First Principles

Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. Minnesota is just sending part of the horse.

– Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit

May our Republic fare better.  Frank(en)ly, I think we’d be better off with the whole horse.

I started blogging about the sequel, which I just saw this weekend, and realized that I was writing about the first movie almost more than the second one.  So here’s a much delayed post about what might be my favorite movie of the new millennium.  Five Reagans, baby.  That’s right.  All five.

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In all the commentary on the John Ensign adultery debacle, there’s a tremendous lack of common sense or honesty, replaced instead by the kind of tribalism sourced from the same “logic” that makes Vikings fans think Brett Favre actually sucks (unless he decides to play for the Vikings).

It’s understandable.  Conservatives want to rally around their guy, liberals want to cut him off at the knees.  But there is no principle in mere team loyalty, and this (as with so many things) presents an opportunity to do a gut check on what our principles really are, what they should be, and the imperfections we’re willing to accept.

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So creepy Old Man Letterman finally issued another apology, one slightly less weak than the first.  It actually included the words “sorry” and “apologize,” unlike the first go at it.  It was still littered with explanations and excuses, but what else do you expect from a guy who’d tell a “joke” like this in the first place?

In spite of this, and in spite of the fact that Sarah Palin has accepted the apology, there are some Republicans who think it’s too little, too late, and want to relentlessly pursue Letterman off the air and beyond.

Stop it. [Read more →]

I recently bought a new car.  I test drove an Accord I really liked, but knowing I needed to be careful not to get sucked in (and having a smarter-than-me wife who reins me in), I told them I wanted to go test drive some other brands of cars.  The saleswoman said, “That’s fine – check out those guys at Toyota.  It’ll make you want this car even more.”  She wasn’t afraid of a careful inspection of the product she was selling, and she had no problem seeing it compared to anything else.  She earned my trust with her attitude.  And she turned out to be right.

But if she would have put the pressure on, and tried to talk me out of even looking at anything else, I probably would have gone elsewhere.  If a salesman doesn’t want you to take the time to take a good, hard look at what they’re selling, it’s a solid bet that they have something to hide.  Anyone with any sense knows that this kind of a line from any salesman is almost always a sure signal to walk – nay, run! – away, and run away fast.  [Read more →]

As a former sailor, I have to appreciate this line from Instapundit:

Drunken sailors generally spend cash that they’ve already earned themselves, rather than running up debt to be paid by others. If our politicians started spending like drunken sailors, it would in fact represent a dramatic improvement.

I can only imagine the damage we could have wrought around the globe if we had millions of other people’s dollars to spend, and a $1.85 Trillion credit limit!

California has long boasted one of the most “generous” public welfare systems in the nation.  Now they’re talking about doing away with it completely for lack of funds.  The horrible irony is that the one thing led to the other.

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I award this movie 2 out of 5 Reagans, and it’s lucky to get that.  The attempted political message embedded in the movie is horrifyingly laughable, although I appreciate the rich blog fodder it provides.

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My friend Ron at Local So-and-So posted this today, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it, too.

This speech never fails to get me a little choked up, both for the story of the heroism during D-Day, and also for the man who so effectively conveyed it across the generations.

The very liberal Mother Jones magazine has a fascinating piece about the nominee’s lack of writing skills.  As a lawyer, I can’t stress how happy this makes me.  [Read more →]

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft will ship jobs overseas if Obama’s tax plan passes. Well, duh.

The successful entrepreneurs who made up the panel discussion at which this warning (for that’s what it was) was delivered also estimated that the values of those companies that stay in the US (along with their ability to pay good wages, contribute to tax revenue, fund retirement and health plans so the government doesn’t have to, etc.) will drop substantially.

But I’m sure that won’t happen with higher taxes here in Nevada.

I like this take from Big Hollywood blogger Leigh Scott:

There are really only two core beliefs that you need to be considered a Conservative in my book.  One, as I’ve stated before, is the conviction that personal liberty is paramount.  Two, you don’t look to your enemies for validation.

But while I agree with it on its face, I think it misses an essential element – the advocacy of policies which actually promote that personal liberty.

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Don’t misread me here – I think Obama’s first SCOTUS nomination is horrid.  But since it was no secret that the President was going to nominate an ultra-liberal jurist whose thread of fidelity to the Constitution and the law will be severed at the first inconvenience or policy disagreement, this particular judge’s flaws provides us with an excellent opportunity to stem the tide a little.

The bottom line is that I actually think she’s such a caricature of a liberal judge that she is the perfect vehicle for exposing the intellectual bankruptcy (and indeed, as I wrote about in my last post, the danger) of her and the President’s legal philosophies.  And I don’t know that Obama could possibly have found someone less likely to be able to persuade colleagues to join her positions.

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Note:  I wrote most of this before President Obama announced his Sotomayor nomination.  Stand by for more on that in the coming days.

A friend of mine from law school recently posted this article from The Gawker on Facebook.  Ordinarily, my friend, although I usually disagree with him, posts interesting and thought provoking links.  Alas, this time, it was a rant against the Supreme Court (or at least its more conservative members) which was as thoughtless as it was juvenile.

But perhaps I shouldn’t have been disappointed after all. It turns out the post was thought provoking in its own way – perhaps not the one which was intended.

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“If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

- Thomas Paine

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This E-mail thread is too damn funny not to share.  The short version is that the law firm in question had just won a years-old case defending the Washington Redskins against a claim of “disparagement.”  A partner sent out an E-mail applauding the firm’s win, and a junior junior junior associate decided to offer a gentle yet very public rebuke over the racial insensitivities in the case that may have not been adequately appreciated. [Read more →]

Six years ago, the Democratic governor had overspent and over-borrowed and overextended entitlements in his State, and predictably, had broken the back of its finances.  In the resulting circus of a recall election (which I admit being very excited about) complete with porn stars and midgets, only one serious candidate emerged who proposed conservative solutions to the state’s problems of spending what they couldn’t afford and taxing its citizens and its businesses right out of the state.

Correctly, even the liberal voters of California recognized that the solution to more spending and over-taxation was not more spending and higher taxes, and so rejected the candidates who made that ridiculous claim. [Read more →]

Recent events such as the defection of Arlen Specter has amplified the calls of (mostly liberals) for the Republicans to move left if they want to remain relevant.  The argument goes that Republicans have shifted hard right since the Big Tent days of Reagan, and are now seeking to purge anyone from their ranks who doesn’t share every tenant laid forth in the Book of Limbaugh.  Only by embracing all who are willing to accept the name “Republican”, no matter what they believe or how they vote, can we build the numbers necessary to regain a foothold on the national scene.

What a bunch of crap.

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The facts simply don’t support this contention.  I defy anyone to name a single significant policy in which Republicans in the last several years have gotten more conservative on than we were in, say, 1983 (a time Arlen Specter claims to look back upon with nostalgia).

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…and it sure is tiny.

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I don’t know.  But if it does, sign me up.

During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam, who was executed in 2006, to repeatedly watch the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as the boyfriend of Satan.

Sweet. [Read more →]