The Everlasting Phelps

No one ever thought that Clinton might be a closet libertarian just because his middle name was Jefferson. Why are so many terrified that people will suspect that Obama is a closet Muslim because his middle name is Hussein?

Nearly everyone on the right thought that the tax cuts were such a great idea that they had no problem calling them the Bush Tax Cuts. If the HRA is such a great plan, why are so many on the left terrified of calling it Obamacare?

I don’t think either one really has much to do with the names.

Let them eat pork.

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 10: Powers Prohibited of States:

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article 1, Section 8: Powers of Congress:

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

There’s a whole slew of other powers granted in Section 8.  The power to lay and collect taxes.  The power to establish post roads.  The power to establish Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court.  Organizing the militia.  These are all things allowed to both the Feds and the States. You know why?  Not prohibited to the states in Section 10.

The uniform rules of naturalization is not in jeopardy here.  Arizona isn’t trying to come up with its own rules on who is or isn’t a citizen.  It is simply prohibiting non-citizens who have failed to properly enter the country from traveling freely there.  (That is, by the way, directly in line with the Federal laws.)

And of course, there is Article 4, Section 4:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Emphasis mine.  There is certainly a constitutional problem here.  Arizona ain’t it.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama promised a nation shuddering in economic crisis Tuesday night that he would lead it from a dire “day of reckoning” to a brighter future, summoning politicians and public alike to shoulder responsibility for hard choices and shared sacrifice.

Shared sacrifice seems reasonable.  We’ll start by putting Obama out of work on January 20, 2013.

Got one thing right about Obama:

I think we don’t deserve him and certainly teabaggers don’t deserve him.

I sure as hell can’t think of anything I did bad enough to deserve this.

Turns out that the only people worse at picking American presidents than the American People is everyone else in the world.

via WSJ.

“We have what we think is a sufficient basis for us to have begun a criminal investigation,” said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday after meeting in New Orleans with state attorneys general and federal prosecutors from the region.

And where might an investigation land? Holder on Tuesday said there is “a wide range of possible violations.”

Let’s see, the list of charges is obvious:

• Embarrassing the Regime
• Fraudulently Inducing Dear Leader to Take Ownership
• Willfully Disobeying A Direct Order From the Dear Leader (“Plug the damned hole!”)
• Heresy Against the Regime
• Sedition (for letting the disaster happen right after Obama announced more offshore drilling.)

He’s right, it is a wide range, in this brave new world.