Monthly Archives: July 2012

Plutocrats arrive at Hamptons fundraisers with advice for Mitt Romney

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The rich were out in force to support Mitt . . .

‘A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. “I don’t think the common person is getting it,” she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. “Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.

‘ “We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.” ‘

via Donors arrive at Hamptons fundraisers with advice for Mitt Romney – latimes.com.

Thanks to the Rude Pundit for this item.

Should sex offenders have to identify themselves on social networking sites?

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‘Facebook users would know if “friends” of theirs — or of their children — were convicted sex offenders, under a measure put forward today by N.J. State Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman.’

I’m kind of torn between opposing further punishment of people who have served their time, on the one hand, and public safety on the other hand.

N.J. lawmaker seeks to have sex offenders identify themselves on social networking sites | NJ.com.

Romney fundraiser under fire

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Robert Diamond, who was CEO of Barclays Bank until he was forced to resign over Barclays’ role in falsifying bank interest rate data, is also a key Romney “bundler.” Now he has stepped aside from an upcoming Romney fundraising event.

Think that Romney is embarrassed that Diamond’s bank was fined $450 million for misconduct? Nah. Instead, Mitt promises to repeal the Dodd-Frank bank and financial regulation law if elected.

As usual, Mitt, you can Bite Me.

Romney bundler resigns banking post – The Washington Post.

‘Miss Holocaust Survivor’ pageant in Israel stirs controversy

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Someone put together a beauty-pageant-type affair to celebrate Holocaust survivors (I suppose there was a scholarship involved). Now the supporters of Holocaust purity have their knickers in a twist.

Reminds me of how feminism is divided into “good girl” and “bad girl” types — the prudes vs. the sex-positive feminists.

I say: if some survivor wants to prance around in a sash, then God bless her!

‘Miss Holocaust Survivor’ pageant in Israel stirs controversy – NY Daily News.

Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh “swift boats” Democratic opponent

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At a recent speech, Joe Walsh ‘said his opponent, Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth, was not a “true” hero because she often makes reference to her military service on the campaign trail.

‘Duckworth lost both her legs after an RPG attack in Iraq brought down the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in 2004. Walsh never mentions his own military service on the campaign stump. He never had any.

‘ “My God, that’s all she talks about,” Walsh said of Duckworth’s military career . . .’

Rep. Joe Walsh Says Iraq War Vet Opponent Talks Too Much to Be ‘True’ Hero – Yahoo! News.

Losing Supreme Court justices go on the warpath against Roberts

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It seems that Chief Justice Roberts changed his mind on the Affordable Care Act, and that justices in the minority retaliated by leaking to the media.

According to Felix Salmon at Reuters, “. . . it seems very much as though the more partisan Republicans within the Supreme Court have in this case behaved more like politicians than like jurists. . . .”

In spite the the Supreme Court’s tradition of secrecy, “. . . we’re now seeing these coordinated and perfectly-timed leaks from within the Court, detailing information known only to the justices themselves. The conservative justices are leaking, and although [CBS News reporter Jan] Crawford talks about ‘law clerks, chambers’ aides and secretaries’ who have been gossiping internally about Roberts’s change of mind, it’s pretty clear that her sources were impeccable and that if they weren’t the conservative justices themselves, they were sources who had the explicit consent of those justices to start talking to the press.”

Supreme Court justices telling tales out of school? Eeeew.

When the Supreme Court leaks | Felix Salmon.

Solicitor General wins Obamacare case with his second — or maybe third – argument

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The LA Times says that Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., won the Affordable Care Act case with his alternative, second, argument. “The first argument was that the law was valid under Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce. His fallback argument rested on Congress’s power to impose taxes.”

Curiously, the ABA Journal says that taxing was Verrilli’s third argument: “The first was that the law could be enacted under the commerce clause, and the second was that it was authorized under the necessary and proper clause.” But “Verrilli cited the taxing power in the administration’s third backup argument . . .”

Who knew that counting legal arguments was so complicated?

Scorned after oral arguments on healthcare, Verrilli emerges a winner – latimes.com.

I’m deeply conflicted about Prohibition

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I’m against the Volstead Act (U.S. alcohol prohibition) and believe that it led to the rise of the Mafia.

But what about the Mexican Drug War? There are over 50,000 dead and a half dozen major crime families have been established. Should we — or the Mexicans — give up? Or is it too late for that? Should the drugs be legalized?

I don’t like legal gambling. But now that it’s mostly legal, are things better? Worse? Or maybe legalized gambling is neither better nor worse for society than illegal gambling — except for saving us the high cost of enforcement.

I like Bloomberg’s efforts to reduce illegal handguns in New York City. But maybe that’s just another form of prohibition and will lead to violent gangs devoted to gun running.

I invite our reader to weigh in on this . . .