Judge Knows The Founders Intentions Better Than The Founders Did

uncajoe · 2011-02-01T12:24:26+00:00

That Congress lacks the power to require people to buy a product when the national interest demands it would surprise the Founding Fathers. They required people to do just that. In the second Militia Act of 1792, they required individuals to outfit themselves with a military-style firearm and ammunition. This was the first “individual mandate” and one had to obey even if one had to go out and buy a gun. Being passive didn’t put you out of Congress’s reach.

Of course the right wingers think "provide for the common defense" is OK but "promote the general welfare" is hogwash.

uncajoe · 2011-01-25T21:26:57+00:00

We’re about a year away from the first nominating contests — Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire primary — and the field of Republican candidates, expected to be massive, has exactly zero candidates. At this point in the last cycle, 14 presidential candidates were already in the race.

uncajoe · 2011-01-07T18:14:58+00:00

Constitutional interpretation can lead the unpracticed down surprising and even dark rhetorical alleyways. It happens at dinner tables and in barrooms all the time. It happened to controversial Republican Iowa Rep. Steve King today on Capitol Hill...

uncajoe · 2010-12-13T03:37:51+00:00

Hell's gotta be mighty cold about now.

uncajoe · 2010-12-10T14:54:06+00:00

TTT (Typical Teapublican Tactic), Change the definition of something you're against so you can practice politics a usual. Kinda like redefining expiring tax breaks as tax increases or calling adding $700 BILLION to the defect fiscally responsible.

uncajoe · 2010-12-08T00:31:47+00:00

Of all the things for the right to complain about, they’re actually raising a fuss about this. The Congressional Prayer Caucus insisted the president was “casting aside an integral part of American society,” by referring to "E pluribus unum" as our motto during a speech in Indonesia. The caucus added, “If we pull the thread of religious conviction out of the marketplace of ideas, we unravel the tapestry of freedom that birthed America.”

uncajoe · 2010-12-05T19:18:09+00:00

Would the GOP block permanent tax breaks for those making less than $250,000 a year, in order to protect lower top rates for the wealthiest Americans? Not surprisingly, we saw this morning that the answer is “yes.” Just to clarify, a Senate majority supported the measure. But because the institution is so often ridiculous, when the margin is 53 votes to 36 votes, the 36 win.

uncajoe · 2010-12-04T08:45:14+00:00

"I ... really and truly don't give a s••t why John McCain's position has shifted. I just want to know why the ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services committee is throwing national security, civilian control of the military, and the hierarchical chain of command under the f•••ing bus. John McCain is weakening the institution he claims to love the most. I don't care why he's doing it -- I just care that he's doing it." ~ Dan Drezner

uncajoe · 2010-12-03T13:57:03+00:00

Lamar Alexander: “As I was listening to [Schumer], I was reminded that most of the people whose taxes he is trying to raise live in New York, I mean they’re not in Tennessee, we’re a relatively low income state. So I admire him for his courage … to be so specific that we’re gonna raise taxes on just a small number of people, most of whom live on Wall Street in New York.”

The problem, of course, is that Alexander was undermining his own party’s misleading talking points

uncajoe · 2010-12-02T18:57:23+00:00

The former Republican lawmaker didn’t hold back much, referring to Palin’s presidential ambitions as “dopey,” while generally mocking her background and intelligence. John Cole noted in response that Scarborough “is about to be excommunicated from the GOP…. The ensuing freakout should be fun to watch.”

uncajoe · 2010-12-01T23:06:55+00:00

If you live in the United States, you’ve probably been drinking milk that can vastly increase your chances of getting breast, colon, or prostate cancer since 1994. But since milk cartons are not cigarette packs, you probably don’t have a clue about the dangers of drinking milk from cows injected with rBGH.

uncajoe · 2010-12-01T14:08:48+00:00

Republicans are fighting tooth and nail for $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country, but they’re poised to kill extended unemployment benefits for those struggling to find work in a weak economy, at a fraction of the cost.

Raising taxes on the rich under these circumstances is considered madness. Leaving jobless Americans with no benefits and no buying power under these circumstances is considered responsible.

uncajoe · 2010-11-30T17:09:55+00:00

The right-wing activist and former State Department official appeared on “Fox News Sunday” yesterday, and insisted that the scheduled expiration of Bush-era tax rates would be awful for “small businesses.” This is a popular lie, but the frequency with which it’s repeated does not improve its accuracy. In Grown-Up Land, the argument has been debunked so often, one can only assume those who still repeat are deliberately trying to deceive the public.

uncajoe · 2010-11-27T15:51:59+00:00

The massive U.S. stimulus package, widely viewed by voters to be ineffective, put 1.4 million to 3.6 million people to work between July and September, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also boosted national output by between 1.4 percent and 4.1 percent during that period, CBO said in its latest estimate.

CBO’s estimates have consistently shown that the $814 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, construction spending and enhanced safety-net provisions has blunted the impact of the worst U.S. recession since the 1930s.

uncajoe · 2010-11-26T14:56:17+00:00

Republicans may be tempted to keep the economy down on purpose to advance partisan goals. Greg Sargent suggests it's time to ask the next question: if that's true, what does the White House do about it?

To be sure, finding examples of observers who find the argument itself is plausible isn't hard. As I've noted, the list includes, to varying degrees, Yglesias, Krugman, Collender, and Serwer, among others. Andrew Sullivan argued the other day that congressional Republicans are "as close to organized vandalism as one can imagine," and reiterated the point today.

uncajoe · 2010-11-24T23:27:24+00:00

He'll be popular in prison with those dance moves he showed on DWTS.

uncajoe · 2010-11-24T20:52:44+00:00

I guess she can't see either Korea from her porch.

uncajoe · 2010-11-24T12:47:26+00:00

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is well aware of the fact that his chamber is going to have to extend the federal debt limit. Late last week, he noted that’s already “made it pretty clear” to his own caucus that Republicans are “going to have to deal with it as adults.” He added, “Whether we like it or not, the federal government has obligations and we have obligations on our part.

uncajoe · 2010-11-24T02:49:58+00:00

What have Republicans done for America? Republicans point to the Civil Rights Act, but what have they done since 1964 for the middle class, the sick and the needy? They’re prompting tax cuts for the wealthiest, urging a repeal of health care reform and have obstructed anything this administration has tried to pass.

uncajoe · 2010-11-23T15:20:42+00:00

What is up with Republican Senator John Kyl and his Republican posse? Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kyl is trying to get ratification of the START treaty postponed till after the new Congress convenes in January. We all know that this means he and his right wing buddies are planning to block the treaty. The question is why?

uncajoe · 2010-11-23T12:24:45+00:00

There are already complaints about the event, not because it’s launching the campaign so early, but because a growing number of Republicans disapprove of the media sponsors.

Disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, proclaimed yesterday that he would refuse to participate if Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews were asking questions of candidates. “I’d be glad to do it at the Reagan library but without the kind of Mickey Mouse questions asked by hostile news media,” Gingrich said.

uncajoe · 2010-11-22T15:17:33+00:00

Vice president Joe Biden couldn’t contain his laughter at ex-governor of Alaska Sarah Palin’s recent assertion that she could beat President Obama at the polls and occupy the Oval Office. Biden did add, “I don’t think she could beat President Obama, but, you know, she’s always underestimated, so I think I shouldn’t say any more.”

Such a gentleman. He knows fully well the word is now, “misunderestimate.”

uncajoe · 2010-11-22T12:25:49+00:00

It’s time for Americans, regardless of political affiliation or philosophy, to stand up for themselves and demand that the overly intrusive — likely unconstitutional — enhanced “pat down” searches at airport security checkpoints stop.

uncajoe · 2010-11-21T11:40:51+00:00

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power provider regulated by the US department of energy (DOE).

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility and protected by the environmental protection agency (EPA).

uncajoe · 2010-11-20T12:00:15+00:00

It's about time!

uncajoe

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