some voting season fodder . . .

Some quotes to ponder as the election hour draws nigh. For more, check out Walter Williams’ list of quotes from
Framers and the Constitution.

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
--Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Albert Gallatin, 1817

"If Congress can determine what constitutes the general welfare and can appropriate money for its advancement, where is the limitation to carrying into execution whatever can be effected by money?"
-- South Carolina Senator William Draden 1828

"We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute."
-- Thomas Paine

"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions." James Madison, "Letter to Edmund Pendleton," -- James Madison, January 21, 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Charlottesvile: University Press of Virginia,1984).

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."
-- Mark Twain, 1894

pay no attention to the heat miser behind the curtain . . .

while cruising the blogosphere, i stumbled upon a thoughtful, humorous, and spot-on blog by lobos motl. motl is a physicist living in the czech republic who takes on the global warming hoax in the reference frame . motl's notion of “the gore effect” is quite funny as are the documents surrounding the arrival of gore at harvard to give a speech on global warming; note the local low temp of 25 degrees which was last seen on October 22, 1883. kudos to motl! preach it, bro, preach it!

politics makes stange bedfellows . . .

not everyone in the democrat party has forgotten their roots. note the echos of jfk in lynn forester de rothschild's comments.

"Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort – thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate."
– John F. Kennedy, Nov. 20, 1962, press conference

"Our present tax system ... exerts too heavy a drag on growth ... It reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment, and risk-taking ... The present tax load ... distorts economic judgments and channels an undue amount of energy into efforts to avoid tax liabilities."
– John F. Kennedy, Jan. 24, 1963, message to Congress on tax reduction and reform, House Doc. 43, 88th Congress, 1st Session.

is this what folks want?

is this really what folks want out there?

along with the obvious joys of being a first time parent come some unexpected pains. one of the least anticipated side effects of becoming a parent, in my experience, is the immediate ability to empathize and be moved by the relationships of other parent/child relationships going on around me. for the past year the lives of three sets of parents and children in particular have moved me in ways i did not believe possible.

in one instance a son discovered the body of his elderly mother who had been brutally murdered with a hammer by a crack addict that, when caught, turned out to be an old high school acquaintance .

in another situation, an expectant mother of naturally occurring quadruplets has battled for almost two years for the lives of her daughters. she lost three of the girls in the delivery process and continues to face challenges with her daughter who fights everyday to recover from being delivered prematurely.

last week, some friends of our family lost their eleven year old son to cancer. he fought the disease in a heroic way.

each of the folks involved taught me things about strength, perseverance, and grace. but the lessons, i think, were heightened for me because of the relationship i have with my own daughter.

since her arrival, one of my favorite hobbies, going to the movies, has been curbed a bit. we tend to see about the same amount of movies as we did before; they are just viewed via netflix about six months to a couple of years behind the curve of the general populous. last night, we saw bella, a film from 2006 written and directed by alejandro gomez monteverde. this quite film portrayed the strength, perseverance, and grace of its central characters in such a powerful way that i spent most of the film watching the screen through a blur of tears. if you missed it on the big screen – take the time to watch it. share it with someone. and hug your kids. squeeze ‘em just a little bit tighter than you might normally do.

Ben Franklin famously said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” A big thank you to those in the Senate* who tried to abide by Franklin’s wisdom when they voted “no” for the bail out attempt. God give representatives in the House the same courage and wisdom to thwart this bill tomorrow.

* Allard (R) Barasso (R) Brownback (R) Bunning (R) Cantwell (D)
Cochran (R) Crapo (R) DeMint (R) Dole (R) Dorgan (D)
Enzi (R) Feingold (D) Inhofe (R) Johnson (D) Landrieu (D)
Nelson (FL) (D) Roberts (R) Sanders (I) Sessions (R) Shelby (R)
Stabenow (D) Tester (D) Vitter (R) Wicker (R) Wyden (D)