In honor of todays duty I'll be doing a daily post of one of Thomas Del Beccaro's top ten tax quotes.

“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin. It is hard to start anywhere else. The little known full quote is “Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last; but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” The Founders, who framed a Constitution to protect us from government, did not dare consider an income tax. Franklin obviously did not trust future politicians.

Who's WRITING this stuff???

 “Whether We Like it or Not, We Remain a Dominant Military Superpower.”

It has been observed/suggested that It sounded like he’s trying to say ‘We’re the super power and whether we like it or not we’re going to get drawn into these conflicts.’ And he’s right. A secondary additional interpretation could be that we would rather not be the world’s super power, but know we have no other choice.” If you’re not sure what he means by this, it’s still badly written.

And in the "Audacity of Hope" Department:  “Last week, the president offered a more populist spin, saying he wants a nominee who “knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.”
 
That’s quite a statement from a man who just signed a nation-changing, union/pharma/AMA-backed healthcare takeover while millions across the country protested against it and every single poll showed not only that the ‘ordinary citizens’ didn’t want it done, but we are now getting near 60% who want it repealed.
 
Audacity has been redefined.

And since all good things come in 3s:

The Obama administration’s top science and technology official, who has argued for the economic de-development of America, warned science students last Friday that the United States cannot expect to be “number one” forever.

“We can’t expect to be number one in everything indefinitely,” Dr. John P. Holdren said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Certainly, being number one is not a status any nation is entitled to.

But I can't help wondering how one achieves excellence without first daring to believe one can achieve it? As the little green guy once said,

Luke: I don't... I don't believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Or more pithily:

Try not.
Do, or do not:
There is no "try".

Somehow I find it hard to believe that the world would be a better place if only America were more modest in her aspirations. Nature abhors a vacuum.

More death of exceptionalism.

I'm SOOO tired of arguing this.  It saddens me.  Really.  Ed Morrisy has a GREAT article over at Hot Air.

 The best takaway ...

Rights cannot be confiscatory in a society that respects the individual right to property.  That’s why none of the enumerated rights in the Constitution involve confiscation.  Americans have the right to free speech, but they do not have the right to demand publication in a newspaper, nor do they have the right to demand that other people listen when they speak.  The right to free expression of religion does not involve occupying someone else’s church and using it to your own ends.  You have the right to keep and bear arms, but you do not have the right to demand free or publicly financed weaponry.  All of those examples involve confiscating someone else’s property or services, whether done through the government or by force individually.

That brings us to the notion of the “right” to health care.  As human beings, we want to see people succeed to the point where they can feed, clothe, and care for themselves independently, as that establishes true personal freedom.  However, none of us have the right to confiscate the services of a doctor or nurse without their consent, and without their ability to set a price for their time and expertise.  We don’t have the right to walk into a grocery story to demand apples when we’re hungry, either, although we should have access to the market without bias when we can properly compensate its owner for the goods.

from Bob Parks

Where is the outrage for the insults Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas deals with to this day? When syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux said that she hoped Justice Thomas’ wife serves him “lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease. Well, that’s how I feel.“, where was the media then?

I guess that didn’t count because they didn’t “expose” it.

When Justice Janice Rogers Brown and Dr. Condoleeza Rice were the subject of racist caricatures by cartoonists working for major metropolitan newspapers, where was the media then?

I guess that didn’t count because they didn’t “expose” it.

When I appeared on CNN after Hurricane Katrina and criticized the media’s coverage of/and black people looting (when the world was coming together offering financial assistance), and received 200 emails an hour for the next three days containing vile racist slurs (many of which I published), where was the media then?

I guess that didn’t count because they didn’t “expose” it.

When Colin Powell was racially slurred (Uncle Tom Powell Stumps for Massah Bush) instead of celebrated as the first black Secretary of State, where was the media outrage?

I guess that didn’t count because they didn’t “expose” it.

When Ken Blackwell and Michael Steele respectively ran for statewide office and had Oreo cookies thrown at them, where was the media coverage and condemnation?

I guess that didn’t count because they didn’t “expose” it.

When California Regent Ward Connerly was racially slurred for wanting minorities to be held to the same college admission standard as everyone else (because he, as I, believe we are capable), where was the mainstream media then?

I guess that didn’t count because they didn’t “expose” it.

And then there's this:

Video: Liberals on MSNBC Loved Using Term 'Bush Regime'

a quick look at the last few day of violence agains the right ...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's take-no-prisoners demand for education cuts got him a whole lot more than he bargained for -- a death wish.

It was in a controversial e-mail sent by the Bergen County Teachers Union to its members asking that Christie be "taken" by the Lord.

In seven years as the Garden State's pugnacious U.S. Attorney, Christie got only two death threats -- from the bloods and the crips.

It took only three months as governor for an adversary to wish him six feet under.

“I want to commend Boston’s progressive Left for the outstanding job they’re doing fighting the hate-mongering of Sarah Palin and the Tea Partiers in advance of Wednesday’s rally on Boston Common.”

Finally! Audio Exposes Racist Comments Hurled at Black Prof During Obamacare Debate

 Jindal Staffer and Boyfriend Badly Beaten, Hospitalized After Leaving Fundraiser

In the latest Commentary, John Podhoretz has a great defense of politics in its most important sense and an analysis of why Obama so often shows contempt for it. A key bit at the end:

But read the whole thing.

I'm back …. I take a few days off for a short trip to Vegas …. and Dallas …. and New York …. and Chicago....and all HELL breaks loose.

First of all y'all let President Fords contribution to the supreme Court resign. Here's the questions I wanna ask the nominees:

Can Congress compel an individual to purchase a good or service from a private enterprise?

If your answer to #1 is yes, please identify the provisions of the U.S. Constitution that empower the federal government to require such purchase.

Do you maintain that fines imposed by Congress on individuals who fail to purchase health insurance constitutes a tax? If so, what kind of tax? Please explain the difference between a tax and a penalty.

Do you agree with Prof. Richard Epstein that Obamacare’s probable reduction in the risk-adjusted rate of return for non-monopoly health insurers may violate the Takings and Due Process Clauses of the Fifth Amendment? If not, why not?

If, under the Commerce Clause, Congress can regulate individual inactivity because such refusal to engage in commerce will have a substantial effect on the national health-care scheme, is there anything Congress cannot regulate? If so, what?

If you maintain that Obamacare’s individual mandate is a proper exercise of federal power under the Commerce Clause, please identify the rights still retained by the states and the people under the Tenth Amendment.

Can Obamacare extend contracting preferences to health-care institutions that engage in racial preferences without violating the Supreme Court’s holding in Adarand?