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“To a large degree Republicans want the courts to be the final arbiter of the major political questions of our time. That way they don’t have to get their hands dirty.”

And then they wonder why we hate them – most of it is because they refuse to do their jobs the way they should.  Instead, they are simply LAZY and INDOLENT – and willing to take the criticism that comes with the job.  Just like the “old NH hand” that told me when I first became politically active:

Don’t make waves and be quiet. Go along and you’ll get along.

That was in 2006 – he lost his seat and the NH Rs lost big time.  Even worse in 2008.  My response is today is “Stand up for something or you will be put down”. And as you have seen, I have not taken his advice to heart – what, NOT fight for Principles?  The outcome is foreordained every time they take his advice and the Rs decide to be very pale pastel (and then shaft those of bold colors).  And in DC, they are about to follow suit on a VERY consequential situation; from Conservative Review, the sad tale of more DC Republicans caving into Obama’s nonsense that that they have to vote on a nominee (mostly on his say so.  All puff and no stuff for these spineless wonders self-assured incompetents (reformatted, emphasis mine):

The fight to block Obama from appointing a radical to the Supreme Court will be the GOP’s Waterloo. The outcome of this imbroglio will by itself determine whether there was any value in electing a GOP Senate in 2014 and whether there is any utility in continuing to invest political capital in this fledgling party.   Sadly, it appears that the tried and tested capitulation game has already begun.

The playbook is the same every time. Even in the face of less consequential political fights, Republicans start out talking tough. Then, leadership allows the weakest liberal members to begin dissenting from the party line and even trash talking the party to the media. Next, leadership says they have to embark on the legislative process to be fair but still oppose the initiative and will personally fight against it. Then, depending on how many votes it needs to pass, they decide whether to throw in with the liberal Republicans.

It’s gotten old and shopworn.  It is the reason why we consider them to be

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It is clear that today’s progressives have the same constitutional contempt as their predecessors. I hope they do not share the racial vision. Black voters ought to demand, at a minimum, that progressives disavow their ugly racist past. They should re-label themselves to something other than progressives, maybe compassionate totalitarians.

If you listen to either Hillary or Bernie, they are out to give everything they can think of to those they believe are “oppressed” (even if they have “self-oppressed” for their status in society for, well, being lazy, underachievers, or just being a screw-up).  They see themselves as the ultimate in compassion – they want to provide anything to everyone and fulfilling the positive rights manifesto of FDR’s Second Bill of Rights in which Government must do things FOR you instead of the Founders vision of negative rights: what government CANNOT do TO you.  The former basically says Government will be responsible for you – the latter keeps Government taking over you.

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WHAT SHOULD WE CALL NONPROFITS THAT GET 99 PERCENT OF THEIR FUNDING FROM GOVERNMENT? Government “tools?” How about government “extensions?” At the Environmental Protection Agency, they’re called “cheap labor sources.” Ethan Barton of the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has been digging into a massive database of more than 100,000 EPA grants compiled by Open The Books.

He found six non-profits that got 99 percent of their funding from federal grants to provide jobs for seniors doing EPA work, including retired engineers willing to work for the maximum starting pay of $12.27 per hour. Average salary for a full-time EPA engineer in the civil service is nearly $89,000 or $44 per hour.

Now for me, it isn’t about the EPA part of this (although it does concern me and it should for you as well).  As I have recounted before, this goes on all the time where organizations formerly known as charities (as they used to be known as when they were funded voluntarily by those in Civil Society) all pitch politicians (e.g., selectmen, budget committee) at the local level, commissioners at the county level, and at the State and Federal legislatures get pitched as well during budget seasons.

Oh, they come in with lots of stories –

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Never fails: the ever burgeoning government that believes it is supposed to mitigate all bad consequences is at it again – to give to some it is going to require more from others.  And in this case, more regulations, more demands, and putting up a barrier to entry to others (or, forcing some out of business – reformatted, emphasis mine):

USDA: Retailers That Accept SNAP Must Expand ‘Healthy Food’ Choices; 168 Items Per Store

Ayup – here’s the “give”:

The U.S. Agriculture Department on Tuesday announced a proposed rule intended to give food stamp (SNAP) recipients increased access to healthy foods,…

And the “take away” (strings attached) by telling businesses how they will run their businesses:

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I make this prediction – because the DC Republicans are more fearful of the media, the Congressional Democrats, and Obama in pursuit of their seats, we’ll be seeing more of this.  Once again, we see the utter disdain for their voters (that would be us) with their fixed insistence of “where else will they go” and “But the Democrats will win!”, they truly believe they don’t have to worry about we voters.  Once again, we see their utterly stupid reading of the electorate:

GOP showing signs of backing down from vow to block Obama SCOTUS pick

Cracks were emerging Tuesday in congressional Republicans’ position of blocking automatically any candidate nominated by President Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat of the late Antonin Scalia.  Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, voiced caution Tuesday about the GOP blocking any Obama nominee without a hearing.

November’s coming, and YOU may in its crosshairs…

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We just love Professor Thomas Sowell here at the ‘Grok – a black conservative Economic Professor that is Consistent, always for Free Markets, and his political analysis is generally spot on – I quote him a lot.  He’s now endorsed Ted Cruz for President – given Sowell’s reputation, I am hoping you will give this great weight (emphasis mine, reformatted):

Amid the petty bickering, loud rhetoric and sordid attack ads in this year’s primary election campaigns, the death of a giant — Justice Antonin Scalia — suddenly overshadows all of that. The vacancy created on the Supreme Court makes painfully clear the huge stakes involved when we choose a President of the United States, just one of whose many powers is the power to nominate justices of the Supreme Court.

Justice Scalia’s passing would be a great loss at any time. But at this crucial juncture in the history of the nation — with 5-to-4 Supreme Court decisions determining what kind of country America will be — Scalia’s death can be catastrophic in its consequences, depending on who is chosen to be his successor. Given the advanced ages of other justices, the next president is likely to have enough vacancies to fill to be able to shape the future of the court that helps shape the future of America.

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