[EDITORIAL] Missouri Bridge Crisis

The latest bad news about deteriorating bridges in Missouri makes us even more grateful about the pending construction of a new Missouri River bridge here.

Based on recent inspections, MoDOT officials say that 641 bridges in Missouri are in such bad condition they are a blink away from being closed. And there’s no funds earmarked for repairs or replacement.

hat’s 50 more bridges on the critical list than last year.

MoDOT has closed four bridges because of their deteriorated condition and expects to close more in the coming year.

Expect that list to grow year after year because many bridges in Missouri are just plain OLD!

Like the bridge here at Washington.

When work begins late next year on a new Missouri River span, the current structure will be 80 years old, well beyond its expected 50-year lifespan.

It was a long struggle to secure approval and funding to replace the old bridge, which had not been on the short list for replacement. Major repairs were made twice since 1996.

In the end, transportation officials and lawmakers bowed to the squeaky wheel, in this case a regional committee spearheaded by local attorney Bob Zick. Zick became passionate about getting a new bridge after the Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. That bridge, which had components similar to the Washington Bridge, was only 40 years old.

Zick and company never wavered from their mission, first getting support of local government officials throughout the area and then the backing of federal and state officials who were able to secure funding for the $60 million project.

Efforts for a new bridge also were backed by the Washington Area Highway Transportation Committee and the city.

Here, it has been a success story, with the next chapters to be written in 2016 when a contract will be awarded and initial work started. Officials hope to have traffic on the bridge in 2018.

Meanwhile, many other Missouri bridges continue to deteriorate because of a lack of funding to repair or replace them.

Will it take a catastrophe like the bridge collapse in Minnesota to get Missouri lawmakers to realize the need to address our aging bridges and other transportation infrastructure?

Everyone’s tired of more of the same political sidestepping.

While our legislators continue to fiddle around, more Missouri roads and bridges are failing!

Where’s the leadership?

Via: emissourian

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[EDITORIALS] Excerpts from recent Wisconsin editorials

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 1

Gov. Scott Walker and the walling off of reason

Walling off the U.S. from Canada is "a legitimate issue for us to look at," Gov. Scott Walker said on "Meet the Press" over the weekend.

That's right, Canada.

Why stop there?

If immigration from the north is as big of an issue as Walker claims, he should examine walling off the east and west, too — every inlet, bay and harbor, all 12,500 miles of coastline. After all, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that immigrants from China and India, many with student or work visas, have overtaken Mexicans (and even those pesky Canadians) as the largest groups coming into the U.S.

Expensive? Yes, but we've got to get tough — or show we're as tough as Donald Trump.

This is, of course, "a ridiculous notion," as Sen. Rand Paul said about the Canadian wall.

The U.S. and Canada share the longest international border in the world, at 5,525 miles, traversing forests, mountains and Great Lakes. Where are you going to plant all that chain-link and razor wire out in Lake Superior? It can't be walled off. Protecting that border hasn't been an issue since the War of 1812.

The threat of terrorists infiltrating our country from the north, though a concern, is often overblown. As the Globe and Mail of Toronto noted in its account of Walker's comments, "The most famous incident of a terrorist crossing from Canada was failed millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam, although several American political figures over the years have repeated the erroneous claim about the 9-11 hijackers coming from the north."

Canadians don't appreciate idle talk of a northern "wall." As the Globe and Mail reported, a third of Canada's Gross Domestic Product comes from trade with the U.S., and border measures that took effect after the Sept. 11 attacks "caused a ripple-effect that still hasn't completely subsided." Canadian defense minister Jason Kenney told an Ottawa news conference that, "Of course we would vigorously oppose any thickening of the border."

There are legitimate concerns with immigration policy and security at the southern border with Mexico, and there are thoughtful proposals and the need for a healthy debate to address those concerns. But a taller wall and stricter enforcement alone will not solve the nation's immigration system. Solving that will require sensible and humane policies that hold accountable the 11 million people already living in the United States illegally but also taking stock of their value to the nation.

We agree with Paul's assessment. The Kentucky Republican, who like Walker is running for president, told the Boston Herald:

"There have been a lot of dumb ideas put out. One that the Mexicans will pay for a wall, (which) was probably the dumbest of dumb ideas. ... It is sort of like everybody is now competing to say, 'Oh no, I'll put them in camps. Oh no, I'll throw them out. Oh no, I'll put everyone in jail. And I'll have an electric fence, and I'll do this.' And it's like, you know, the biggest thing we need to do is have a functioning immigration system, with a good work program."

The education of a presidential candidate continues. We hope Walker finds a higher road, of his own choosing, rather than continue trying in vain to pass Trump on the right. It would make for a more meaningful conversation about real problems that need to be addressed.

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Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 2

GOP should drop fetal tissue bill

About $76 million in annual research dollars and 1,400 jobs are at stake as the Republican-run Legislature weighs a misguided attack on Wisconsin's high-tech economy.

That's according to the Wisconsin Technology Council, which advises the governor and lawmakers on technology and science.

The full Legislature should heed the council's warning this week and reject Rep. Andre Jacque's continuing attempt to ban lifesaving biomedical study.

"The unintended consequences of a unilateral Wisconsin restriction on research would likely be devastating ... to efforts to build a high-tech economy," a Technology Council resolution released Monday reads.

Jacque's bill would put our state — a national leader in medical research — at a competitive disadvantage. And it wouldn't do anything to reduce abortions. It would merely stop researchers in Wisconsin from using fetal tissue donated by women who have abortions.

Jacque's proposal also would chase away innovators doing ethical and tightly regulated studies targeting birth defects and diseases such as cancer, diabetes, immune disorders and deadly strains of influenza.

"Many competing institutions are attempting to recruit researchers," the Tech Council resolution reads. "If Wisconsin adopts legislation that restricts research, these researchers would likely relocate to an institution in a state or country where no such limitations exist."

So the important work would continue — just not in Wisconsin. That would be bad for our great university, for the Madison region and the entire state.

Social conservatives in the Legislature have stepped up their push to ban the sale and use of fetal tissue in Wisconsin following the release of hidden videos by anti-abortion activists. The videos show Planned Parenthood officials talking casually about recovering cells and parts from aborted fetuses.

The videos are disturbing. But they weren't filmed in Wisconsin and don't involve Planned Parenthood officials here. Moreover, federal law already bans the sale of aborted fetal tissue. So if that law was broken (which we doubt, based on the videos), that law can be enforced. What Wisconsin doesn't need is an even stricter law, shifting legitimate and ethical research to other states.

The Technology Council notes that fetal tissue has been used in research since the 1930s, with proven health benefits including the polio vaccine. The brilliant minds in Wisconsin that advance treatments and cures for human ailments such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease shouldn't be turned into criminals.

A committee vote on Jacque's bill is scheduled for Sept. 9, after which the full Assembly could take it up. Level-headed lawmakers should stop this bill for the good of Wisconsin's health and economy.

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The Journal Times of Racine, Aug. 29

Walker won't win by flip-flopping on issues

After debuting at or near the top of the polls for GOP presidential candidates, Gov. Scott Walker has been dropping steadily in the rankings.

He vowed to deliver his message with more passion in August, but instead his ad-lib responses to questions seem ill-considered and all but guaranteed to drop him further in the race unless he corrects course.

One of the latest dust-ups came on immigration in the wake of leading GOP candidate Donald Trump's call to end birthright citizenship — a practice that has been in effect since 1868 and is guaranteed by the 14th amendment to the Constitution.

Drafting in the wake of Trump's position, Walker told an NBC interviewer: "I think that's something we should, absolutely, going forward."

Asked later to clarify his stance, Walker said he was not taking a position one way or another on birthright citizenship until the border was secure.

And six days after his original comment, the governor said he would not seek to repeal the 14th amendment, which grants citizenship to those born on American soil.

That quizzical flip-flop was followed quickly this week by Walker's call for President Barack Obama to cancel an official state visit with the president of China, Xi Jinping, while campaigning in Iowa.

Saying the U.S. shouldn't be offering such an honor to a country behind cyberattacks in the U.S., Walker added, "If anything, we should be taking them to the woodshed."

But that doesn't particularly square with Walker's praise of Xi Jinping two years ago when the governor led a Wisconsin trade mission to China where he posed on an exported Harley-Davidson or the fact that China is Wisconsin's third largest export market and purchased $1.5 billion worth of state goods last year.

Walker's apparent new strategy to hew farther to the right than Trump to attract voters is a foolish tactic — no one can out-trump Trump as a demagogue.

The governor still has time to get his message out in Iowa and reassert his drive for the GOP nomination, but it won't be done by flip-flopping on issues.

Via: The Modesto Bee

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[EDITORIAL] Elites v. Patriots

TPATH~ The root causes of our approaching national demise may be many but most could have been averted had any branch of government honored their oaths of office to preserve and protect our Constitution. While classrooms across America teach that the Constitution is archaic and no longer adequate for a modern people, its preamble sets the stage for an equality between "We the People" and those in government. That was unique when it was first penned and remains unique to this very day. The concept of those that govern do so by the consent of the governed and is expressed in our Constitution as first set forth in our Declaration of Independence. It states: "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." This principle of equality is also set forth in the New Testament (Romans 2:11 and Acts 10:34) that tell us God is not a respecter of persons. It is this very principle of establishing true equality among our citizens that was designed to curtail the emergence of a ruling class in our Constitutional Republic. And - it is this principle of equality that is under assault and has unleashed a pandemic of elitists' attitudes cloaked in anesthetizing speeches that sound good to the ear but mean nothing when analyzed by the brain.

If it can be argued that America has undergone a soft coup de tat that empowered a ruling class of global cabalists, it can also be argued that the popularity of the GOPs non-establishment presidential candidates represents the beginnings of a soft counter-coup. Whether or not this soft counter-coup will prevail rests upon the ability of We the People to resist the propaganda that will most certainly bombard the airwaves over the 2016 election cycle. And the people's resistance will in turn rest on their ability to stay informed of the facts and not be swayed by some of the most effective spinmeisters the world has ever known. Once again, there are several Bible verses that tell us we are to be informed, and not being informed will result in our demise (Hosea 4:6; Job 36:12; Prov. 5:23 and 10:21). This ability to separate fact from the fictional spin will be especially challenged by the $100,000,000 Jeb Bush has raised to date, the deep pockets of the Clinton Foundation, and wealthy, power-crazed men like George Soros. In this war between the establishment cabalists and the patriots, the battle strategies will not be designed around tanks or nuclear warheads. They will be cloaked in political speak and cunning phrases that can fool even the most ardent constitutionalist – if possible.

But how does America decode the disingenuous speak of the career politician from the true American patriot? They look for the facts and identify the double standards. For example, politicians who hold the citizenry to one standard but exempt themselves from the same standard, i.e.:

The swift investigation and sentencing of General Petraeus for compromising classified information with his biographer and girlfriend, resulting in a $100,000 fine, two years of probation, and forcing the General to retire. Compare this to Hillary Clinton's email scandals, currently revealing over 300 security issues in just a small sampling of her recovered emails. Perhaps General Petraeus should have considered running for the presidency instead of resigning.

On the subject of emails, elite NY firefighter and U.S. Marine Corp. Forces Reserve Major Jason Brezler is facing a less than honorable discharge for emailing a single classified report in a desperate effort to save the lives of three marines who were in danger. Brezler is being prosecuted (or should I say persecuted?) for breaking security protocol by sending classified information over an insecure line. Once again, compare this to the situation with Hillary Clinton, who conducted all national security communications over an insecure line.

Of course there is Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to produce documents requested during a congressional investigation regarding the "Fast and Furious" scandal and claiming "executive privilege", which is the administration's way of saying they are above the law. Can you imagine what would happen to you if you so defied a congressional investigation?

Let's not forget that Congress is not bound by the Security and Exchange Commission's regulations and laws regarding insider trading. Martha Stewart certainly wasn't able to claim an exemption for something far more trivial.

While on the subject of Congress, consider ObamaCare – a health care debacle that was seriously opposed by the American people and passed by Congress without so much as these elitists having the decency to even bother reading it. Then, after it is passed, what do they do? They exempt themselves and their staffs from living under the same laws they have pressed upon us.

What about all the Second Amendment infringements that state legislators and governors have passed, arguing that guns are the fault of the rise in violent crimes around the country? How many of these legislators pack heat to protect their families and themselves but deny us the same protection?

Or what about the re-election of John Boehner as Speaker of the House after a reported 60 percent of Republican voters urged their representatives to vote against Boehner? With the exception of 25 congressmen who listened to the wishes of their constituents, is it reasonable to ask if the other members of the House of Representatives really "derive their just powers from the consent of the governed?

Of course I could probably fill a library with books written to document the unfulfilled campaign promises by elected politicians – like the revocation of ObamaCare and the securing of our borders. But I could fill even more libraries with books documenting the unconstitutional decisions rendered by our judges. In my home state of New Jersey alone, decisions that boldly proclaim that the judges understand that their decision is unconstitutional but will rule adversely anyway are mind-boggling.

The list of double-standards could go on and on but most reading this will already be aware of many additional items that qualify. The point is that America has enabled the emergence of these elitists. However, there is good news. America seems to be waking up. The double-talk of Jeb Bush regarding his stance on Common Core didn't score him any polling points with the public. Although his answer was well-rehearsed and well-crafted, its disingenuousness did not escape the eyes of the now alert public. The identifiable pattern continues with the full-of- himself Governor Chris Christie, who in the past has redefined sin, explains away NJ's troubles as resting on the shoulders of a Democratic legislature, and defends his record of violating the Fourth Amendment, as he sees fit of course. This behavior is to be expected from the ruling class elitists whose actions prove that they believe they are above the law and the public is too stupid to look beyond their talking points. (Many thanks to Donald Trump for restoring the word "stupid" to our vernacular.)

The so-called phenomenon of Donald Trump, Dr. Carson, and Carly Fiorina may not be a phenomenon at all. It may just be the longed-for evidence that the sleeping giant once known as the silent majority is no longer swallowing the sweet-talking lies of career politicians. But the battle for the heart and soul of America is far from over. And if my analysis is correct, we can expect a smear campaign launched against all of the would-be citizen representatives - the likes of which we have never seen before. In this case, skeletons will not just emerge from the candidates' closets, they will be conjured up and paid for by the once all-powerful ruling class. So my advice, America: don't fall for it. It's time to rally the troops and circle the wagons. The elitist cabal will not go down without a fight. Are you up to the challenge?

Via: Sonoran News

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[GUEST EDITORIAL] China, show your math

From The Chicago Tribune

In the first frightening minutes of Wall Street trading Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted more than 1,000 points in reaction to another overnight stock sell-off in China. Then came a remarkable recovery — up about 500 points in one hour, 300 another — followed by a second collapse before the Dow finished down 588 points, or 3.6 percent.

Insane day, but at least you knew the numbers were real. In New York, anyway.

Questions about the future strength of the Chinese economy are at the center of the market’s extreme volatility, but China’s actual performance is as mystifying. No one observing China completely trusts the accuracy of the country’s official economic statistics or fully understands Beijing’s decision-making process. This adds to the risk of assessing what’s happening over there. On Monday, American investors paid the price, in portfolio values and stomach pain.

Going forward, the China question could affect the U.S. Federal Reserve’s anticipated decision to raise interest rates, potentially delaying the U.S. economy’s return to more normal footing. Oil prices are in retreat because China’s a major buyer. In other words, a lot rides on Beijing getting its house in order.

Big-picture wise, China is well understood. It is factory to the world and an incredible growing market for consumer goods like cars and iPhones because of its rising middle class. Whatever uncertainties China presents as a competing political and military power, we know China already has staked a claim in the global economy. Consider China to be the world’s fourth table leg, supporting world growth alongside the U.S., Europe and Japan. Which, to reiterate, means everything the Chinese government does to manage its economy matters.

Yet, as we were reminded again Monday, China plays by different rules. Among global economic powers, it is the only nondemocratic country, run by the collective leadership of the Communist Party, whose boss, President Xi Jinping, may be the most powerful figure in Chinese politics since Deng Xiaoping. But who knows? Maybe he isn’t. There is no free press or speech in China, no political opposition, and no way to double-check the government’s math. The place is hard to analyze. There is only what we observe: the slow, steady embrace of free market principles, contradicted by the practice of secret decision-making and the tradition of ruling through official propaganda rather than truth-telling.

And our 401(k)s are dependent on this?

China clearly is in a growth slowdown. All the signs, from industrial production to real estate values, indicate that.

Chinese leaders, eager to encourage their consumers to keep spending, made a series of critical mistakes this year, starting with a veiled promise through the party mouthpiece People’s Daily to keep frothy stock prices rising.

That upswing didn’t materialize, leading to another opaque decision: devaluing the currency, ostensibly to allow the yuan to trade more freely as part of the transition to a free market economy.

But few people believe that explanation. To outsiders, devaluation looks like a panicked effort to goose growth, because a weaker currency would help exports. There’s been no better explanation posited by the government, leading outsiders to hope policymakers there have a better handle on things than appears. The Wall Street Journal threw up its hands at analyzing the fiasco: “One reason markets have been so unnerved is that China’s economy remains something of a black box,” its Beijing correspondents wrote Monday. “For starters, analysts have long wondered about the accuracy of government economic statistics. And levers pulled by Chinese policy makers can be unconventional.”

Hence the collapse of stocks globally, China’s included. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.5 percent Monday.

The levers of government don’t, and shouldn’t, control markets. Government’s job is to set conditions for markets to operate efficiently. Most of the time in the West, though, policymakers find a way, through steady leadership, to manage expectations. It starts with providing trustworthy data.

The pace of transition in China is breathtaking. China has quickly matured into a world economic power. But its travails no longer represent an interesting, distant experiment. China owes its partners a transparent accounting of its economy’s performance, and a thorough explanation of its decision-making. It’s time for China to commit to the next steps in its evolution from communism to capitalism, and be clear about it.

Via: Northwest Georgia News

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[EDITORIAL] : Decision-making stalls

On the same day this past week that The New York Times devoted much space to exploring a debate among counterterrorism officials as to which poses the greater danger to the American homeland, the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, and The Washington Post ran a long article about how foreign policy decision-making has slowed to a crawl under a swollen National Security Council staff in the White House.

Gee, is there a relationship between the two topics, d’ya think? Well, decision-making is a mess on subjects that don’t have the president’s personal attention.

Carping about White House dominance and interagency conflict is nothing new. President Kennedy often dealt directly with third-echelon and fourth-echelon officers at the State Department. The never-settled struggle for control between the State and Defense departments greatly harmed U.S. policies in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The NSC staff was 25 under President Carter but 200 under President George W. Bush. President Obama added even more. White House micro-management, said former Defense Secretary Bob Gates after leaving office in 2011, “drove me crazy.”

Now White House meetings are said to march over old ground again and again. Example: Aside from nonlethal aid like food and tents, Obama has not decided yes or no after a year of discussion whether to send arms to Ukraine.

As for terrorism, military officials are said to emphasize al-Qaeda’s ability to mount massive long-distance attacks anywhere in the world; civilians see a greater threat in fanaticism the Islamic State inspires in young men. Conclusions — if there are any — help determine how funds and staff are allocated.

Are such decisions necessary? Both organizations are highly dangerous; trying to decide which is worse seems almost a time-wasting theological exercise.

Presidents can’t steer bureaucracies, but they need subordinates who can. Gates was good at it. We’re unlikely to see his like in the Obama crowd again, 

Via: Boston Herald

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[EDITORIAL] CHIGAO: No more waiting to pay down big pension bills

POSTER BOY FOR WHAT'S WRONG WITH CHICAGO!!

Chicago had better start budgeting like the game is up.

On Friday, a Cook County judge rejected Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to restructure two of the city’s underfunded pension systems. If the Illinois Supreme Court does not reverse the lower court — and that’s looking like a pipe dream — the city will be on the hook for billions of dollars more just to adequately fund the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds.

On top of that, Friday’s ruling makes it extremely likely the city will remain on the hook for billions of dollars to adequately fund its police, firefighter and teacher pension systems.

New revenue must be found now, mostly through an array of loathsome tax increases, and cuts in city services are inevitable. That pension debt keeps growing. There can be no more waiting on the courts to give their seal of approval to pension reform schemes that border on wishful thinking.

But even if Chicago takes the most painful measures, a day may come when the city simply cannot pay full benefits to a retired worker. One would hope that the specter of this alone might compel the unions to agree to reasonable pension cuts — to better protect what they’ve got. But that, too, might be a pipe dream.

When Judge Rita Novak shot down the city’s pension reform plan, a union spokesman called it “a win for all city residents.”

It was, in fact, a disaster.

Via: Chicago Sun Times

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[EDITORIAL] S.F. 'sanctuary' policy violates common sense: Our view

A little bit of common sense and discretion might have prevented the killing this month in San Francisco of Kathryn Steinle — a victim not only of random gunfire but of the mindless handling of the city's immigration policy.

Her accused killer is Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant who had a felony drug record going back 20 years, had been deported five timesand had repeatedly sneaked back into the USA (which raises serious questions about border security that the current, polarized debate isn't addressing in a helpful way).

OPPOSING VIEW: Sanctuary policy makes San Francisco safer

Lopez-Sanchez was in the San Francisco County jail in April and should have been deported yet again. Federal immigration authorities had lodged a "detainer," seeking to get custody and do just that. All they needed was a call or other contact from the sheriff's office.

The contact was never made, not because of some ghastly mistake or miscommunication but because of a city ordinance that prohibits police from honoring detainers except in rare cases. And, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, because of a policy by the local sheriff that bars contact with immigration authorities. After a local charge against Lopez-Sanchez was dropped, he was held for three weeks, then put on the street.

On July 1, less than three months later, Steinle, 32, was dead, collateral damage in a long-running feud between the local and federal governments over deportation.

San Francisco is one of nearly 300 cities and counties across the country with sanctuary laws or policies aimed at separating federal immigration enforcement from local policing, in order to build trust between immigrant communities and local police. The reasoning goes like this: If immigrants, including millions of undocumented ones, see local police officers as a tool for deportation, they will not report crimes or come forward as witnesses, even when they are victims, and public safely will suffer.

In that context, there's a certain logic to the "sanctuary" idea, but not when carried to extremes. Sanctuary policies set by cities, counties and states differ from place to place, but San Francisco's violates all common sense. Protecting a hard-working undocumented immigrant charged with a misdemeanor is one thing. Putting a long-term felon and serial illegal entrant on the street is the antithesis of ensuring public safety.

That's especially true when there is a more reasonable approach, one used, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, by many police departments under sanctuary laws. Officers pick up the phone to call immigration when they plan to release potentially dangerous immigrants wanted for deportation. Immigration comes to pick them up.

Kathryn Steinle's death ought to be a cause for sober reevaluation of sanctuary policies. Without a cease-fire and a working agreement in this war that has pitted local law enforcement against federal immigration authorities, there will be more innocent casualties.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

Via: USA Today

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[EDITORIALS] Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

Corpus Christi Caller-Times. July 1, 2015.

Court’s rulings aren’t ‘lawless;’ they’re the law

Since when did the law of the land become “lawless”? Since never, that’s when.

Yet, repetitively, disturbingly, people in positions of real power and influence have described the U.S. Supreme Court’s groundbreaking decisions legalizing same-sex marriage and affirming the legality of Affordable Care Act subsidies as “lawless” acts perpetrated by “five unelected lawyers.”

Sure, these people in high places are entitled to express their opinion - note: that’s opinion singular, not plural because the same words are being said as if memorized from the same script.

But this is not mere rhetoric. The rest of America can’t just dismiss these people with a wave of the hand and a “consider the source” because, well, consider the sources - Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and two dissenting members of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia.

All occupy positions powerful enough that their words carry more than meaning. By calling the lawful court’s lawful decisions lawless, as did Cruz and Paxton, they encourage and enable disrespect and lawless disregard of law.

And by dismissing the Supreme Court majority as five appointed lawyers, Abbott, Roberts and Scalia undermine the authority of an entire branch of government that is our protection from the other two. Which is more frightening, a five-lawyer majority of the Supreme Court or those other two branches?

Think seriously before answering. And while pondering, consider that the court also just ruled, 5-4, against the Environmental Protection Agency’s new power plant emissions standards opposed by Texas and 22 other states. Abbott and Paxton were only too happy to see five lawyers take down the executive branch on that one.

Regarding the same-sex marriage ruling, Abbott went so far as to issue a directive to state agencies to protect “religious liberties” at the expense of gay couples seeking to wed. The governor thus used the word “liberty” to try to deny liberty, which we find strikingly similar to Cruz and Paxton’s ironic misuse of “lawless.”

Paxton followed up with an opinion that public servants could refuse to grant marriage licenses or preside over wedding ceremonies based on their religious objections. How far might this frighteningly elastic new concept of religious liberty be stretched? Shall government services - they are, after all, government and not religious services - be denied to uncircumcised men? To unveiled women?

If that sounded like a joke, it wasn’t meant as one. It was meant only to point out the lawless joke being made of religious freedom by those seeking to use it to obstruct the Supreme Court.

Children who are raised right are raised to respect and abide by the law. The God-fearing among us take it a step further and raise children to believe in and love God. Calling the law lawless and twisting religious belief into nothing more than a weapon to attack a law - and to attack the people the law was meant to protect - undermines what we teach our children. Adults in positions of authority are leading by bad example - showing children how to disrespect and violate the laws they don’t like, to dismiss the people and institutions that make those laws, and to view religion cynically as a strategic tool rather than a system of faith.

One of these adults in authority, Paxton, is an actual lawbreaker who nevertheless was elected to be Texas’ chief lawyer. Paxton violated the law requiring him to disclose that he was an agent receiving commissions for investments he recommended. He has dismissed as a technicality this fundamental breach of honesty. What respect does this elected lawyer’s authority deserve? Certainly less than the five unelected lawyers who stands accused of lawlessness by this lawbreaker.

There’s a difference between criticizing and obstructing the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court - a perilous difference.

Via: Washington TImes

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[Editorial] Trump Delivers a Message Republicans Need

Donald TrumpPhoto: Reuters

With humor, pride and two populist fists, Donald Trump on Tuesday entered the GOP race for the White House. However his campaign turns out, he’s already improved the field.

Above all, he spoke to the voters Republicans have to win over if they’re to retake the White House — to the Americans who believe in hard work and fair play, to the folks who show up every day to make this country work.

“We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, can take care of our vets. . . We need somebody that literally will take this country and make it great again.” Trump pretty well summed up the appeal the GOP needs to make.

He rained contempt on the political class and all its recent works, from ObamaCare to the pending Iran nuclear deal to “Third World” airports like LAX and La Guardia. He spoke up for people “tired of spending more money on education than any nation in the world per capita . . . and we are 26th in the world.”

He hit hard on the state of the economy — negative growth in the first quarter, joblessness far worse than the official rate, “a stock market that is so bloated” — and promised to be “the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”

He’s proud of making himself rich (“I’ve done an amazing job”), and rightly so. He didn’t even have to mention that he’s a guy who gets things done, because everybody already knows it. More, he knows his success is an asset, “the kind of thinking you need for this country . . . because we’ve got to make the country rich.”

With a dose of that attitude, Mitt Romney might be living in the White House right now.

Does candidate Trump have big problems? You bet; full-bore populists always do.

He’s got weird asides about how “we should’ve taken” Iraq’s oil “when we left”; silly stuff about a trade threat from Mexico; long anecdotes the fact-checkers will chew to pieces; bluster on trade and immigration that will turn lots of folks off.

And he’s viewed unfavorably by over half of GOP voters. No one’s ever turned around numbers like those.

Then again, “no one’s ever” are fighting words for Donald Trump.

This will be fun to watch.

Via: New York Post

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EDITORIAL: In Washington, a crisis in competence

Both the federal shutdown and the botched rollout of the healthcare website sent the public the same sad message.

Elected officials in the nation's capital have spent the past several weeks demonstrating that they can't do the jobs voters sent them there to do. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers got into an extended spat that shut down much of the government for 16 days and threatened to turn Treasury Secretary Jacob Lewinto the world's biggest deadbeat. Meanwhile, the Obamaadministration launched a website for the new federally operated health insurance exchanges that failed epically, with so many design flaws and technical problems that it may take weeks to reach a basic level of reliability.

Granted, the government shutdown and the HealthCare.gov meltdown happened for very different reasons. The former was a result of a cynical and ill-conceived gambit by House Republicans, who tried to force changes in Obamacare that they didn't have the votes to win. The latter stemmed from the administration's inept management of a complex project, a problem exacerbated by political imperatives that repeatedly trumped technical ones.

The overarching message to the public, however, is the same in both instances: Your leaders are incompetent.

And the people are listening. Gallup reports that Congress' approval rating sank to an abysmal 11% during the shutdown, after rebounding slightly from its record low of 10% in February. President Obama, meanwhile, has seen his approval rating slide steadily this year to 39%, nearing the low point of his tenure. Dwindling faith in government has contributed to a pessimism about the economy that discourages consumer spending, the lifeblood of U.S. growth. According to surveys, the relentless stream of bad news out of Washington last month coincided with sharp drops in consumers' hopes for the economy and their confidence about the future.

The administration can undo some of the damage by fixing HealthCare.gov soon, giving people ample time to shop before policies are supposed to go into effect Jan. 1. But Washington faces another potential shutdown and default early next year, when the temporary measures enacted in mid-October expire. The best way for lawmakers to avoid a replay of last month's debacle would be to strike a deal before the end of the year that keeps federal agencies operating and the Treasury paying its bills.

Via: LA TImes

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