Justice Ginsburg's Teachable Moment

It seems that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg isn't all that enamored of our Constitution. She recently visited Egypt as part of a State Department trip to offer legal advice to the fledgling democratic movement there (which will not survive rule either by the military or the Islamists, but that's another issue).

Her advice on whether to use the US Constitution as a model: Don't.

Apparently, the US Constitution is too parsimonious with "rights", so the JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT suggested following the Constitution of South Africa, or the European Union Declaration of Human Rights, or the Canadian Charter of Rights instead. Really?

The significant difference between our Constitution and those others is the fundamental limitations on government embodied in our Constitution. Apparently, that's not such a great idea to Justice Ginsburg. Ugh.

Moreover, any "right" to material goodies that requires coercion of others to get it for you is a farce. When you hear the Leftists screaming that "Education (or other such benefit) is a RIGHT, not a Privilege!", lock and load.

Making the simple argument that the state taxing us all in order to provide education to the poorest citizens at no or minimal cost to them may be a good deal for society is one thing, but demanding that such a benefit is a "right" is something altogether different.

However, it does reveal the mentality of those who believe the government has the unbridled power to do whatever it wants. It's not hard to see why so many liberal Demunists today take one look at the vast gatherings of decent, middle-class Americans known as tea parties and instantly think "fascists!" Never mind that fascists, properly understood, don't usually demand less government intervention.

What we have here is a fundamental conflict of visions, to borrow a phrase from Thomas Sowell. One side believes that people are born into their station in life and it is the government's job to make their miserable lives a little better. Indeed, it is the natural order of things for the government to provide jobs, health care, homes to the people. If you object to this concept of government, it must be because you want to "punish" the downtrodden and discriminated. You must be animated by racism, sexism, greed, "fascism!"

The other side says that our rights come from God or from Natural Law, not from government. That while the government has an obligation to promote the general welfare, it doesn't have a holy writ to design the nation as it sees fit. The Constitution is not a coupon insert in your local paper, brimming with all sorts of giveaways and two-for-one deals. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights delineate what the government cannot do, not what it can. What was so fantastic and revolutionary about that is that for the first time in history, a nation was founded on the proposition that the government should mind its own business. Believing that doesn't make you a fascist, it makes you a patriot.

But leave it to a weenie at Slate to try to cover for "Justice" Ginsburg:

If you want, here you go: Proof that a Supreme Court Justice believes looks to other countries for advice on an evolving Constitution! Of course, we've known this about Ginsburg for years, because she's said so repeatedly. It's proof that a SCOTUS justice wouldn't use the American Constitution as a model for a new country -- but, well, neither does anyone who advises new republics about this stuff.

‎"An evolving Constitution", my ass. That, like "living breathing document", is an excuse for judicial tyrants to read anything they want into the Constitution, and read anything they *don't* want out. Constitutions are amended, not evolving. If a rule of law is one length one day and another the next, it is no longer a rule of law.

Why on earth is a Justice of the *United States* Supreme Court 'looking to other countries for advice' on our Constitution? Before you say "English Common Law" - such law is specifically incorporated by statute in California (and, presumably all other) state laws and was explicitly understood as the basis for our own civil laws. Sorry, but "Justice" Ginsburg's comment demonstrates a deep disrespect for the Constitution that she has sworn to uphold. This is pretty outrageous.

However, it is, to borrow a term from the Leftist scum, a "teachable moment". The "Progressive" Left (Newest Left?) are uniquely infuriating in their contempt for Americana. Compared to Ruth Ginsburg, Earl Warren was a regular flag waver in terms of his attitudes toward America, Western Civilization, etc. The New Deal / Great Society Left may have been wrong, but they were still patriots. The Left now has a whole new attitude that is openly contemptuous of this nation, and we the people. I don't just call them "Demunists" or "Commiecrats" for rhetorical pizazz.

And Ground Zero for this new attitude was arguably right here in the NorCal area, although Bostonians might beg to differ. I used to laugh the leftists off as minor figures in the picture, who got all the attention in The Land Of Fruits And Nuts, but were not the actual movers and shakers. But then the Cold War ended, the actual defense / hardware workers and producers packed up and left the state, and the Leftists became the "Creative Class Elites" (Destructive Class would be more like it).

Many leaders of the modern Left have open hatred and contempt for the traditional American ideals that made our country great. Limited and humble government, overseeing a responsible, individualistic, and strong citizenry who really were at liberty to arrange their own affairs largely as they saw fit. Instead, the modern Left wishes for all-powerful government that rules a citizenry that is dependent upon their largess.

The Leftist Government and Media Elites ceaseless orgasming over Barack Obama makes much more sense in light of "Justice" Ginsburg's remarks. President Obama was raised in a foreign country, under a very foreign culture, and was exposed to the most leftist politics as a child. He is what we would have called in the 30s and 40s a "red diaper baby." It is clear to me that he certainly does not love America, and I doubt he even likes America just a little bit. He spent 20 years attending church with a pastor who explicitly hates America. He was close pals in Chicago with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, actual, unrepentant, domestic terrorists who avowedly hate the American system and *killed people* to try to change it. His own wife proclaimed that the first time she was ever proud to be an American was when her husband was nominated to be President. One of his biggest campaign speeches during the last campaign was in Germany - to a largely foreign audience. He displays little or no overt patriotism (and, yeah, that matters a lot when we're talking about the President of the United States). He repeatedly bows to emperors and kings of foreign counties - an utterly unique and weak affectation among American Presidents. He clearly holds much of the American citizenry in total contempt, and thinks of us as "bitter clingers".

"Black Friday" insanity

As I watch the local and national TV news, I am shocked by the subtle egging on of the "Black Friday" shopping hordes--even on the relatively better Fox News. In a time of bad economic news, with personal debt at near record levels and with so many people paying off "underwater" housing mortgages, does this mad spending and camping out in front of stores for the latest Iphone or Xbox gizmo make ANY sense?

Perhaps the shopping mantra for the liberal media this year is this: We can't admit the Obamunist government mandates and Demunist economic "stimulus" policy, for which we were cheerleaders, utterly failed, and we know the future is hopeless, but we’re not going to allow the bad economy to ruin our "holiday" season.

The liberal media won't call it Christmas Season, of course.

Of course, I will shop for presents for my family and good friends too, but I will do it on my own sweet time and not get swept up in some media-driven frenzy. Nor will I go into debt for them. I don't think the supplies of goods are THAT low, and in this depressed economy, there will certainly be more discounted sales to entice me to buy in the future.

Then again, perhaps the Obamunists and their media apparatchiks are preparing us future proles for our lives under their socially rationed economic system, where we must stand in line for rationed goods like Cuba, or quickly spend our hard earned cash before it devalues in hyper-inflation like Argentina in the 1970's.

And under such economic policies, we will have to be prepared to be like the crazed shoppers who were pepper-sprayed on Black Friday at a Los Angeles Walmart by a woman who wasn’t about to miss out on one of the most sought after necessities of life — the new Xbox. Only next time, if the Obama Administration wins the 2012 elections and enough Demunists and RINOs hang on to their gerrymandered sinecures in Congress, next time the pushing, shoving, pepper spraying and even shooting may be over gasoline or bread or meat or even vegetables.

Perhaps the "Occupy" camps can be seen as training grounds for future Obama Red Guards. The Occupiers would be perfect candidates to put themselves in harm’s way to get their "fair share" of discounted playthings that they desperately need to keep their gray matter anesthetized. You could just picture many of them punching out the "rednecks" they hate, and then taking their electronic toys back to their Occupy Wall Street tents, and after taking some good drugs falling into a peaceful slumber, thinking to themselves, “Mission accomplished.” And the next day today, they will go back to the front lines fighting those "evil" guys on Wall Street for their Chairman Mao-bama— you know, the same Wall Street guys who have given Barack Obama more money than any candidate in history. But don't tell the Occupier dupes that!

I do not mean to imply that all, or even many, Black Friday shoppers are Occupy Wall Streeters or that all, or even many, Occupy Wall Streeters are Black Friday shoppers. Far from it. But the two groups have at least three things in common: They are very materialistic, they are angry about what they don’t have, and some have no qualms about resorting to mob violence.

When I use the word materialistic, I’m referring to wealth. And to be clear here, wealth is not what someone earns. Wealth is what someone owns. Wealth is cars and buildings and computers and television sets and iPods.

But wealth has to be created. It has to be earned by *somebody*. It takes money, management, and labor to produce all of those cars, buildings, computers, television sets, and iPods. The predicament that America now finds itself in is that there’s a lot of money and management around, but not enough good labor. At least not enough good labor at a cost that allows companies to manufacture goods at prices consumers are willing to pay.

Of course, there’s plenty of labor in places like China, India, Chile, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and many other countries throughout the world. So it’s no mystery why these countries now produce a great deal of wealth.

The reason the Western world is broke is because it doesn’t have a workforce that is willing to work at wages that are competitive with non-Western nations. From Greece to California, from Italy to New York, the reason workers are unwilling to accept competitive wages is because they can afford to be choosy. Unemployment benefits (now extended to 99 weeks or more), food stamps (ditto), and other forms of "stimulus" welfare remove the motivation for Commiecrat ghetto lumpen proletariat to work at any job that is available to them, at whatever wage is being offered, in order to feed and clothe their families.Starvation no longer motivates people who are unemployed, because the government forces those with wealth to provide food, clothing, and shelter to those who don’t have them.

And with these factors removed from the survival equation, people can afford to camp out at Best Buy, Target, and Walmart for days on end and elbow, stab, shoot, and pepper-spray those who would stand in the way of their getting their fair share of stuff at the lowest possible prices.

Does this mean that people have to work 16 hrs a day for 10 cents per hour in order to compete with a Cambodian serf? Only if they have no more education than a Cambodian serf. Hopefully they went to school and learned a useful trade. NO, Bogus Ethnic Multicultural Commiecrat Studies Victimization is NOT a useful skill. "Social Justice" is also a worthless field. But if they actually studied in school, learned math, chemistry, physics, sciences, engineering, biology, a medical skill or perhaps computers, THEN they can make a good salary. They are not entitled to $30 per hour for sticking a bolt in a car door handle on an assembly line; those days are OVER! But if they can repair a transmission or restart some one's heart, or research how to get greater yields from grains, then they will certainly find jobs all over the place that pay $30 per hour. And that's ALL they're worth.

Then again, maybe not. The more productive business is bashed, the more it moves out of "blue" states, or now even out of this "blue" Demunist nation. (The "Red / Blue" political color scheme should be utterly the other way around, but I digress.) Perhaps they will study hard, like some US engineers, only to have the value of their study undermined by H-1B modern day indentured servant immigrants.

There’s no way to prove it, but I’d be willing to bet that a disproportionate number of those who had nothing better to do than camp out in front of superstores for several days prior to Black Friday are classified as “poor” by the federal government. But how in the world can poor people afford to go shopping for electronic toys?

Good question — and here are some facts about people whom the Census Bureau defines as “poor” that may help to answer it:
--43 percent own their own homes.
--80 percent have air conditioning in their homes.
--75 percent of poor households have a car, and 31 percent have one or more cars.
--97 percent have a color television set and 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
--89 percent own microwave ovens.

Clearly, being poor in America is a whole lot better than being middle class in most other countries. In fact, so-called poor people in the U.S. live as well as those in the median American household of the early 1970s. So when you get right down to it, poverty is relative. But as the living standards of the poor rise, vote-hungry Commiecrat politicians simply make those rising standards the new baseline for poverty. And the RINOs meekly go along.

Dirty Laundry

Saw a link to this T-shirt at cafepress earlier. I think it's a pretty good response to those whose T-shirts express the idea that "Our totalitarians are cool."

The text reads “My Che and Mao t-shirts are in the wash”. Not bad. And, the back depicts the numbers of people killed by the Soviets and the Maoists next to the number killed by the Nazis (hint: each of the former racked up a higher body count), with a general admonition against totalitarianism.