Archive | April 23, 2009
Delightfully Ambiguous Quotation
“Justice is the end of government.” – James Madison
I Intended to Blog About Earth Day Yesterday
… but I forgot.
Oh well, see you in a year.
Amendment Unmended
Randy Barnett proposes a new amendment to the Constitution. (Conical hat tip to Tom Ford.) But I don’t like it. In particular, although it has federalist intentions, it seems to me that sections 1 and 5 might actually expand federal power.
Section 1 seems to grant Congress the power to do whatever is not prohibited, reversing the 10th amendment’s provision that Congress is denied whatever power is not explicitly granted.
And section 5’s granting the federal judiciary the right to “nullify any prohibition or unreasonable regulation of a rightful exercise of liberty” sounds great if it’s going to be interpreted by libertarian judges, but otherwise who knows what statist judges might regard as a “rightful exercise of liberty” – perhaps the right of electoral majorities to exercise their “liberty” to guarantee that their towns be “free” of guns, drugs, cigarettes, porn, immigrants, ugly buildings, etc.?
Union Suit
So if these guys are so eager to convince us that they’re nonpartisan and equally friendly with right and left, why do they use the language of the Communist Manifesto? Is it irony or code? Anyone know what their deal is?
And While You’re At It, Tithe All Your Income Away
In Green Lantern Corps #35, a member of the GL Corps receives the order to “decimate each and every Zamaron.”
Now this is a Zamaron:
So this, presumably, is a Zamaron decimated:
Here’s hoping the economy improves so that DC can afford to invest in dictionaries for its writers. But the odds are nine to one against it.