Free Republic

When our president, a, ahem, constitutional scholar, berated the court for having the audacity to consider overturning an unconstitutional law, he implied justices should think twice before doing such an unprecedented thing. Of course, Barack Obama was revealing himself to be anything but a constitutional scholar. A mere appellate court judge got so miffed he ordered the Obama Administration to submit a three-page, single-spaced paper today explaining how judicial review is something the court has the authority to do. So, Eric Holder, who currently holds the position of Attorney General in the admnistration, submitted the letter. Here’s what Holder had...

The defenders of Obamacare, it is pretty obvious, don’t intend to stop with dictating that you buy insurance, and what kind of insurance, and how much you must pay. They want a nationalized health care plan like Great Britain’s. Obamacare is a step, albeit a big step, in that direction. So, what would it be like to put the government in charge of your health care? Isn’t that British system wonderful? Not exactly. But George Orwell would recognize it. “An elderly woman was ordered to find a new GP because the ‘carbon footprint’ of her two-mile round trips to the...

Today is baseball's Opening Day. It's when the nation takes notice that once again, all things are possible, everything begins anew, past failures are but faint memories, and the future is bright and full of hope. This season, perhaps more than most seasons of recent memory, our home teams have reason to look ahead not only with great enthusiasm but also with justifiable optimism. (complete with slide show of presidents throwing out first pitches) ...

For baseball’s Opening Day we offer fans an opportunity to tell us which president most resembled Cy Young, and which least looked like a ballplayer. Complete with slide show. =-=-= BEST presidential pitching form goes to...

We offer without (much) elaboration our Quote of the Day: “The truth is, that, even with the most secure tenure of office, during good behavior, the danger is not, that the judges will be too firm in resisting public opinion, and in defence of private rights or public liberties; but, that they will be ready to yield themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day.” — Justice Joseph Story, who served from 1811 to 1845 Did the professor of constitutional law miss that? Or is he purposely ignoring Marbury v. Madison? . . .

There is so much wrong with the California High-Speed Rail project, it’s getting difficult to stay up to date as new absurdities are revealed almost daily. . . . But Katy Grimes raises an aspect pretty much overlooked, although we and others have mentioned aspects of this aspect previously. . .

Imagine you sign a contract to put down $9,000 on a $340,000 house situated on a beachfront in Laguna with a closing date of 12 months from now. Then imagine that a few months later, the seller tells you he has some changes to your contract. Your beachfront Laguna house will be located in Brawley, instead. And instead of $340,000, your house in Brawley will cost you $980,000. Just a technical change in the contract, the seller says. And, oh, by the way, your sale won’t close in 12 months, it’ll take a bit longer, 26 months instead of 12...

Have you heard the latest? Gov. Jerry Brown, that man of the common people, has a plan to save California by taxing only billionaires in Albania. To raise money for the children’s education of course. It’s pure political genius. None of us is a billionaire, or Albanian. And who doesn’t want to help the kiddies? It’s also not true. And it’s not even April Fool’s Day yet. But Brown has advanced something nearly as fraudulent . . .

You may have seen headlines like this scary one in USA Today: “Experts say global warming is causing stronger hurricanes” What’s the science behind that? Not much, it turns out. In fact, . . .

Arguments have concluded at the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's signature legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which we refer to as Obamacare. Now the anxious waiting for a ruling expected in June. We were encouraged . . .The Constitution has morphed into something the founders would have difficulty recognizing. It is our position the federal government has no authority to impose mandates, regulations, taxes or other burdens on the citizenry simply to improve someone's life. . . .

Republicans in the Capitol have proposed a budget that is balanced – without increasing taxes. You’re right if you said, “That’s going nowhere.” The tax-and-spend Democrats in control in Sacramento aren’t about to balance the budget without counting on higher taxes, and . . .

We thought we’d celebrate today, just in case all the indicators prove false and the Supreme Court decides to uphold Obamacare. Judging from the reactions, even on the left, including the left-learning press, it seems likely the justices will put an end to President Barack Obama’s signature legislative triumph – the one you had to pass so you could find out what’s in it. It seems the justices, or at least enough of them, read it and found out. And didn’t much care for what they discovered. Here’s the news . . .

We’ve finished economist Arthur Laffer’s new book, Eureka! How to Fix California, which he delivered to the Register this morning in person while visiting with our Editorial Board. It’s a good. But in a sense it’s a wonder why people have to devote countless hours of research to study such stuff, when the conclusions are so intuitively obvious. In short . . .

California need not drown in debt and economic failure. So says Arthur Laffer, the happy advocate of a flat tax for California to solve the Golden State’s ills. We are inclined to favor a flat tax, as we’ve intimated and bellowed from time to time. And Laffer’s new book, Eureka! How to Fix California, is a blueprint for replacing the existing state and local taxes with a single, 5.8-percent flat income tax on personal unadjusted gross income. . .

You might have noticed the blaring headlines of doom: (Reuters) – The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday. Of course, this alarmism lives in a computer projection of how things will be in the future. Not in reality. They rely on a theoretic CO2 cause-and-effect all out of proportion to reality. So, how has that global warming phenomenon actually been going? There’s a different headline for that . . .

Don’t read to much into this, but there may be a hint of what’s to come in this exchange today, the second day of questioning by Supreme Court justices in the Obamacare hearings: “Justice Anthony Kennedy told lawyers defending the law that the government as a ‘heavy burden of justification’ to prove that the government can require citizens to purchase a service,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “Several justices’ questions compared the individual mandate to a hypothetical mandate to buy burial services.” . . .

There are so many things wrong with Obamacare, it’s a wonder we’ve reached a point where so many people don’t see the problems. Or perhaps they just refuse to, hm? Next week there will be arguments before the Supreme Court on whether it’s constitutionally within the government’s power to dictate to private people that they must buy private products from private providers. Back in the day, we’d say that was a transaction for all those private parties to decide. We’ve come a long way, indeed. One thing not likely to come up ...

Remember when President Barack Obama assured everyone: “If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” How’d that work out? . . . Remember when Obama said, over and over, that ObamaCare would lower annual family health-insurance premiums by $2,500 before the end of his first term as president? How’d that work out? . . .

Despite his change of the U.S. economy into a hope-less version of Europe’s, President Barack Obama, the self-proclaimed fourth greatest president ever, could still be reelected. Go figure. That may say more about us than it does him. But despite economic woes, joblessness, so many people out of work for so long they quit looking, soaring debt and deficits and the looming threat of even worse on the horizon (ObamaCare), the likable but arrogant president could emerge victorious in November. Unless…

Some folks who want to undo the boondoggle also known as California’s High-Speed Rail project took a step closer to that reality yesterday when their ballot initiative was cleared to collect signatures. Republican state Sen. Doug LaMalfa and former congressman George Radanovich seek to derail the train, but now need signatures of 504,760 registered voters to qualify their measure for the November ballot. They’ve have until Aug. 13. We’re hoping they get what they need. But a few obstacles remain, and they aren’t insubstantial...