecked and condemned neighborhood still stands vacant, without any of the touted tax benefits or job creation.
New London may have won the case, but it lost the war, ending up with a part of the city now vacant and generating no tax revenue at all. Millions of dollars were spent and all the city has to show for it is a desolate section of the city that is now nothing but empty lots. So much for their grandiose plans.
One positive effect of Kelo vs New London: many states strengthened the limits of eminent domain with new laws or amendments to their state constitutions to prevent such abuses from happening again. Ironically, Connecticut was one of them.
Too bad it was too late to help the citizens/taxpayers of New London.
Here's another lesson can we take from the aftermath of Kelo that should act as a precautionary tale for those believing government is the answer to all our ills:
If there is a lesson from Connecticut's misfortune, it is that economic development that relies on the strong arm of government will never be the kind to create sustainable growth.
We've seen that far too often. As soon as the government money runs out, the growth stops or even reverses as the government funded/subsidized jobs end. Better that the private sector create sustainable growth if for no other reason that it also creates wealth and, in the end, more jobs.
While I'm at it, I might as well add insult to injury in regards to the the recently passed Pelosi Health Care Destruction bill.
While she has crowed her success into forcing the passage of an onerous and deceptive bill the American people don't want, at least one liberal has the courage to state exactly what Pelosi's health care reform legislation is really all about: making the American people more dependent on the US Government against their will...and not for their own good.
[John] Cassidy is more honest than the politicians whose dishonesty he supports. "The U.S. government is making a costly and open-ended commitment," he writes. "Let's not pretend that it isn't a big deal, or that it will be self-financing, or that it will work out exactly as planned. It won't. What is really unfolding, I suspect, is the scenario that many conservatives feared. The Obama Administration . . . is creating a new entitlement program, which, once established, will be virtually impossible to rescind."
Why are they doing it? Because, according to Mr. Cassidy, ObamaCare serves the twin goals of "making the United States a more equitable country" and furthering the Democrats' "political calculus." In other words, the purpose is to further redistribute income by putting health care further under government control, and in the process making the middle class more dependent on government. As the party of government, Democrats will benefit over the long run.
“Making the United States a more equitable country?” Who decides what is 'equitable'? And is equality as Obama and his minions define it really a good thing?
The answer to this last question is 'no', for Obama's equality has nothing to do with equality of opportunity and everything to do with outcome. We've seen such equality many times, both in the past and present, and it's nothing anyone should aspire to because all it really means is equality of misery.
Everyone will be equal...except of course the ruling elite. Nothing will be denied to them because, after all, they are more equal than the rest of us.
In making health care reform a misplaced priority, he and Pelosi and Reid have shown us what it is they really want to do is to make sure we are all good little proles on the hook to the 'benevolent' dictatorship that is The State. They have come to believe they know what's good for the masses better than we do, therefore they must control every aspect of our lives. Such is their arrogance. But like all statists their beliefs have one major flaw: they are no better at running our lives than they are their own. In fact, they are totally incapable of making our lives better by the means they have been pushing for all these decades. [/rant]
As more than one commenter to the Cassidy piece noted, the last thing we want to do is to be like everyone else.
We are the EXCEPTION. Who cares if the rest of the world has universal health care? The United States of America has been the exception since it was first created. What is sad is that we have idiots in our government who do not believe in American exceptionalism and think that we need to be just like the rest of the world. Did the founding fathers believe that we needed to be like Europe when we declared independence? NOOOOOOO!!! Why should we become like them now?
Look, we don't want a government run system that will give us mediocre care and only give the best care to the rich, famous, and the Washington elites. We want to be able to have choice. The healthcare legislation that the Democrats are trying to pass will not give us choice. It is designed to make private insurance obsolete and eventually put everyone on a government run system.
We already know how well such a system will run. Examples abound, both here and in other countries, showing us that they work well...if you aren't sick or hurt. Otherwise all bets are off. Do we really want a system like that?
Here's yet another story about how great ObamaCare/PelosiCare will be for the average American:
Some may say that this example and the one I posted yesterday are atypical of what occurs under Canada's socialized medical care system. But I know far too many friends north of the border that tell me it is all too typical. I've heard the same thing from friends in the UK about the NHS as well.
It's not often I will write or link to something emotional, something that brings tears to the eyes of even the most hard-hearted person. But I am this time.
It never ceases to amaze me how much effect our four-footed family members can have on us. It's also surprising how much we hurt when they hurt...and how much we grieve when they are taken from us.
If you want a preview of what ObamaCare/PelosiCare is going to be like, take a look at this:
The only problem we'll have is that we'll have no place to go to get the care we want, unlike our Canadian brethren do now. Hmm, maybe some of the more enterprising physicians in the US will move their practices offshore to one of the Caribbean islands in order to give the care we Americans will soon be deprived of by the oh-so-caring US Government.
It's been 'let's cut the brush out back' time here at the Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Manse this weekend.
While BeezleBub tackled the brush out back I took care of cleaning out the more noxious and tenacious brush that have invaded the front. While we could have done this during the summer months, it has turned out to be easier and more efficacious after the leaves have fallen. It's easier to remove the vegetation when we can actually see what we're working on.
While we haven't gotten it all done, we did make a major dent in our task. I figure we'll be at it for another couple of weekends before we can declare success.
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It was a nice warm day here in central New Hampshire today, with temps in the low 60's. It's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow and Tuesday. I'll take it. While we have been running at below normal temperatures since mid September, we are being graced with a few days of above normal temps. Then we'll be back into the colder than normal temperatures. But at least we won't need to run the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove during the day until Wednesday. That works for me.
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Late last night I saw Nancy Pelosi crowing her success in extorting and strong-arming enough Democrats to vote for her 1990+ page “Destruction of the American Health Care System and Daunting Deficit Spending To Pay For It All” bill. In my opinion it shows her delight in sending the US down the path of economic ruin for our health care system. The Speaker obviously has no understanding of economics and what motivates and demotivates people to do what they do when it comes to economic activity.
We know her intentions are good (after all, she says so), but we all know the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Unfortunately she will be dragging 300+ million Americans to Health Care Hell with her.
Now all we can hope for is the bill's failure to pass in the Senate. I'd like to think there will be enough opposition to kill it despite Harry Reid's arm twisting.
Obama praised this soul-killing bill as one “desperately needed by the American people.” Unfortunately he's wrong (or disingenuous). This isn't what was needed by anyone but him. What the American desperately need is for him to stop screwing around with the economy and to stop spending money we don't have.
Despite Americans’ decisive message last Tuesday that they reject the troubling path this country has been taking, Speaker Pelosi has broken her own promises of transparency to ram a health “care” bill through the House of Representatives just before midnight. Why did she push the 2,000 page bill this weekend? Was she perhaps afraid to give her peers and the constituents for whom she works the chance to actually read this monstrous bill carefully, if at all? Was she concerned that Americans might really digest the details of a bill that the Wall Street Journal has called “the worst piece of post-New Deal legislation ever introduced”?
I've turned manure piles at the farm that did't stink anywhere near as much as this socialist piece-of-crap legislation.
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You know it's bad for Obama when even the Chicago press is criticizing him for his reaction (or lack thereof) to the shootings in Fort Hood. Some have even called this his “My Pet Goat” moment. (For those of you out there not familiar with the reference, President George W. Bush was reading “My Pet Goat” to a bunch of elementary school students Down South when he received word of the first attack on the World Trade Center on September 11th. Some criticized him for not leaving immediately, possibly scaring the hell out of the kids, even though there was no definitive information about what had happened at that time.)
In a sign that the Obama honeymoon truly is over, I began to hear this week the first stirrings of a wistfulness about Mr Bush. "I never thought I'd hear myself say it," one Democrat told me. "But Obama makes you feel that at least with Bush you knew where he was on something."
You know Obama's luster has indeed faded when the cool demeanor he displayed during the presidential campaign is now being criticized because he's seen as too cool, too passionless.
When Mr Bush's Republicans were defeated in the 2006 mid-term elections, it was the President himself who stepped up and declared that his party had received "a thumpin'". The Democratic defeats on Tuesday were not on anything like the same scale but Mr Obama acted as if nothing at all had happened.
This sounds like denial, where someone will ignore an event or events in the hope that it will all go away all by itself.
Says Instapundit reader C.J. Burch, “Ah, but those middle class protesters are a threat to politicians’ power. Terrorists are just a threat to their constituents’ lives. See the difference?”
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One must wonder what the heck the Obama Administration thinks the First Amendment – and particularly Free Speech – means. From what I've been reading lately I get the impression they see it as something that should be greatly curtailed...unless someone is speaking in favor of something the Administration wants.
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If this were really the case:
I've always liked the VW's.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
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This is how President Obama should have handled the shootings at Ft. Hood.
Are we missing Dubya and Laura yet?
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The New England Patriots played the Miami Dolphins in Foxboro today, beating them 27-17. While still not perfect, the Patriots have shaped up nicely after a few stumbles at the beginning of the season.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where above normal temps are visiting for a few days, the depression over PelosiCare is setting in, and where ammo is still in short supply.
This is the back-up site to my main blog, Weekend Pundit. My original blog site hosted by Blogmosis since February 2003 is no more, apparently the victim of a fire back on 5/16/2008 where my web hosts sited their servers.
The new Weekend Pundit blog site is still a work in progress, but it's slowly getting where I want it to be.
If you have any comments to make on any posts on this back-up site, please go to the main Weekend Pundit blog to post them
