Wyoming Dives Headfirst Into Nullification

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Wyoming toying with the idea of nullification.  Well, today members of the state House of Representatives passed legislation that would nullify any new federal law passed in an effort to reduce gun violence.  They dove straight in and didn't listen to me.

It is worth it to point out that no federal law has been passed, much less introduced as a bill yet, but that didn't stop them from voting on their bill.  State Rep. Kendell Kroeker (R) said this is the reason the bill is not unconstitutional.  It's nice to see that someone out there is recognizing what they're doing.

The heavily Republican controlled state Senate will likely pass the bill as well.  It will be interesting to see what the federal government does in response to this should any new law pass.

Right-Wing Paranoia

In other news, a Montana state Representative is sponsoring a bill that would allow for a criminal to "bargain" of corporal punishment.  Yes, that does mean spanking.

Montana is one of the most beautiful states in the Union.  Why do they have to go down this path?

An Open Letter To The BSA

Since you reaffirmed your policy of exclusion last year, Eagle Scouts from around the country have been mailing their awards to the national council in protest.  This has clearly made an impact on the Chief Scout Executive and the National Council.  A change in this policy is long overdue.  It is time for the bigotry to stop.

I know former scouts that are gay.  They worked with me at one of the camps around the country.  There was never any wrongdoing by those staff members.  They served the camp and the campers well.  Because of them, and gay scouts and scouters around the country that serve in silence, boys are able to learn and to grow.  They come to know themselves as they are pushed physically and mentally at camps and on High Adventure trips.  These same opportunities should be extended to all boys.

How much would allowing these boys into the BSA really affect the organization?  These scouts and scouters will, no doubt, be as Trustworthy as any other scout.  They are just as Loyal to their family, friends, and communities as any other scout.  They would be loyal to you, as well, if you’d allow them to. 

They would be Helpful and “do a good turn daily” as they take that charge on as their personal motto. 

Being Friendly, Courteous, and Kind would be all too easy for them if only given the chance.  And they would be Obedient to their leaders, families, and the laws of this country.  While they follow the path to Eagle, they would stay Cheerful, thankful for the opportunity to walk the same path as icons like Neil Armstrong and Steven Spielberg.

They would learn to be Thrifty, Brave, and Clean as they grow to be better themselves.  And they would be Reverent to whatever faith they choose.

The time has come to welcome them into the Boy Scouts.  Their inclusion can strengthen you, as you strengthen them.  Their sexuality will not stop them from being good scouts.  They will do their duty, and obey the Scout Law.  They will help other people at all times and keep themselves physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. 

The time has come.  Next week, do what is right.

Secretary Kerry!

John Kerry was confirmed by the Senate today as the new Secretary of State.  He has some big shoes to fill.

From 12/3/2012

Scalia's Whimsical Hat

I'm not sure how I missed this, but this is amazing.  I don't know what he was thinking, wearing this in front of the world, but he became a meme on inauguration day.

President Obama On Republican Obstructionism

The President sat down with The New Republic and this happened during the interview:

Franklin Foer: When you talk about Washington, oftentimes you use it as a way to describe this type of dysfunction. But it’s a very broad brush. It can seem as if you’re apportioning blame not just to one party, but to both parties—

Well, no, let me be clear. There’s not a—there’s no equivalence there. In fact, that’s one of the biggest problems we’ve got in how folks report about Washington right now, because I think journalists rightly value the appearance of impartiality and objectivity. And so the default position for reporting is to say, “A plague on both their houses.” On almost every issue, it’s, “Well, Democrats and Republicans can’t agree”—as opposed to looking at why is it that they can’t agree. Who exactly is preventing us from agreeing?  

And I want to be very clear here that Democrats, we’ve got a lot of warts, and some of the bad habits here in Washington when it comes to lobbyists and money and access really goes to the political system generally. It’s not unique to one party. But when it comes to certain positions on issues, when it comes to trying to do what’s best for the country, when it comes to really trying to make decisions based on fact as opposed to ideology, when it comes to being willing to compromise, the Democrats, not just here in this White House, but I would say in Congress also, have shown themselves consistently to be willing to do tough things even when it’s not convenient, because it’s the right thing to do. And we haven’t seen that same kind of attitude on the other side.

Until Republicans feel that there’s a real price to pay for them just saying no and being obstructionist, you’ll probably see at least a number of them arguing that we should keep on doing it. It worked for them in the 2010 election cycle, and I think there are those who believe that it can work again. I disagree with them, and I think the cost to the country has been enormous.

He said that much nicer than was really necessary, but he is correct.  

Republicans Can Only Win By Cheating

Right now, Republicans in Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and perhaps more, are in talks that would change the way electoral college votes are allocated.  Currently, these are winner take all states and always battleground states.

What is the problem with this?  Why should Democrats be upset over having to fight over each congressional district for president?  This is why.  Republicans hold majorities in the state legislatures in all these states and they have used their power to change the congressional districts.  By doing this, they ensure that a majority of their House delegation will be Republican, no matter how many more people in the state actually vote Democratic.  Democrats won more votes than Republicans did in House races in 2012.  This has happened in many states and is the reason why the President was re-elected by roughly 5,000,000 votes, the Democratic majority was maintained in the Senate while the House stays Republican.

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that allocate their electoral college votes based on each congressional district.  The difference between what these states already do and the states currently thinking abut the change is that Maine and Nebraska most often have all their electoral go to the same candidate.  2008 being the only exception when Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, where Omaha sits, sent their electoral vote to Barack Obama.  Nebraska is largely a red state.

This plan is not only at the state level. I know this because the Chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, has endorsed the idea.  He thinks this is a good thing for Republicans to do.

This is not the first time Republicans have tried to cheat to win an election.  The Voter ID laws that were passed throughout the country prior to the last election are a good example.

Attorney General Eric Holder referred to these laws as "poll taxes" and he is exactly right.  Any law that forces a person to pay anything prior to voting has to be defined as a poll tax.  Driver's licenses cost money and if you are poor and take the bus, this is an expense you may not want to incur.  That shouldn't mean that you cannot vote.  Minorities are more likely to be poor than whites and so they are disproportionately affected by these laws than whites.  If you were poor and one party demonizes you constantly to appeal to their base, wouldn't you be more likely to vote for the other party?  Maybe that's why Republicans like this idea.

It influences college students because many of these states will not accept a student ID to vote as part of these laws.  A student ought to have the right to vote in the state they are living in because for the time they are attending that school, the representatives of that area essentially represent them too.  Why would Republicans want to limit the amount of young people voting?  Maybe because they voted in record numbers in 2008, and they tend to vote Democratic.

The 24th Amendment says that poll taxes are illegal.  And yet, they still try to pass these laws.

As the country continues to change and feelings on many issues evolve, the far right feels more afraid.  They are afraid that "the America they grew up in" is gone, and they are right.  The thing that they don't realize, is that this is a good thing.  We have more diversity in more places than ever.  We are passing marriage equality measures in several states with many more on the way.  The examples are endless.  One song keeps play around and around in my head while I write these words.


 

Exactly.

Moronic Quote Of The Day

“…The Constitution I uphold and defend is the one I carry in my pocket all the time, the U.S. Constitution. I don’t know what Constitution that other members of Congress uphold, but it’s not this one. I think the only Constitution that Barack Obama upholds is the Soviet constitution, not this one. He has no concept of this one, though he claimed to be a constitutional lawyer.”

-- Congressman Paul Broun (R-GA)

The Soviet Union has not been around for over twenty years, not to mention that they didn't have a constitution.  The people of Georgia keep electing this guy, how wonderful.

Mississippi Forgets Its Own History

This week Mississippi has joined the call of many Republicans around the country. That's right, they think nullification is the answer to the Kenyan usurper all their problems. 

 Rep. Gary Chism (R), chairman of the House Insurance Committee, and Rep. Jeff Smith (no not that Jeff Smith) (R), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee have written a bill that is in the Mississippi state House called the Mississippi Balance of Powers Act. This is ludicrous for several reasons.

I have laid out the history, and failure, of nullification measures in thepast. They never end well and on one occasion ended in a great deal of bloodshed.


Mississippi, and the other legislatures around the country with such legislation in the works, does not understand what they are doing. The Great Debate is over and the Articles of Confederation are well in the past because they did not work. They did not create the environment for a great country to flourish. The United States would not be the country it is if people like Mississippi State Rep. Jeff Smith had his way in the beginning. We are the United States because we bucked the Articles of Confederation and came closer together. We do not function as separate countries, but that is essentially what this bill seems to want.


On second thought... let 'em secede again. They're too damn expensive.

The Facts About The "Liberal" Agenda

Since the election, the right is in a tizzy over how "partisan" President Obama's inauguration speech was.

"One thing is clear from the president's speech: The era of liberalism is back. His unabashedly far-left-of-center inaugural speech certainly brings back memories of the Democratic Party in ages past," McConnell said. "If the president pursued that kind of agenda, obviously it's not designed to bring us together, and certainly not designed to deal with the transcendent issue of our era, which is deficits and debt."

The Senator is correct, these are usually considered more liberal goals but the world is changing.  People in this country do not agree with him anymore and there is polling to prove that.

This shows that the President was not divisive and partisan at all, he was unifying and speaking to the people's issues.  That is what a good president should do, Senator.

Picture courtesy of ThinkProgress

Rand Paul’s Fantasy

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today and it was not without a few fireworks. 

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said several things that demonstrate his inability to perform his duty as a Senator with dignity.  He told Secretary Clinton that he would have fired her had he been President.  He also called Benghazi the worst tragedy since 9/11. 

Ok, two things.

First, the idea of a Rand Paul presidency is laughable at best.

Secondly, the worst tragedy since 9/11?  Are you kidding?  He didn’t say terrorist attack.  He said tragedy.  We are coming off the worst school shooting in a while.  Twenty elementary school kids are dead because of the shooting at Sandy Hook.  I’d say that is a much bigger tragedy than Benghazi. 

If he did mean terrorist attack, that’s not even accurate either.

September17, 2008 – Al Qaeda attacked the U.S. embassy in Yemen killing 17 people, including one American.  They used rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and two car bombs.

July9, 2008 – Armed men attacked the U.S. consulate in Istanbul killing three Turkish police.  After a five-minute gun battle, the attackers were killed.

June14, 2002 – A car packed with explosives detonated near the guard post of the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 10 and injuring 51.

All of these attacks happened under President George W. Bush who was supposedly really good at fighting terrorism.  I didn’t hear controversy over these.  I didn’t hear any senators telling Condoleezza Rice that she would have been fired if they were president.  These are not the only attacks during the previous administration but they were pretty bad. 

Senator Paul, Senator McCain, and the rest of the Republicans are acting like this is a huge deal and it simply is not.  I feel that they want there to be controversy simply for them to point at the Obama administration.  I understand that four American’s died and that is unfortunate.  It’s never good when that happens but this happened in a tough area of the world.  The United States is not well liked everywhere and this, unfortunately, is the cost of doing business in that part of the world.  

Photo of the Day

This picture really encompasses the entire day.  Four more years.


(Photo POOL/SIPA USA/NEWSCOM)

Happy Inauguration Day! (Ceremonial)

As Rachel Maddow put it, our greatest secular civic holiday we celebrate every four years.  The speeches are fantastic and moving.  The symbolism is so important, from the number of columns on the building to who is giving the speeches.  This day itself, symbolizes that democracy works.  In the two houses of the building where the inauguration is held, democracy is messy.  Outside the building, every four years, the peaceful transfer of power shows that is works.  There is no mob.  No coup to unseat the previous president.  This truly is America’s greatest holiday.

Chuck Schumer gave a great speech about the symbolism of the Capital Building.  To President Abraham Lincoln, the unfinished dome symbolizing the divided nation during the Civil War.  I never realized what a great speaker Senator Schumer was.  He would make a great Senate Majority leader should Harry Reid every leave the Senate.

Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of Medgar Evers gave a wonderful invocation, and the historical aspects of her filling that role are immense.  Her husband was a civil rights leader who was gunned down in their driveway on June 12, 1963.  And now she is delivering the invocation of our first African American President, albeit his second term, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  She is also the first non-clergy to give the invocation. 

Vice President Biden was sworn in followed by President Obama.  Chief Justice Roberts did not flub the words this time.  Then he gave his speech and there is a lot of history in second inaugurals.  This, I feel, is no different.

President’s speech:

Poet Richard Blanco composed a poem for the inauguration and it was perfect for the occasion.  Listening to it, all I could think was that it was an impeccable description of America.   

Video of Richard Blanco's poem:

Beyoncé and Kelly Clarkson sang wonderfully, of course, and did not steal the show from the President.  He is the star today.

The rest of the day will be full of parties and celebration.  Tomorrow, back to work.