CRASH: On "Executive Nullification", DOMA, and Prop 8

Aside from whether the Supremes will find a new "constitutional right" for "gay marriage", there are some extremely important issues before them regarding separation of power. 

Today’s arguments deal with Prop. 8, which Jerry Brown refused to defend in court. Tomorrow’s arguments deal with DOMA, which Barack Obama and Eric Holder refused to defend in court. Indeed, Obama is sending in his Solicitor General to argue for DOMA to be struck down — and his argument, carried to its logical conclusion, would lead to gay marriage being legalized in all 50 states.

The immediate issue is whether lawyers not representing the State of California (for Prop. 8) or the United States (for DOMA) have standing to defend legislation when the executive has decided they will not. If the Supreme Court ultimately holds that the groups now defending DOMA or Prop. 8 have no standing in court to defend the measures, it would essentially confer a backdoor executive veto on any legislation that an executive doesn’t like. You disagree with a law? Don’t bother engaging in the political process and trying to get it overturned. Just wait until your guy sits in the governor’s office or the Oval Office, and have someone bring a lawsuit.

Your guy will refuse to defend the legislation, and BOOM! you’re done. The lawsuit wins, the legislation gets invalidated, and there’s nobody around with any right to complain about it. Easy as pie!
—Patterico

I agree with this, and note that there are several really important issues balled up in this case, besides the issue of “gay marriage”.

The concept of “nullification” has a lot of costs/benefits, and I’m not sure how they would weigh out in the end. But what Brown and Obama have done sets a very dangerous precedent for “executive nullification”. I don’t see any natural limit to how far down the governmental ladder that goes.

Nor do I see how you have a “law of the land” concept operative under it, since executives in each jurisdiction could readily decide differently which laws they would enforce (i.e., sheriffs).

BURN: Poor, silly little rich girl(s) burn millions of watts for "Earth Day"

Emma Watson (or should that be watts-son?) and a gaggle of other foolish, rich girls (and boys) took off their clothes for an "Earth Day" promotion.

In the process of earning fame, and a BIG fortune in the Harry Potter franchise, Ms. Watson was involved in one of the MOST electricity-intensive industries on the planet...movie making.  She and her unclad buds also burned millions of candlepower in creating their "Earth Day" flacking book.

This is self-parody in the nth degree.  Watson is a very young lady, and therefore given some leeway.  Still...just damn.

"Earth Day" and "Earth Hour" are celebrations...not of "Earth"...but of Druidism and the Luddite cult that HATES rationality and the Enlightenment.  Electric power is THE most important technological boon to humanity in the last century, surpassing even the vast benefits in medicine, flight, etc., that human invention and rational science brought us.

"Earth Hour" is the most vain, vacant, and stupid expression of the religion of "green goo" to date.  It...and those who flack it...should be mocked for the boobs they are.

The Humanity: A Fitting Thing For Veteran's Day And Beyond

Maybe you, like me, have had the impulse to go up and say "Thank You" when seeing one of our service members in an airport or other public place.  Maybe you have acted on it, or maybe you let the opportunity go by.

Between Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving, my friend Bruce McQuain, a fer-real warrior who retired after serving in the Army for a long and honored career, and a bunch of other fine folks will be working to put on Cooking With The Troops events, whose purpose is to raise money for service members.  It is a way to do something to say we appreciate our people in uniform.

McQ, as he's known on the blog-o-sphere, blogs at Questions & Observations, and also at Blackfive, one of the best milblogs.  Though retired, his service to the nation is hardly over.

I can hardly endorse this notion enough, and it seems particularly apt as we approach Thanksgiving.  If you are like me, one of the things for which we are most grateful...and in awe of...is the quality of the people who volunteer to serve this nation under arms.




Join me and McQ and his posse in celebrating Veteran's Day, and the days between then and Thanksgiving, by donating to Cooking With The Troops, and looking for a CwtT event near you.  It will give you the chance to meet some fine people, and to say "Thank You".

BURN: Death, Destruction and Hopeful Humans

swede

I’ve been trying to get my head around the event’s in Japan and write something of substance.  I can’t.  It is mind boggling and heart breaking.

Enough said. Please pray for these people, and help if you can.

Also another plea to continue praying for Marizela Perez and family, missing since March 5. Update at Michelle Malkin. (Marizela's cousin) God is my witness, I have never asked anyone to forward anything in my life.  Please forward this! Thanks!

Humanity: Heart Break and Hope

swede and rags
UPDATE: UPDATE:

Here's the latest photos and information for Marizela Perez, Michelle Malkin's cousin who went missing last Saturday. Today, March 12, the family is launching a massive search of the neighborhoods where she was last seen. Please join us in praying that someone will be led to Marizela, and this precious girl will be restored to her family.

 MARIZELA PEREZ Date Missing: Saturday March 5, 2011 Safeway in University District between 2-3 P.M.

Possible Routes:

Sound Link Light Rail stations, Downtown/Chinatown areas, UW Seattle campus, U-district

Please call

911 if you have any information regarding this person or

Seattle Police District Missing Persons Bureau:

(206)684-5582

Description:

Asian female, 5’5” tall, 110 lbs, skinny build,

asymmetrical bob with short bangs and brown/red

highlights hairstyle, tattoo on left inner arm with

the words “lahat ay magiging maayos” (all will be

well), last seen wearing a dark jacket with hood

over a light color sweater with hood, denim jeans,

light brown suede laced boots, possibly wearing

green eye contacts, carrying a denim drawstring

backpack with rainbow butterfly screenprint, with

a Macbook Pro laptop.

MACBOOK S/N: 340257DBATM

CELLPHONE IS SAMSUNG SOLSTICE II

CELLPHONE IMEI #: 354493040314352

This beautiful young lady is Michelle Malkin's cousin Marizela Perez, who went missing in Seattle Saturday.  We're urgently requesting help getting this information to as many people as possible and seeking any information that may lead to finding this precious girl.

MISSING PERSON
Name: Marizela Perez  (Nickname "Em Em")
Date Missing: March 5, 2011, 12:00-12:30 P.M.
Last Seen: Rainier Beach area, heading to UW Seattle campus to meet friends for lunch or study in the UW libraries
Possible Routes: Sound Link Light Rail stations, downtown/Chinatown areas, UW Seattle campus, U-district
Description – Asian female, 5’5” tall, 110 lbs, skinny build, asymmetrical bob with short bangs and brown/red highlights hairstyle, tattoo on left inner arm with the words ‘lahat ay magiging maayos’, last seen wearing denim jeans, light brown suede laced boots, possibly wearing green eye contacts, possibly carrying a plaid backpack with a Macbook Pro laptop, taking medication for depression.

Please contact if you have any information regarding this person:
Edgar Perez (father): 609–646–0905
Jasmin Perez (mother): 609–742–2360
Melinda Mendoza (aunt): 206–760–1822
Joy Mendoza (cousin): 609–742–2336

The tattoo on her arm is Tagalog for "All will be well."  God, make it so.

Please join us in praying fervently for her safe and speedy reunion with her family, and for strength, comfort and hope for Michelle and family.

Thanks!

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

UPDATE:  Little news to report on the search. The only good news is that her last known location was a Safeway store on campus - a safe neighborhood - and the police “have no reason to suspect foul play” at this point. Other than that we continue to pray.  Please help us if you can to get this information to as many people as possible.

I lived and worked in Manila from ’97 – ’02. Filipinos are without question the the most kind, genuine, caring and generous people I have ever had the honor to know. And for Filipinos, immediate and extended “pamilya” (family) is everything. As in EVERYTHING.  A Filipino has “utang na loob” to family – especially parents. It means a “debt of gratitude”, but that doesn’t really describe it. It literally means an “obligation from within” – from the heart and soul. Michelle Malkin will pour her heart and soul into this until Marizela is safe. No hesitation, no question and no limit. It’s just what Filipinos do when family needs you.  Pray for her and this family, and especially that this precious young girl will be restored to the love and safety of her family.

Many, many thanks!!!
 

HAVE YOU SEEN ME?

Name:

Last Seen:

BURN: The Deliberate Madness Of The Courts, Pt 1

Normal people can read where our Constitution says Congress has power "To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes".  After reading those plain words, normal people understand what they say.  But the very deliberate people who sit on our courts cannot read those words and understand them.  They are deliberately mad.

For anyone of average intelligence and understanding "interstate commerce" is distinguished from "intrastate commerce".  This distinction was a great big "wull, duh" that you will see for about 150 years in American Commerce Clause jurisprudence.  Commerce "among the states" (INTERstate commerce) was the kind of commerce the Constitution permitted Congress to regulate.

There were excellent reasons for that EXPRESS reservation, and for the power being granted to Congress in the first place.  Consider who was meeting at the Constitutional Congress, and what experience had brought them there.

These were REPRESENTATIVES from sovereign states...mini-nations.  They were meeting to CONSIDER a replacement for the Articles Of Confederation, which had kind of been a flop.  The CONSTITUTION they were playing around with was an EXPERIMENT...another turn at the governmental bat, and they did not...some of them...even believe it would work out.  Their first royalty was to their individual state.

One of the BIG failures of the Articles Of Confederation was in the area of commerce between these mini-nations.  It had been quite ugly, actually.  The states put tariffs on stuff moving through them to other states, there was huge disparity between a state citizen and an "alien" from another state in the courts, and there was even some barrier to travel between the states, not the least of which was just having roads.  I could go on at length, but clearly, this would not do.

So, INTERstate commerce was a VERY BIG reason there was a Constitutional Convention.  But, remember who was there...representatives from mini-nations...who were TRYING a new EXPERIMENT.  These people were not about to give away the farm to the untried experiment.  HELL NO!  They were very jealous of their own mini-nation's rights.  There was no need...and certainly no intent by the Founders...for the newly formed Congress to have power to regulate INTRAstate commerce.  That belonged to the individual states, and they WANTED it that way.  That is why they WROTE it that way.

Somehow...and we'll discuss that in a future post...this idea of making commerce possible and productive and fair when conducted between the states has been perverted.  It has been perverted now to the point where a judge can deliberate a question under this simple clause, and come up with shear madness.

CRASH: Is Cain Able?

I like Herman Cain.  As a man, Mr. Cain is an extremely impressive individual, with an absolutely stellar "life story".  The question of the hour is, "What kind of presidential candidate would he be?".

In the recent past, we were sold Sonya Sotomayor as SCOTUS nominee on the strength of her "life story"...or what used to be called her "biography".  It was supposed to be impressive, because her intellect and her work as a jurist certainly were not.

So, in the world where "life stories" are important, Herman Cain's biography is a literal Horatio Alger story (hey, it's been recognized by the Horatio Alger Society!).  Mr. Cain, at 65, is everything that Barack Hussain Obama is not and never will be, including a man of solild accomplishment, applied intellect, and an American value system predicated on hard work and faith in God.

Unlike Obama, Cain was raised in a strong two parent home.  Unlike Obama, Mr. Cain understands and likes capitalism.  Unlike Obama, Cain was taught and understands the value of work.



As recent days show, he is not afraid to get down in the hustings of American political controversy, either.



He has been a frequent guest host on both Neil Boortz's and Rush Limbaugh's radio programs.  He speaks with what seems a remarkably authentic voice...meaning that (unlike Obama or Hilliary Clinton) whatever audience he is addressing, you hear the same tone, cadence, and vocabulary.  With Herman Cain, you get a consistent product, as he might put it in branding terms.

The Boortz connection is perhaps a telling one; Boortz self-identifies as a Libertarian/Conservative.  But the Cain/Boortz relationship may be built more on their shared Atlanta roots than any identity they share politically.  Both men have an apparent love of Atlanta, where Cain was raised (it is hard to avoid puns).

Can a black American conservative have a prayer of getting even fair treatment by the MSM?  That is an open question.

Can Herman Cain become the "brand" that every presidential candidate must, successfully making himself a household name?  Mr. Cain knows how that is done in the business world.  Are politics and business enough alike?

What, if anything, would opposition research performed by some of the nastiest people ever to slither in the political grass turn up to hurt Mr. Cain?  He could be assured that he would be Palinized by the Collective.

There is no doubt that Herman Cain is interested in running to be President.  Could he do that successfully?  There are too many unknowns at this time to know that answer, but I personally could happily vote for the man, based on what I know of him today.  Cain could be able.