Monday, March 18, AD 2024 11:40pm

Various and Sundry, 3/3/15

I’m bringing back an old feature, which I will hopefully be able to bring back nightly. Please feel free to use this as an open evening thread for anything you’d like to share, including news and prayer petitions.

– I’m beginning to feel a lot like Ace here.  The argument that Congress is limited in its ability to push back against the President only goes so far, and certainly collapses when you actually do have the power to tie his hands. I also agree with AllahPundit that we shouldn’t be too impressed with the number of Republicans who voted against the leadership, as many of them would have voted for the funding bill if their votes were really needed.

This isn’t even purely a partisan issue. At some point the legislative branch has to be willing to stop the continuing overreach of the executive. The checks and balances of our form of government is arguably the quintessential element of the republic. As these checks are eroded, so too is the notion that we are, in fact, dwelling in a republic.

– Party over, whoops, out of time, it looks like we’re living through the 90s again. Hey, the ability to totally ignore the Constitution without consequence is now an essential trait in any would-be President.

– Curt Schilling tweeted some words of pride and congratulations for his daughter, and naturally some individuals decided to take the opportunity to exemplify everything that is wrong with the internet, including tweeting some rape threats against his daughter. Schilling took to his blog and outed these fools, one of whom (at least) was fired, while others face other forms of discipline.

This incident is interesting as it gets to the idea of public shaming for internet comments. There was a story recently (that I’ve unfortunately misplaced) following rather infamous internet celebrities who lost jobs and any sense of privacy due to ill-advised tweets. The article made the point that the “grab the pitchforks” mentality can really go way overboard, and people have their lives ruined over 140 unwise characters. On the other hand, public shaming does have the effect of silencing the worst and most obvious offenders, and in this case I will cry no tears over someone losing their job because they tweeted their rape fantasies.

– Speaking of public shaming, I would like to do that the dolts employed by the Montgomery County (MD) Child Protective Services who found some local parents guilty of “unsubstantiated child neglect,” their sin allowing their 10-year old and 6-year old to walk home by themselves from the park. Now they will be “watched” by CPS for the next five years. As one of the commenters put it:

I think we need to start lobbying state legislatures for reasonable laws that provide some clarity and security for families in these situations. As I understand it, this is the law the Meitivs were accused of violating: “A person who is charged with the care of a child under the age of 8 years may not allow the child to be locked or confined in a dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle while the person charged is absent and the dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle is out of the sight of the person charged unless the person charged provides a reliable person at least 13 years old to remain with the child to protect the child.” How does letting your kids walk home from the park even trigger an investigation under this statute? It is unacceptable that CPS has the authority to interpret the law so loosely in order to bring a family into the system.

I was happy that most of the callers into the local radio show this morning were as perturbed by this decision as I was, but one person would just simply not accept the fact that kids are in no more danger of abduction today than they were 30 years ago. Some people just can’t let fact get in the way of unsubstantiated fear mongering.

– Rebecca Taylor is right: the UK has just made a frightening decision to allow the creation of three-parent embryos, and Catholics have largely been silent on this abomination.

Even more infuriating is that fact that, at the very same time that the UK approves the genetic engineering of the next generation (and the next, and the next), Hershey’s has been so hounded by food purists on social media that the confectioner has given into the pressure to remove any ingredients that come from genetically-modified organisms.

Great. We will be eating GMO-free chocolate (reading about the spread of Dengue fever) while we blissfully ignore the creation of genetically-modified kids.

– Kevin Williamson is just awesome. But you already knew that.

Here he is destroying Politifact for, as usual, not getting its facts straight.

And here he is, defending Archbishop Cordileone’s “scandalous” decision to uphold Church teaching.

And here he is one more time, once again writing about the good Archbishop.

The people who have the strongest feelings about Catholic teaching tend to be the people who know the least about it. That the archbishop is a fallen creature, a sinner like the rest of us, is not a challenge to Christian teaching—it is a vindication of Christian teaching. Of course the archbishop is called to a life of greater holiness—just like the rest of us—and of course he is going to fail—just like the rest of us. That’s the weird tough nut at the heart of Christianity: “Here’s an impossibility high standard that you have to try to live up to as part of a faith based on the understanding that you are not going to do that.

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Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Wednesday, March 4, AD 2015 12:07am

At some point the legislative branch has to be willing to stop the continuing overreach of the executive. The checks and balances of our form of government is arguably the quintessential element of the republic. As these checks are eroded, so too is the notion that we are, in fact, dwelling in a republic.

.
No worries –then next time the Republicans a conservative wins the White House, Congress will suddenly recall the importance of checks and balances.
.
Anyways, a step in the right direction would be for the Senate to eliminate the filibuster altogether.

Clinton
Clinton
Wednesday, March 4, AD 2015 3:07am

Regarding the Maryland case of the two children whose 1-mile walk
home from the park got their parents investigated by CPS, one of the
commenters in the article linked made an interesting observation. It
seems that the Montgomery County Public School system’s guidelines
state that elementary school children may be eligible to ride the bus to and
from school if their homes are over 1 mile from the school! The busybody
who called in the two children has his or her work cut out for them, as
it would appear there are many, many elementary school-age kids walking a
mile without adult supervision in that county…

Mary De Voe
Wednesday, March 4, AD 2015 10:11am

I pulled this off of the internet. not verified, but it can’t be all wrong, can it? Concerning Congress entertaining heads of state other than those invited by the president:
September 18, 2014 Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 8, 2013 Park Geun Hye, President of Republic of Korea addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
October 13, 2011 Lee Myung-bak, President of Republic of Korea addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 24, 2011 Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 9, 2011 Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 20, 2010 Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, President of Mexico addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 3, 2009 Dr. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 4, 2009 Gordon Brown, Prime Minster of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 30, 2008 Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of Ireland addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 7, 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 7, 2007 King Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 26, 2006 Dr. Nouri Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 7, 2006 Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of Latvia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 24, 2006 Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 15, 2006 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 1, 2006 Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Italy addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 19, 2005 Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 6, 2005 Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 23, 2004 Ayad Allawi, Interim Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 15, 2004 Hamid Karzai, Prime Minister of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 4, 2004 Jose Maria Aznar, President of the Government of Spain addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 17, 2003 Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 12, 2002 John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress. The scheduled address by Prime Minister John Howard of Australia to a Joint Meeting of Congress on September 12, 2001, was cancelled.
September 6, 2001 Vicente Fox, President of Mexico addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 14, 2000 Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 15, 1998 Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 10, 1998 Kim Dae-jung, President of South Korea, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 27, 1997 Eduardo Frei, President of Chile, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 11, 1996 John Bruton, Prime Minister of Ireland, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 10, 1996 Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 1, 1996 Jacques Chirac, President of France, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
December 12, 1995 Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 26, 1995 Kim Yong-sam, President of South Korea, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
October 6, 1994 Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 26, 1994 Hussein I, King of Jordan, and Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 18, 1994 Narasimba Rao, Prime Minister of India, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 17, 1992 Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 30, 1992 Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 14, 1991 Carlos Saul Menem, President of Argentina, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 16, 1991 Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 16, 1991 Violeta B. de Chamorro, President of Nicaragua, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 26, 1990 Nelson Mandela, Deputy President of the African National Congress, South Africa, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 7, 1990 Giulio Andreotti, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 21, 1990 Vaclav Hável, President of Czechoslovakia, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 15, 1989 Lech Walesa, chairman of SolidarnoϾ labor union, Poland, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 18, 1989 Roh Tae Woo, President of South Korea, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
October 4, 1989 Carlos Salinas de Gortari, President of Mexico, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 7, 1989 Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 23, 1988 Robert Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 27, 1988 Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 10, 1987 Chaim Herzog, President of Israel, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 18, 1986 Corazon C. Aquino, President of the Philippines, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 11, 1986 Jose Sarney, President of Brazil, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
October 9, 1985 Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 13, 1985 Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 20, 1985 Raul Alfonsin, President Argentina, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress
March 6, 1985 Bettino Craxi, President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 20, 1985 Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 16, 1984 Miguel de la Madrid, President of Mexico, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 22, 1984 François Mitterand, President of France, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 15, 1984 Dr. Garett FitzGerald, Prime Minister of Ireland, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
October 5, 1983 Karl Carstens, President of West Germany, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 21, 1982 Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 22, 1977 Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau of Canada addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 23, 1976 President William R. Tolbert, Jr., of Liberia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 2, 1976 Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 18, 1976 President Valery Giscard d’Estaing of France addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 17, 1976 Prime Minister Liam Cosgrave of Ireland addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
January 28, 1976 Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 5, 1975 President Anwar El Sadat of Egypt addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 17, 1975 President Walter Scheel of West Germany addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 15, 1972 President Luis Echeverria Alvarez of Mexico addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 3, 1970 President Rafael Caldera of Venezuela addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 25, 1970 President Georges Pompidou of France addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
October 27, 1967 President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz of Mexico addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 15, 1966 President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Philippines addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 28, 1964 President Eamon de Valera of Ireland addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
January 15, 1964 President Antonio Segni of Italy addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 12, 1962 Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shahanshah of Iran, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 4, 1962 President Joao Goulart of Brazil addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 21, 1961 President Manuel Prado of Peru addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 12, 1961 President Mohammad Ayub Khan of Pakistan addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 4, 1961 President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 29, 1960 Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 28, 1960 Mahendra, King of Nepal addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 25, 1960 President Charles de Gaulle of France addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 6, 1960 President Alberto Lleras-Camargo of Columbia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 12, 1959 Baudouin, King of the Belgians, addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 18, 1959 President Sean T. O’Kelly of Ireland addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
March 11, 1959 President Jose Maria Lemus of El Salvador addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
January 21, 1959 President Arturo Frondizi of Argentina addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 18, 1958 President Carlos F. Garcia of the Philippines addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 5, 1958 President Theodor Heuss of West Germany addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 9, 1957 President Ngo Dinh Diem of Vietnam addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 17, 1956 President Sukarno of Indonesia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
February 29, 1956 President Giovanni Gronchi of Italy addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
January 27, 1955 President Paul E. Magliore of Haiti addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
July 28, 1954 President Syngman Rhee of South Korea addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 28, 1954 Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 4, 1954 Governor General Vincent Massey of Canada addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
January 29, 1954 President Celal Bayar of Turkey addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 3, 1952 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
January 17, 1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
September 24, 1951 Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi of Italy addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
June 21, 1951 President Galo Plaza of Ecuador addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 2, 1951 President Vincent Auriol of France addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 19, 1949 President Gaspar Dutra of Brazil addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
April 19, 1948 Ambassador Guillermo Belt of Cuba addressed a Joint Session of Congress held to memorialize the 50th anniversary of Cuban independence.
May 1, 1947 President Miguel Aleman of Mexico addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
November 13, 1945 Prime Minister Clement R. Attlee of the United Kingdom addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 19, 1943 Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
December 26, 1941 Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress.
May 20, 1934 Ambassador Andre’ de Laboulaye of France addressed a Joint Session of Congress held to memorialize the centennial anniversary of the death of Lafayette.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Wednesday, March 4, AD 2015 4:17pm
Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, March 4, AD 2015 4:58pm

The busybody who called in the two children has his or her work cut out for them, as it would appear there are many, many elementary school-age kids walking a mile without adult supervision in that county

Wagers the busybody in question is someone who has had disputes with them in the past or is smoldering over fancied slights. My guess would be an abrasive late-middle aged female.

Nicholas Jagneaux
Thursday, March 5, AD 2015 1:21pm

There was a story recently (that I’ve unfortunately misplaced) following rather infamous internet celebrities who lost jobs and any sense of privacy due to ill-advised tweets.

Is this the article you were thinking of?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupid-tweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html

If not, let me recommend it. It’s a great article that I shared with my high school students.

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