Thoughts On A Sunday

We're in store for a little more actual summer weather over the upcoming week, the first real batch of summer weather we've experienced rather than the day here/day there kind we've had so far. We haven't even had to install the window air conditioners so far...and it's the last week of July.

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Deb has returned to school in her first part of an effort to become an RN. As she put it, “I finally know what I want to be when I grow up!”

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Resistance ever more intrusive federal government mandates has been growing over the years, with over 37 states are working on resolutions that reaffirm their rights under the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution. Seven states have already passed Tenth Amendment resolutions. Alaska was the most recent state to pass such a resolution.

Both chambers of the Alaska State Legislature passed House Joint Resolution 27 without a single 'no' vote. The House vote was 37-0 (3 did not vote) and 40-0 in the Senate. Governor Sarah Palin signed the resolution on July 10th.

Alaska's HJR27 reads:

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”; and

WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS some federal actions weaken states’ rights protected by the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS the Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp; and

WHEREAS art. IV, sec. 4, Constitution of the United States, reads, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,” and the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people”; and

WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S.Ct. 2408 (1992), that the United States Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

WHEREAS all states, including Alaska, find themselves regularly facing proposals from the United States Congress that weaken states’ rights protected by the Tenth Amendment;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature hereby claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution serves as Notice and Demand to the federal government to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.

New Hampshire had the chance to pass its own resolution, House Continuing Resolution 6 (HCR6) during the present legislative session, but the Democrat majority New Hampshire House killed it, seeing it as “imprudent” to tie the hands of the federal government. Needless to say there were a lot of people in the state disappointed by the vote, seeing it as a vote for a more powerful and intrusive federal government at the expense of local control.

The failure of HCR6 hasn't deterred supporters from planning to resubmit the resolution during a future legislative session.

Of course the resolutions will have little effect upon a President and Congress that repeatedly ignores the US Constitution, at least when it comes to the Rule of Law and the need for bills being voted on to actually be written down before the vote.

Call me old fashioned, but I would think it's necessary for legislation representatives will be debating and voting on actually be written down somewhere.

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When I saw this post I almost spewed ice tea out of my nostrils. I particularly loved the second picture.

Note to Skip: You should give your readers a little more warning before showing us things like that! Put it 'below the fold' to give us a moment to prepare ourselves.

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This would be funny if it wasn't so true.

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Obama is finding out being a great orator is not enough to actually be President. He actually has to perform his duties, make difficult decisions, and “be there” when the nation needed him. But his history indicates he is more form than substance.

[W]hen he was at the HLR [Harvard Law Review – ed.] you did get a very distinct sense that he was the kind of guy who much more interested in being the president of the Review, than he was in doing anything as president of the Review.

A lot of the time he quote/unquote "worked from home", which was sort of a shorthand - and people would say it sort of wryly - shorthand for not really doing much. He just wasn't around. Most of the day to day work was carried out by the managing editor of the Review, my predecessor, a great guy called Tom Pirelli...

He's the one who did most of the day to day work. Barack Obama was nowhere to be seen. Occasionally he would drop in he would talk to people, and then he'd leave again as though his very arrival had been a benediction in and of itself, but not very much got done.

Sounds like Obama, alright.

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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I have no reason to doubt this.

Based on his policy positions it is apparent that the President is an economic illiterate. Because a person's economic and business philosophies are often the sum of their experiences, it should be expected that a background check would easily reveal what could be expected from a politician on economic issues. The problem with Barack Obama is that he has no background in promulgating important economic policy.

It would certainly explain things like the stimulus 'plan', cap-and-trade, and health care reform because the economics of these programs make no sense. When the CBO says the numbers don't add up it's a pretty good bet the numbers don't add up.

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We've been hearing about the concept of the Smart Grid, a highly automated electrical grid that would allow better use of existing generating facilities, transmission lines, switchyards, and substations.

As good an idea as it might be, there are questions about its vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks and EMP.

The prudent thing to do would be to harden our electrical grid against EMP and make sure the network controlling the Smart Grid is totally isolated from the Internet, a stand alone system for the electrical grid alone. That would make it far less vulnerable to cyber-attacks (unless it's an inside job). And while it's very difficult to protect the grid from EMP, it can be hardened so the recovery time is measured in minutes or hours rather than days, weeks, or years.

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It appears ACORN has met their match when it comes to their shilling Obama's health care destruction plan, being outnumbered 10-1 by Tea Party counter-protest participants.

ACORN and their new front group Act Now were pwned by Tea Party Patriots again on Long Island!

When they couldn’t win their arguments with facts, the ACORN employees tried to intimidate the Tea Party folks. No way that could work with dedicated Patriots! So ACORN cut and run when the going got tough, and repeated that sorry performance twice in one day.

It appears they don't like their own tactics used against them. What's worse for them is that they were outdone by a bunch of concerned Janes and Joes who have had enough of ACORN' and their messiah's b******t, particularly now that ACORN is beholden to the President because of his multibillion dollar taxpayer-funded 'gift'.

(H/T Pirate's Cove)

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Parting words from Sarah Palin: “Never apologize for our country!”

That's a lesson our President still needs to learn.

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I thought the idea was to encourage the use of alternative sources of electricity, like PV panels. Apparently someone didn't get the memo.

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I'd hoped to make it out on the lake sometime during the day today but the weather didn't cooperate, with showers and thundershowers making a trip out unlikely. The weather forecast predicts showers and thundershowers every afternoon over the next six days. This is the same pattern that plagued us all last summer, making after work boat trips problematic at best.

With the un-summerlike weather we've been experiencing, with cooler than normal temperatures and above normal rainfall, many of our usual summer activities have been difficult to enjoy. We've been experiencing weather more like that of the Pacific Northwest rather than New England. I expect we'll soon see moss growing on the roofs of houses much as I've seen happening in Washington state.

Does anyone want to tell me about global warming again?

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summer weather has been deranged, the boating has been less than optimal, and where we might actually get a chance to experience some actual summer...maybe. Sort of.