A grain of fact
I was confused by the July 6 letter "New legal questions" regarding the Supreme Court's upholding the ACA. The writer asserts, "[Chief Justice John] Roberts rewrote validly legislated statutory language, an action the Supreme Court has historically found it has no power to do," and, "Heretofore, the Supreme Court has never treated a penalty for noncompliance of law as a tax," and, "Roberts created a huge new federal power — taxing whatever Americans' behavior it doesn't like in order to enforce compliance..."
I realize that this is an "Opinion" page, but one would hope there would be a grain of fact in letters being published. The writer either did not read the decision or he simply chose to ignore it.
The opinion (written by Chief Justice Roberts but agreed to by the majority of the Court — this wasn't a 1-8 ruling, I'm pretty sure it went 5-4) addresses and refutes each of the points the writer attempts to make in his letter. This judgment, as all Supreme Court rulings since the inception of the Court, looked at a series of precedents to arrive at a logical conclusion (indeed in the opinion of the majority of the Justices, the only conclusion) that the law must be upheld.
By my count, the ruling cites no fewer than 23 other opinions that specifically support the
Court's ultimate conclusion and/or specifically refute all of the points in the letter.
The Court didn't "like" the law, but did its job and found it constitutional.
DENNIS A. CASEYWinston-Salem
Please save Hanes Park
My great-grandmother, Katherine Smith Reynolds Johnston, built and dedicated R.J. Reynolds High School in 1924 as a community resource — as was the intent of the Hanes family with the surrounding Hanes Park. The school and park are cultural and historic landscape features of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County where families, neighbors and visitors can travel to enjoy the outdoors within an urban environment like Central Park in New York City. I have lived in this neighborhood since 2004, and I often walk to the park to enjoy the open spaces of this special landscape which blends three schools, the YMCA and the West End.
I do not disagree that sports and football are important, and that playing on teams builds community and offers life lessons in winning, losing and sportsmanship. Discussions of the location of football stadiums and their impact, good or bad, on their communities are not new. Note the decades-long discussions at UNC Charlotte, the revitalization of downtown Charlotte with the Carolina Panthers Stadium, and the VIP skybox at Wake Forest University.
The question, though, is where to put it? I personally believe that Hanes Park and Reynolds High School are cultural and historic resources of our community, gems of building and landscape architecture from a bygone era, that have been woven together in a fine tapestry by history, a tapestry that should not be cut and stitched back together to add a modern football stadium and parking lot, not here.
WILLIAM NOAH REYNOLDS
Winston-Salem
'Great' Obamacare
There has been much discussion in the Journal and national news about how great Obamacare is for the nation. I have a few questions for the Democrats who passed this legislation: If it was so great, why did so many senators have to be bribed to vote for it with special exceptions for their states? And why were the unions exempted from it?
If it is great for the nation, why do they want no part of it? I think we have been had once again.
CLAY LENTZ
Clemmons
Sum It Up
Do you think Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts might eventually run for president?
Respond to letters@wsjournal.com and put "Sum It Up" in the subject header. Only signed entries, please; no anonymous ones. Briefer responses receive preference in print.
Letters: The Working Poor
The working poor
I'm sick and tired of all the politicians preaching what they're going to do for the middle class. I've not heard one, Democrat or Republican, say what they were going to do for the working poor — $18,000, $20,000 or under — who have to decide whether to buy our blood-pressure medicine or gas to go to our minimum-wage jobs.
We have to let food or medicine go at least once a month. Not to mention the high power bills in this heat.
So, politicians, listen to the poor. The middle class doesn't have to worry about its next meal or its next tank of gas.
JAMES MINTON
Wilkesboro
♣♦♥♠ Hearts? I'm familiar with the game.
ReplyDeleteI've played once. As I recall, it to be brutal game.Ron plays.
DeleteI really enjoy bridge.
DeleteBridge is much more civil. I haven't play in a long time. We used to play at Ron's parents, but as the children got older it became more difficult to find a long enough block of time to play. Unfortunately now, Ron's mom is no longer able to play.
DeleteIndeed, ♥s is a brutal game...so is croquet...that's why I enjoy playing both...letting off steam.
DeleteRubber bridge may seem more civil, but not when it's played seriously, especially for money. And of course, duplicate bridge is all-out warfare.
You haven't lived until you've played in a high level tournament and seen all the invisible daggers sticking in people's backs.
To: Bucky
ReplyDeleteRe: Last night you opined
Darwin wrote extensively about 'natural selection'. His opinion was that people with deviant and weak DNA will be naturally deselected out of the gene pool.
Since homosexuals can't 'naturally' reproduce through their forms of sex, they should be eliminated over time through 'natural selection'.
More modern theories:
Male Homosexuality Study: Gay Men Have Evolutionary Benefit For Their Families, New Research Suggests
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/why-are-there-gay-men_n_1590501.html
From the article:Turns out, the moms and aunts of gay men have an advantage over the moms and aunts of straight men for several reasons: They are more fertile, displaying fewer gynecological disorders or complications during pregnancy; they are more extroverted, as well as funnier, happier and more relaxed; and they have fewer family problems and social anxieties. "In other words, compared to the others, [they are] perfect for a male," Camperio Ciani said. Attracting and choosing from the best males enables these women to produce more offspring, he noted.
I'm sure you can find an article to support about any position these days, especially on liberal, social positions. CNN and the Huffington Post, among others, have become the laughing stock of the news media, because everybody knows they are advocates for extreme left.
DeleteWordly, we are in a transition period for homosexuals. They used to be more introverted in their sexuality, and as such, they were not as noticable. They realized, at least back then anyway, that their lifestyle was offensive to many Americans.
Instead of keeping their deviant form of sexuality to themselves, they are presently engaging in in-your-face activities flaunting their out-of-the-mainstream sex. That's how I became interested in the LTEs Comments Section in the Journal.
You see, I saw how gay and lesbian activists were utilizing that forum to promote the gay and lesbian agenda. Since I had lived in many big cities during my life, I knew that the gay and lesbian lifestyle was not all peaches and cream as it was being portrayed by the activists.
In the Journal forum, I merely interjected my viewpoint on that issue. As a result, I was booted/banned or whatever terminology you would like to chose because I told the truth. As you know, you have to be politically correct or you are not allowed free speech anymore. And that's how I ended up here when Stab extended his most gracious invitation to join this wonderful forum.
Aren't you glad that I accepted his invitation?
Yes, of course I'm glad you're here.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWould you show up for a game of Hearts? I'll bring the cards and the Stellas.
DeleteI'll split with you. Bring the cards, and I'll handle the Stella's. So, obviously, yes I would show up for Hearts.
DeleteI also like Bridge, but it has been decades since I played, don't remember any of the conventions. Not as many people play now, as the younger folk began to spurn card and board games in favor of damn video games.
Wordly, thanks for the invitation. I'm not much of a card player.
DeletePlus, I'm a little bit like Chris Christy-a little rough around the edges in case you haven't noticed.
That's like another dunce, Dan Quayle, comparing himself to JFK.
DeleteThe answer in both cases is the same...
YOU'RE NOT!
"Not as many people play now, as the younger folk began to spurn card and board games in favor of damn video games."
DeleteNot entirely true. My library school buddies would have board game nights -- Settlers of Catan was a favorite, and we also played this cool game based on the Lovecraft mythos.
But we're library nerds, and probably not representative of young folks in general.
Re: The working poor.
ReplyDeletePoliticians do not care about the working poor because they do not vote and above all they can't afford to pay to play or even provide foot power as they are too busy working.
Great "Obamacare". The primary reason the AFA is still so strongly opposed is that the insurance lobby opposes the mandatory payout ratios that for this year means that 80% of premiums must be used to provide healthcare and not exorbitant executive salaries.
ReplyDeleteMany of the purported payoff like the alleged cornhusker kickback were not include in the law. Scalia mocks health care law ‘Cornhusker Kickback’ provision—that no longer exists. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/scalia-mocks-health-care-law-cornhusker-kickback-provision-205148292.html
I believe Louisiana Purchase did survive because Louisiana is the only state that will not lose its ability to get some sort of federal offset when it treats the uninsured if it opts out of the medicaid expansion. All other states will lose this offset which is why they will eventually have to accept the medicaid expansion.
I believe Scalia was mocking the absurdity of the process that the ACA went through when he mentioned the cornhusker kickback. He knew it was eliminated. He said that for effect. And I would imagine he was mocking the mental capacity of the people in charge of passing such an absurd law, particularly in this time of economic crisis.
DeleteScalia was merely quoting Rush Limbaugh, as he often does.
DeleteI guess the Great Reagan wanted somebody on the court who was as dumb as he was.
Libor suggests to me a name for our top feeders: The Lie-borg!! We will assimilate your assets, resistance is futile.
ReplyDeleteThere's always one.
ReplyDeleteYou know. When you go to a social gathering, there's always one liberal that wants to show everybody what a fool they are, and they start blabbering.
Last night I was over at a friends house and a lady starting saying how she hoped that they put Zimmerman under the jail. You know me, being the inquisitive soul that I am, I asked why?
She said Zimmerman should go to jail because he had a gun, and she didn't care what happened between Zimmerman and Martin. She didn't believe anyone should be walking around with a 'GUN'.
I tried to tell her that he had a permit to carry, and she didn't want to hear that. She said he should go to jail anyway.
That's the kind of peaheaded, liberal mentality that is out there, and what Zimmerman faces in trying to get a fair trial.
After hearing many of the bone-headed comments in here, I wasn't surprised at what the woman said. But, I was, a little, disappointed that people can be so utterly ignorant to the concept of self-defense.
'Hunted down like a rabid dog, he was racially profiled'
DeleteRep. Frederica Wilson (D), Florida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmg1aY6_AJI
_______
All a bunch of bunk according to the FBI.
Trayvon rally in Miami. You gotta see it to believe it.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIkxCOWuHGE&feature=relmfu
More fiction from the Dunce.
Delete"Last night I was over at a friends house..."
The idea that Dunce has friends is as hilarious as the idea that Dick Cheney is not a psychopath.
What he means is that while he was over at Nathan Tabor's house, where no real woman would ever be found, while he and Nathan were snuggling up, Nathan started making love talk about guns...what else is there for those two?
Do you think Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts might eventually run for president?
ReplyDeleteYes, and I think Martians will come down and pick up the journal writers and carry them into outer space. Geez...! It just never stops!
No wonder the Journal is going under.
I agree Bucky. This is one of the most ridiculous questions ever printed.
DeleteI would go farther and say that it is the most ridiculous question so far.
DeleteChris Christy is hoping that the President will be reelected because he needs a Democratic failure to run against in 2016. If Romney wins, it will be difficult for him to run against his own party's failure, which is a certainty.
In this case, agreeing with the Dunce is like agreeing that grass is green...it confers no legitimacy upon his "thoughts" in general.
Let them vote dang it!
ReplyDelete__________
"A Florida Department of State spokesman, Chris Cate, told CNN in June that the state identified roughly 100 people who are not citizens but registered to vote."
__________
Democrats are always saying illegals don't register to vote. Well, Florida found 100 not even trying. How many 'thousands' of illegals are registering AND voting in all fifty states?
When Jimmy Carter gets back from monitoring elections overseas, I hope he has time to monitor ours to make sure they are fair.
I'm sure you can find an article to support about any position these days, . . ."
DeleteWhat's your source?
Chris Cate lied. The state did not find any illegally registered voters. Those were found by an Orlando TV station and given to the state.
DeleteAnd when they were checked further, many were found to be recently naturalized citizens, so perfectly legal. Most of the illegal ones were accidentally registered by Florida driver's license examiners.
The "100" came from a voter list of over a million, so represented less than .0001% of registered voters, a statistically irrelevant number.
. . . and check this out: Flori-duh is that same state that decided the 2000 election. Where were the illegal registered voters then, HUH?
DeleteI'm sure they were there, and I'm sure they voted too. If you'll recall, Palm Beach County Democrats tried to get the election overturned when they found out GW Bush had won. They wanted to keep counting until Gore won.
DeleteTypical Democrats.....always trying to do something underhanded.
The TV station's reporters found that most of the so-called "illegal" voters were not even aware that they were registered to vote.
DeleteAs anyone who knows anything about anything knows, if a person is in the country illegally, the last thing that they want is any encounter with government officials.
About a third of legal registered "citizens" cannot be bothered to vote in the first place. Anyone who thinks that anyone would risk deportation simply to vote is dumber than even the Dunce, and damned if that isn't about as dumb as it comes.
By your reasoning, voters who illegally entered the U.S., illegally registered to vote, and illegally voted, IN FLORI-DUH, would have won the elections for the DEMOCRATS.
DeleteD-U-H-H-H!
Calling what Dunce does "reasoning" is like calling what Limbaugh does "truth".
DeleteI went to school with Noah...he's a really nice guy.
ReplyDeleteYes he is, and I agree with him that there should not be a football stadium in Hanes Park, even though the place where they want to build it is technically not a part of the park, as it belongs to the school system.
DeleteBut Noah is wrong about one thing. His great-grandmother did not "build" Reynolds High School. Katharine Smith Reynolds gave the land for the school. The citizens of Winston-Salem ponied up over $450,000 to erect the school building. Katharine did pay for construction of the Richard Joshua Reynolds Memorial Auditorium.
Oops, he also misspelled his great-grandmother's name. She was born Mary Katherine Smith. But while she was a student at the State Normal School For Women, later Women's College and now UNC-G, she changed the spelling to Katharine.
What happened to playing over Bowman Gray Stadium. Is the neighbor'hood' too dangerous?
DeleteHee Hee...oh dear....you gotta laugh.
Playing "over Bowman Gray Stadium"?
DeleteI guess most of us missed the games played up there, maybe by Martians. The ones that we saw were played down on the field "in Bowman Gray Stadium".
If Bowman Gray were dangerous, I doubt if 250,000 white Anglo-Saxon protestants would be paying $10/each every summer to attend the races.
Back in the glory days, Reynolds, Gray, Hanes, Atkins, Carver could pull 5-10,000 paying fans for games. Today, they are lucky to get 6oo-700, so they cannot afford to play there.
That might have changed if WSSU had been allowed to buy the stadium. Unfortunately, Don "Hot Rod Teenager" East killed the deal.
As always, stupid is as stupid does.
One wonders if the Dunce will ever come up with a real argument instead of his perpetual ignorant rants.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says Washington "feels as broken as it did four years ago," when he took office.
ReplyDeleteHe's most frustrated by the inability "to change the atmosphere" in the capital "to reflect the decency and common sense of ordinary people" who want leaders to solve problems.
He adds "there's enough blame to go around for that."
________________
The guy that has the highest and most powerful job in Washington says things haven't changed? And he wants four more years? I say an emphatic 'no' to his request.
The President is currently not the most powerful man in washington. That person is the Speaker of the House, who has created the conditions referred to by the President.
DeleteInstead of trying to behave in a decent fashion and get the government working, he prefers to create gridlock while wasting everyone's time with his repeated and stupid attempts to repeal ACA.
Meanwhile, despite the attempts of the House to destroy the economy, there has been some growth in the GDP, over 4 million private sector jobs have been created and the stock market has recovered very nicely.
It is dunces like Dunce and the Tea Party fools who are the greatest threat to the USA.
That's why nobody pays much attention to your nonsense because of posts like the one above.
DeleteI'm ready to get back to buck I know in here, and that's Bob. Better the buck you know than the one you don't know, is what I always say.
W-H-A-A-A-T ? ! ? ! ?
DeleteLaSombra, your problem is that you are trying to process what Dunce "says" in terms of normal logic.
DeleteIn order for that process to occur, there must be a brain present.
A few years ago, Dunce was under the care of one of my psychiatric friends. She did an MRI of his head and was astonished to find an image of scrambled eggs mixed with root beer.
Even frogs show a neural network. This was the first time she had seen eggs and root beer.
You're not going to believe this, but Dunce is right.
ReplyDeleteThis morning I was walking down Fourth Street. On every other bench there was a pair of banging bucks going at it. On the alternate benches were pairs of scissoring lesbians.
Standing around each bench was a crowd of cheering gays, lesbians and transgenders. All were wearing tiny hotpants and dayglo shirts and stuff.
I insist...no, I demand, that the city do something about this. They should build a new stadium over at Hanes Park. When it is not being used for football, they could put restroom partitions and benches in there and let these horrific perverts do their workouts there, away from the innocent eyes of me and other real citizens.
We could even defray some of the cost of building the stadium by charging admission. The Dunce, of course, gets a lifetime free pass.
;-D
DeleteA made-for-TV movie is in the works, to be called "Killer: Diary of a Cop Wannabe Fool."
ReplyDeleteA few scenes have already been written.
In the opening scene, we will see young George Zimmerman being berated by his military daddy for speaking civilly to another neighborhood child.
DADDY: How dare you! All others are EVIL!
CUT TO: Little George huddled tearfully in the darkness of his room, watching the only VHS tape that he owns, "The Public Enemy", starring James Cagney.
OVERSHOULDER: We see on the screen the climactic moment when Cagney is shot.
CAGNEY: You got me, you dirty rat; I ain't so tough; Mussed up my new suit; Mother of mercy, is this the end?
(NOTE: There have been many variations on these lines in other movies over the years, but all people who have been shot must say "You got me…", because that is what all people always say in real life.)
CUT TO: Pages flying off a calendar.
INTERCUT WITH: Shots of big George, and we mean big…he has turned into quite a beefy boy…watching the same movie while gazing out the window and dialing 911 to report dogs walking around, children playing in the street, and dozens of black teenagers who are obviously up to no good…has any black teenager ever been up to good? Maybe he should be calling Weight Watchers or a psychiatrist instead, but that is not for us to say.
His gun is in his lap, and he is stroking it lovingly.
The opening scene of "Cliffhanger" has for many years been considered the best in film history, but I think that this new one will surpass it. It might even win an Academy Award all on its own, Best Opening Scene.
But it gets better. The climactic scene will be the greatest ever, better than Hitchcock's Mount Rushmore scene in "North By Northwest".
MEDIUM SHOT: Zimmerman is on his back with Martin astride him. Martin is banging Zimmerman's head into a concrete sidewalk. To make it worse, there are metal spikes imbedded in the sidewalk.
SLOW ZOOM IN: To the back of Zimmerman's head, which has turned to mush, oozing brain tissue onto the concrete.
CUT TO CLOSEUP OF MARTIN"S FACE: He is snarling. We can see his gangsta gold teeth…are the canines vampire's fangs? Probably. Even as he murders poor George, he is simultaneously puffing on a joint and a crack pipe, his lips dripping saliva.
MARTIN: You're going to die tonight, motherfucker!
CUT TO MEDIUM SHOT: George draws his trusty pistol and fires.
CUT TO UPPER TORSO SHOT OF MARTIN: He straightens up, pulls a syringe out of his hoody and injects heroin into his arm.
MARTIN: You got me!
SLOW ZOOM OUT: Martin then leaps 8-10 feet backward, twisting his body in midair to land on his face in the grass.
FADE TO BLACK
Let's see Hitchcock top that!
George's only regret is that in the stress of the moment, he was unable to remember the full Cagney quote. Never fear. The script writer will put it in, with a slight modification to accommodate modern dress codes.
Trayvon Martin's last words will be "You got me, you dirty rat; I ain't so tough; Mussed up my new hoody; Mother of mercy, is this the end?"
Chris Rock will be playing Trayvon Martin.
Alec Baldwin and Justin Bieber are battling it out for the role of Killer. So far neither has been seriously injured in the struggle, just like the guy they want to play.
Trayvooooooooooooooon was hunted down like a rabid dog. He was racially profiled.
ReplyDeleteRep. Frederica Wilson (D)
____________
All BS according to the FBI.
Cairo (CNN) -- Egyptian protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade Sunday and shouted, "Monica, Monica, Monica" as she left the newly reopened U.S. Consulate in Alexandria
ReplyDelete___________
You gotta love it. Hee Hee....oh dear. It appears that the Clintons are pretty well known!
The protesters were attacking the perception that the current US administration supports only the newly elected Islamist government.
ReplyDeleteOf course, that is not the case, but one could not expect dunces to understand that.
One of my friends said recently, after reading several of Dunce's posts "I wonder what it must be like to be perpetually stupid."
Believe me, I could not answer that.