Boker tov, Boulder!

John Hinderaker vs. the Washington Post (& incestuous cronyism in general)

In and of itself, it is no surprise that the Washington Post would smear the Keystone Pipeline by way of the Koch brothers -- who, in the absence of George W. Bush, have become the primary target of the Left's irrational hatred syndrome. After all, given the nature of the Democrats' WAR ON JOBS, the Post can not and will not support the building of the Keystone Pipeline. And what better way to demonize the project than to assert - however falsely - that David and Charles Koch are involved with it, and would benefit from it?

PowerLine's John Hinderaker has taken on the task of battling the lies with truth (more power to him!) so you should take the time to at least read his account:

THE WASHINGTON POST RESPONDS TO ME,

AND I REPLY TO THE POST

 

The bit I find most galling is the "deeper level of corruption," explicated by Hinderaker:

 

 

.... Juliet Eilperin is a reporter for the Washington Post who covers, among other things, environmental politics. As I wrote in my prior post, she is married to Andrew Light.

 

 

Light writes on climate policy for the Center for American Progress, a far-left organization that has carried on a years-long vendetta against Charles and David Koch on its web site, Think Progress.

Light is also a member of the Obama administration, as Senior Adviser to the Special Envoy on Climate Change in the Department of State. The Center for American Progress is headed by John Podesta, who chaired Barack Obama’s transition team and is now listed as a “special advisor” to the Obama administration.

 

 

Note that Ms. Eilperin quoted Podesta, her husband’s boss, in her puff piece on Tom Steyer [the older of the two "fearless" - and some would say, infamous - Steyer Brothers].

 

 

Oh, yes–one more thing. Guess who sits on the board of the Center for American Progress? Yup. Tom Steyer.

This kind of incest is common in Washington. You can’t separate the reporters from the activists from the Obama administration officials from the billionaire cronies. Often, as in this instance, the same people wear two or more of those hats simultaneously. However bad you think the corruption and cronyism in Washington are, they are worse than you imagine. And if you think the Washington Post is part of a free and independent press, think again.

 

Sandra Korn, this is for you.

I've just been reading this at Gateway Pundit: 

Harvard Leftist Calls For Elimination of Free Speech

in Order to Usher in Liberal Doctrine & Anti-Semitic Policies

.... “If our university community opposes racism, sexism, and heterosexism, why should we put up with research that counters our goals?” asked Korn in her column.

The column’s subtitle was even more direct: “Let’s give up on academic freedom in favor of justice.”

Korn cited several instances of perspectives that clashed with her own being banned from campus as triumphant examples of the way Harvard should be run. The firing of Subramanian Swamy, a Harvard summer school instructor who was dismissed for his anti-Islamic views, was one such triumph.

She also invoked the academic boycott of Israel ... as an example of the kind of tactics leftists should defend and use in order to get their way on campus...

 

I was immediately reminded of Larry Summers' remarks about the antisemitism at Harvard... in 2002. Sandra Korn must have been what, 8 years old at the time?

I've always thought this speech was the real basis for Summers being forced out of Harvard later on, that all that business about his "impolitic remarks about women" was simply the first opportunity that popped up, giving the antisemites something to hide behind. At any rate, I happen to have saved a copy of that speech and post it here now -- to somehow honor the twelve years that have since passed, and all those whose lives have in the meantime been diminished -or stolen outright- as a consequence of this sort of intolerance, that is born of a magnified and very twisted sense of superiority.

So, Sandra Korn, this is for you:

 

Address at morning prayers Memorial Church Cambridge, Massachusetts September 17, 2002

I speak with you today not as President of the University but as a concerned member of our community about something that I never thought I would become seriously worried about -- the issue of anti-Semitism.

I am Jewish, identified but hardly devout. In my lifetime, anti-Semitism has been remote from my experience. My family all left Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The Holocaust is for me a matter of history, not personal memory. To be sure, there were country clubs where I grew up that had few if any Jewish members, but not ones that included people I knew. My experience in college and graduate school, as a faculty member, as a government official -- all involved little notice of my religion.

Indeed, I was struck during my years in the Clinton administration that the existence of an economic leadership team with people like Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan, Charlene Barshefsky and many others that was very heavily Jewish passed without comment or notice -- it was something that would have been inconceivable a generation or two ago, as indeed it would have been inconceivable a generation or two ago that Harvard could have a Jewish President.

Without thinking about it much, I attributed all of this to progress -- to an ascendancy of enlightenment and tolerance. A view that prejudice is increasingly put aside. A view that while the politics of the Middle East was enormously complex, and contentious, the question of the right of a Jewish state to exist had been settled in the affirmative by the world community.

But today, I am less complacent. Less complacent and comfortable because there is disturbing evidence of an upturn in anti-Semitism globally, and also because of some developments closer to home.

Consider some of the global events of the last year: 

• There have been synagogue burnings, physical assaults on Jews, or the painting of swastikas on Jewish memorials in every country in Europe. Observers in many countries have pointed to the worst outbreak of attacks against the Jews since the Second World War.
• Candidates who denied the significance of the Holocaust reached the runoff stage of elections for the nation’s highest office in France and Denmark. State-sponsored television stations in many nations of the world spew anti-Zionist propaganda.
• The United Nations-sponsored World Conference on Racism -- while failing to mention human rights abuses in China, Rwanda, or anyplace in the Arab world -- spoke of Israel’s policies prior to recent struggles under the Barak government as constituting ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The NGO declaration at the same conference was even more virulent.

I could go on. But I want to bring this closer to home. Of course academic communities should be and always will be places that allow any viewpoint to be expressed. And certainly there is much to be debated about the Middle East and much in Israel’s foreign and defense policy that can be and should be vigorously challenged.

But where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities. Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent.

For example: 

• Hundreds of European academics have called for an end to support for Israeli researchers, though not for an end to support for researchers from any other nation.
• Israeli scholars this past spring were forced off the board of an international literature journal.
• At the same rallies where protesters, many of them university students, condemn the IMF and global capitalism and raise questions about globalization, it is becoming increasingly common to also lash out at Israel. Indeed, at the anti-IMF rallies last spring, chants were heard equating Hitler and Sharon.
• Events to raise funds for organizations of questionable political provenance that in some cases were later found to support terrorism have been held by student organizations on this and other campuses with at least modest success and very little criticism.
• And some here at Harvard and some at universities across the country have called for the University to single out Israel among all nations as the lone country where it is inappropriate for any part of the university’s endowment to be invested. I hasten to say the University has categorically rejected this suggestion.

We should always respect the academic freedom of everyone to take any position. We should also recall that academic freedom does not include freedom from criticism. The only antidote to dangerous ideas is strong alternatives vigorously advocated.

I have always throughout my life been put off by those who heard the sound of breaking glass, in every insult or slight, and conjured up images of Hitler’s Kristallnacht at any disagreement with Israel. Such views have always seemed to me alarmist if not slightly hysterical. But I have to say that while they still seem to me unwarranted, they seem rather less alarmist in the world of today than they did a year ago.

I would like nothing more than to be wrong. It is my greatest hope and prayer that the idea of a rise of anti-Semitism proves to be a self-denying prophecy -- a prediction that carries the seeds of its own falsification. But this depends on all of us.

 

 

NOW Who's Poisoning the Well?

In May 2011, five days after Barack Obama endorsed the withdrawal of Israeli boundaries to 1949 Armistice lines, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu delivered a speech before a Joint Session of Congress that "had all the trappings of a State of the Union address by a president with sky-high approval ratings." He got 29 standing ovations.

The Obamas were abroad at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three years later, I think our thin-skinned president is still peeved and jealous of Bibi's ability to make Congress swoon -- because NOW what we're hearing is that Obama and his fixer, John Kerry, "are disturbed over what is being perceived in their inner circle as 'Jewish activism in Congress' that they think is being encouraged by the Israeli government."

.... According to Israel Radio... diplomats and foreign officers have warned against this trend. According to officials based in foreign missions, the Israeli government is increasingly being viewed as fanning the flames among American Jews by encouraging them to promote the official government position while making no room for opposing viewpoints.

 

Not only does the hypocritical charge of "no room for opposing viewpoints" sound all too familiar, but this "revelation" is likely a foreshadowing of things to come. How long until we are forced to revisit widespread accusations of dual loyalty, poisoned wells and such from the Obama,Walt & Mearsheimer Post-American Left™ ?

Just because Barack Obama is anti-Zionist, that doesn't mean Jews have permission to complain about it. Just ask the White House Press Corpse; they'll tell you.

 

New York Times Laments Middle East 'Power Vacuum' (the wheel is turning but the hamster's dead)

 

".... Go back to when Benghazi happened, what was the narrative? At every rally right after the president said if you like your health insurance, you can keep it, what did he say? Osama Bin Laden is dead and Al Qaeda is on the run."

~Trey Gowdy

 

 

The New York Times did its utmost to get Barack Obama elected... twice... and now they're complaining about the "Power Vacuum" he has created in the Middle East?!

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The images of recent days have an eerie familiarity, as if the horrors of the past decade were being played back: masked gunmen recapturing the Iraqi cities of Falluja and Ramadi, where so many American soldiers died fighting them. Car bombs exploding amid the elegance of downtown Beirut. The charnel house of Syria’s worsening civil war.

But for all its echoes, the bloodshed that has engulfed Iraq, Lebanon and Syria in the past two weeks exposes something new and destabilizing: the emergence of a post-American Middle East in which no broker has the power, or the will, to contain the region’s sectarian hatreds.

Amid this vacuum, fanatical Islamists have flourished in both Iraq and Syria under the banner of Al Qaeda, as the two countries’ conflicts amplify each other and foster ever-deeper radicalism. 

[NYT Sunday, Jan. 5, pg. A1]

 

Good thing John Kerry has his boot on the neck of Israel, the only country in that neighborhood that the US has not (yet) "destabilized."

 

Merry Christmas from BtB

Via CNS News,

It's "A Hallelujah Christmas," originally written by Leonard Cohen and performed by the Christian musical group Cloverton. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas.

 

 

 

Other Christmas songs written by Jews include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, White Christmas, Silver Bells, Let It Snow! and Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. (Todah to Dennis Prager, though I have some  disagreement with his commentary).

And perhaps this is bad timing on my part, but I would feel remiss if I didn't counter the propaganda of Israel's enemies. Jesus was NOT "palestinian" ...

 

 

Nor are Jews to blame for the exodus of Christians from the Middle East. That said, I'll see you at the bris ... in eight days.

 

 

A 'Palestinian' State Would Not End The Conflict. Period.

 

LISTENING TO THE PALESTINIANS

by Shoshana Bryen

.... In an interview with a Lebanese newspaper, the Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon, Abdullah Abdullah, said Palestinian refugees would not necessarily become citizens of any new Palestinian State. "They are Palestinians, that's their identity. But ... they are not automatically citizens. Even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [then-Palestinian] state are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens." He added that the new state would "absolutely not" issue Palestinian passports to refugees, lest they be understood to be citizens of Palestine.

"When we have a state accepted as a member of the United Nations, this is not the end of the conflict. This is not a solution to the conflict. This is only a new framework that will change the rules of the game."

Palestinian fealty to the "right of return," and objection to an Israel with "secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force" (the promise to Israel of UN Resolution 242) are incompatible. No Palestinian leader can make that concession on behalf of others. Khaled Abu Toameh, Arab affairs reporter for The Jerusalem Post got to the heart of the intra-Palestinian struggle, a place Secretary Kerry has never been: "The Hamas announcement [that no negotiated settlement would be acceptable] serves as a reminder that any U.S.-brokered deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will not mean the end of the conflict." Not only is Hamas opposed, according to Abu Toameh, but most of the organizations that comprise the Palestine Liberation Organization (of which Fatah is only one member) would reject it as well.

If Secretary Kerry would leave off the hubris of thinking that everyone wants what he thinks they ought to want, he might find himself closer to a definitive American position. Not a "peace agreement" -- "peace" was never on the table -- but a definitive understanding of the degree of internal difficulty in the Palestinian position, and a definitive understanding that, in fact, the Israelis and Palestinians do not seek the same end -- and neither seeks the end the United States has put on the table in the form of an American bridging proposal.

 

Todah to Rick Richman, who brought this to my attention. Please read the original in its entirety at American Thinker.

Obama Flowers

Wish I knew who wrote this so I could give them credit. It's all over the innernut, so I can only assume that someone, somewhere, is thrilled to see their work has "gone viral."

 

Receptionist: Hello, Welcome to ObamaFlowers, My name is Trina. How can I help you?

Customer : Hello. I received an email from Professional Flowers stating that my flower order has been canceled and I should go to your exchange to reorder it. I tried your website, but it seems like it is not working. So I am calling the 800 number.

Receptionist : Yes! I am sorry about the website. It should be fixed by the end of November. But I can help you.

Customer : Thanks, I ordered a "Spring Bouquet" for our anniversary, and wanted it delivered to my wife.

Receptionist : Interrupting, Sir, "Spring Bouquets" do not meet our minimum standards, I will be happy to provide you with Red Roses.

Customer : But I have always ordered "Spring Bouquets", done it for years, my wife likes them.

Receptionist: Roses are better, sir, I am sure your wife will love them.

Customer : Well, how much are they?

Receptionist: It depends sir, do you want our Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum package.

Customer: What's the difference?

Receptionist: 6, 12,18 or 24 Red Roses.

Customer: The Silver package may be okay, how much is it?

Receptionist: It depends sir, what is your monthly income?

Customer: What does that have to do with anything?

Receptionist: I need that to determine your government flower subsidy, then I can determine how much your out-of-pocket cost will be. But if your income is below our minimums for a subsidy, then I can refer you to our FlowerAid department.

Customer: FlowerAid?

Receptionist: Yes, Flowers are a right. Everyone has a right to flowers. So, if you can't afford them, then the government will supply them free of charge.

Customer: Who said they were a right?

Receptionist: Congress passed it, the President signed it and the Supreme Court found it constitutional.

Customer: Whoa! I don't remember seeing anything in the Constitution regarding flowers as a right .

Receptionist: It is not really a “Right in the Constitution,” but ObamaFlowers is Constitutional because the Supreme Court Ruled it a "Tax". Taxes are Constitutional. But we feel it is a right.

Customer: I don't believe this.

Receptionist: It's the law of the land sir. Now, we anticipated most people would go for the Silver Package, so what is you monthly income sir?

Customer: Forget it, I think I will forgo the flowers this year.

Receptionist: In that case sir, I will still need your monthly income.

Customer: Why?

Receptionist: To determine what your 'non-participation' cost would be.

Customer: WHAT? You can't charge me for NOT buying flowers!

Receptionist: It's the law of the land, sir, approved by the Supreme Court. It's $9.50 or 1% of your monthly income.

Customer interrupting: This is ridiculous, I'll pay the $9.50.

Receptionist: Sir, it is $9.50 or 1% of your monthly income, whichever is greater.

Customer: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What a rip-off!

Receptionist: Actually sir, it is a good deal. Next year it will be 2%.

Customer: Look, I'm going to call my Congressman to find out what's going on here. This is ridiculous. I'm not going to pay it.

Receptionist: Sorry to hear that sir. That's why I had the NSA track this call and obtain the make and model of the cell phone you are using.

Customer: Why does the NSA need to know what kind of CELL PHONE I AM USING?

Receptionist: So they get your GPS coordinates sir.

Door Bell rings followed immediately by a loud knock on the door

Receptionist: That would be the IRS sir. Thanks for calling ObamaFlowers. Have a nice day and God Bless America.

 

 

Today we fast ... unto Shabbes

It's beginning to smell a lot like Shabbes -- that is, gefilte fish and chicken soup. But it happens every time... I taste the chicken broth and burn my mouth in the process. Now nothing can taste as good as it smells. Ouch.

I'm making a big Shabbes meal because it's a fast day today, the tenth of Tevet (or Teves, if you'd rather), and what better way to spend a fast day than in cooking for its eventual end? Today is a day the Jewish people mourn in remembrance of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 425 BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar's armies laid seige to Jerusalem; no one could go in or out of the city.  As it happens, no one can go in or out of Jerusalem today  either, two thousand four hundred and thirty-eight years later... to the day: The roads are closed due to a huge snowstorm. Call it a coincidence if you like, but I don't believe there is any such thing. It's all Hashem. So make of it what you will (but you might want to lay off the baseless hatred).

 

 

And speaking of snow, here's a bit of Zionist humor making the rounds among Israelis on facebook earlier today: 

"People in Gush Etzion: STOP BUILDING SNOWMEN!

The Guardian is accusing us of expanding settlements."

According to a report that seems to have been deleted from Arutz Sheva, there were some Arab Muslims who saw the snow in Jerusalem and quickly figured out how to weaponize it, by using it to coat the rocks they were throwing at Jews.  Incorporating this innovation was apparently "successful" as they managed to smash some windows of passing cars. Feel free to add this to your list of reasons that Islam is not a religion of peace -- in spite of any diplo-babble you may have heard (or read at The Guardian or New York Times).

Now before I go any further, into some even worse news, I should tell you the obvious -- that I've been having trouble getting back to blogging since my brother-in-law passed away suddenly, just before Thanksgiving.  After I got back from the funeral, I had an email notification from Typepad (our host here) that my subscription had expired and I would be blocked from blogging until I re-upped. It took me a couple of days to scrounge up the $134 and then the Very Next Day, my trusty computer was attacked by some Big Ugly Virus. That took another day to fix and yet another day to recover from all my traumas, trite though some may have been.

So if you'd like to hit the tip jar, now would be a good time. It's bad enough that I spend so much time not making money, but then to have to absorb the cost of spreading all this good cheer... Well, it's hard to explain to The Husband, in light of BtB's rusted out tip jar and dwindling readership.

 

 

What else, what else? Ah yes, our Transformational Government is in chaos. According to the New York Times: "Tempers Flare as New Rules Strain Senate."

WASHINGTON — If there is a rock bottom in the frayed relationship between Senate Republicans and Democrats, it seemed uncomfortably close as the final days of 2013 on Capitol Hill degenerated into something like an endurance contest to see who could be the most spiteful.

I suggest you read it all, as Harry Reid's decimation of this historically honorable institution makes Sherman's March to the Sea*  look like a picnic.

“Let’s be really frank,” said Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky. “Senate Democrats have for petty partisan reasons taken away the power of Congress, taken away one of the checks and balances on a rogue presidency.” Earlier in the day, Mr. Paul told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that he did not think there would be anything approved by unanimous consent “until hell freezes over.”

Orrin Hatch said that if Robert Byrd were alive to see what's going on, he would have a stroke -- but I suppose it could be worse: We could be living in Belgium, where their Senate has voted overwhelmingly to "EXTEND EUTHANASIA TO CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES."  You heard that right. 

“Currently the Belgian euthanasia law limits euthanasia to people who are at least 18 years old. This unprecedented bill would extend euthanasia to children with disabilities,” says Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. “The Belgian Socialist government is adamant that the euthanasia law needs to extend to minors and people with dementia even though there [are] significant examples of how the current law is being abused...”

If that's not evil, I don't know what is. To my mind it is altogether appropriate to compare such callous disregard for the sanctity of life to that of the Nazis.

 

 

I recommend you join "The New Holocaust Resistance" at Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. Tell them Yael sent you.

Naturally(?) all this brings to mind the "death panel" hiding deep within Obamacare. I was told last night by a friend that it is specified in the law that anyone over the age of 75 will not be allowed expensive cancer treatments. So drink your cabbage juice, boys and girls, because I wouldn't doubt that it's true.

Charles Krauthammer recently recounted what Obama told Chris Matthews in an interview, that he had discovered that “we have these big agencies, some of which are outdated, some of which are not designed properly.”

An interesting discovery to make after having consigned the vast universe of American medicine, one-sixth of the U.S. economy, to the tender mercies of the agency bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service.

 

 

More bad news: Obama is bringing in the "True Believers." Keith Koffler advises Republicans to "take this an act of war."

As Shabbat gets closer and closer, it wouldn't be right for me to leave you in a puddle of despair. There is good news, too. A new poll has found that "[w]hether they are younger Obama voters or older Romney voters, Americans want their lawmakers to insist on a non-nuclear Iran, and they want to increase sanctions to ensure those objectives are met."  And more good news: If you have children in the public school systemin Texas, they have the legal right to say "Merry Christmas."  I kid you not.

Now not being on gubmint property myself, I'm going to go out on a limb here and wish my Christian friends a Very Merry Christmas. And to the family of Jews, a sweet Good Shabbes.  Stay safe and warm, everybody.

 

As The Dream Turns ...To Dust

 

55 pct disapprove;

45 pct strongly so.

 

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history

 

To read more about "Obama's collapsing numbers," see Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard.  And if there are any Obamatons in the audience, as a public service I gladly refer you to these Top 9 Ways to Deal with Betrayal.

Wobbly legs, pounding heart, flip flopping stomach. Feelings of anger, shock, hurt, disappointment, and disbelief. What has caused this range of both physical and emotional responses? Betrayal.

Betrayal happens ... when there is infidelity, abuse, lies, lack of support, broken promises, secrets told, snooping or stealing...

 

 

 

Lyrics
========
Song 1:

Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm! Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm! Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm! Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm! Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!

Mmm, mmm, mm Barack Hussein Obama

Song 2:

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray! Hip, hip hooray! Hip, hip hooray!

 

The Mount Vernon Assembly

 https://www.facebook.com/conventionofstates

 

First, some background from the Maine Wire (Google cache):

A growing group of state lawmakers from across the country are exploring ways to limit the power of the federal government by using a seldom-referenced clause of the U.S. Constitution.

... the President Pro Tempore of the Indiana State Senate David Long (R-Fort Wayne) joined an effort to explore convening a Constitutional convention pursuant to Article V of the Constitution.

Long joins legislators from Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin who have all signed a letter calling for every state to send a three-person bipartisan delegation to George Washington’s home in Mount Vernon, Virginia on December 7th.

The purpose of the Mount Vernon Assembly is to plan an Article V Constitutional Convention. The exact nature of proposed amendments is presently unclear.

Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides a way from state legislatures to amend the country’s most authoritative founding document. Under Article V, two-thirds of state legislatures may call on Congress to convene a convention, and three-fourths of states can vote to ratify any amendments – without or without Congress’ approval.

There has never been an Article V convention.

“The authors of the Constitution included a state-led amendment option as a check on a runaway federal government,” Long said, according to a story in the Northwest Indiana Times. “The dysfunction we see in Washington, D.C., provides an almost daily reminder of why this option is needed now more than ever.”

Maine has previously joined Article V convention efforts, with 20th century proposals for the direct election of U.S. Senators, the repeal of the 16th Amendment (Income Tax), and the establishment of revenue sharing agreements between the states and federal government.

Article V of the Constitution states:

“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.”

The assembly, inspired by conservative commentator Mark Levin’s latest book, The Liberty Amendments, will likely feature constitutional amendments designed to rein in what many see as a federal government that is out of control.

In his book, Levin proposes the following amendments to the Constitution:

1.)    Term limits: Levin proposes limiting the tenure of Senators and Representatives to no more than 12 years.

2.)    Repealing the 17^th Amendment: Levin argues in favor of repealing the 17^th Amendment, thus returning the election of U.S. Senators to state legislatures. The 17^th Amendment was ratified during the American progressive movement as a way of giving power to the people, but Levin argues its repeal would ensure that state sovereignty is protected.

3.)    Judiciary Power Check: Levin proposes 12-year term limits for justices of the Supreme Court. Additionally, he proposes creating a procedure for Congress and the state legislatures to overturn court decisions with a three-fifths vote.

4.)    Limitation of Taxation and Spending: Levin’s balanced budget amendment would cap federal spending at 17.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and require a super majority, or three-fifths vote, of Congress to raise the debt ceiling. In addition, he proposes limiting the federal government’s ability to tax individuals at 15 percent. On the cheekier side, he proposes moving tax day to the day before federal elections.

5.)    Reining in Regulations and Bureacracy: Levin proposes an amendment to require all federal agencies to be subjected to stand-alone reauthorization every three years. He also proposes an automatic sunset provision for all federal regulations.

6.)    Cabining the Commerce Clause: Levin’s proposed amendment would clarify that the Commerce Clause does not delegate supreme regulatory authority to the federal government.

7.)    Limiting the federal government’s power to confiscate private property.

8.)    Make it easier for states to amend the Constitution: Under this amendment, only two-thirds, rather than three-fourths, of states would need to vote in favor of proposing an amendment.

9.)    Giving states the ability to override Congress: Levin’s proposal would allow states to overdie federal law by a majority vote in two-thirds of state legislatures.

10.) Election Integrity: The last of Levin’s amendments would enact a nationwide photo ID requirement for federal elections and establish limits on early voting.

It is unclear whether any Maine lawmakers have agreed to participate in the Mount Vernon meeting.

Steve Robinson
Maine Wire Reporter
[email protected]

 

 

While most right-wingers haven't even heard of this convention yet, it's already making the obamatons nervous. See this DailyKOSnik for instance:

I know many of you don't pay much attention to the right-wing noise machine, and when you do dismiss what you hear for obvious reaons -- like they're generally full of shit.

Well, that's all true, but that doesn't mean they're not dangerous.  After all, many liberals and progressives laughed at and dismissed Rush Limbaugh and the other right-wing talk radio shock jocks as clowns, back in the 90s, but look how much influence he has had and how much damage he's done to our civil discourse.  These things have a way of flying under the radar until they reach a critical mass, then they explode to cause no end of trouble.

That's why I'm writing today about a growing movement in far-right circles that sounds like a bunch of crackpots, but could actually pose a serious danger to our democracy.  Spurred on by Mark Levin and others, there is a grass-roots conservative movement to convene an Article V convention of the States to amend the Constitution by enacting so-called "Liberty Amendments" that would eliminate the popular election of Senators, require a balanced federal budget, prohibit the federal government from any activity conducted by the states (including healthcare), effectively eliminate the commerce clause and the general welfare clause, enact term limits on judges and enable the States to overturn judicial decisions, impose nation-wide voter id laws, and enshrine several other far-right hobbyhorses as Constitutional imperatives.  And this movement has support from people who should know better, like state representatives from Indiana and Georgia.  While obviously on the fringe now, these sorts of things have a tendency to become mainstream conservative thought if unchecked....