As I was driving to work this morning I thought of perhaps one of the best (i.e. worst) examples of unconstitutional actions by our federal government;
Brief 6: Shortly after the new year began in 2012 President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act. Tucked into the bill is a provision that many believe greatly expands the ability of the federal government take you into custody and hold you indefinitely;
I was struck, yet again, by a move by Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency. They are looking to ban the sale of most rat poisons to consumers claiming that the move will,
“to reduce the thousands of accidental exposures of children that occur every year from rat and mouse control products and also to protect household pets.”
One of the things that I hope to accomplish with FramingTheDialogue is to link news stories and try to show their connection and often contradictions. It is surprising, but not unusual to find more than one article on a related topic in different sections of the newspaper. The most recent were two articles about CFL/Incandescent light bulbs that I wrote about in Watt TF. Recently the following three articles were available on the same day though I cannot remember whether they were available on the same media outlet.
As we limp through this arduous winter toward spring I look forward to warmer weather and sunshine. Something about shining light on stuff has a healing affect. Perhaps that is why laws requiring that government meetings and hearings are open to the public are referred to as “sunshine” laws. A common rule-of-thumb about personal behavior used to be for you to consider whether you would want your mother to read about your actions in the local paper. Today I guess it would translate on whether she would learn about your activities on FaceBook.
Much has been written about Obama’s bevy of extra constitutional czars and their seeming unlimited power and lack of congressional oversight. Perhaps even the staunchest Obama-zombie can overlook this power grab because of the promise to fundamentally change the way things are done in Washington. It must be getting hard for the Obama-zombies (and I apologize to regular zombies) to ignore the ever-growing number of examples of the blob-like intrusion of the federal government into even their rose-colored Obama-glasses.
I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.
Dorothy Gale
As I thought about how to describe this book by author Joshua Cooper Ramo
A famous philosophical puzzle asks the question whether a tree that falls in the forest makes any sound when there is no one around to hear it. As an engineer by education and thought I really did not enjoy these types of “core” classes in college even though they gave me a “well rounded” education. My philosophy class was perhaps the most tedious class ever and was dominated by seemingly endless discussions about what ifs and could be’s. Our bearded professor certainly looked the part and in many ways I was happy that at least one person with a degree in philosophy was gainfully employed in his profession.
As my two eldest children prepare to go back to college life our house we again begin looking at ways to pay for our portion of the bill. We have been fortunate because the schools that they chose (both are private schools) have been very generous with scholarships, grants, and work-study jobs. There still is, however, a significant portion of the bill that we have to pay in some way.
In this series I choose a current news article and you decide via a multiple choice format which terms were used and whether others would have been more accurate…….
WASHINGTON — In the end, it’s only a beginning.
The __________ (comprehensive, far-reaching, power grabbing, socialist) new banking and consumer protection bill awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature now shifts from the politicians to the technocrats.
The legislation gives regulators __________( latitude, unlimited power, control, plenty of campaign contributions) and time to come up with new rules, requires scores of studies and, in some instances, depends on international __________ (approval, loans, agreements, scorn) falling into place.
News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories…
These are all GOOD!
Brief 1: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is fast becoming my favorite state leader. From tackling the state budget to standing up to teacher’s unions he is showing a spine not often present in politicians. The latest Christie-ism is his response to a reporter who had the gall to question his tone:
Brief 2: Congressional Candidate Lieutenant Colonel Allen West is a plain-speaking politician who has strong, fundamental, conservative views. You have to love this guy. This YouTube video has over 2 million hits. Any bets that is because of his message?
