Here’s something that we’re not worried about enough. At least not enough to actually be doing what we need to do about it.
[Update at 10:45 AM EDT]
A commenter asks if Scuds could reach Kansas City from outside US territorial waters. I suspect that a North Korean No Dong (range of about a thousand miles) might be able to come close to it from the Gulf of Mexico.
Many look at the rising casualty figures in Iraq and assume that this means that the “insurgents” are winning. Of course, the casualty figures rose dramatically in the Mekong Delta during Tet, but all it meant was the the Viet Cong were on their last legs there, and lashing out in desperation. Similarly, there was a huge increase in American casualties during the Battle of the Bulge, but that didn’t mean that Germany was winning the war.
Smart stock pickers don’t rely on past, or even current performance, or buy into an up and overvalued market. Similarly, the terrorists in Iraq aren’t a good bet at this point. Amir Taheri explains why, in fact, they’re doomed.
Many look at the rising casualty figures in Iraq and assume that this means that the “insurgents” are winning. Of course, the casualty figures rose dramatically in the Mekong Delta during Tet, but all it meant was the the Viet Cong were on their last legs there, and lashing out in desperation. Similarly, there was a huge increase in American casualties during the Battle of the Bulge, but that didn’t mean that Germany was winning the war.
Smart stock pickers don’t rely on past, or even current performance, or buy into an up and overvalued market. Similarly, the terrorists in Iraq aren’t a good bet at this point. Amir Taheri explains why, in fact, they’re doomed.
Many look at the rising casualty figures in Iraq and assume that this means that the “insurgents” are winning. Of course, the casualty figures rose dramatically in the Mekong Delta during Tet, but all it meant was the the Viet Cong were on their last legs there, and lashing out in desperation. Similarly, there was a huge increase in American casualties during the Battle of the Bulge, but that didn’t mean that Germany was winning the war.
Smart stock pickers don’t rely on past, or even current performance, or buy into an up and overvalued market. Similarly, the terrorists in Iraq aren’t a good bet at this point. Amir Taheri explains why, in fact, they’re doomed.
Apparently, the Supreme Court has ruled that the feds can continue to prosecute medical marijuana users:
Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the 6-3 decision, said that Congress could change the law to allow medical use of marijuana.
Well, that’s very generous of him.
Under the Constitution, Congress may pass laws regulating a state’s economic activity so long as it involves “interstate commerce” that crosses state borders. The California marijuana in question was homegrown, distributed to patients without charge and without crossing state lines.
Stevens said there are other legal options for patients, “but perhaps even more important than these legal avenues is the democratic process, in which the voices of voters allied with these respondents may one day be heard in the halls of Congress.”
Yes, to hell with the rights of the states. How in the world can they justify this under the Commerce Clause? It seems to me that if they can justify this, they can justify anything, and federalism is truly dead.
Apparently we need to rein in the Commerce Clause, with an amendment, though I’m not sure what it could say that would be more clear than the clause itself, other than to explicitly say that it must deal with interstate activities. And in today’s political climate, how much support would there be for it, anyway?
I’ll be interested in seeing the opinion, and who was in the minority.
This is quite depressing.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s more, from SCOTUSblog:
The Court relied, as the Justice Department had urged in its appeal, upon the Court’s sweeping endorsement of federal Commerce Clause power in the 1942 case of Wickard v. Filburn.
“The case,” Stevens wrote, “comes down to the claim that a locally cultivated product that is used domestically rather than sold on the open market is not subject to federal regulation. Given the Act’s findings and the undisputed magnitude of the commercial market for marijuana, Wickard and its progency foreclose that claim.” The decision came in the case of Gonzalez v. Raich (03-1454).
Wickard v. Filburn was a truly disastrous case for the cause of federalism and liberty. It’s too bad that the court considers precedent so sanctified. There are some decisions that are simply wrong. I can’t imagine that the Founders would have ever conceived the clause being used as an excuse for a nationwide ban on high-octane hemp. Is this precedent the reason why we had to have a constitutional amendment to prohibit alcohol nationwide, but that now Congress can federally and enforceably ban natural substances by simply passing a law?
[Update at 10:50]
Justice O’Connor wrote the dissent:
Justice Sandra Day O
There’s nowhere near as much hoopla as there was last year, for the sixtieth anniversary, but sixty-one years ago today, in bad weather in the English Channel, Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, with huge casualties. They established a beachhead, however, and it was the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi fascism. In light of the recent vote in France over the EU, it might be useful to read what I wrote last year, on the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Paris, about the post-war quagmire there.
[Update at 9:45 AM EDT]
David Galernter had some thoughts last year on the hypocrisy and lack of knowledge of the baby boomer generation when it comes to honoring the “greatest generation.”
Clark Lindsey has an excellent idea. The problem, of course, is how to make it pay.
For those who can’t get enough of Lileks’ screeds, he has a new feature:
Three and a half years ago, a guard kicked a Qur
Keith Thompson writes eloquently about his journey to, and from, the modern left:
I
I wish Hiawatha Bray all the best in this endeavor, and not just because I think that he would really be a better person for the job, but I’m afraid that he doesn’t know how far gone his profession is.