John Adams sized up the Constitution as suitable “only for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” To some extent, this is true of every body of law. People can change the law, after all, or rebel against it entirely. The Constitution can be altered by amendment, so even if America had remained utterly faithful to the | Read More »
On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech discuss the White House effort to delay Medicaid cuts it included in Obamacare and how this impacts the states.
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CISPA continues to remain the big story right now. It’s moving on, though some are concerned that it was effectively renegotiated in back room meetings. It needs scrutiny before passage, I’m thinking. It’s probably a decent but watered-down bill at this point, but let’s look before supporting at this point. We need a good cybersecurity bill, not just any old thing.
Which is exactly what Jay Rockefeller is up to: flailing about, expanding government willy-nilly, in the name of cybersecurity. The SEC? Doing Cybersecurity? Insane.
I like the idea of the Internet Freedom bill, though. The global trend is away from freedom online, and it’s up to us to try to do something about it. The idea that the bill would hurt Net Neutrality is just a bonus.
Read More »People can’t quite figure out Kim Jung Un. They couldn’t quite figure out the last Kim either – or the one before that. The North Koreans have a cyclical pattern or making loud threats against the US and South Korean until they get paid and then they recline until the next time they’ve driven their society into another ditch.
Each new crisis results in two diametrically opposed opinions. One goes that the North Koreans are bluffing once more and suggests we should just ask them how it will cost this time to make them pipe down. Guy Somerset posts an article in Takimag that represents this school of thought. He holds King Jung Un in contempt from his opening paragraph.
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Missouri State Senator Kurt Schaefer confirmed today that the Missouri Highway Department did in fact share confidential CCW lists with the federal government in violation of Missouri law. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has twice turned over the entire list of Missouri concealed weapon permit holders to federal authorities, most recently in January, Sen. Kurt Schaefer said Wednesday. Questioning in the Senate Appropriations Committee revealed that on | Read More »
At least a dozen members of Congress have signed a letter demanding the Secretary of the Army rescind and apologize for a briefing that labeled Evangelical Christians and Catholics as religious extremist groups, sources on Capitol Hill tell me. “This is astonishing and offensive,” read a draft of the letter written by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO). “We call on you to rescind this briefing and | Read More »
House Bill 1135 (HB 1135), which would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote in Colorado, has turned into a one-sided attempt by Democrats to boost youth registration in the state despite proponents’ claims of bipartisanship with a goal of fair and accessible elections. While over 85 individual lobbyists and consulting groups have signed on to HB 1135, the only supporters of the bill | Read More »
Elizabeth COLBERT Busch, who if you must know is like OMG Becky she’s Stephen Colbert’s sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!, is taking money from groups who are opposed to Boeing making the 787 in South Carolina. That’s not playing well. She tried to deflect it by pointing out Mark Sanford got contributions from the same unions. Except . . . well . . . it was actually Sanford Bishop | Read More »
Tucked into the morass of accounting fraud and tax increases that form the bulk of President Obama’s 2014 budget proposal is an endorsement of “chained CPI,” a new way of using the Consumer Price Index to calculate inflation. It’s one of the few truly serious elements of Obama’s otherwise delusional budget and its $744 billion deficit. (But that’s only half the size of the last | Read More »
Until recently, taxes and guns were the two issues that served as the glue to bind together Republicans of all stripes. They were the two issues that even feckless elected-Republicans could be counted on to hold the line and stand with conservatives. But over the past few years, Obama and the Democrats have gotten Republicans to break their impervious opposition to tax increases by supporting | Read More »
Oh, this was Maggie to a T. Short version: There was a Swedish interviewer once who had a gag where she asked her interviewees to jump (a perfectly harmless gag, mind you). When the interviewer had Margaret Thatcher on, Thatcher downright refused to jump on cue. Cheerfully. Without apology. The word ‘puerile’ was used. As Maggie put it: I made great leaps forward, not little | Read More »
In his own words, President Obama said, “We don’t have a spending problem,” and “We do not have an immediate debt crisis.” No wonder his budget proposal continues the same old government gravy train with absolutely no regard for the next generation of taxpayers. The nation is $17 trillion in debt. Under President Obama’s budget, we’ll see deficits increase close to $100 trillion over the | Read More »
I just talked to someone familiar with the Toomey-Manchin proposal who raises a serious concern based on his understanding of the legislation. Everyone on all sides agrees that we need better help for those with mental health problems who need treatment. Unfortunately, the person I talked with is concerned that the Toomey-Manchin proposal could discourage people from getting help. The proposal will allow a doctor | Read More »
When Democrats passed the assault weapons ban in 1994 it didn’t prevent further gun-related crime or stop the Columbine massacre. Connecticut’s own assault weapons ban, still in place, did nothing to prevent Adam Lanza from committing theft (another crime) to illegally posses a gun that he used illegally. The small matter that stealing his mother’s guns was a crime in the first place did nothing to deter | Read More »
Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin are going to release their compromise at 11:00 a.m. Arlen Specter would be so proud of Pat Toomey giving the Republicans cover to go left. Toomey and Manchin will spend some time making sure everyone knows what their proposal will not do. For example, they are going to be pushing hard that the proposal won’t ban any guns, won’t take | Read More »
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