The Problem with Romney

Just ran into this opinion piece by Ann Coulter against Santorum...

THE PROBLEM WITH SANTORUM

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2012-02-29.html

Even when I agree with Rick Santorum, listening to him argue the point almost makes me change my mind. 

I also wonder why he's running for president, rather than governor, when the issues closest to his heart are family-oriented matters about which the federal government can, and should, do very little. 

It's strange that Santorum doesn't seem to understand the crucial state-federal divide bequeathed to us by the framers of our Constitution, inasmuch as it is precisely that difference that underlies his own point that states could ban contraception. 

Of course she is correct about the states having the legal authority that the Constitution does not provide the federal government... but the Feds have usurped that power with Obamacare.

One of the key reasons Santorum decided to run, and his wife concurred, is because their little girl would not exist in this world if she was conceived under Obamacare.  Neither would my nephew, in all likelihood.  Diagnosed in the womb with significant medical abnormalities, the parents would be given no choice but to abort.  Both children are 3 years old now.  Life matters.  Life is the miracle.

Yes, the state could institute policies, legally, that exert a control over healthcare and the personal decisions involved... but the people have a much better chance of preventing or eliminating those laws, because they are more local.  The Feds do not have that authority.  They have taken that authority unto themselves.  It must be resisted.  Obamacare must be overturned.

Romney has indeed done the opposite, and seized the power over medical decisions on behalf of the state.  He simply cannot understand the moral implications of his policies.  His candidacy is, very simply, corrupted by this.

CA Judges: Judge your Sexuality (and then tell us all about it!)

Soooo.... CA is now requiring their judges to tell their employer what sexual preference they identify... language too complicated: who they like to f*ck when the urge arises.

There are some real gems in this article, like:

"The process of self-revealing one's sexual orientation is an element of a now yearly process."

I should probably fault the author of the post at the Weekly Standard for that language.  how exactly is it "self-revealing" if you are required to reveal this information as a course of your employment?  And what if you decided not to "self-reveal" at all?  Would they simply "reveal" it for you?  Would they have to perform an inspection for that?  A test?

And walk down this path with me... The state claims their collecting this information to ensure equality or distribution, etc.  Just curious... but if they found the gender preference was suffered from a mal-distribution, what would the remedy?  Fire a non-gay judge to open a slot for a gay one?  Fire a gay male judge to place lesbian female?  Fine the Governor daily until the gender balance is restored?  Would a gay person who a judge ruled against be able to appeal the case claiming that the court was not fair from the start?  Would an aggrieved straight person be able to do the same?  Would the whole court system have to shut down if it was found they were short a trans-gendered representative, based on the percentage of such in the general population?  Would the San Francisco regional courts have to fulfill a different balance than the courts covering Modoc County?

This is the height of ridiculousness... more at the link

California Asks Judges: Gay or Straight?

In order to make sure gays and lesbians are adequately represented on the judicial bench, the state of California is requiring all judges and justices to reveal their sexual orientation. The announcement was made in an internal memo sent to all California judges and justices.“[The Administrative Office of the Courts] is contacting all judges and justices to gather data on race/ethnicity, gender identification, and sexual orientation,” reads an email sent by Romunda Price of the Administrative Office of the Courts. A copy of Price’s memo was obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
“Providing complete and accurate aggregate demographic data is crucial to garnering continuing legislative support for securing critically needed judgeships,” Price writes.
The process of self-revealing one’s sexual orientation is an element of a now yearly process. “To ensure that the AOC reports accurate data and to avoid the need to ask all judges to provide this information on an annual basis, the questionnaire asks that names be provided. The AOC, however, will release only aggregate statistical information, by jurisdiction, as required by the Government Code and will not identify any specific justice or judge.”
Philip R. Carrizosa of the executive office of communications at the Judicial Council of California, the Administrative Office of the Courts, confirmed the authenticity of Price’s email regarding gender identification and sexual orientation to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

 more at the link

A Moral Solution

A Greek tragedy, playing out on a massive stage with the whole world as their audience. Is there any way to avoid a calamitous collapse? No, I don't think so. But not because it isn't possible to avoid collapse, more because Greek society is no longer capable of the moral strength necessary to succeed. Moral Solutions. That is what is required. The people, of America, much less Greece or any other entitled nation, must decide voluntarily to forgo the benefits of the gifts they have voted themselves over the years. How else will it resolve? Will the youngest generation go to work nosing that 10, 20, 30% or more of their labor and effort will go to paying for the luxurious lifestyle of their grand parents? Will the middle aged folk be content to forgo their benefits, scheduled a mere 5 to 10 years hence... While their neighbors win out because they have lived already past the magic deadline? No. Tey will not. The people who a currently entitled must blaze the trail. They must wake up and say "No, thank you." They must decide to forgo their free CNN to ensure the opportunity for their grandchildren to work for and earn a new lunch. The current entitlees must must make the moral decision to work for their own bread rather than enslaving the next generation(s) to a tab they will never settle themselves. It is not moral to take food from your babies. ...but if the people do not come to this decks option voluntarily... Well, the there will be violence.

Holodomor: Killing by Hunger

Just learned about this today... never heard of this specific event before.  Putting it here to remember:

From Wikpedia:

The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомор, 'Морити голодом', literal translation Killing by hunger) was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine",^[1][2][3] millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of Ukraine.^[4]

Early estimates of the death toll by scholars and government officials varied greatly; anywhere from 1.8^[5] to 12 million^[6] ethnic Ukrainians were said to have been killed as a result of the famine. Recent research has since narrowed the estimates to between 2.4^[7] and 7.5^[8] million. The exact number of deaths is hard to determine, due to a lack of records,^[9][10] but the number increases significantly when the deaths inside heavily Ukrainian-populated Kuban are included.^[11] The demographic deficit caused by unborn or unrecorded births is said to be as high as 6 million.^[9] Older estimates are still often cited in political commentary.^[12]

As Beck and Stu explained and simplified the story, which warrants further research to confirm, the Soviets demanded ever increasing food production from the Ukrainian people, to ship it to the motherland to feed the Russian people, that the Ukrainians did not have enough to feed themselves.  When the Ukrainians began resisting, the Russian troops rolled in and took the food out of the kitchens of the homes and shot anyone who tried to steal it back.  In their discussion, some 7 million died.

What prevents people from being absolutely barbaric to each other?  Is there anything to restrain them from their impulse to dominate and feed off of someone else?

Counting Obama Voters: 1

Stopped by the grocery store yesterday afternoon for what should have been a quick trip... +10 minutes as the woman in front of me hashed it out with the cashier about coupons being applied properly.

I should have thanked her for being frugal.  When it was time for her to pay her $33.48 total, suddenly $25 disappeared, paid for courtesy of you and me via the federal government: Food Stamps.  (She paid the rest in cash.)

This fellow citizen was wearing an Obama campaign t-shirt from 2008.

Perma-voter.

A little Sesame Street classic to help us with the counting:



PS: did you know this counting song was sung by The Pointer Sisters?  Had no idea...

There is Room For Another...

During the CNN / Tea Party debate last night a tea-partier asked what the candidates were willing to do to gain support specifically from hispanic voters.  As the wife and I listened to the answers, we looked at each other and agreed that the right answer, the one that was missing, was the following:

I am going to reach out to hispanics the same way I will reach out for the support of every American voter: by appealing to their desire to protect life, to promote liberty, to expand the opportunity for every individual to achieve their happiness.  We are all Americans, come with me, let's re-claim our nation.

Romney came close in his eventual answer, but he was so off the beaten path he would have a long way to walk to get back to the purity of that statement above.

Palin.  She might be able to stake a claim in this position.  Her frank discussion of crony capitalism, the manner in which she has trained herself to be immune to the media's efforts to goad and lead the candidates into certain responses... this is the space she could fill.

If she runs.

Will she?

I Remember...

Re-posted from the original: Where Were You?

I was standing at the kitchen sink filling the coffee pot with water. I had the radio on, listening to NPR’s Morning Edition. They took a break from the national feed at ~5:48am for local news or weather. Same as the day before. Same as the day before that.

“I don’t know what this means, but we just received a report that a small plane has struck the World Trade Center,” the local announcer says at the break.

I looked out the window. I switched on the TV. I watched the second plane fly into the tower.

I stopped thinking.

While I sat frozen I knew I wasn’t alone. I thought of so many other people who must be transfixed at the same moment.

While that happened a third plane hit the Pentagon.

Life changed in those moments. I had the luxury of sitting in shock on my couch. But some people had to keep going. There were people to rescue in New York and Washington. There were other planes in the sky. There were policemen and firemen and air traffic controllers and military staffers and commanders who needed to do their jobs.

There were citizens who needed to act, to do something, to prevent a fourth plane from wreaking its havoc on one of America’s cities.

Please make the time to see United 93. Remember the moment you first heard of the attack against America. Marvel at the fact that within only an hour and a half our fellow Americans had managed to organize and counter attack and prevent a complete victory by our enemy.

A few hours into the experience, I struggled to restore normalcy.  I forced myself to switch off the TV and go into my morning routine.  Shower.  Dress.  Grab the laptop, keys, wallet.  Walk to the door.  Open the door.  Walk...

I could not.

I could not cross the threshold.  Outside that door was I was unprotected.  Outside that door I had to drive the freeway through downtown Los Angeles.  Past the Library Tower, the highest building west of the Mississippi River.  I could not.

I did not.

I put down my case.  I left a voice mail for my boss... "I can't do it, I can't drive in, I cannot."  I turned the TV back on.  I sat on the floor and just absorbed, and hurt.

I cried.

***

Thursday 9/13, as I drove down the 105 freeway on my route to the office a plane was wheeling from south to west, heading towards LAX.  It was the only plane in the sky.  It was the first plane I had seen since Monday.  It was, for a moment, terrifying.

Friday 9/14 I left the office and walked to the Episcopal Church near me in Pasadena.  I went to a service on my own accord for the first time in ages.  It was packed.  I cried.  We all cried.  It seemed incomprehensible.

Always remember.

***

And when today is over, and tomorrow begins... ask yourself: What is different?  What am I doing, what are you doing, what are we all doing to make sure this world is comprehensible and for those parts that cannot be, will not be, that we are united to defend our sane world from those barbarians at the gate?