Specious Reasoning and Ignores Prior Case Law

That is pretty much how Andy McCarthy at National Review Online describes Judge Susan Bolton's negative ruling on several key provisions of Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law. As a result of the ruling, police officers in Arizona will not be able to basically ask someone who they think is in the country illegally for identification which would tend to prove that person is here legally.

In her ruling, Bolton essentially bought the argument by Obama's Department of Justice that several provisions of the Arizona law are "preempted" by or violate the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because they effectively prevent federal immigration laws from being enforced. However, as you and I know full well, federal immigration laws aren't being enforced, so why Bolton would buy the DOJ's laughable claim to the contrary is beyond bewildering.

As McCarthy points out, Bolton also totally ignores prior case law which pretty much says the states may enact laws which deter illegal immigration. In Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court stated:

Although the State has no direct interest in controlling entry into this country, that interest being one reserved by the Constitution to the Federal Government, unchecked unlawful migration might impair the State's economy generally, or the State's ability to provide some important service. Despite the exclusive federal control of this Nation's borders, we cannot conclude that the States are without power to deter the influx of persons entering the United States against federal law, and whose numbers might have a discernible impact on traditional state concerns.

Unless you're totally deluded or an open borders zealot (the two of which have a great deal of overlap) this sounds exactly like the Arizona law.

If interested, you can read Judge Bolton's ruling here.

Update: The above excerpt from the Plyler case is at Footnote 23 of the majority opinion.

BP Punks Obama

Remember that $20 billion escrow fund for oil spill victims in the Gulf that Obama pretty much forced BP to open? Well, being the relatively smart business folks they are who hire relatively smart tax attorneys and accountants, BP is planning on writing off as a cost about $10 billion of that fund on their U.S. taxes. Why is this significant, you ask? Because you and I are going to end up indirectly paying for half of that $20 billion that is sitting in escrow. Thanks a lot, Barry!

Test Post

Posting this via e-mail for the first time. Just want to see how it looks.

Why America is Great

Because everyone, no matter how loony you are/might be, has an opportunity. See, e.g., Al Franken, Alvin Greene, and this dude who is running for governor of Tennessee (who isn't actually the official Republican Party nominee).



h/t Ace

Democrats Vote Down Elimination of Death Tax

I give Senator Jim DeMint props for making the proposal, even though it had no chance of passing.

As the linked to article reports, super wealthy people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet not only favor keeping the estate tax, but having it at a very high rate. Their rationale is that the tax encourages charitable giving. If you think about it, though, this is really condescending and twisted. Gates and Buffet clearly think that we are incapable of being sufficiently charitable with our money without the heavy fist of government hanging over our heads. They also obviously don't like children very much, since they'd rather see the estate of a parent taken over by the government than fully bequeathed to that parent's child or kids.

Alternate-Bizarro Universe

Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat congresswoman from Texas, talks about the two countries in Vietnam living side by side in peace, and our undeclared military victory there.



h/t Powerline

I Don't Think That's Y

So it appears the Y.M.C.A. will be changing its name to just "the Y."

One of the nation’s most iconic nonprofit organizations, founded 166 years ago in England as the Young Men’s Christian Association, is undergoing a major rebranding, adopting as its name the nickname everyone has used for generations.

“It’s a way of being warmer, more genuine, more welcoming, when you call yourself what everyone else calls you,” said Kate Coleman, the organization’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.

Sure, that's the reason. Changing the name has nothing at all to do with the organization wanting to distance itself from the words "Men" and "Christian." That would be too politically correct, and maybe bigoted.

h/t First Thoughts

Be an Eagle, Not a Pigeon

That's kind of what I remember my former high school civics and AP American history teacher, Wayne Bantau, saying to me and my classmates oh so many years ago. I know the "eagle" part is right, and as you can probably guess, it was used as a metaphor for excellence. Yeah, it was kind of corny, and some of my classmates cynically dismissed it, but I personally found it to be a source of motivation, especially with respect to learning more about politics and the law. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I aced both of the subject classes I took from Mr. Bantau.

I mention all of the above because I just came to learn that after more than 50 years of teaching service at my old high school, Mr. Bantau is retiring. There will never be, in my admittedly biased opinion, another teacher like him at North Torrance High School, and that is truly a shame.

Keith Olbermann Needs to go Back to Only Doing Sports Highlights

He just keeps showing how thoroughly unqualified he is to do serious news commentary.

For those of you who haven't been following, earlier this week, Keith Olbermann mocked Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle for saying of Abraham Lincoln, "He lost quite a few. But he won the big one." For this, Olbermann called her "obtuse" and insisted Lincoln only lost one election. Yesterday on this blog, Jeffrey Lord patiently explained why Olbermann was wrong, and his post was picked up by National Review's Daniel Foster. At this point, it caught Olbermann's eye, and the MSNBC host named Foster the "Worst Person in The World." Rather than acknowledge his error, Olbermann took the weasel's way out with a semantic loophole, embarrassingly insisting that he really meant that Lincoln only lost one popular election. As you know, at the time, there wasn't direct election of U.S. Senators.

But while Olbermann would like to discount several of Lincoln's losing political campaigns to bolster his case against Angle (including the 1858 Senate campaign), that's clearly not how Lincoln himself viewed those defeats at the time.

More here.

The Divorce Contagion

Brown University researchers have apparently discovered that if you are currently married your chances of getting a divorce are increased by 75 percent if you have friends who have gotten divorced. That's pretty dramatic.

The researchers describe the effect as 'divorce clustering' - and believe that break-ups within friendship groups force couples to start questioning their own relationships.
They say that a friend's divorce can also reduce the social stigma of splitting up, even when children are involved.
The findings come from a continuing study into the lives of more than 12,000 Americans living in the New England town of Framingham since 1948.

I'm curious to know what the percentage increase of divorce is, if any, for married attorneys who focus in the area of family law. If you know a study out there on this, let me know.

h/t National Catholic Register

Kagan Suggests the Catholic Church Would Have Been Banned From Recruiting Harvard Law Students

Of course Kagan doesn't say this directly, but it's clearly there when you watch the video below. This exchange between Kagan and Sen. Lindsey Graham (who's pretty much of a squishy Republican) is within the context of questions about Kagan's tenure as Dean of Harvard Law School and her banning of military recruiters from campus. Kagan allegedly imposed the ban because she believed the military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule violated the school's non-discrimination policy. Talk about a pretext for hostility. Too bad neither Graham nor the other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee pressed Kagan harder on this.



Video via CNSNews h/t Creative Minority Report

Happy Independence Day!

Hopefully, you know what it's all about.

Obama's "Science" was Actually Kagan's Political Hackery

The following video is part of a speech that then Senator Obama gave to Planned Parenthood in 2008. Obama here is specifically blasting the Supreme Court's ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart where the Federal ban on partial birth abortion was upheld. As you'll see and hear, the crux of Barry's criticism centers on the supposed failure of the Court to give full acknowledgement to a report by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) which concludes that partial birth abortion is medically appropriate in some cases. As we've recently learned, however, it appears that would-be Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, who has absolutely no scientific background or credentials to speak of, inserted this conclusion into the ACOG report.

Think Barry knew this before he nominated Kagan?



h/t Powerline

Equal Protection Under the Law is for Suckers

Former U.S. Dept. of Justice attorney J. Christian Adams writes about his experience with the New Black Panther case that the Obama had dismissed despite clear evidence of voter intimidation. At least part of the reason for the dismissal was racial.

Some of my co-workers argued that the law should not be used against black wrongdoers because of the long history of slavery and segregation. Less charitable individuals called it "payback time." Incredibly, after the case was dismissed, instructions were given that no more cases against racial minorities like the Black Panther case would be brought by the Voting Section.

h/t Lex Communis

Joe Biden is as Thinned Skinned as Barry

Nice way to talk to your constituency. Not. If it had been me that Joe had called a smart ass, I would have reminded him that he works for me as an American citizen, and that I have a right to express my opinion to his face whether he likes it or not. Then I would have charged Joe $20 for the ice cream just because I think he's an asshole.

Correction: Frozen custard, not ice cream.

Drill, Baby, Drill!

Just ran across this informative website which promotes oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). According to the site, oil drilling in ANWR could have the effect of creating as many as 80,000 jobs in California. I ask this rhetorically: Why aren't we doing this?

Starbucks-like Lingo

I don't remember what her name is, but one of the Fox business reporters I saw on Hannity tonight made a great analogy to illustrate the inherent deceptiveness of the never before heard of "jobs saved" measurement that Obama keeps using to try and convince everyone that The Stimulus™ (aka Porkulus) is working. In short, the Obama measurement of "jobs saved" is kind of like what Starbucks calls the smallest cup of coffee you can buy at one of their stores: the "Tall" size.

BP Oil Spill Thoughts

Powerline's John Hinderaker posts some interesting thoughts about why he doesn't really think a provable lack of focus by the Obama Administration in the regulation of offshore drilling is a cause of the BP oil spill, and that it makes little sense the government would necessarily care more than BP about preventing spills.

Sort of along Hinderaker's line of observations, I'm wondering if BP had never been a self-identified and committed green company, would it still have conducted off-shore oil drilling as far out and deep in the ocean as it was when the oil rig exploded (notwithstanding stupid federal prohibitions on offshore drilling in shallower waters and on land in places like ANWR). I honestly believe BP would not have, in which case, a significant chunk of blame for the Gulf oil spill of 2010 - the problems of mitigating the damages it has caused in particular - has to be laid at the feet of left-wing political environmentalism.

Revenge of Ralph

Warning: The F-bomb is dropped a few times. As funny as it is (Ralph Macchio is 48?!) this mock trailer makes a pretty insightful criticism of Hollywood culture and values.

You Guys Call Yourselves "Colored People," Right?

The Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP somehow hears "black whore" instead of "black hole" in a graduation greeting card with a solar system theme. A shame Hallmark caved in and pulled the cards, thereby giving legitimacy to the L.A. Association of COLORED PEOPLE'S unsubstantiated claim.



h/t Matt Bramanti

Update: Racist! Racist! Listen carefully, they're saying "black whore"! Racist!