Category Archives: Constitution

UPDATED: State of Disunion (The Barf Rule)

America, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats, History, Politics, Propaganda, Republicans

Not that the Xbox nation would notice, but there are a lot more flashing images on Barack Obama’s website, at WhiteHouse.gov, than there are written words. As such, not much information is available on the president’s annual State of the Union message.

But like everything in the Constitution, a modest thing has morphed into a monstrosity. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution required that the president “shall from time to time give to Congress information of the state of Union.”

A “Stalinesque extravaganza” that ought to offend “anyone of a republican (small ‘r’ …) sensibility,” is how National Review’s John Derbyshire has described the State of the Union speech. “American politics frequently throws up disgusting spectacles. It throws up one most years in January: the State of the Union speech,” writes Derb in “We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism,” a book I discussed in “Derb Is Right: ‘We Are Doomed'”

John goes on to furnish the quotidian details of how “the great man” is announced, how he makes an entrance; the way “the legislators jostle to catch his eye” and receive his favor. “On the podium at last, the president offers up preposterously grandiose assurances of protection, provision, and moral guidance from his government, these declarations of benevolent omnipotence punctuated by standing ovations and cheers from legislators” (p. 45).

Then there is the display of “Lenny Skutniks” in the audience, “model citizens chosen in order to represent some quality the president will call on us to admire and emulate” (last year it was the family of the little girl who was murdered by the Tucson shooter).

Derb analyzes this monarchical, contrived tradition against the backdrop of the steady inflation of the presidential office, and a trend “away from ‘prose’ to ‘poetry’; away from substantive argument to “hot air.”

The president of the USA is now “pontiff, in touch with Divinity, to be addressed like the Almighty.”

Prepare to puke.

UPDATE (Jan. 24): THE BARF RULE. The “Lenny Skutnik” for 2012 is …Warren Buffett’s secretary.

Debbie Bosanek “will be sitting with the first lady in her gallery box Tuesday night as President Obama announces his plans for tax reform at the State of the Union address. Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett for nearly two decades, has become as symbol of Obama’s tax reform plan. The ‘Buffett rule,’ named after her billionaire boss, aims to insure that wealthy taxpayers do not pay an effective tax rate lower than their secretaries.” (Via FoxNews)

Prepare to barf.

UPDATED: Ron Promises To Rock the Establishment

Constitution, Elections, Military, Republicans, Ron Paul

As if we doubted it, Ron Paul promises that he is “in this race for the long haul.” The following is from a circular sent out by WND.COM:

Ron Paul’s constitutional conservative credentials are unmatched.

He is:

*** 100% Pro-Second Amendment. Paul has received a lifetime “A” rating from the NRA, and I was given the “Defender of the Second Amendment Award” by Gun Owners of America in 2011. I’ve voted against gun control – EVERY time.

*** 100% Pro-Right to Work. Paul has never caved to the union bosses’ pressure. I voted to defeat Big Labor’s “Card Check” scheme, and I will continue the fight I’ve led as a congressman to the White House by fighting for passage of a National Right to Work Act.

*** 100% Pro-Health Freedom. Paul has introduced legislation in Congress to repeal ObamaCare’s hated individual mandate. As President, I will order all federal agencies to stop enforcing any rules and regulations related to ObamaCare, and I will veto any bills that fund this unconstitutional powergrab.

While Mitt Romney receives his most contributions from Wall Street, the top three donors to Ron Paul’s campaign by occupation are U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

Paul has received more support from active duty military than all my opponents combined, and my other donors are everyday grassroots Patriots like you who just want to enjoy the full blessings of freedom and pass them on to the next generation.

UPDATE: New contributors to BAB’s Comments Section: you may enjoy our Ron Paul Articles archive. Click on “Ron Paul.”

UPDATE II: Talked Ron Paul On RT (Russia Today) & MyRon Pauli Distills GOP Debate

Constitution, Foreign Policy, Ilana On Radio & TV, libertarianism, Media, Politics, Republicans, Ron Paul, Russia, The State

I was on Russia Today (RT), my favorite broadcaster, to discuss the Ron Paul surge. I am sorry I was unable to give you notice of the segment, but I’ve been tied up. I am sure it will pop up later. Send the embed if you find it; I’m no good at locating such things.

UPDATE I: To MyRon’s comment: If I watched myself do these things I’d never do them. I’m a writer, first and foremost. A shy one, at that. I thought RT’s Liz said “anti-war,” which is a variant on the “isolationism” libel against libertarian foreign policy,” but I could be wrong.

UPDATE II: MyRon Pauli Distills Tonight’s GOP Debate, in Sioux City, Iowa:

“I subjected myself to something almost as bad as waterboarding – watching the FOX NEWS DEBATE!

Rick and Michelle are out there trying to out do each other on protecting us from Partial Birth Abortions.

Perry was a bit better and almost funny as the Aw Shucks Redneck invoking Tim Tebow.

Huntsman, while no ideologue, actually tries to act like an adult instead of an idiotic panderer.

Mitt, the businessman, can lecture the Bloated Socialistic Newtonian on capitalism – but the voters looking for red meat cheap shots probably can’t understand a lick of economics.

Newt – that right wing socialistic egomaniac – oi vey – the true inheritor of and poster boy for Hoover Progressivism, Nixonian Price Controlling, and Dubya’s Compassionate Conservatism.

And then there is Ron Paul getting clobbered over how to deal with America’s number 1 threat – the IRANIAN NAVY (heck – what happened to the Nepalese Air Force, the Liectenstein Army, and the Maldive Islands Special Forces)? Strange because of my job that some of this hits home as well.

Well, I dozed off a few times waiting for Ahmadinejad’s Battleship to come sailing up the Potomac!”

**

This is MyRon Pauli signing off for BAB.

MyRon’s previous campaign dispatch for BAB was filed from his couch too. Read it.

UPDATED: Salt of the Earth Forsaken on the U.S.-Mexican Border

Constitution, Crime, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Law, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Media

A rancher speaks out anon about the reality of life in the rural areas on the U.S.-Mexican border. And MSNBC, going against type, reports it. Is America’s news cartel beginning to sympathize with law-abiding American citizens under siege on the U.S.-Mexican border? MSNBC tells the story of “a South Texas farmer” who lives “in fear of Mexican traffickers smuggling drugs and illegal immigrants across his land”:

“I’m a citizen of the United States. This is supposedly sovereign soil, but right now it’s anybody’s who happens to be crossing here,” he said. “I’m a little nervous being here right now. Definitely don’t come down here after dark.”
The farmer said a federal law enforcement agent told him to buy a bulletproof vest to use while working in his fields. Whenever he goes out to survey his agricultural operations, he always tells his office where he is headed, and he has purchased a high-powered rifle.
“One of the basic points of the federal government is to protect the people of this nation to secure the border, and they’re not doing that,” he complained.

Like Bush before him, Obama “and many local officials have said the U.S.-Mexican border is safer than ever and that reports of violence on the American side are wildly exaggerated. But the farmer scoffed at that argument. ‘I walk this soil every day and have since I was old enough to come out on my own,’ he said. ‘In this part of Texas, it is worse than it’s ever been.'”

Remember Rancher Robert Krentz and his faithful companion, both killed by a marauder who beat a retreat to Mexico.

UPDATE (Nov. 27): Many more, mostly unmentioned, Mexicans than Americans have been gunned down as a consequence of “Operation Fast and Furious,” “in which a gang going by the acronym ATF—the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—sold assault rifles to Mexican gangsters and their local gun-runners, who later used their taxpayer-funded ammunition and immunity to gun down” these innocents.

The gang leader is Attorney General Eric Holder.