John Adams

In order to get myself psyched up for my favorite holiday, Independence Day, I have been watching the recent HBO miniseries on the life of John Adams. I have absolutely been blown away. The filmmakers have been able to accomplish that which is so rarely accomplished in movies - they make you feel as though you are a fly on the wall to history.

Owing largely to the David McCullough biography on which it is based, "John Adams" portrays the high ideals and significant moments of the founding period, but also portrays the humanity of our Founding Fathers. As time has passed, the Founding Fathers have been deified in the American consciousness. Much of this is deserved, but it often blinds us to their basic humanity. "John Adams" lays bare all the fears, insecurities, vanities, joys, and disappointments of many of our Founding Fathers, which provides an even greater understanding of the men and the monumental task that they were able to accomplish.

So, to borrow from Mr. Adams' final public words:

Independence Forever.

D.C. Gun Ban Ruling - A Victory for the Constitution

"Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of the nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct." - Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority.

In what could be considered one of the most important decisions of the new century, the Supreme Court overturned the long-standing Washington, D.C. gun ban as violative of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Personally, I believe that the Court made the right decision from a Constitutional perspective. The text of the Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Now, supporters of gun control and the D.C. ban argue that the key part of the Second Amendment is the line referring to a "well regulated Militia," and argue that private citizens should not be allowed to own guns since the United States no longer utilizes independent militias for national defense. This interpretation, I believe, is based on less than a full reading of the text and a lack of understanding of Constitutional history.

First, the text of the Amendment itself is divided into several clauses. I have already addressed the first clause. The second clause of the Amendment seems to be the most important because it contains the actual directive issued to government - that it "shall not" infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. If you simply focus in on the first part of the Amendment, then, you miss out on the directive, which focuses on the rights of the people as opposed to the rights of the militias.

Second, an interpretation of the Second Amendment that would say that it applies only to militias does not take into account the historical climate at the time the Bill of Rights was adopted. At that time in the history of the United States, the military did not exist in its present form. Rather than having a standing military as we do today, the defense of the young nation was still left to the state militias made up of individual citizens who could be called up in the event of an attack.

Finally, I applaud Justice Scalia on the reasoning in his majority opinion. By stating that "it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct," he recognizes the proper Constitutional limitations of the judicial branch. Essentially, this opinion says that the Second Amendment is still part of the Constitution and until it is taken out by another Amendment, the Court can do nothing but uphold it as the law of the land. Thus, any law that is contrary to the Second Amendment must be declared unconstitutional.

Are You Kidding Me?!?!

Yesterday, the Obama campaign rolled out a new podium seal that is a "personalization" of the Seal of the President of the United States.

Most of you know I disagree with many of the "reasons" that have been advanced for not voting for Obama, such as the stupid "oh my goodness, his middle name is Hussein!" thing. These kinds of attacks get us nowhere, especially when his dismal voting record (or lack thereof) is enough proof that the man is woefully incapable of leading the country.

However, this "seal" has really gotten me fired up. I understand that his campaign is using it to get voters to psychologically associate him with the office of the presidency and to get us all used to seeing him behind that seal, but I believe that this plan will backfire. If I may borrow one of Obama's favorite words, it shows "audacity." It also reveals an arrogance and disrespect for the country he is campaigning to become the leader of. Also, he's not President yet and, thus, has not yet earned the right to be associated in any way with that seal. It's up to us, the people to determine if he deserves to join the elite fraternity of men who have had that honor.

Beyond that, I have serious issues with the changes in the iconography of the seal. The American Flag crest on the eagle's chest has been replaced with his trademark "O." In the original seal, the Flag is at the center, which in my opinion symbolizes that the nation and its people are at the center of the Office of the President. In Obama's seal, Obama is at the center. Finally, the Obama campaign decided to change the Latin of the seal from "E Pluribus Unum" ("out of many, one") to "Vero Possumus" - a rough translation of his campaign slogan, "Yes, We Can." The phrase, "E Pluribus Unum" was adopted as a national motto for the United States in 1782 and was meant to celebrate that out of 13 separate colonies emerged a single, united nation. Today, the motto can be read to symbolize the idea that the United States is a single people and nation comprised of many different races, nationalities, religions, ancestries, etc. At best, the changing of the iconography represents an ignorance of the great history of the United States. At worst, it represents a complete disrespect for this history and an incredible arrogance on the part of Mr. Obama.

The best thing that Mr. Obama can do is to get rid of the seal and issue an apology to the nation for his desecration of one of its most sacred and enduring symbols.

Email President Bush

Yesterday, President Bush issued a veto threat on the Dodd/Countrywide Mortgage Bailout. Please take a few minutes to send an email to the White House Comment Office and express your support of this veto.

The email address is: comments@whitehouse.gov.

Dodd Is Freaking Out

I'm sitting here at work right now listening to the current debate on the Senate floor about the Dodd-Countrywide Bailout bill we have been fighting against these past few weeks. You can really tell that the public scrutiny is getting to Sen. Dodd, who is currently on the floor yelling about how those who oppose his bill are preventing poor children from having a roof over their heads (isn't funny how the left always use children to shield themselves?).

Unfortunately, for Sen. Dodd, his bill will not provide a roof over the heads of poor children, but would provide a more extravagant roof over the heads of middle and upper class children. The simple fact of the matter is that the majority of those who are facing foreclosure because of the the sub-prime crisis are middle class folks who tried to buy a $700,000 home rather than the $150,000 home they could realistically afford.

Shame on you, Sen. Dodd - I guess the truth doesn't matter when your own self-interests are at stake.

Panda-Watch

Such an interesting city, wouldn't you agree?

And the Hits Just Keep on Comin - WSJ Attaches a Number to Countrywide's Benefit

An op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal finally put a number on just how much Countrywide Financial stands to gain from the Dodd Mortgage Bailout - $25 billion.

Read the full story here.

AB

National TV Panda-monium

Just guess which one I am...

Watch Clip

Tramps Like Us, Baby We Were Born to Run

One of the great things about this city is that when I go running I pass by so many historical buildings. Working here everyday, it is easy to simply pass by these places and not take the time to stop and consider their significance. My evening runs give me the opportunity to clear my head and truly appreciate the opportunity I have been given.

This evening, I ran up Massachusetts Ave., past the embassies, and up to the National Cathedral. Embassy Row is an incredible stretch of road. Each side of the street is lined with mansions that house the embassies of various nations. The street is so peaceful that it is easy to forget that many of the nations that are neighbors on the row are bitter enemies. The fact that these nations can share a street provides a physical manifestation of the hope that one day many of these countries can coexist outside of Embassy Row.

After passing by the embassies, I turned a corner and was greeted by the towers and buttresses of the National Cathedral that signaled the end of my run. It was truly a special experience that reminded how lucky I am to be able to live in this city and this nation.

Dodd/Countrywide Scandal Update - TAKE ACTION

The Dodd/Countrywide Scandal survived the weekend news cycle and made the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal today. Read the article here.

It looks as though the bill could be on the Senate floor by Wednesday. Please, take a few minutes to call your Senators to ask them if they (1) have a Countrywide VIP loan and (2) how they plan to vote on the Dodd/Countrywide Mortgage Bailout. To get in touch with your Senators, just call 866-928-3035.

This is Why People Hate Government

As most of you know, one of the major projects I have been working on is an effort to prevent passage of a mortgage bill that would take taxpayer dollars and use them to bail out the small percentage of borrowers who obtained risky sub-prime loans and are now facing foreclosure. The sub-prime mortgage crisis is affecting roughly 2% of the population while 98% of the population remains unaffected because they either have paid off their mortgages, have a loan that they can handle, or rent. Initially, we fought this bill on moral and economic grounds arguing that not only is it unfair to punish responsible individuals in order to help out the minority of the population who made a poor financial decision, but also that it would encourage lenders to develop more risky "novelty" loan schemes. Additionally, regulation of the crisis would further exacerbate the problem and could possibly extend the downturn in the housing market. This is based on the basic principle that the market works best when it is simply allowed to run its course with minimal regulation.

I chose to title this piece "This is Why People Hate Government" because of a new development that has now made the debate over the mortgage bailout a question of ethics. Friday afternoon, it was revealed that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the primary architects of the bailout bill, had received a "VIP" rate on his own mortgage from Countrywide Financial. Countrywide was one of the leading sub-prime mortgage lenders, and stands to benefit substantially if the Dodd mortgage bailout bill passes the Senate. The question is no longer whether or the mortgage bailout is good economic policy (it's not), but whether Sen. Dodd is abusing his power in order to give kickbacks to friends who gave him "VIP" treatment when he refinanced his Washington town home with a $506,000 loan and his Connecticut home with a $275,042 loan. The special treatment came in the form of the waiving of certain fees that every other loan seeker must pay as well as lower interest rates.

Although Sen. Dodd claimed that he never sought preferential treatment from Countrywide, surely the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee would know, better than most, that his mortgage was not what would be considered "typical."

The Dodd Countrywide mortgage bailout bill should be coming up for a vote this week. Call your Senators and ask them if they also received preferential treatment from Countrywide and then ask how they are planning on voting. The great thing about American democracy is that even though our leaders may be corrupt, we have the ability to hold their feet to the fire for abusing their power and our trust.

The Trifecta: Hunger, Hypocrisy, Environmentalism

The hunger crisis in Ethiopia has advanced to a new level of severity, according to the Associated Press. The damaging effects of drought combined with the skyrocketing cost of food in the global market have spread to Ethiopian adults and older children. Since older generations have been traditionally less-vulnerable to the negative effects of crop shortages, this advance is evidence of an unprecedented level of starvation. The scenario would be ironic if it wasn’t so tragic.

The irony of the situation lies in the “humanitarian” efforts of environmental extremists for the expansion of “green” fuels such as ethanol. Increased production of ethanol fuel can be directly linked to the dramatic increase in the price of food. Yet strangely enough, leaders in the green energy movement are also among the most vocal advocates for American aid to Africa. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing dishonorable about providing relief for the millions of people in Africa who are suffering because of hunger, HIV/AIDS, malaria, or oppressive regimes. However, there is disgrace in the hypocrisy that is all too often exhibited by the left. The unintended consequences that result almost always hurt more than they help- Ethiopia is a prime example.

Expressing left-promoted slogans like “Save Africa!” and “Go Green!” has become a social norm within our popular culture. What’s more, anyone who dares to question the rationale or the tactics used to accomplish these goals is labeled a cruel capitalist. (Greedy businessmen always play the villain in movies, and we should always trust the wisdom of Hollywood, right?)

The truth of the matter is that “going green” exacerbates the hunger crisis in Africa. Ethanol production, the pet green fuel project of many environmentalists, is responsible for the 250% increase in corn prices over the past two years. The USDA’s Economic Research Service predicts that if ethanol production in the U.S. continues to expand, the ethanol sector will need 2.6 billion bushels of corn per year to keep up with demand by 2010. That’s 2.6 billion bushels of corn per year that could be used to feed starving people in Africa. Instead, that potentially life-saving food will be burned to power Sheryl Crow’s new “earth-friendly” tour bus.

Although a viable source of alternative energy must be developed to replace oil, burning food during a hunger crisis is the height of irresponsibility. Until we find a reasonable alternative to oil that doesn’t come at the cost of lives lost to starvation, we need to utilize the untapped oil reserves we have in ANWR[1] and along the coasts. It is time for the government to step back and allow the free market to work. Public awareness of climate change and the need for alternative energy has reached the point where the forces of supply and demand are sufficient to solve this problem.

We must also remember that energy producers also have a huge stake in finding a viable alternative to oil, which they know will not last forever. In order to stay in business, energy companies will have to invest huge sums of money into alternative energy research to keep up with consumer demand for clean sources of energy.

Despite the popular -but misguided- opinion, true sound economic and humanitarian policy will allow innovation and oppose government mandates on ethanol production currently adored by the environmentalists.

[1] The proposed drilling area is minuscule in proportion to the massive size of the wildlife reserve and will have little to no effect on the animal populations of that area despite the arguments of the environmental lobby. You can view the ANWR map here.

Only in D.C.

I saw a bum using a laptop the other day - no lie.

Great Political Cartoon

This political cartoon was in the Washington Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/) this morning, and I had to share it with y'all.

And...Jonah Goldberg's latest column: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/06/conservatives-f.html

The Weekend, Gas Prices, Ze Germans...

My roommate finally moved in this weekend. He's from Jersey and seems to be a pretty cool kid. For those of you back home who are wondering, he is not related to Tony Soprano nor is he in any way connected to the mafia (sorry).

On Saturday it rained heavily for most of the day, so I ended up staying in and reading. It finally cleared up around dinner time, so I walked down to a little neighborhood cafe to get some food and then down along the waterfront. While sitting by the river, I heard this loud noise coming from my right. I looked up in time to see Marine One (the President's helicopter) flying about 30-50 feet above the water. It was a pretty incredible sight.

Sunday morning, I woke up early intending to attend church at this old Methodist church that is just around the corner from my apartment. However, once I made it there, I quickly realized that the 9:30 service on the first and last Sundays of the month are held entirely in German. So, after walking the neighborhood trying, in vain, to find a church that had a 9:30 service in English, I decided to just grab some breakfast and read the Bible on my own. That afternoon, my roommate and I rode the metro to the National Mall to attend Israel's 60th birthday celebration. I think one of the organizers said that there were over 50,000 people there that day. Although there were a few pro-Palestinian protesters there, it didn't seem to diminish the overall mood of the day (the Israelis really know how to party).

On the work-front - we have launched another petition site: www.gaspriceprotest.com. The site is similar to AngryRenter.com, and we will once again be delivering the signatures to Congress in order to get them to do something substantial about the high price of gas. Please, take a few minutes to go to the website and sign your name. You have no idea how effective it is to walk into a Congressman's office and drop a stack of several hundred or, as is sometimes the case, thousands of signatures.

Protesters

There is something about Washington, D.C. that attracts protesters. It's probably the high concentration of influential people, but I think that there may be something in the genetics of these folks that attracts them to the city - like birds flying south for the winter. Whatever the reason, it's certainly not rational thought.

Case in point - a few days ago I was walking past the White House (i.e. protest Mecca) and noticed a group of scraggly looking people repeating whatever this man shouted into a bullhorn.* As I stood there and listened (albeit from across the street so as not to be offended by the smell), I realized that the protest was about the cyclone that recently devastated the tiny country of Burma. Until that moment I had failed to realize that the cyclone was entirely the fault of President Bush and his fascist regime.

All irony aside, the protesters were claiming that the United States was not doing anything to help the Burmese people and that we needed to immediately send humanitarian aid to that country. Newspapers are apparently kryptonite to protesters. This can be the only explanation for this particular protest because, if the protesters had actually taken the time to read a newspaper in the weeks following the cyclone, they would have understood that the United States had been trying to send aid, but had been repeatedly blocked by the military dictatorship that controls Burma. Therefore, the proper site for the protest would have been at the Burmese Embassy (not sure if there is one, will have to Google) in order to encourage them to allow the international aid workers to enter their country and help the people who had been displaced by the storm.

Moral of the story - if you are thinking about protesting, take a little time to study up on the subject so that you at least know what you are talking about. However, I'm also fine with leaving things the way they are - it at least makes my commute more entertaining.




*Aside - the man shouting into the bullhorn was the most scraggly looking of the bunch. This could be akin to military rank - the more scraggly, the higher in the power chain.