The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

World’s Youngest Blogger, Wheels Edition

Posted on | June 30, 2012 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

Aw, yeah

His Badness dismounting the Badmobile

Category: World's Youngest Blogger

Mataconis: Less Guano, Please

Posted on | June 30, 2012 | 49 Comments

by Smitty

Mataconis takes Podhoretz to task for asserting that the Chief Justice contradicted himself by discussing ObamaCare in terms of the Anti-Injunction Act for purposes of standing, and then turning around and finding ObamaCare Constitutional as an exercise of tax power.

Clearly, Roberts is discussion two very distinct issues in these different section of the opinion. In the first, he is dealing with the discrete question of whether or not the PPACA mandate penalty qualifies as the kind of tax contemplated by the Anti-Injunction Act such that challenges would have to wait until at least 2015 to be filed in a Federal Court. In other words, it was purely a question of whether the Plaintiffs in the case had standing to challenge law at this time. The case law surrounding this issue tends to be complicated, but it was clear at the end of oral argument that none of the justices bought that argument.

Can we please cut through all the legal guano here, Doug? Get a piece of paper and draw a timeline. How, pray tell, if ObamaCare is magically discovered a tax, is it being argued before the SCOTUS three years ahead of completion of its infernal gestation?

A few points:

  • The decision is what it is. What this post is not is an attempt to re-jigger the past. The past, as the taxation nature of ObamaCare would be if anything like consistent logic obtained, will not budge. This is what we have, and calls for Roberts’ head on a silver charger are more than a little overblown.
  • Having SCOTUS decisions turn into convoluted crayon duels (like ObamaCare itself) is no help. The SCOTUS works for the We the People.  There is no excuse for complicating the situation unnecessarily.  If the legal stylings have become so Byzantine that the typical college student cannot follow them, then perhaps the fault is with the legal stylings, and not the audience.
  • Argumentum ad verecundiam is unimpressive. This is America. Respect, like contempt, is an earned quantity. Someone who yells “Are you a lawyer?” as a twit did at Seton Motley on Thursday the 28th, as though a law degree is a prerequisite for public speaking, earns the contempt.
  • What’s crucial, and therefore little-discussed, is the economics. Sure, legal arguments. Fine, political speechifying. From whence cometh the loot to drive it all?  As Walter Scott noted, “Be it better, be it worse, be ruled by him that has the purse.” The simple budgetary fact that the 57 State horses are being pulled by the Federal Reserve cart will become painful Real Soon Now. But that’s OK: we take honest budgeting as seriously as simple, coherent reasoning.
  • Libertas et Memoria points out that David Brooks likes the ObamaCare decision, which I think they called an OSCVLVM MORTIS (“kiss of deat”) in the old days.

As a lawyer of some note once said:

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.

After that, I can’t decide whether (a) to break into a paraphrase of the dog lifting the leg to opine on the ObamaCare ruling, or (b) some jape about BHO looking at the dog and saying: “Breakfast!”
Exit question: Did Scott Adams intend a vague ObamaCare reference in today’s Dilbert?
Probably not.

Update: linked at WyBlog.

Category: Blogging, Health Care

Ott Finds Humor In ObamaCare Decision

Posted on | June 29, 2012 | 3 Comments

by Smitty

Ott makes an excellent effort at finding some humor in the ObamaCare news. I thought the final EU joke worked the best:

Category: PJTV

Save The ObamaCare Adrenalin For GOTV Efforts

Posted on | June 29, 2012 | 28 Comments

by Smitty

Surveying the blogs, there is as much certainty about how to interpret Chief Justice Roberts after the fact as there was about the ObamaCare decision prior to issue. Clearly, John Roberts is a strong contender for the All-Time Shrewdest Judas award.

While we can all berate Roberts for not simply doing the minimal job, the question begins and ends with the American people, in November 2008 and November 2012. Note this clip of two ladies whose hotness is only exceeded by their excellent analysis:


While the analysis is worthwhile, I hope this weekend sees a shift away from fretting about Roberts and a renewed focus on getting the Court of Public Opinion arranged for the November opinion, which stands even more crucial.

via Red Alexandria

Update: Heh:
sdaf

Update I.5: Absolutely brutal playing of the FDR card. Ow!

Update II: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Category: Health Care

Convicted Perjurer Brett Kimberlin Has 8:30 a.m. Hearing in Maryland Today

Posted on | June 29, 2012 | 78 Comments

‘Speedway Bomber’ Brett Kimberlin was sentenced to 50 years in 1981

FROM AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Brett Kimberlin will return to Montgomery County (Maryland) District Court this morning, seeking a peace order against a Virginia man who drove past Kimberlin’s home in Bethesda two weeks ago.

The final hearing on Kimberlin’s complaint against John Norton (Case No. 0601SP033922012) is scheduled at the district courthouse in Rockville (191 East Jefferson St.) today at 8:30 a.m.

A convicted terrorist infamous as Indiana’s “Speedway Bomber,” Kimberlin has recently gained new notoriety for his efforts to silence bloggers who write about his criminal history. In October 2010, Kimberlin sued progressive blogger Seth “Socrates” Allen, who had complained about the activities of Velvet Revolution, a 501(c) non-profit co-founded by Kimberlin. Subsequently, Kimberlin has filed a series of legal complaints against Aaron Walker, a Virginia attorney and blogger, and has also threatened lawsuits against Mandy “Liberty Chick” Nagy and Patrick “Patterico” Frey.

Last month, Walker published a 28,000-word account describing how he says Kimberlin tried to “frame” him for assault. On May 29, Walker was briefly arrested after a Maryland court hearing in which Judge C.J. Vaughey ruled that Walker’s blogging constituted a violation of a peace order obtained by Kimberlin. Judge Vaughey’s ruling has been widely denounced as an infringement of First Amendment rights, and is being appealed in both Maryland and federal courts.

In his June 22 complaint against Norton, Kimberlin claims the Virginia man was “lurking” near Kimberlin’s Bethesda home June 15. Kimberlin says the man took photos of him and his daughter, resulting in a car chase as Kimberlin sought to get Norton’s license tag number.

Norton has responded to the accusation by seeking his own peace order against Kimberlin. In his filing, Norton states that he has never been on Kimberlin’s property and writes:

“I was shocked to read the false claims made by Mr. Kimberlin. . . .
“Mr. Kimberlin has a history of frivolous lawsuits to include one against a sitting U.S. senator. Additionally, he is a convicted perjurer.
“He has a history of using peace orders, then engineering a violation of the order by his target to get the target arrested.”

The Kimberlin-Norton case drew the attention of Walker because of Kimberlin’s claims that Norton was part of a conspiracy:

“Mr. Norton clearly has a relationship with Mr. Allen and Mr. Walker, and I firmly believe that Mr. Norton is or was conspiring with Aaron Walker or his client Seth Allen, or others acting on behalf of Aaron Walker, to stalk or harass me and place me and my family in fear.”

Walker has written about the Kimberlin-Norton case at his blog, Allergic to Bull. Numerous bloggers, journalists, broadcasters, legal scholars and organizations have rallied to Walker’s defense in the past six weeks, including bestselling author Michelle Malkin, Professor Glenn Reynolds, radio host Glenn Beck, Professor Eugene Volokh, the National Bloggers Club, Professor William Jacobson, the American Center for Law and Justice, and the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.

Two special events have raised public awareness of Kimberlin’s threat to First Amendment rights. May 25 was declared “Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day” by blogger Lee Stranahan. June 8 was declared “National Day of Blogger Silence” by the award-winning conservative blogger known as Ace of Spaces.

Kimberlin’s legal actions against bloggers have been described as a form of “lawfare,” which is defined as “the illegitimate use of domestic or international law with the intention of damaging an opponent.”

Mark Singer noted in his 1996 book, Citizen K: The Deeply Weird American Journey of Brett Kimberlin, that during his years in federal prison Kimberlin became adept as a so-called “jailhouse lawyer,” filing more than 100 legal actions on his own behalf.

Kimberlin was convicted in 1981 of perpetrating a series of bombings that terrorized the small town of Speedway, Indiana. One of Kimberlin’s bombs blew up a police car, while another bomb — placed at a high school — badly maimed Carl DeLong, a Vietnam veteran. A major drug smuggler, Kimberlin could have been sentenced to as much as 230 years in federal prison, but was sentenced to 50 years and eventually served only 17 years of that sentence before being released in 2001.

In 2005, Kimberlin founded the tax-exempt 501(c)3 Justice Through Music Project, which has since collected some $1.8 million in contributions, including grants from a variety of progressive foundations. Kimberlin also co-founded (with liberal blogger Brad Friedman) the non-profit Velvet Revolution, which has gained publicity and raised money by making accusations of criminal wrongdoing against such public figures as GOP political strategist Karl Rove, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Kimberlin’s criminal accusations and lawsuits against his enemies are ironic in that Kimberlin is a convicted perjurer notorious for his dishonesty. A January 2007 Time magazine article noted that Kimberlin had “found a home in the blogosphere” by “repeatedly asserting as fact things that are not true.” Indianapolis Star reporter Joe Gelarden, who covered the Speedway bombing case more than 30 years ago, remarked in 2007:

“Brett Kimberlin is a terrorist. . . . I remember a few things about Brett that give me great pause. First, he was convicted of perjury — in federal court — before he got out of high school. Think about that for a moment.”

Kimberlin’s attempt to intimidate bloggers has also called attention to the phenomenon of “SWATting,” a dangerous hoax in which a fake 911 call results in a police raid on the home of a targeted person.

Mike Stack, a New Jersey man who played a role in the exposure of Rep. Anthony Weiner’s cybersex scandal, was SWATted in June 2011. A week later, Patrick Frey (who had written extensively about the Weiner case) was SWATted at his Los Angeles home. Red State editor Erick Erickson, who had written about the Kimberlin case, was SWATted last month, and Aaron Walker was SWATted Monday after he won a Maryland courtroom victory against Kimberlin. Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Texas Rep. Kenny Marchant and more than 85 House Republicans called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the SWATtings.

– Robert Stacy McCain, Whereabouts Unknown

 

 

 

THE KIMBERLIN FILES:

 

 


Category: The Kimberlin Files

LIVE AT FIVE: 06.29.12

Posted on | June 29, 2012 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Obamacare Pyrrhic Victory For Democrats?

The Supremes

GOP, Romney vow to repeal PPACA after court upholds most provisions

House Finds Holder In Contempt Over “Fast & Furious”
Bipartisan 255-67 vote


Assad Vows To “Annihilate Terrorists” As Clinton, Lavrov Meet
Russian FM, SecState discuss Annan’s unity government plan



POLITICS
One Killed, Two Wounded In Fort Bragg Shooting

Soldiers in formation at Ft. Bragg, December 2011

Reason for shooting unknown; investigation underway

Congress To Vote On Allocating Gulf Oil Spill Fines To Environmental Restoration


SCOTUS Strikes Down Stolen Valor Act

Obama Campaign Official: We Could Lose This Election
Related: Enraged donors give $2.5 million to Romney moneybomb in wake of SCOTUS decision on Obamacare

Suspended Sheriff Mirkarimi Asks For Redemption At SF Ethics Panel Hearing

Air Force Investigates Alleged Sexual Assaults At Lackland AFB; 31 Female Trainees Identified So Far As Victims



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Up After EU Deal On Spanish Banks: NYMEX $79.57, Brent $92.76
RIM, Nike Shares Stomped After Hours
AB InBev Buys Rest Of Grupo Modelo For $20.1 Billion
US Markets Cut Losses With Late Comeback
Nissan To Produce Sentra At Mississippi Plant, Add Jobs
US Jobless Claims Remain Near 2012 High
Family Dollar Leads Dollar Chains Lower
Yet Another Government-Backed Solar Company Turns Out The Lights
Google Chrome For iOS Launches
Adobe: No Jelly Bean Flash, Flash Player Pulled Completely August 15
Apple Plans Big Overhaul To iTunes
Activision Closes Radical Entertainment
Qualcomm Airs Restructuring Plan



SPORTS
Bauer Leaves Early, But Snakes Top Braves 3-2

Snakes rookie pitcher Trevor Bauer

Kimbrel coughs up solo dinger in 9th to blow it for Braves

A Bunch Of College Hoops Players Get Drafted By NBA Teams

King Felix Shuts Out BoSox, Mariners Win On Pinch-hit Single In Bottom Of 9th

ChiSox’ Viciedo Hits Three-Run Dinger In 9th To End Yankees’ Winning Streak

Pens Give Crosby 12-Year Extension


Wright’s Hitting, Young’s Pitching Leads Mets To 3-2 Win Against Dodgers

Amarista’s 9th-Inning Grand Slam Caps Padres Rally, Astros Fall 7-3

Buescher Dominant In Kentucky Truck Race

Nats’ Bats Still Hot, But Not Hot Enough In 11-10 Extra Inning Loss At Coors



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Charlize Theron Ditches Hats

Charlize Theron with son in Namibia

Shaved head for role in Mad Max 4

Katy Perry Celebrates Her Independence

Savannah Guthrie To Co-Host “Today” Starting Today

Johnny Depp, Amber Heard “100% Dating”


“I Love Lucy” Actress Doris Singleton Dies, 92

“Teen Mom” Catelyn Lowell: I’ve Lost 22 Pounds For My Wedding!

Beckham Fails To Make British Olympic Squad

Madonna’s Daughter Lourdes Poses In Mom’s Famous Cone Bra Backstage At MDNA Tour



FOREIGNERS
Turkey Fortifies Its Border; Bomb Blast In Damascus
Egyptian Generals Deny Accusations Military Swayed Presidential Election
PRC Astronauts Return To Earth
ROK Delays Signing Controversial Military Agreement With Japan
British Police Serve Extradition Notice On Assange
Punjab Assembly Welcomes Surjeet’s Return, Asks For Sarabjit’s Release
Queen Unveils Memorial To Bomber Command
Mongolia’s Free-Market MDP Claims Lead In Election
Tension Mounts Between Vietnam, PRC



BLOGS & STUFF
Protein Wisdom: I Freakin’ Told You So
Volokh Conspiracy: More Hints That Roberts Switched His Vote
NRO Bench Memos: Majority Opinion Turned Dissent?
Allahpundit: Glenn Beck Says, “I Sure Am Tired Of Prominent Republicans Selling Out Conservatives”
Power Line: A Defeat, But It’s Not Over, Or, Roberts’ Rules Of Disorder
George Will: Conservatives’ Consolation Prize
Israel Matzav: Muslim Brotherhood Calls For Destruction Of Israel After Election
Valley Of The Shadow: How Chief Justice Roberts Volleyed President Obama To Score Points Against Senator Obama
WyBlog: So Next Year, When Obama Mandates We All Buy A Chevy Volt, What Then?

Category: Live at Five

Criminal Insanity as a Career Qualification

Posted on | June 28, 2012 | 9 Comments

A man who panhandles in New York while dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo — occasionally erupting in obscene rants about “the international Jew” — was apprehended earlier this week and briefly institutionalized for psychiatric evaluation.

Parents everywhere will be glad to know that Crazy Jew-Hating Panhandler Elmo has been released from custody and is now back in Central Park, hustling for cash and posing for photos with children. Also, parents will be glad to know that Crazy Jew-Hating Panhandler Elmo — actually a man from Oregon named Dan Sandler — was once deported from Cambodia for running a porn site called “Rape Camp.”

After an academic published a research paper on the “rape camp” incident, Sandler sent e-mails to the researcher saying he “had sex with a number of young girls in exchange for money in Cambodia.”

So this guy — who is into porn, child prostitution and crazy Jew-hating — is right there in New York City, posing for pictures with kids.

It’s his constitutional right. Just ask Chief Justice Roberts.

Category: Crime

Michele Bachmann ObamaCare Decision Response At The SCOTUS

Posted on | June 28, 2012 | 15 Comments

by Smitty

“. . .Justice Kennedy, who read from the dissent from [the majority] opinion, and he stated quite emphatically that what happened today is that the Supreme Court in effect re-wrote the ObamaCare legislation. In effect, with their opinion, being a legislative court, as opposed to allowing Congress to make that decision.”

“One of the final remarks that was made by Chief Justice Roberts in the opinion. . .he said that today the American people will not be protected from the political decisions they made in 2008”

“What we have bought today in this Supreme Court decision is nothing more than unparalleled economic uncertainty. Because you see at the heart of ObamaCare is a bill that will never finish being written.”

“We will not forget in November.”


God bless the courageous Michele Bachmann and the United States.

Michele Bachmann for Congress

Battling the Left and their little knuckle-draggers since 2001

Update: linked at Caffeinated Thoughts who has an excellent roundup, in including the majority opinion.

Update II: linked at The Daley Gator, with another big roundup.

Update III: linked at The Lonely Conservative

Update IV: linked at Stacy on the Right, who does not imply that this blog’s Stacy is somehow on the Left.

Category: Health Care, Michele Bachmann
« go back — keep looking »

    About

    This is an area on your website where you can add text. This will serve as an informative location on your website, where you can talk about your site.

    Subscribe to our feed

    Search

    Admin