Program Note
[ Posted Tuesday, June 9th, 2015 – 16:28 UTC ]
No new column today, sorry. I had planned a biography column on Rick Perry, but somehow failed to work up the energy to write it (I'll get it written in the next day or two, promise). Instead, I am going to attempt to work through the backlog of answering your comments from the past few weeks. I know I've been falling down on this job, so I am going to devote writing time today to answering what you have all been saying instead. Look in the comments section of this Program Note for updates, where I'll post my progress below, as I work through the backlog. And, once again, sorry for the lack of column today, folks.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
OK, I did Monday's column and got halfway through Friday's, gotta take a break, more to come....
-CW
No new column today, sorry. I had planned a biography column on Rick Perry, but somehow failed to work up the energy to write it ...
Heh. I know what you mean ...
LizM -
Yeah, it was tough. Especially with my self-induced rule of "write the first column about all announced candidates without snark."
First time I ever heard Perry's name was on a comment thread for a long-forgotten article (seem to remember it being a WashPost one, but could be wrong). What stuck in my mind was a guy from TX who knew Perry better than anyone else on the thread, who summed up with "Perry is dumb as a bag of hammers."
Somehow, that comment has always stuck with me as the gold standard for describing Perry...
:-)
-CW
Whoops, that should be "self-imposed"...
:-)
-CW
OK, I've finished (whew!) the Friday comments, and will be working my way backwards from there...
-CW
OK, I've finished (whew!) the Friday comments,
Grueling marathon, iddn't it! :D
Michale
C'mon, writing the Rick Perry column is going to be fun!
Here's little inspiration to get you started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO1Vhc88QkM
[83] CW
What's at stake is should one phrase within a law be read literally -- even if it contradicts many other parts of the same law -- or should the "overall intent" of the law supersede one badly-written clause?
But it would seem as though there has to be a huge body of precedent there already. There are principles of statutory construction used by courts, and executive-branch agencies are supposed to behave (as much as possible) in such a manner that their actions won't be reversed by the courts. I can't imagine that they're going to throw the whole thing out and make up new canons of construction from scratch. But I don't know what part is on the chopping block -- or even what the possibilities are, really.
seriously, trade organizations have too much power at times
I feel like a moron now. I completely missed that "the RAC" isn't exactly a government agency.
Libertarians sometimes get this right: it's normally bad policy to have a government set up cartels. For something strategic like petroleum, I can see some point in having a government-run or government-sponsored reserve. But raisins? They seem to me like the kind of thing that should be an ordinary market commodity.
The question seems to come down to what is "approved" by the state for their plates. Seems like, since their state name is on the plate and they control them and manufacture them, they should have some filter.
That's what the state contends. But, as the other counsel argues, if they set up soapboxes in a park and mostly let anyone say anything they choose, having the soapboxes be marked as state property wouldn't give them the right to censor what people say on the soapboxes.
You can't order a plate with profanity on it, for instance.
I think that if there's a political viewpoint that the state deems "profane", they have to allow it. Normally, though, forbidding profanity seems to me as though it falls in the category of reasonable time/place/manner restrictions.
They wouldn't, for instance, allow a plate from the "Overthrow the American government movement" or the "Society To Kill All Cops," now would they? These are illegal aims, therefore censorable speech.
I don't think illegal aims make speech censorable. Any time someone advocates a change in law, one can reasonably expect that they're interested in doing something that's currently illegal but would be allowed under the proposed law. The criteria on which government can censor speech are stuff like true threat and imminent danger, not mere advocacy of something that's currently illegal.
CW,
What stuck in my mind was a guy from TX who knew Perry better than anyone else on the thread, who summed up with "Perry is dumb as a bag of hammers."
Somehow, that comment has always stuck with me as the gold standard for describing Perry...
Oh, come on CW!
You don't get to be a VERY successful governor of the 2nd largest state in the country by being "dumb as a bag of hammers"...
Such a claim is pure BS partisan BS...
Sounds like envy and jealousy more than anything else...
Michale
Whew ... Rick Perry ... That guy is ... something. I can't remember what exactly. Oops.
Rick Perry 1 Ooops
Hillary Clinton HUNDREDS of Ooops
'nuff said....
Michale
Chris: I've had this bookmarked since 2011 -- a column in the Economist about Rick Perry that has some very funny passages: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/10/rick-perry
Whew ... Rick Perry ... That guy is ... something. I can't remember what exactly. Oops.
Rick Perry's "oops" didn't get 4 people, including a US ambassador, killed...
I'm just saying.....
Michale
p.s. Well, it looks like I might lose my bet. This could very well be Bush's undoing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/09/jeb-bush-1995-book_n_7542964.html
I'll have your T-Shirt ready for the end of the primary :D
Michale
Looks like Obama is sending hundreds of more ground troops into Iraq to "train" Iraqis...
I am sure Code Pink and Move On will be taking to the streets by the tens of thousands to protest this HUGE military mobilization..
{{chhiiirrrrppppp}} {{chhhhhiirrrrrppppppp}}
That's what I thought... :^/
Michale
Super PAC backing Jeb Bush unlikely to hit $100 million by end of June
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/super-pac-backing-jeb-bush-unlikely-to-hit-100-million-by-end-of-june/2015/06/09/f5f0d5a2-0ef1-11e5-a0dc-2b6f404ff5cf_story.html
Jeb Bush is NOT going to be the GOP Candidate for POTUS...
You heard it here first... :D
Michale
I have to give you credit, you pushed me into writing Monday's SCOTUS article. Not just this comment, but for a few weeks now you've been asking for my predictions, so I finally went out on a limb and put my markers down. But I have to say, you did push me into writing that column.
Happy now?
Think I can push ya into writing a TPA, TPP and TiSA commentary?? :D
Michale
And, since we have a program note which is customarily an open thread, I wanted to share this with fellow Weigantians..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LYP4yq-sX0
It's old, but funny... :D
Michale
And, in the REPUBLICANS ARE MORONIC BONEHEADS segment..
Paul Ryan channels his inner Nancy Pelosi and says we have to pass TPA before we can know what's in TPP...
To me, that is a big... a HUGE... warning sign...
"This trade agreement is awesome!! But you have to say YES to it before I can tell you how AWESOME it is!!!"
Does ANYONE here really trust the Republicans about this??
Michale
Hey Michale-
I called my Congressman - Steve Chabot (R) Ohio District 1 - the other day and urged him to vote against the TPP.
I don't know anyone who supports this (R or D).
It undermines our national sovereignty and will likely create a bigger "sucking sound" than NAFTA.
I don't trust the Republicans or Obama on this.
I'm with you 150% that this is terrible. I've urged everyone I know to call.
-David
I don't trust the Republicans or Obama on this.
You can see it but I am standing and applauding!! :D
Michale
Saruman has died...
RIP Christopher Lee
Michale
It undermines our national sovereignty and
Don't get me wrong.. I don't have a problem with a One World government..
We're going to HAVE to form that before the Vulcans will make contact... :D
But we just have to make sure that it's OUR (USA) form of government that is the one in place.. :D
Michale
Strange Times..
It's pucker time for the TPP and TAA today..
It's make or break..
Here I am rooting for Democrats and castigating Republicans for their shortsightedness and their playing politics at the expense of the country..
And it's DEMOCRATS who have the best interests of the country at heart!!
Well, except for Obama, which is par for the course...
And, to make it even MORE topsy-turvy, the majority of Weigantians appear to be on the same page and going AGAINST Obama!!!
Strange times....
Michale
OBAMA AND REPUBLICANS LOSE!!!!!
Obama-backed trade bill fails in the House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obama-is-all-in-on-trade-sees-it-as-a-cornerstone-of-his-legacy/2015/06/12/32b6dce8-1073-11e5-a0dc-2b6f404ff5cf_story.html
The American people spoke firmly today..
"NO, Mr President!! You DON'T get your legacy at the expense of every day Americans!!!"
Michale
"AND THE QUARTERBACK IS TOAST!!!"
-Theo, DIE HARD
:D
Michale