The vote is tomorrow. Finally. Light the fuse and see what level of childish tantrum the Leftists have up their sleeves. Kavanaugh may not be the perfect Justice – and we can only hope he won’t operate at the same level as John Sununu’s “Home Run” nominee David Souter – but time will certainly tell. … Read more
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has issued a statement on his Senate Website. The nomination process is moving forward. He has been moved out of committee to the floor and he means to have a vote. Then he makes some time to talk about the Democrats and the circus they created. It makes for an … Read more
Take a look at some of the more interesting parts of the 2014 Guare v. NH case that was meant to codify out-of-state, unqualified voter’s participation in New Hampshire elections. You can see how this case, in my opinion, was never meant to be won by “our side.” My comments are in parenthesis.
Supreme Court of New Hampshire.
Annemarie Guare & a. v. State of New Hampshire
No. 2014–558
Decided: May 15, 2015
…just being observant? Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Age: 85 (5 years past average retirement) Stephen Breyer – Age: 79 (1 year before average retirement) Clarence Thomas – Age: 70 (10 years before average retirement) Samuel Alito – Age: 68 (12 years before average retirement) Sonia Sotomayor – Age: 64 (16 years before average retirement) John Roberts – Age: 63 (17 years … Read more
New Hampshire has a resource problem. We’ve too many ax-grinders protesting energy infrastructure projects but you can’t create electricity with those. Not legally. You need something else. Several somethings. But each and every effort to improve energy infrastructure in the Granite State is protested, blocked, or dragged out in court until the developers give up.
If we don’t replace or update aging infrastructure, many of which the same ax-grinders are working to shutter, we’ll be reduced to wood and solar. By that I mean a world lit only by fire.
Former Justice Thomas Law Clerk Carrie Severnio, from the Judicial Crisis Network, returns to talk about the Merrick Garland charm offensive, future court nominees, and current cases before SCOTUS.
Once again during this Presidential season, we see the three main weapons of Progressivism on display: gender, class, and race. Take those three away, and they don’t have much, do they? Anyways, the last of those three is under attack in the Supreme Court as the University of Texas use of affirmative action in admissions and whether it still fulfills a “compelling” reason for the State to force “color-blindness” or continue skin color discrimination. That is the question – in the quest for a color-blind nation, at what time do we really start to do as we preach? In my lifetime (and the grey hairs are becoming more prevalent such that they are the majority color now), much wrong has been seen, many many of those wrongs have been righted, and attitudes have been changed for the better. Yes, there is still more to be done, but I ask, in a tangental fashion: other than the usual race baiting suspects (e.g., the Al Sharptons and David Dukes of the world), are we close to closing down affirmative action? Or are we doomed forever to have the spector of race overhang much of society (e.g., when does color-blindness actually disappear – when those that profit from race-baiting can no longer do so?)? When do we really go more than skin-deep?
Anyways, here are some thoughts from Roger Clegg at The Corner (reformated) listing why affirmative action (with around 60 years of having affirmative action):
How, then, can they possibly be “compelling” (which is what the law requires them to be), especially when they must be weighed against the many and undeniable costs of racial discrimination:
I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Independence day, which I did not in my previous post with the Declaration of Independence. I also wanted to mention the strange feeling that I awoke with today.
I think I know what the second or third generations of conquered nations felt like; remembering the “old ways” out of deference to our ancestors or as a way of expressing defiance. You can see the history in your own past, that of friends and neighbors, places and days, stories told, in objects and heirlooms. You can even smell it and hear it. But you can’t quite remember it. That is how I felt when I woke up. Unfocused. Not certain of where the path was that I am looking for.
But I am not a “Sunshine Patriot.” Most of my activism has occurred during these dark hours of the Obama years. I didn’t have to be afraid of the Socialists hiding in the bushes. They have been running my country under the cover of a propaganda media. And despite these odds I am here, on the front line, every day, investing my own time and effort to promote a different message. And I am not alone. Everyone here at GraniteGrok is doing the same thing. And at blogs all over the country. And that is the message. No matter what is set before us, we are not going quietly. We will not just shout in the darkness. We will instead light another candle to push back the infringing pall of tyranny just a little bit longer. But we need your help.
Someone over on the wholly excellent and extraordinary RLCNH email list has just opined that in ruling as he did on Obamacare, Chief Justice John Roberts “pulled a Souter.” That is, the feeling is that Roberts—like so many “conservative” judges nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in the past, has “matured” and gained “strange new respect” as the political classes worked on them—has once again betrayed the values and ideas that lead him to be put on the Supreme Court.
Wrong. So wrong, in fact, that I need to Explain All, once again, to those who doubt. Here’s the way it is….
Over at Fox:
Supreme Court upholds ObamaCare and Americans have lost the right to be left alone
Regardless of what I wrote here concerning the Commerce Clause (it is now longer unlimited) and that Federalism has been strengthened (roping in Federal coercion of the States by ransoming monies that came from the States in exchange for meeting certain mandates), the above hit home – hard. When I heard that inactivity cannot be regulated via the Commerce Clause, I went YES! When I heard no more coercion by the Feds, I went YES! And then what Roberts said about taxation and individual choice, my heart dropped. The headline had it right – they just won’t leave me alone.
One of my regular Internet Doodlings come from TreeHugger. It’s a great site for a Conservative to visit (as loyal ‘Grok commenter C. dog e. dog now frequents those haunts, howling at the entrenched denizens, has learned). They now combine an absolute faith that there is a future of “no future” for any of us unless their Green vision is realized in how we all should live in their Utopia of a pre-modern civilization / Gaia dystopia of a low energy world (and a low level of life to boot). There is that loud stream of “all in for one vision” and we all should have no choice in it. “You cannot live your life your way because if we let you, the planet will die.” Thus, they will do and support anything that will force the rest of us to change our behavior – for them, keeping the planet alive trumps the Rights and philosophy of the Constitution. They will not stop until we live the way they want and as you have seen with some of my recent posts (here and here), they are on the march to make that happen, forcibly if necessary.
From the political side, Obama and his fellow Progressives are also convinced they can create a Utopia here on Earth – and as Obama has said:
“my individual salvation is not going to come about without a collective salvation for the country.”
Translation:
The Obamacare decision crafted by Chief Justice Roberts…may be the best of all possible outcomes, including striking the whole thing down as unconstitutional. I’ve been mulling the decision over since it was announced yesterday, and have had the persistent feeling that…something is going on here that is not clear. It’s been a nagging suspicion I’ve had since the decision was announced. Skip blogged yesterday about it, saying, that “I’m no lawyer, but….” Even so, Skip came very close to seeing entirely through the noise and chaff, and discerning what actually may be going on. At one point he said “has Roberts actually laid in a hidden ambush (albeit, long term) by creating a virtual dead-end canyon into which Lib Big Govt-ers are going to get led into?”
I believe the answer to that question is…
Updated Thought: Roberts is getting a lot of grief for siding with the Liberal Supremes and finding that Obamacare was Constitutional under the taxing ability of Congress. Putting aside the argument that the tax language originated in the Senate (instead of the House where Constitutionally it must originate), I’m mulling over the idea, given other commentary I’ve seen, has Roberts actually laid in a hidden ambush (albeit, long term) by creating a virtual dead-end canyon into which Lib Big Govt-ers are going to get led into? I’m no lawyer, but are we seeing a “boxing in” strategy starting to appear – like a good military planner, willing to accept the short term (and perhaps, massive) losses in order to set the stage for an eventual judicial Originalist victory (with a wee bit of help from a helpful Congress)? I can see the two sides but not the end of canyon – at least, not just yet.
**************
In addition to the philosophy that I am paid to work and not to blog, work is REAL busy today – and my boss keeps calling with new fires to put out. But it is lunch time, and a couple of quick thoughts:
But there ARE some good things here:
I have my doubts.
Romney is not a conservative, and has no core conservative convictions so far as anyone can see…. So herewith, an exchange on the subject between me and a worried libertarian friend:
It’s another big week for ObamScare news as the legislative dumpster filled with the Patient Unaffordable blah blah blah bill gets a taxpayer funded rectal exam, before nine unelected lawyers, at the impressive edifice that is the Supreme Court of the United States of America. I’m not there. I’m sure you couldn’t make it. And … Read more
Justice David Souter secured his place in history when he voted to allow New London Connecticut to take private property and give to a private entity. This fundamental abuse of property rights, as offensive as it was, could only be compounded when the seized property was never even developed. People were forcibly removed from their homes, kicked off their land, and for what? How about The Justice David Souter Memorial….Dump.
Rumor has it the Senator from New Hampshire that is not a woman (by birth) plans to vote to confirm the activist train wreck Elena Kagen. That’s right, Judd Gregg has been outed as for Kagen. But before he casts his vote, we should let him know how we feel about that. I already have. … Read more
Republicans need to take the advice of democrats, and “Bork” Elena Kagen. That’s what they would do. They’d ignore anything even remotely moderate, turn a giant lens on everything else, and burn a hole in her soul. They would fashion a narrative, go on television, phone, write, blog, call, march, and shout until veins popped … Read more