en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1056626 Comments by Ike http://blog.heritage.org/2013/08/28/the-impending-u-s-signature-of-the-u-n-arms-trade-treaty/#IDComment710016603 The Senate should refuse to ratify this treaty. I fully expect that President Obama - or his representative - will sign it as it reads on its face, it advances the radical goal of disarming the people of the United States. At a less visceral level, since the treaty purports to set aside - among other things - the universal human right set out in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Senate ought to refuse ratification. Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:35:36 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/08/28/the-impending-u-s-signature-of-the-u-n-arms-trade-treaty/#IDComment710016603 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/07/25/trayvon-texas-and-voter-id-eric-holder/#IDComment687264327 Back about 1986 or so, I worked as a court reporter for a district court judge here in south Texas. My judge was a famous Texas legislator who had been elected to the bench right after he announced he wasn't going to run again for the Lege. The VRA was up for renewal and Lloyd Doggett came down to visit my judge, expressing his concerns about the possibility that the VRA might not be renewed. My judge said, "Look around the courthouse. See all the Mexican-Americans working here, judges all the way to janitors?" Doggett said he did. My judge continued, "You think we're all going to quit our jobs and stop voting if the VRA doesn't get renewed?" Doggett spluttered a bit and my judge cut him off, by saying, "No, we're still going to vote and still going to hold elected and appointed office no matter whether the VRA is renewed or not. So, let's talk about something important....". That's what I say. Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:34:20 +0000 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/07/25/trayvon-texas-and-voter-id-eric-holder/#IDComment687264327 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/06/20/a-poor-argument-against-syria-intervention/#IDComment665200582 There is no U.S. interest at stake in the Syrian civil war. We're getting into another mini-war (without bothering with any statutory or Constitutional requirements) because President Obama put his foot in his mouth about "red lines" and now he has to do something to be seen to back up those statements else be taken for an utter fool. Claims that the Syrian civil war is going to de-stabilize the Middle East is nonsense; our intervention is more likely to destabilize the region. "The civil war is spilling out into neighboring countries!", while technically true in that there are a large number of civilian refuges living in other nations bordering on Syria, likewise is not a U.S. interest. Let the nations whose borders might be violated deal with it. It is not a time to begin a foreign policy based on presidential ego; too many nations in the past have gotten into that habit and it's a bad one to start and a hard one to break. Why do you think the Founding Fathers (not "Founding Founders") wrote a requirement for a Congressional declaration of war before we could go to war? Thu, 20 Jun 2013 21:40:52 +0000 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/06/20/a-poor-argument-against-syria-intervention/#IDComment665200582 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/18/will-the-currency-zombie-eat-the-tpp/#IDComment663780448 Not only, "...sharply limiting the advantages granted to state-owned enterprises...", but sharply limiting the advantages granted to enterprises owned by the cronies of the state, ought to be on that list as well. The whole "help my friends, hurt my enemies" paradigm ought to go out with the morning's trash to the dump. Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:48:10 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/18/will-the-currency-zombie-eat-the-tpp/#IDComment663780448 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/05/21/cronyism-companies-like-amazon-craigslist-use-government-to-crush-competition/#IDComment647407117 When you permit the government to choose winners and losers in the marketplace, the companies which survive are those which adopt rent-seeking behaviors, whatever they may be in that time and place. The corruption begins with the idea that the government ought to issue rules and make laws controlling any market. After that, normal human nature will insure that only rent-seekers survive. An underlying cause of our current economic ills is there are no longer any large-sized businesses which do not engage in rent-seeking; in order to benefit the rent-seekers, you must weaken and disadvantage the non-rent-seekers. The only cure is to remove the government's powers to control the economy. But that isn't going to happen, because there is no organized political faction seeking even a moderately free market. I suspect that there is no path from where we are to a free market. The grand American experiment is nearly over. The results show clearly that mankind is unfit to rule itself. Tue, 21 May 2013 18:29:33 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/05/21/cronyism-companies-like-amazon-craigslist-use-government-to-crush-competition/#IDComment647407117 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/04/blame-income-inequality/#IDComment611599753 Leave everyone alone to find their own way, punishing only the common law crimes committed by violence and fraud and protecting kids from their own (and their parents') ignorance of how the world works, and you will see that each will soon have what he or she has earned. Well, we'll have to stop taking money from some folks and giving it to other folks and stop making laws to protect politicians' political supporters and buddies, but that's the gist of it. Freedom. Thu, 4 Apr 2013 19:55:43 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/04/04/blame-income-inequality/#IDComment611599753 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/03/29/perfect-example-of-why-new-york-is-the-least-free-state/#IDComment607251520 And that makes their findings invalid, right? Just like all funding for the "hole in the ozone layer - sky is falling!" that came from companies with the expiring patents on Freon invalidated that research; right? What is it about the research that invalidates it? No, "ooh, I don't like it and nasty mean people I don't like funded it" isn't an argument against the findings. Sat, 30 Mar 2013 05:17:58 +0000 http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/03/29/perfect-example-of-why-new-york-is-the-least-free-state/#IDComment607251520 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/25/texas-size-school-choice/#IDComment604216629 Like many things in life - alas! - learning begins at home. The gap in grade level performance between minority students - except (notice?) Asians of all economic levels - and white students isn't going to be fixed by more money for schools, private or public. It won't be fixed by anything except minority parents changing their attitudes toward learning, reading, scholarship all those "Anglo things" that no self-respecting Hispanic would want to adopt. Too many years of the "poor me, poor us" song, too many years of being taught that they are victims not people, too many years of blaming "Whitey" or "the gringo". Tue, 26 Mar 2013 01:31:07 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/25/texas-size-school-choice/#IDComment604216629 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/30/obama-administration-can-no-longer-hide-behind-the-u-n-s-failed-efforts-in-syria/#IDComment370531288 The United States ought not commit ground, naval or air forces against Syria, under any circumstances. Let Syrians work out their own problems, with or without help from their Arab neighbors. Better late than never, but the U.S. has to stop pretending to have the right, the authority, whatever you wish to call it, which legitimatizes any military actions against nations who have not attacked - literally, not figuratively neither metaphorically attacked - the United States. The whole notion upon which the sovereignty of nations is based consists of each of them being independent of the others. Syria's government is accountable only to Syria's people Wed, 30 May 2012 19:39:31 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/30/obama-administration-can-no-longer-hide-behind-the-u-n-s-failed-efforts-in-syria/#IDComment370531288 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/22/commencing-liberalism-lbj-launches-the-great-society/#IDComment365192943 And now, deja vu again!, we have a President whose ghost-written 'auto-biography' was written by who? Bill Ayers, one of the leaders of the Weatherman Faction of the Students for a Democratic Society, who else!! Irony is a force which permeates the cosmos more thoroughly and powerfully than does gravity. Tue, 22 May 2012 19:49:32 +0000 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/22/commencing-liberalism-lbj-launches-the-great-society/#IDComment365192943 http://dougpowers.com/2012/05/17/white-house-denial-no-biographies-have-been-altered/#IDComment362646747 @jeffythequick: You're right, but the Congresscritters decided back in the early 1900's that they didn't want to have too many Representatives, because that diluted their power. I mean, if there were 370,000 people per Representative, that would means 870 Reps and that's hardly any power for each one; isn't it? Nearly all of those kinds of things aren't in the Constitution, but rather are Rules of the House or of the Senate or laws that the Congress passed for their direct political benefit. That's part of the problem. Fri, 18 May 2012 13:28:54 +0000 http://dougpowers.com/2012/05/17/white-house-denial-no-biographies-have-been-altered/#IDComment362646747 http://dougpowers.com/2012/05/17/white-house-denial-no-biographies-have-been-altered/#IDComment362222691 "Thanks to the thoughts of President Obama, we now have elected Members of Congress!" Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:26 +0000 http://dougpowers.com/2012/05/17/white-house-denial-no-biographies-have-been-altered/#IDComment362222691 http://dougpowers.com/2012/04/02/newsweek-3/#IDComment330192045 I only have four cheeks and I ran out of un-struck cheeks to turn many years ago. Mon, 2 Apr 2012 19:27:06 +0000 http://dougpowers.com/2012/04/02/newsweek-3/#IDComment330192045 http://biggovernment.com/bshapiro/2012/02/11/liberal-activists-may-use-miramonte-elementary-scandal-to-stump-for-amnesty/#IDComment289950936 It's "Cinco de Mayo", JimMcVeigh. The 'authorities' claim not to be able to find illegal immigrants for the same reason that school kids claim their dog ate their homework: neither the 'authorities' nor the kids want to do their work. As for the school's alleged 'pervert' teachers, what do you expect when there are no longer any recognized, widely-held rules of conduct? Example: the fuss about the half-time 'flip-the-bird' from a dancer overlooked entirely the lewd and vulgar dancing - much more obscene than a mere hand gesture - which accompanied the gesture. One of the many, many consequences of a 30 years and more of acquiescence in a movement whose actual motto ought to be: "Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules". General rot in the moral fabric of the society in which we live. Smile, 'cause it's gonna get worse. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:48:11 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/bshapiro/2012/02/11/liberal-activists-may-use-miramonte-elementary-scandal-to-stump-for-amnesty/#IDComment289950936 http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2012/01/alarming_though.php#IDComment276023845 I was trying to be factual. His actions and those of the people he's appointed to office in his administration act and speak precisely that way: when the Attorney General said, in testimony before Congress, that he saw his primary duty as working for the benefit of 'my people', who do you think he meant? Black Americans? Not likely. If you doubt me, look at Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Trenton ... just to name a few. After about 30 years of largely black rule in black majority cities, how are they doing? Worse. If the black leadership actually had the intention of doing good for 'their people', the results would have been better. The only people who have benefited are the political leaders of black America. And lest you accuse me of racism, guess what? White America has the same problem; their leaders work for the benefit of the same groups as does President Obama and his accomplices and none of those groups are the actual people. That's why we need to elect folks to office - federal, state and local - who will work for us, not for themselves and their cronies. Oh, I'm not 'enlightened', just awake and can tell crap from a crayola. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:26:08 +0000 http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2012/01/alarming_though.php#IDComment276023845 http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2012/01/alarming_though.php#IDComment275334373 Everyone misses the important part of his speech. What is that? That all those words like "folks", "the American people", "the unemployed", all of those collective nouns and pronouns, not one of them in his useage actually means what you think those words mean. Those words mean, "Me", "My friends", "My political supporters", "Those who agree with me that I have a natural right to rule", "Those who kiss my feet". None of them refer anyone not in that group equal to about .00001% of the American population and to even fewer white people. Get ready for his second term, because the ignorant and the foolish and those who are eternally hopeful in the face of facts to the contrary will vote for him again. And if not enough votes are actually cast for him, his administration and his local cronies will make sure that the vote count shows that they were cast for him: the dead, the illegal, the felon will all rise up and re-elect this Man of the People. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:09:51 +0000 http://www.hyscience.com/archives/2012/01/alarming_though.php#IDComment275334373 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment268031349 Yep and probably in other states as well. It depends on whether they have free photo ID's or not. Oh, yes; keep in mind that the 'poll tax' argument is specious as well, since the cost of photo ID's is less than a twelve-pack of beer in most places. Just give up your beer buzz for one night and you have the money for the ID. But that counter-argument gets no traction, since those allegedly discriminated against don't have enough money, because of discrimination of course. What they get in welfare doesn't count, you see. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:16:01 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment268031349 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment268030887 In the early years - during the first century of the Republic - states routinely and nearly universally had property qualifications for voting and until the Civil War era those qualifications had nothing to do with race and everything to do with the notion that if you had to 'have a dog in the fight'. Remember that states are widely believed to be possessed of 'inherent authority' to pass legislation on whatever topic enters into the minds of their legislators. So, you see, the property requirement to vote was another limitation on the exercise of government power, placing the interests of those who would be taxed against the interests of the legislature. Remember only the Federal government was (and is) seen as being a government of specified, limited, authority. A pauper's oath had to be renewed every year (six months in some states) as a condition of receiving public assistance and if the previous one had expired and you didn't sign a new one, one was again eligible to vote. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:15:18 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment268030887 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment267987276 In Texas, voter ID's are already free. All one must do is appear at the local Department of Public Safety drivers' license office and show something - utility bill even - showing your home address and they will issue you a photo ID for free. Guess what? Texas' voter ID law is being challenged on the same grounds as is South Carolina, so the argument doesn't die, the racists who have decided that, ipso facto, being white equals being wrong simply ignore the facts and continue to rant and conclude that requiring a photo ID in order to vote equals discrimination. Don't you understand what's going on, yet? Law and reason have nothing to do with it; revenge for real or imagined injuries and insults is what is going on. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:12:29 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment267987276 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment267984030 There were laws in all or nearly all states that disqualified people who received public charity from voting. They were called 'pauper' laws, because formerly - really long ago, in the 1950's and '60's *wink* - in order to receive public assistance, one had to sign a pauper's oath and being legally a pauper disqualified one from voting. Of course, those disqualifications were done away with because they had a 'disparate impact' on Attorney General Holder's 'people', as he referred to them in his Congressional testimony. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:07:24 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/cjohnson/2012/01/18/fact-checking-eric-holders-south-carolina-speech/#IDComment267984030