Perry: Abortion Laws, Too, Should Be Decided On The State Level; the Tenth Amendment Insists Upon It
— Ace

This is being flagged as a major policy statement, but is it really a departure from conservative orthodoxy?

Perry only days ago declared the issue of gay marriage to be, by the 10th Amendment, a matter for states to decide...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a potential Republican presidential candidate, said Friday he supports state rights so much that he's fine with New York's approval of gay marriage but still called himself an "unapologetic social conservative."

Perry, who has been weighing a presidential run, said he opposes gay marriage — but that he's also a firm believer of the 10th Amendment.

"Our friends in New York six weeks ago passed a statute that said marriage can be between two people of the same sex. And you know what? That's New York, and that's their business, and that's fine with me," he said to applause from several hundred GOP donors in Aspen, Colo. "That is their call. If you believe in the 10th Amendment, stay out of their business."

Having made that case, he now extends his 10th Amendment agenda to abortion.

The pro-life movement has a different positions within it, but the settled position -- at least for now -- is that Roe v. Wade was improperly decided, as it injected the federal Constitution into what had historically been an area reserved for state law-making. The current orthodox opinion is that this situation must be reversed, and states permitted to make their own laws regarding abortion -- whether abortion is permitted under all circumstances, permitted under some, or not permitted at all.

Now, there's also a position in the pro-life camp that at some point, when there is political power to do so, that abortion should be outlawed throughout the country. But we are speaking here of some hypothetical future situation, perhaps 15 years away at earliest, when the country is more seriously pro-life.

In the now-until-15-years-hence timeframe, Perry's statement really doesn't change anything at all. Beyond that, it would be something of a minor precedent -- "But President Perry said this should be left to the states" -- but all of this would take a Constitutional amendment anyway. If such a Constitutional amendment passed, it would be an explicit exception to the 10th Amendment.

In which case Perry's advisement would be inapplicable.

The statement is useful to Perry, though.

1. His record as a governor is solidly pro-life. So, to the extent he has a problem here, it is with persuadable conservative-leaning voters who are not pro-life. Declaring this to be reserved to the states reassures them that he will not be a crusading federal-level pro-life official.

2. And yet given his pro-life record, and the good conservative pedigree of 10th Amendment arguments, who knows, this might be a best of both worlds situation for him: Pro-lifers might support him because he is pro-life, and yet pro-choicers might not oppose him because his solution seems comparatively modest in scope.

3. It's good to see a politician picking a principle, such as the 10th Amendment's guarantee that all powers not expressly granted to the federal government shall be retained by the people in the states, and actually sticking to it, rather than picking and choosing when this principle applies and when it, suddenly, does not. Sometimes such "simplistic" thinking -- just relying on a principle and not riddling it with "nuanced" exceptions -- is actually pretty reassuring as far as intellectual heft.

I'm interested to hear from pro-life commenters, though. Will this be viewed as socially "moderate" retreat on the issue? Or as a good intellectual position for arguing in favor what is every pro-lifers' first step -- returning abortion policy to the states?

Interesting: Perry asking around Fox to see if he can join the debate on August 11.

Now, if he were a declared candidate on that date, he wouldn't have to ask. Duh. He'd be in the debate.

So my supposition is that he's asking if he can join the debate if he makes some lesser statement like he is considering a run, but hasn't yet announced a run.

This seems like he's sticking to his schedule of later-in-August for an announcement (and why that's important to him, I don't know), but wants to take the stage as an almost-announced candidate.

Posted by: Ace at 08:52 AM | Comments (207)
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Chris Christie Hospitalized After Having Trouble Breathing; Now Reportedly Fine
— Ace

Happy recovery to the Governor.

I think this should finally stop the Christie-for-President-2012 stuff, though. It's not like the man hasn't said he's not running 40 times or anything.

Posted by: Ace at 08:50 AM | Comments (65)
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Coburn: Government Has Doubled In Size In Just Ten Years
Politifact: Government Has Doubled In Size In Just Ten Years
— Ace

It has. From $1.85 trillion in 2001 to 3.82 trillion this year.

There a raft of points to make about this.

First -- I think Monty said this in an email, talking about how easy it should be to simply lay down a "cut 15% from all agency's budgets, immediately" marker -- "all of the parts of government grew by fiat; they can all be cut by fiat as well."

Second, and this is a point that I am tearing my hair out over Republicans not employing: Republicans have a big problem with Clinton. I get that. I was on the impeachment train myself. I had the pompoms for removal from office.

But our hatred of Clinton is preventing us from using him for our own purposes.

To wit: How about asking the public, "In 1998, under President Clinton, with a 3.8% unemployment rate and GDP growth of 4.5% per year, did you feel the government was too cruel and too vicious to the poor and sick?

The Democrats are always claiming that are cuts are vicious.

Oh?

In 1998 we spent -- I'm not sure, exactly, but eyeballing it from the figures I see, let's say it spent $1.6 trillion.

If the government was not hard-heartedly cruel and callous spending $1.6 trillion in 1998 -- if, by all liberal accounts, Clinton was doing okay by the poor -- then what exactly is the problem with spending that amount now?

Oh, okay, in inflation. Add in a very generous $0.8 trillion to account for that and that adds up to $2.4 trillion.

I we were spending $2.4 trillion now we wouldn't have a deficit. (The deficit is $1.4 trillion and change.)

Rather than playing the Democrats' favored game of using the current baseline as a, um, well as a baseline, why do we not rhetorically pick a year in which no liberal can claim the country was run by a callous skinflint and use that as a baseline?

Finally, this is obvious, but it's frustrating. The liberals and the media (but I repeat myself) scream that Republicans are being intransigent and won't raise the debt ceiling and all that.

Of course that's not true. We have agreed to raise the debt ceiling. So long as there are significant cuts to the federal budget equal to or more than whatever we raise it.

The media seems to view this as an impossibility, something so absurd that they will not even credit in their reports as having been offered at all.

It's not impossible. The country did rather well spending about $1.6 trillion per year (let's call it $2.4 trillion, being very generous as far as an inflation factor, in today's dollars).

Why is it impossible to get to that level again? What makes this an unserious proposal, apart from liberals' insistence that it is so?

Liberals like to claim they're being reasonable. And yet it is completely off the table, I guess, that we simply return to the spending level this country had when we enjoyed blockbuster growth.

It is also off the table, as far as they're concerned, that Obama give up the completely unnecessary 30% of government growth he's presided over since he became president. Doubly unnecessary because the previous president grew government hugely before him.

These are apparently proposals not even worthy of discussion.

Why not? Liberals play their favorite trick here: When they don't have a good answer to a question, they rule the question of out bounds and "unhinged."

Why? Because we said so.

Everyone says so, you know.

Posted by: Ace at 08:08 AM | Comments (127)
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AWOL Army E-3 Arrested in Texas
— Gabriel Malor

Pfc. Naser Abdo has been AWOL from his court martial for possession of child porn. Last year he refused to deploy to Afghanistan, claiming his Muslim religion forbids it. He was arrested yesterday near Fort Hood after inquiring at a gun store how to make homemade explosives.

Police in Central Texas have caught an AWOL Muslim soldier from Fort Campbell, Ky., at a motel in the city near Fort Hood after he asked how to build explosives at a gun store.

A law enforcement official told CBS News that Pfc. Naser Abdo's questions about explosives and how to build them made the gun store employee suspicious. When police questioned Abdo at his motel, he made references to a plan to kill or injure people, the official said.

PROTIP for wannabe terrorists. Gun store employees are the last people you want to act shifty around. Their livelihood depends on weeding out crazies and turning them over to the authorities.

Some background on this guy. Last August he refused to deploy. In June, the Army Review Boards Agency recommended he be separated from the Army as a conscientious objector. But that got put on hold because the MPs found child porn on his computer. He's been in court martial proceedings since then, but he skipped out on appearing for trial.

If you can stomach it, CNN slobbered all over him back in August when he refused to deploy.

According to Abdo in the CNN video, he consulted a Muslim Army chaplain who told him to suck it up and go to war. Abdo disagreed, claiming that his religion prohibits him from all warfare.

Be aware, some dude on the internet says that Abdo claimed his religion prohibits killing Muslims, but not killing anyone else. I haven't found a primary source for that yet, so take it with a grain of salt. It contradicts what Abdo says in the CNN video.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:46 AM | Comments (144)
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DOOM: Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose
— Monty

On Debt Ceiling, everybody's fighting with everyone else.

• Dingy Harry got all of his Senate minions to sign a letter saying they wouldn't vote for Boehner's bill if it passes the House.


• Jerry Pournelle knows what all the rest of us know: no real solution is possible without substantial cuts to entitlements.


• The Mustache That Walks Like a Man, John Bolton, weighs in in favor of the "Boehner Gambit". As does The Fred, William Kristol, and a host of other conservative pundits, talkers, and eggheads.


• Rush Limbaugh says that the GOP should stand pat on this one and quit negotiating with themselves.


• Larry Kudlow interviews Standard & Poor's Global Head of Sovereign Ratings. I think the takeaway is -- downgrade a-comin'. (Kudlow's eternal bullishness and faintheartedness on the whole debate irritates me to no end. He's almost as bad as Cramer any more.)


• Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch ask: What part of "we are out of money" don't you understand?


• If we're having this much drama over a comparatively tiny budget change, how are we ever going to achieve bigger reforms? Answer: we may not be able to. Hence the DOOM.


• Michael Hiltzik of the L.A. Times just wants you to know that he hates you GOP "tyrants" with the heat of a million suns. (Sticks and stones, dear boy, sticks and stones. That's what I shall beat you with. Sticks and stones.)

Oh, and Margot caught Conchita in bed with Brad, who said that he was only comforting Conchita because she has an inoperable brain tumor. (This is the tumor that has caused Conchita to become an impulsive shoplifter, which got her arrested in an episode last week.) Margot slammed out of the house, intending to pay back Brad by sleeping with Jacques (her French personal trainer who is really a covert agent for French Intelligence); but her car was T-Boned by a dry-cleaning van on the way over to Jacques' house and now she's in a coma. Harry's embezzlement scheme at Willard Industries is on the verge of being found out, and his wife Matilda is nearly suicidal at the thought of her beloved Harry going to prison. Penny's dreams of being a concert flautist are shattered along with her hand in a freak accident involving a waffle-iron.

Gabriel Malor sends this piece: Officials will brief the public on which creditors we're going to stiff in the event of a budget impasse. (We're not going to default, even if no deal is reached.)

Conrad Black's latest over at NRO: "Looking into the economic abyss."

I've been saying this for a while: Investors all over the world are searching for a new "safe haven" as the Dollar and US Treasuries lose their luster. But as this article points out, there really isn't any other alternative right now. We'd better get our shit in gear pretty soon, though, because that situation can change -- and when it does, a hard rain's gonna fall.

How bad is the housing glut? So bad that Bank of America is demolishing some because they can't sell them. This is probably the best thing for houses that are too decrepit, too old, or in need of expensive repairs. The bank is taking a financial hit, but less of one than they'd take by carrying an unsalable house on their balance sheet for months or years.

His Majesty is demanding tax rates at 1950's levels. Well...he should commit to 1950's levels of spending, then. (Via Insty.)

ObamaCare, a death-panel for jobs.

Some scary chart-fu from Mish about long-term trends in durable goods. We may look back on admitting China to the WTO, and giving it most-favored-nation trading status, as some of the worst mistakes this country has ever made.

The unemployment situation is getting worse.

In terms of total employment, the U.S. lost 0.7 million jobs during the first 24 months of ObamaÂ’s recovery. The nation has never before had an economic expansion where total employment after two years of recovery was lower than it was at the end of the recession. In June 2011, America had 2.9 million fewer people working than when Obama was inaugurated. (By the same point in ReaganÂ’s presidency, our total number of jobs had increased by 0.7 million, equivalent to 1.0 million jobs after adjustment for todayÂ’s higher population.)

You know, one time I got yelled at by my boss when my register came up $20 short at the end of the shift. I can't imagine what would have happened to me if I'd misplaced $228 million. I think he might have involved Mr. Pascarelli, the guy who owned the joint. I may have been forced to work overtime to make up the difference. I may even have gotten fired.

UPDATE 1: Where will we be safe if the US Government melts down completely over this budget thing? Well...Mars is always nice this time of year. A bit dry and cold, though, so bring your parka and some moisturizer.

UPDATE 2: When even Thomas Sowell is on board with the Boehner plan, I think it's time to accept that this is the best deal we're going to get, kids. Sowell most assuredly is no RINO squish. You've got other stalwarts like Ryan and West on board too -- I think the purists are making the perfect the enemy of the good in this case.

UPDATE 3: Via Ben in the sidebar, S&P starts to backtrack on that $4 Trillion number.

UPDATE 4: California, land of the boned: "Popping the public-pension bubble." (Via Insty.)
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Posted by: Monty at 05:12 AM | Comments (424)
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Straw Poll: Who do you want in 2012?
— Gabriel Malor

It's time once again to check the state of the blog. Understandably this early in the game there has been a lot of shifting from month to month. Prior poll results can be viewed for May and June.

And why, particularly if you've changed your support in the past month?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:28 AM | Comments (318)
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Top Headline Comments 7-28-11
— Gabriel Malor

There be men, and not bad men either, and men neither uneducated, or unintelligent, or irrational in ordinary matters, who seem to be absolutely unfitted by nature to have the custody or guardianship of others.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:05 AM | Comments (96)
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Overnight Open Thread - Humperdinck Day Edition
— Maetenloch

This Is Why Your Newspaper Is Dying

Okay newspapers are slowly being killed by the internet. But the savvier ones have been transitioning themselves into web-based newspapers that also sell paper versions. Well except that it turns out that even the papers that position themselves as online newspapers also don't quite get the web either.

Not only do papers generally not give you the news you want online, but they take the stuff you are interested in and manage to present it in the most annoying way possible, violating web page usability guidelines that have been well known for almost a decade.

It's just a sad, sad FAIL.

more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:27 PM | Comments (603)
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Herman Cain Apologizes For Comments About Muslims
— DrewM

Via Byron York.

Here's the statement Cain released after meeting with Muslim leaders.

I would like to thank Imam Mohamed Magid and the ADAMS Center for extending their hospitality to me this afternoon. We enjoyed heartfelt fellowship and thoughtful dialogue about how patriotic Americans of all faiths can work together to restore the American Dream.

While I stand by my opposition to the interference of shariah law into the American legal system, I remain humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends. I am truly sorry for any comments that may have betrayed my commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion guaranteed by it. Muslims, like all Americans, have the right to practice their faith freely and peacefully.

As I expected, we discovered we have much more in common in our values and virtues. In my own life as a black youth growing up in the segregated South, I understand their frustration with stereotypes. Those in attendance, like most Muslim Americans, are peaceful Muslims and patriotic Americans whose good will is often drowned out by the reprehensible actions of jihadists.

I am encouraged by the bonds of friendship forged today at our meeting, and I look forward to continuing this very healthy dialogue. The relationship we established was so positive that the Imam has invited me back to speak to not only some of their youth, but also at one of their worship services.

Having hit Cain pretty hard for his comments, I'm glad to see him rethink the position he outlined about 10 days ago.

I'm really not looking to reopen the fight that went on when the comments were originally made. Still, having gone after him pretty hard that day, it's only fair to acknowledge Cain's apology and his revised position.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:13 PM | Comments (89)
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Russia to Down the ISS in 2020; Will Anybody Notice?
— Gabriel Malor

On the one hand, the International Space Station was started in 1998. So if the Russians crash her in 2020, it'll have spent more than two decades in orbit. Except, on the other hand, the ISS isn't scheduled to be completed until next year.

Oddly, nobody seems to think the Russians are telling the truth about this.

"We will be forced to sink the ISS. We cannot leave it in orbit as it is a very complicated and a heavy object," Roscosmos' deputy head Vitaly Davydov said in an interview posted on the agency's website.

"We have agreed with our partners that the ISS would function roughly until 2020," he noted.

After sinking hundreds of millions into construction of the space station -- billions if you include the cost of the space shuttle flights that carried the ISS modules into orbit -- knowledgeable government sources and NASA spokesmen were aghast at Davydov's plans to sink the station in the ocean.

This isn't the first time I've seen Russia come out with a statement that seems to be coming out of their own stovepipes," one congressional representative told FoxNews.com. "I would give it no credence at all."

Quick, without looking it up on Google, tell me what the ISS has been good for. No cheating, you!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:36 PM | Comments (98)
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