A Vote for Kagan Is a Vote to Take Away Your Guns
By John Lott
As the number of President Obama’s judicial appointments and nominations continues to grow, it appears pretty clear that he does not care about the individual’s right to self-defense. We can tell this by looking at the record of his two Supreme Court picks but also by examining the long list of lower-level judicial appointments. All of these reflect a pattern of favoring person who have written anti-gun opinions.
Elena Kagan, Obama’s newest Supreme Court nominee, fits this mold. The Supreme Court has only been very narrowly supportive of an individual’s right to bear arms. For example, there was the 5-4 vote in the Heller decision when it struck down Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban in 2008 and a similar 5-4 vote in on Monday in the decision to strike down Chicago’s ban in “McDonald.”
In the future, Kagan’s opinion could be crucial: If Justice Kennedy or one of the four more conservative members of the court were to retire or die, her vote could easily tip the balance on gun rights.
Read more
A few ‘vapid’ questions for Elena Kagan
By George F. Will
Given Elena Kagan’s aversion to “vapid and hollow” confirmation hearings devoid of “legal analysis,” beginning Monday she might relish answering these questions:
– It would be naughty to ask you about litigation heading for the Supreme Court concerning this: Does Congress have the right, under its enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce, to punish the inactivity of not purchasing health insurance? So, instead answer this harmless hypothetical: If Congress decides that interstate commerce is substantially affected by the costs of obesity, may Congress require obese people to purchase participation in programs such as Weight Watchers? If not, why not?
– The government having decided that Chrysler’s survival is an urgent national necessity, could it decide that “Cash for Clunkers” is too indirect a subsidy and instead mandate that people buy Chrysler products?
– If Congress concludes that ignorance has a substantial impact on interstate commerce, can it constitutionally require students to do three hours of homework nightly? If not, why not?
– Can you name a human endeavor that Congress cannot regulate on the pretense that the endeavor affects interstate commerce? If courts reflexively defer to that congressional pretense, in what sense do we have limited government? Read more
White House vs. Boy Scouts, Part 2
By Chuck Norris
Last week, I discussed a series of evidences regarding how President Barack Obama is leading the White House pack in distancing his administration from the Boy Scouts of America.
As I pointed out, the White House has delayed Eagle Scout certificate signings, denied the invitation to go to the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary gala, downplayed Obama’s acceptance of BSA’s honorary presidency, dodged official communications about the BSA, not defended the BSA against cultural attacks, and diminished Obama’s all-around role as BSA’s honorary president.
And to boot, Obama’s administration has followed suit, collectively believing as progressives that the BSA is behind the times or too traditional and conservative.
For example, just a week after Obama denied the invitation to attend the BSA’s gala in his own backyard (Washington, D.C.), on Feb. 12 White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was forced to discuss the Boy Scouts. But even then, as you’ll see, Gibbs dodged questions about White House sentiment regarding the BSA. Read more
Judges, the Constitution & Gun Control Laws
By Thomas Sowell
Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has decided that the Second Amendment to the Constitution means that individual Americans have a right to bear arms, what can we expect?
Those who have no confidence in ordinary Americans may expect a bloodbath, as the benighted masses start shooting each other, now that they can no longer be denied guns by their betters. People who think we shouldn’t be allowed to make our own medical decisions, or decisions about which schools our children attend, certainly are not likely to be happy with the idea that we can make our own decisions about how to defend ourselves.
When you stop and think about it, there is no obvious reason why issues like gun control should be ideological issues in the first place. It is ultimately an empirical question whether allowing ordinary citizens to have firearms will increase or decrease the amount of violence. Read more
In Washington, ‘Disclose’ Means Stifle
By Debra Saunders
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR5175, also known as the Disclose Act, by a 219-206 vote. “Disclose,” you see, is an acronym for “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections.”
The measure’s author, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., also happens to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — so you know that the bill has nothing to do with helping Democrats retain their seats. (Just kidding.)
Two Republicans voted for the measure; 36 Democrats voted against it. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it deserves to molder. This bill may have passed largely unnoticed, but if the Senate passes HR5175 as is, with its provision to activate the law in 30 days — conveniently in time for November’s midterm elections but before the Federal Election Commission would have a chance to draft careful rules — voters should see this as a blatant attempt to rig the system. Read more
Americans Relate to Founders, Not Progressives
By Michael Barone
Democrats are reportedly planning to raise $125 million for a campaign to sell Obamacare to the voting public. Apparently, the idea is that what 50-plus presidential speeches and statements and months of congressional debate could not do can be done by $125 million spent on everything from TV ads to community organizers.
Maybe. But there seems to be a more fundamental problem here. The Obama Democrats didn’t set out to produce an unpopular stimulus package, an unpopular health care bill and an unpopular cap-and-trade scheme.
They thought these initiatives would be popular. In their view, history is a story of progress from small government to big government, and as historians of the New Deal wrote, that progress is especially welcome in times of economic distress.
The massive unpopularity of the Obama Democrats’ programs suggests that view of history is defective. Let me propose another, starting with the Founding Fathers. Read more
Confidence Waning in Obama, U.S. Outlook
By Peter Wallsten and Eliza Gray
Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Barack Obama’s leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
The survey also shows grave and growing concerns about the Gulf oil spill, with overwhelming majorities of adults favoring stronger regulation of the oil industry and believing that the spill will affect the nation’s economy and environment.
Sixty-two percent of adults in the survey feel the country is on the wrong track, the highest level since before the 2008 election. Just one-third think the economy will get better over the next year, a 7-point drop from a month ago and the low point of Mr. Obama’s tenure.
Amid anxiety over the nation’s course, support for Mr. Obama and other incumbents is eroding. For the first time, more people disapprove of Mr. Obama’s job performance than approve. And 57% of voters would prefer to elect a new person to Congress than re-elect their local representatives, the highest share in 18 years. Read more
Fairness, Not Protectionism
By U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt
DoD Must Weigh Unlawful and Unfair Advantage in Tanker Bid
The United States achieved a major milestone in the long-overdue competition to build America’s next generation of aerial refueling tankers when the House passed the Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act. The House adopted the Inslee-Tiahrt amendment by an overwhelming vote of 410-8.
This provision, patterned after the Fair Defense Competition Act authored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and myself, forces the Department of Defense to consider any potentially unfair competitive advantage a competitor has in the KC-X acquisition process and apply it equally to both bidders. But despite this prudent defense acquisition change, many false charges have been leveled against this effort that was overwhelming supported. Read more
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.
By DANIEL B. KLEIN
Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.
Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic and I considered the 4,835 respondents’ (all American adults) answers to eight survey questions about basic economics. We also asked the respondents about their political leanings: progressive/very liberal; liberal; moderate; conservative; very conservative; and libertarian.
Rather than focusing on whether respondents answered a question correctly, we instead looked at whether they answered incorrectly. A response was counted as incorrect only if it was flatly unenlightened.
Consider one of the economic propositions in the December 2008 poll: “Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.” People were asked if they: 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure. Read more
Our Caudillo President
By Ben Stein
As I write this on Monday night, there are rumors around that BP will agree to President Barack Obama’s demand that the oil giant “voluntarily” put about $30 billion into a fund to be administered by the government to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
Now, no one disputes that this is a real disaster and that BP acted irresponsibly in commissioning Trans-Ocean and Halliburton to drill for oil in waters so deep that if a failure occurred there would be no way to fix it — at least until major damage had been done. BP, Trans-Ocean, and Halliburton, as well as the individuals involved, have much to answer for.
But the action of the President in demanding this immense transfer of the stockholders’ wealth without any legislation or court decision is extremely worrisome. Read more
