Cory Booker at an Obama rally

I am in a state of disbelief.  On Monday the Republican National Comittee publically announced its support for the reelection of President Obama. Now the RNC might not have known what they were doing, it woudn’t be the first time afterall. In effect though, that is what they did with the launching of their”I Stand with Cory” campaign. This was after Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker was on Meet the Press and while talking about how he is sick of both sides and negative campaigning and manipulating truths and amongst other things included talking about private equity and Bain Capital. Booker got some fack for his comments from the left, but the RNC rushed to his aid saying that they stood with him.

Now Booker talked about much more than just Bain, but the Republicans must have stuck their heads up their asses and only took it out to hear about the Bain comments and then ran with putting that ad nauseuam into their talking points since. I know it is just weird for them to see someone speaking with an independent mind and not being a mindless Republican drone. Now I can understand where Booker is coming from on being sick of negative camaigning, but on the issue of Bain I think he is dead wrong. I can’t blame him though for throwing a few kind words their way, afterall they did hep him with campaign donations before. He must have been just returning the favor.

Since the RNC’s campaign started Booker has come back on TV and attacked them for the same things he was metioning on Meet the Press and taking the soundbite that peased them and running ads with it for negative campaigning. He also said that he fully supports Obama for his reelection. Now after this did the Repubican Party stop their “I Stand with Cory” campaign? Nope, they doubled down on it. So thank you to the Republican National Committe for ending this election cyce early by coming out in full support of President Obama for his second term. I wonder what Mitt will think?

After the release of the TIME magazine cover “Are You Mom Enough”, the internet was a buzz with pro and anti breastfeeding comments. I wouldn’t be called “Crunchy Conservative” if I didn’t weigh in on this, would I?

First of all, I’ve nursed all three of my boys (and will nurse baby due in August) until they decided it was time to stop. My younger two quit nursing (self-weaned) due to pregnancy. I’ve heard the milk tastes funny due to the change of hormones, however, never tested this theory. My second son quit nursing at about 9 months, when I was three months pregnant with baby #3. My third son quit nursing at 18 months because I was 8 weeks pregnant with baby #4.

My first child, however, nursed much longer. He was 2.5 when he quit nursing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. My husband was deployed and my Doctor (and his pediatrician) encouraged me to to continue nursing as more of a comfort/security issue. I wasn’t going to deny him of it. His dad, after all, was in a war zone. Our son needed security and stability. And if that meant nursing, I was fine with that.

I never used a chair ( like the TIME cover) to nurse him and it was mostly just nursing before bed and naptime after the age of 2. People would say, “If he can say it, shouldn’t you stop?” No. Honestly, one of my favorite memories of his toddlerhood is when he was tired he’d say, “Mommy, I go ni-ni nurse?” It was great. When Daddy came back, he was more focused on his traditional routine of Daddy reading to him at bedtime and he became uninterested in nursing. He’s only had one ear infection in his life and is one of the healthiest kids I’ve ever met. While I’m sure some of it is due to good genetics and diet, I believe a lot of it is due to nursing.

In case you’re keeping track, with the exception of two months after the oldest stopped nursing and I conceived baby #2, I’ve been either pregnant or nursing since February 2005. The old “But I want my body back” argument doesn’t fly with me. You’re a mother. Nothing is really yours now. Deal with it. The earlier you accept that, the better.

When nursing my oldest at a restaurant (and I own nursing tops and do it discreetly), I had a woman ask me to take him to the bathroom to nurse. Unacceptable. I looked at her, smiled and said, “He’ll eat his meal in the bathroom as soon as you do.” She left. I also refuse to put a heavy blanket over my child’s head while nursing. Do you eat under a blanket? Neither should he.

Which brings me to the most asinine argument ever, “pooping is natural but you don’t see me dropping my pants in the middle of a restaurant to do it.” You’re mixing two different bodily functions. This argument just does not apply to breastfeeding. Stop using it.

When my oldest was a month old, we traveled to my hometown for Christmas Eve services. My mom gave me a funny look when I went to nurse my son during Mass. I replied, “Baby Jesus was breastfed.” She smiled and nodded. After seeing three children being breastfed (and how healthy they are compared to other children the same age), she’s become a breastfeeding advocate as well.

Maybe if more people would do what is natural and best for mom and baby, more people would see how “normal” and healthy it really is.

Stop judging people for doing what is best for their children. Breastfeeding is normal and natural. It’s a shame the way our society has sexualized breasts. We’re just using them what they’re designed for.

The passing of Amendment One in North Carolina yesterday got me thinking about a long-standing law in the United States that gives tax-exempt status to recognized religious institutions. The basic idea is that the US was founded on religious freedom and the surest way to prevent the free exercise of religion is to tax it . Exempting a church from taxes is also one of the best ways to keep the “separation of church and State” as described by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists. This nation was founded on the basis that people should be able to practice whatever religion they’d like, and the government should have no ability to prosecute or privileged individuals for religious reasons – it’s supposedly why the Pilgrims came across on the Mayflower.

Over the past few months many churches in North Carolina have taken a rather active stance in favor of Amendment One, from simply putting up signs in favor of the amendment to having their pastors actively speak to the media that they are supporting the amendment. Beyond that I’ve heard quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that some churches are even telling their congregation that they should vote for Amendment One. One of the biggest Holy Rollers of all time, Billy Graham, came out enthusiastically for Amendment One. By taking an active stance for such a politically divisive issue, these churches are without a doubt getting political – if that’s the case, shouldn’t the rewards for staying politically neutral, tax exemption, be taken away?

A tax exemption is not a right, there is no constitutional mention at all of a religious institution’s right to not pay taxes. In fact, there are forms and qualifications to submit to the IRS that any tax exempt organization has to complete to show that they get the privilege of paying less or no taxes. The whole purpose of the tax exemption in the first place was because churches were believed to “fill in the gaps” in terms of charity and helping the poor and destitute, the gaps that the government was unwilling or unable to take care of. If a church is taking a political stance, then they are intrinsically swaying voters and changing outcomes and results regardless of the original intentions.

The right to not pay taxes is fine for charities, but when a church decides to speak out against individual rights the IRS has the right to veto that church’s application for tax-exempt status.

Will Obama Keep Biden?

Is Hillary Clinton in line for a promotion?

Obama has experience with Biden and we all know exactly what Biden’s slip ups provide us; humor.  Really, of all the individuals that Obama could have chosen for his 2008 campaign, he has the horse’s ass of the Democratic Party.  Biden has more slip ups that someone with a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome.  It makes me wonder if whoever did the vetting of Biden was awake or asleep.

Obama could choose Hillary Clinton who is a hard worker, has well established relations (no, not those type of relations) on Capitol Hill and is arguably much more of a “moderate” than Obama or Biden.  Clinton could help secure the female vote that has been alienated by Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney never working a day in her life.

Romney’s Options

Christie

Romney has a few more suitors to consider for his running mate.  Chris Christie would win the hearts and minds of many with his true conservatism. He’s the current New Jersey governor and has not ruled out a run with Romney.

Romney and Santorum butted heads a lot in the primaries and there is little doubt that Romney is left with bruises and Santorum is likely still frustrated.  Santorum would bring the vote of evangelical Christian hard-core, traditional conservatives. The question is. “Can each of them get past the heated tiffs from the last 6 months?”

Rubio

Marco Rubio, the Senator from Florida is a high energy up and coming politician.  He is loved in his home state and would certainly help bring on board some of the Hispanic vote.  The tea party loves him and I believe he’d help bring back some of the hard core conservatives that don’t like a lot of Romney’s past.  His lack of experience though is a big deficit. (He’s more experienced that Obama was in 2008, but that isn’t saying much)

Condoleezza Rice is not a new name in politics and is has a great deal of experience with the White House.  Condoleezza was the Secretary of State under President George W Bush and probably has some negative feelings associated with her because some do not view the GW Bush years as favorable.  Condi though is a mainstream conservative with her head on straight.  She’d strengthen the female vote and certainly give some feelings of comfort to those of us that aren’t sure Romney is very conservative.  On top of all that, Condi is hot.

The Endgame Nears

Both candidates have plenty of short comings that they need their VP’s to help overcome.

Obama now has a 3 year record to run on and not much to show.  The recent politicizing of the Usama Bin Laden killing was the only major victory of his term and now that has led to harsh criticism.  Obama is a wealthy man, a lawyer and a member of the 1% that the OWS crowd protests.  He needs this same group to get him elected.

Romney has weaknesses as well.  He governed as more of a liberal than a conservative as the Massachusetts Governor.  His religion (Mormonism) has also upset many traditional conservatives.  He’s independently wealthy making him also a target of the 99% OWS group.  If wealth is evil, Romney is more evil than Obama when you compare his $240 Million to Obama’s $10 Million.  I’m sure Romney’s camp will use this as an advantage in dealing with America’s failed economy and recovery.

One thing is for certain. Obama stepped in it with the SEALs when he politicized their killing of Bin Laden.  I’m also wondering how the Right will use the dishonorable discharge of Marine Sergeant Gary Stein over his Facebook posting concerning Obama. In Sergeant Stein’s situation, there needs to be one more exception placed on the First Amendment for off duty military personnel on social media sites.  Obviously this is not considered protected speech and most certainly has been proven to have serious consequences.

We have some exciting campaigning and debates headed our way over the next few months.  Of course, we also have a lot of annoying phone calls and TV ads.  Hopefully after all that grief we have a conservative president with an intelligent and ready to lead vice president.

Squeaky…

Only one GOP candidate will reach the finish line.

Well folks if it was already pretty much clear after Rick Santorum decided his cause was not worth it after all and called it quits, the results from Tuesday’s primaries made it resoundingly clear that the General Election has arrived. Yippie! Well not really, for me at least. I am now kind of burnt out and disappointed in the whole thing. Without anyone that matter campaigning against him Romney swept the primaries on Tuesday and made it clear that he will get to that magical number of delegates at some point to claim the nomination officially – something that would have been more difficult had Santorum stayed in the race. Sure he still would have had the most delegates and Santorum was never going to get to that point before the convention either, but that is what made it so entertaining. The convention was going to be actually worth paying attention to, now it will just be the standard rubber stamped coronation of the nominee.

So now its time to move on to the next thing to talk about. Who will Romney choose to be his running mate? It is really to early to tell and tons of names get thrown around on a daily basis, but one thing is abundantly clear is that it will be someone well to the right of Romney. Whoever it is I just want it to get announced soon so we have all the players in the General Election revealed and I can start caring about following things again.

And now for the Bad Nuts of the Month, in no particular order…

Rep. Allen West

Does Allen West want a McCarthy-era witch hunt?

Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? Florida Congressman Allen West seems to think many members of the Democratic party in Congress are. Earlier this month at a town hall meeting, West asserted that he has heard that at 78-81 Democrats in Congress are members of the Communist party. 81! Now why does that number sound familiar to me. Oh yeah it’s the same number that the guy he is trying to copy with this insanity, Joseph McCarthy said were loyalty risks in the State Department in 1950. Welcome to the return of McCarthyism! Next thing you know we are going to hear that the master of pointless Congressional hearings, Darrell Issa is going to do a remake of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

It’s the age old tactic of the Republican Party, fear, brought back in its vintage Cold War wrapping. The assertion is quite absurd, but then again so is the Republican Party. Calling anyone who is progressive a Communist is like calling members of the Tea Party a Nazi, a hard core conservative a Fascist or saying that all evangelical Christians wanting to bring about a theocracy. Did West give any names, or say who he heard this from? Of course not. Like most Republicans these days, West doesn’t worry about those troublesome things called facts.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant

This week on a radio interview discussion on the TRAP (Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) bill he said the following referring to everyone on the left. “Their one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb.” Actually if I did have a mission in life it would be to not have vile pieces of trash like you in political office. As far as abortion goes I just support CHOICE. It’s not my choice, but it’s also not my position to put my own choice upon others.

Brian Fischer

The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer is going berserk over Mitt Romney choosing an openly gay man as his foreign policy and national security spokesman. Stating that “Gay men have hundreds, if not thousands, of random, frequent, and anonymous sexual encounters and that becomes a significant issue when we’re talking about appointing somebody to a post as sensitive as a spokesman for national security and foreign policy” and then going on to correlate this selection with the Secret Service prostitution fiasco and calling for him to fire his spokesman to “contain the collateral damage from this spectacularly misbegotten decision”

Minneapolis, MN, August 5, 2007 -- Cars and roadway litter the river where the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. FEMA/Todd Swain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Despite the loads of debt talk in American politics recently there’s an interesting thing that’s been going on that a lot of people haven’t noticed: the yield on the 10 year Treasury Note (the main way the government borrows money) has been consistently low.  In fact, it’s been trending downward for months now, despite the debt fiasco from last year.  What does this mean in layman’s terms?  Other people can’t get enough of American debt.  Despite all our problems, people still see US debt as one of the safest things on the planet to invest in, and they’re willing to accept almost no return at all on it.  In fact since inflation is around 2.5% and the yield fluctuates between 2 and 3% investors could actually be losing a bit of money to hold American debt.

There’s another interesting trend that’s been going on longer and only occasionally gets press time when something REALLY bad happens.  That trend is failing infrastructure.  Remember back in 2007 there was quite the tragedy when the I-35 West bridge in Minneapolis, MN collapsed during rush hour.  Thirteen people were killed, a schoolbus of kids almost fell.  Millions were spent in the repair and close to a quarter of a billion dollars was spent on a replacement bridge.  A dozen people were directly put out of work because of the collapse, and possibly hundreds more had reduced hours or were laid off later from the aftermath.  The state of US infrastructure is just now starting to get so much press because so much of it is near the breaking point.  A simple search on “failing infrastructure” on Google News gives 1000 results.  Nearly 70,000 bridges in the US are considered “structurally deficient” at this time, meaning engineers have decided the need major repairs or all-out replacement.  That’s more bridges than there are McDonald’s restaurants.  It’s not just safety, either; Detroit, Orlando, San Diego, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Atlanta, and the big daddy, LA are all meccas of one thing:  Horrible Traffic.  Hundreds of man hours each year can be wasted by just a single person sitting in traffic.  Multiply that times the entire commuting work force.  Don’t care about traffic?  There’s sure to be an infrastructure problem to suit your interest.  The Power Grid needs major overhaul, and just about everything needs electrical power these days.  Cyber Security is also a huge deal these days, a very well-funded and clever organization could probably cause billions in damage and/or losses in just a few hours.

I’m sure some of you are wondering what the Treasury Note and infrastructure have to do with each other, right?  A lot of you see two problems, I see a solution.  If people can’t get enough of debt, let’s give ‘em some of ours and use that money to fix what is more vital to our way of life than troops in Afghanistan or the next generation stealth fighter or whatever it is the military spends its trillions on.  As it stands right now America is an obese teenager with Birkenstocks held together with duct tape concerned about buying the latest Glock 9mm handgun.  Not unlike FDRs New Deal, infrastructure problems like these will put people back to work, which will get people spending, which will increase tax revenues, which will give the government more leeway on paying back debt.

I’m sure some of you are thinking it’s stupid to spend at this point in time, but let me put it to you this way:  What’s more fiscally responsible, spending X dollars now to replace something before it breaks, or spending X dollars plus Y lives in the future when that thing breaks, plus have the breakage cost millions more in lost business.  We’re going to pay for it either way, why not pay less before it breaks and ensure safety than wait for it to break and pay many times more?

As a comparison, most candidates drop out due to lack of funds, a scandal or inability to compete. I think that Santorum bowing out now, for this reason, should be respected. Anyone who supported Senator Santorum should be proud. He brought many issues to light that may not have seen discussion if it had not been for Santorum. However, Santorum supporters must recognize it is time to move on. I’ve seen/read quite a few bitter Santorum supporters who are not reviewing the remainder of the field to support the GOP. Folks, I know it’s only been a few days, but we’ve got to move on. When T-Paw dropped out after the Iowa Straw Poll, it took me MONTHS to decide on another candidate. But I did. There’s no point in holding a flame for a candidate who is no longer in the race. If we want to defeat Obama this year, we’ve got to suck it up and move on. It’s how politics works.

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen

And speaking how politics works, I would like to encourage the left to keep talking. Last night, Hilary Rosen (a Democratic strategist) stated that Ann Romney “hasn’t worked a day in her life.” Really? Really. Ann Romney, a stay at home mother of 5 boys, who has MS and fought Cancer, “hasn’t worked a day in her life.” As a work at home mom of 3 boys (and one boy on the way), I think the only appropriate punishment for Rosen is to have to clean every ball pit in the world. Then maybe she’d understand just how hard mothers work.

It seems the Democrats are attempting some damage control. Michelle Obama (herself) tweeted “Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected.” The best thing the Left could do is put as much space between themselves and Rosen right now. But if they distanced themselves from every member of the Liberal Left that said something stupid, we’d stop hearing from Biden, Maher etc. I suppose that wouldn’t be a bad thing.

It seems the real war on women has been exposed. I thought the whole women’s lib movement was for women to be able to make their own choices. Yes, I have a 4 year degree, but I CHOOSE to work from home (gasp). And yes, I do work.

Thank you, Hilary Rosen. Thank you for bringing the GOP together. I encourage all of the working women (those who have children and those who have not been blessed with children yet) to back the GOP. Let’s show the left just how hard we do work.

Romney is the inevitable GOP nominee

As we get into April and many primaries become winner take all, it’s going to be easier for Mitt Romney to put distance between himself and Rick Santorum.  The carrot for Santorum is the fact that the month of May could hold some big wins for him – including Texas – but he might be in too big of a hole by them.  Currently, Romney leads 655 to 278.  He’s expected to win decisively in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and Rhode Island. 

There’s also the key battle in the Keystone State on the 24th.  If Romney wins Santorum’s home state of Pennsylvania, it’s going to be hard to hold out much hope for Santorum.  Honestly, at this point, it’s a question of whether Romney can get to 1144 delegates.  Santorum doesn’t really have a shot at 1144, but if Romney can’t reach the number, a brokered convention could decide the nomination – incentive for Romney to keep the pedal to the metal.

Is Santorum focusing more on 2016 than 2012 at this point?  That’s a definite possibility.  His harsh anti-Romney rhetoric scores points with his own fans, but comments such as the one comparing Romney to Obama can only serve to hurt Romney in the general election.  A candidate in a primary really has two goals.  The first goal is to ensure that their party wins in the general election.  The second goal – a lesser goal, in my mind – is to get themselves elected to be the standard bearer for the party.  Is Rick Santorum handing votes to Barack Obama every day that he stays in the Republican race?  Probably.

The other candidates in the GOP field have really fallen to the side and at this point are really just serving as a spoiler for Santorum.

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has funneled millions of dollars into the Gingrich campaign through Gingrich’s SuperPAC, is putting his checkbook back in his pocket.  At some point, you stop throwing good money after bad.  With his campaign in the red, Gingrich has begun charging $50 per pose for photo ops with supporters.  Yes, $50 for a photo with a guy who finished third in the 2012 Republican primary.  I think Gingrich has the whole concept of “buying votes” a bit backward. 

Is Ron Paul being cheated?

And then there’s Ron Paul.  Paul’s campaign really sheds light on the fact that there are two dimensions to a candidate’s popularity.  The first is the size of the following, and the second is the intensity of their support for the candidate.  Paul is off the charts in terms of average intensity.  The only problem is that all votes count the same – a fervent supporter’s vote doesn’t count any more than a tepid supporters.  A vote is a vote.

Rumors of a third party run are swirling again, but I really don’t see how this is a viable option.  How, exactly, would Paul get enough votes to be viable in the general election?  He’s running fourth in the Republican field, and it’s not likely that he would peel off many liberal votes from the Obama camp.

I’ve also seen some folks in the tinfoil hat brigade allege vote fixing in the primary, pointing to “huge” Ron Paul crowds and saying this with such huge crowds, his vote counts should be higher than the official tallies – so someone must be fixing the numbers.

Recent “evidence” of this is a recent Paul rally in Los Angeles.  His supporters show images of a packed house and allege that there were 10,000 in attendance.  Well, the facility in question (UCLA’s tennis center) has a max capacity of 6,000.  Even if the 10,000 number is accurate, look at this number in context.  The LA metro area has about 12.8 million people.  That would mean that one out of every 1280 people in the LA metro showed up to the event.

Fervent supporters, Paul has.  He just doesn’t have enough of the “grunt” variety who quietly cast votes.

Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House.

The federal mandate to buy health insurance is the very heart of Obamacare.  This is interesting because people keep saying that health care is a right.  Maybe so, but this law doesn’t mandate health care, it mandates health insurance.  This is a big issue for me.  I don’t HAVE to buy auto insurance unless I want to license my vehicle.  That’s a far cry from saying I’m going to buy auto insurance or face a tax/penalty or whatever.

There is an argument that people abuse the Emergency Rooms and clinics and they don’t have healthcare coverage.  I agree; that is most certainly true.  Yes, we’re all paying for it and that isn’t fair…I agree with that too.  This however isn’t the answer; if we enact a government health care plan we’re all still paying for it!  How stupid is that?

I would propose a program for unpaid health care bills similar to the way unpaid child support is handled.  If someone isn’t paying their bills or they aren’t on a payment plan they get put on a list.  This list then causes any tax rebates/refunds to be held for payment.  This list should also keep someone from obtaining a driver’s license unless they are acting in good faith by establishing and staying current on a payment plan for their health care costs.  This (of course) would have to be driven by the states and not the Federal government or we’ll end up in the courts again.

If the courts decide that we can’t be forced to buy health care insurance, what will happen?  I’ve heard that the mandate is the only thing that made this work financially.  The law of large numbers is the key to making insurance work.  If Obamacare accepts everyone but only a small group of people apply for it (like the uninsurable) the cost of the care will not be affordable or it will be subsidized by the government making the entire purpose of the law moot.  How will the government cover those costs?  Raise taxes?  Cut or limit the coverage?  This is what traditional health insurers have had to do to cover costs and no one is happy with that.

Presidential Race

We’re into April, and still we don’t know for sure who the Republican nominee will be.  The rule changes made by the Republican National Committee to force all pre-April caucuses and primaries to use proportional delegate allocation (as opposed to winner take all) is playing a part in this.  With a winner take all contest, a relatively small win can shower a candidate with a large number of delegates.  When delegates are awarded on a proportional basis, a small win becomes just a small difference in the number of delegates awarded – making the race to 1144 delegates much longer.

SuperPACs are also playing a big role.  Romney definitely isn’t hurting for money, and Santorum and Gingrich each have had a billionaire in their pocket (Sheldon Adelson for Gingrich and Foster Friess for Santorum).  Under the new rules, these two heavyweights have been able to funnel millions in cash to their candidates through SuperPACS – and it’s 100% legal.  The SuperPACs have allowed candidates to remain active in the race even without broad-based support from the electorate.  If you can have a buddy write a $1 million check, that’s just as effective as getting twenty thousand people to contribute fifty bucks.

Romney or Santorum—we just need to choose. Seriously, how long can this indecision be stretched out?  Tell me this will be decided by convention time.  It’s time to rally behind one Republican candidate and focus on the true task at hand – ensuring that Barack Obama is a one term president.

Communism Talk

North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and China – they’re all bad, they have terrible leaders and we shouldn’t be supporting them in any way.  We need to make sure that we’re revoking any funding and not lending any aid.  If they want it they need to play by the rules.  If they don’t play by the rules and agreements they get nothing.  What is North Korea doing testing ICBMs that could reach the US?  Now is the time to be tough.  Clearly Bill needs to screw around with Monica again, get Hillary really mad and then send her to Pyongyang to dismantle Kim Jong-un’s newly acquired government.  Can you imagine a more intense strike force?  I’m not sure that Seal Team 6 could survive a wife scorned twice by the Slick Willie.

Zimmerman vs. Martin

I have to make a follow up comment to my original piece on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin situation.  NBC released an apology for editing the 911 call from Zimmerman that made him sound like a racist.  If you’re one of the people that have been calling for George Zimmerman’s head on a platter you need to read my original blog and this story in the Washington Post.

Again, it is not your duty to judge based on the limited and biased information you’ve been fed by the media.  Just wait until all the information comes out.  The Grand Jury hasn’t even convened on this so don’t rush to judgment.

The Pendulum Swings

Romney

Santorum

Romney

Santorum

Gingrich

Romney

Santorum

North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Russia and China.

Obamacare is constitutional, Obamacare is unconstitutional, Obamacare is constitutional, Obamacare is unconstitutional….now we wait for the Supreme Court.

Why is there so much up and down lately?  Everything is back and forth, ebb and flow, left then right.  This is frustrating for me because I really try to make quick and informed decisions.  When I see this pendulum swinging each direction so frequently I don’t understand why.

Squeaky…
 

With the case of Florida vs. Department of Health and Human Services, the circus came to Washington this week in and outside of the Supreme Court. Now that the arguments are over we will sit back and debate over things ad nausea until the opinion of the court is released, which is not expected until sometime in June. It basically will come down to how Justice Kennedy will decide upon the issue of the individual mandate. It is going to be a 5-4 decision either way, and I am really unsure at this point how things will fall in the end.

On one hand you had Kennedy discussing an analogy of burial insurance on the arguments over the individual mandate. Would you go up to a young person and say that you are going to die one day so you must buy this burial insurance policy from me to cover your expenses. Now I liked this analogy, at least in the fact that it was original, unlike that partisan hack Justice Scalia and his talking points handed broccoli analogy. Then on the other hand, later in his talks Kennedy talked about maybe healthcare being different.

Like I said at this point I have no idea how his vote is going to sway. I do know though that depending on how the majority opinion gets worded and whether they go all Bush v. Gore and state that this cannot be used in any other case, it is going to have a profound effect on many things if it is a 5-4 decision striking down the individual mandate.

Like I said it all depends on how the opinion comes out, but after decades of trying to do so, the Republicans have backed into a way of getting rid of Social Security and Medicare. Based on the Justices’ line of thinking on those obviously voting to get rid of the mandate both Social Security and Medicare can be deemed unconstitutional. What gives the government the right to come to me as a young worker and say you must put side this money for later on in life for you and to pay those older workers currently receiving the benefits of this if I choose not to. Hey I’m young I can do that later, if I really want to. Hell even the Republicans tired old private accounts argument would be unconstitutional. So you are going to force me to put my money into the market? What gives you the right? Then the same applies on to Medicare as well. What gives the Government the right to force me to put money forth for older people’s medical coverage now and mine in the future if I really don’t want to? Under the argument set forth in the Justices’ line of questioning this rational would be the same for these as well.

Another effect that a ruling that strikes down the law would have is disturbing as well. If you don’t like something the opposition party writes into law, have it brought to the court to strike down. Say Mittens or Santorum by some evil joke of God wins the election. A state with liberal control will just bring its argument against the law before the court. It’s a long shot in any circumstance to succeed, but right now it’s a 4-4 split of hard conservative to moderate liberal on the Supreme Court. Then with Kennedy and is usual swing vote there is a shot you can get things done and with this precedent set try and try again will constantly be the partisan fight from now on to get rid of whatever is passed that you don’t like.

Maybe Gingrich is right. Did I just say those words; I am throwing up in my mouth just a little. Anyways, I have been thinking this all day in hearing the arguments on what the Justices felt on different parts of the law if the individual mandate was struck down. We really do need to just arrest these partisan Judges from legislating from the bench. Your job in my opinion is over with you striking down the individual mandate, you don’t have the authority on which legislation is worthy to be kept or not, or what can be salvaged for cost reasons. That is Congress’ job, not the Judicial branch’s

job.