Hooray! Let's Bomb Syria!

Bring back Cowboy George! Let's cut the suicide bomber supply line now.

Grandkids, Tradition and the Good Life

Lee Harris explains the proper function of tradition, demonstrates how it has made life better, and how it will continue to do so.

This is great stuff, so go read it.

Via somebody I don't remember, darn it!

Comment On the FEC's Proposal To Regulate Bloggers

Via Instapundit.

I Want A New Tax

I want a new tax controlled by the Fed. It could even be several taxes: like a small property mill levy, a 0 to 5% progressive income tax, a 0 to 5% capital gains tax and a 0 to 1% sales tax. When the economy heats up, instead of raising rates and making our deficit worse by paying more interest on the debt, which I'm very tired of, the Fed temporarily raises taxes a little. And it doesn't give my former party an excuse to raise taxes, increase spending and then never cut taxes. When the economy cools off, instead of it being an excuse for my fellow Republicans to cut taxes but not spending and then never raise taxes, the Fed cuts them temporarily.

Each of these taxes shouldn't give Greenspan too much room, but enough to help the economy.

The Volokh Conspiracy - House Passes Abortion Bill:

Orin Kerr wants to know whether the House bill prohibiting transport of a minor across state lines to avoid parental consent and notification laws is constitutional. He may delete my comment, which follows, as not germane since it does not reflect current Supreme Court jurisprudence.

I am not a lawyer, but I have been reading Restoring the Lost Constitution, so maybe I qualify. Here is my attempt to divine original meaning. This bill does not pass Commerce Clause muster, since abortions are not a trading (original meaning of commercial) activity, they are a medical service, and the Commerce Clause only allows Congress to regulate (original meaning is make regular) activity, not prohibit it. But this bill is justified under the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments, and since it is designed to protect our rights, it is both necessary and proper. The right to raise one's child as one sees fit is clearly covered under the Ninth Amendment, and the Ninth Amendment, as written, applies to both Federal and State governments. The Fourteenth Amendment authorizes Congress to write laws protecting the rights protected by the Ninth Amendment. I would say the Constitution authorizes States have a parental notification and consent law as well, to protect their Ninth Amendment rights.

I will specify that this is not Supreme Court jurisprudence, it is Randy Barnett inspired analysis. The undue burden and health and privacy issues could doom this law, even under such inspired analysis, since the rights to health and privacy must be balanced against parental rights as well as the residual right of the baby. If I understand the commentary I've read, the Court does recognize the rights of the baby, but does not consider them significant enough to protect.

I hope he does not delete it. My dream is that Randy will comment, and perhaps even agree. Ah, the eternal quest for ego gratification.

I Used To Like Jimmy Carter As A President

I still like him as a man. But, in hindsight, his response to the hostage crisis was completely feckless, and must be considered a root cause of the 9/11 attacks. Full Disclosure Time: A group of college friends and I got together and sent Khomeini a pocket Koran with a can't we all be friends letter. What a yutz I was!

Via Mary Madigan, at Dean's World.

Sometimes bloggers meet...

The Read this.

Our Forefathers - Collected

Go check out our Founding Documents. And don't miss out on the double-sided single page copy of the Constitution.

Get Gmail

This service allows you to get a Gmail invite, and it works.

Loving Your (Political) Enemies

David Frum shows his love for Andrea Dworkin. He's a better man than I, and he makes some very good points.

At Least One Inupiat Eskimo Wants ANWR Developed

Don't take my word for it. Read Tara Sweeney's speech. She says 75% of Native Alaskans want the land they own to be developed. Does this mean those who want to keep ANWR from being developed are racists?

John Kerry Is Still Dishonoring The Troops

John Kerry is fishing for soldier as victim stories. Sorry, Senator. You honor our troops by telling stories of them as heroes, not by painting them as victims. Considering your past and your unwillingness to repudiate your consistent anti-military stance, perhaps you should give up on National Security issues.

The Real Cuba

Go visit The Real Cuba. BTW, their health care system looks horrible.

Via Kim du Toit.

Hydrogen From My Roof?

Tim Worstall says that we'll all be getting power from our roofs in less than twenty years. He says sun shine plus water and titanium oxide equals hydrogen and oxygen, and hydrogen and oxygen plus a scandium oxide fuel cell equals electricity.

Sounds good to me.

Via Deinonychus antirrhopus.

Why Radical Change Makes For Big Problems

Jane Galt may have the best post of the year about same sex marriage, even though she hasn't picked a position.

Via Instapundit.

Bork On The FMA

Robert Bork says the FMA is our best hope.

Don't Fight A Democracy!

R. J. Rummel has some fascinating stats on war.

...in the 19th Century democracies won 76 percent of the wars they fought, while monarchies won 43 and dictators 42 percent. In the 20th Century, the percentages are respectively, 54, 37, and 33.

Via Dean.

Hiatus

Hi, I'm Wince and I'm an internet junkie. Staying off the internet, including blogging, over the past six weeks has greatly improved my life. So I'm going to stay off it and do other things. You all have been very good to me and thank you.

You Wouldn't Leave Your Car Running, Would You?

Take the Identity Fraud Quiz, and learn how to protect yourself.

A Proposed Amendment

Karl Spence wrote the following to me in an email:

How about an amendment that reads like this:

The Judiciary of the United States shall not presume to exercise nonjudicial power.

The sense in which this Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation shall be the guide in expounding it. Its provisions are neither to be restricted into insignificance nor extended beyond the natural and obvious meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people at the time of its adoption. Any faults it may contain are to be corrected by amendment as prescribed in Article V, not by usurpation.

Disregard of these principles is cause for impeachment.

If any of those phrases sound familiar, it's because they're lifted from the writings of John Marshall, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and George Washington.

The amendment would need additional sections to ratify those changes the courts made for us that we should have made for ourselves (e.g., the overthrow of Jim Crow), and --- if it is to have a chance of success --- to give proper constitutional authority to a great deal of the functions the federal government is now performing (Social Security, Medicare, the Federal Reserve, national parks, disaster relief, etc., etc., etc.). Devising it and getting past the furious opposition of today's legal establishment would be a lot of trouble. But at the end of the day, we'd have the advantage of practicing actual self-government, instead of bowing to the dictates of a judicial elite whose interpretations of the Constitution bear less and less relation to its original, true, ratified meaning.

I like it. What do you think? You can also email Karl yourself.