Comments

• On the article Sandra Brower, Lacey Superintendent, Will Not Resign

  

  Spooner

  1:39 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013

  @proud- you sure!. . Then who wrote this...

  proud

  6:26 am on Monday, May 20, 2013

  One source attributes this quotation to Thomas Jefferson in The Federalist. The Federalist, however, was the work of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison; it also does not contain the text of this quotation. This quotation is vaguely similar to Jefferson’s comment in an 1825 letter to William Short: “Some are whigs, liberals, democrats, call them what you please. Others are tories, serviles, aristocrats, &c. The latter fear the people, and wish to transfer all power to the higher classes of society; the former consider the people as the safest depository of power in the last resort; they cherish them therefore, and wish to leave in them all the powers to the exercise of which they are competent.” To date however, the most likely source of this quotation appears to be a series of debates on socialism published in 1914, in which John Basil Barnhill said, “Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.”

  ...was that a retraction??

• On the article Sandra Brower, Lacey Superintendent, Will Not Resign

  

  Spooner

  10:25 pm on Monday, May 20, 2013

  @proud- what happened to your "true capitalism" prose from this morning?

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  12:24 pm on Sunday, May 19, 2013

  @proud- you never cease to be funny: "intention of the Constitution to limit the POWER of the Government" Now I know your not going to do this...but read the opening remarks of Chief Justice John Marshall in the 1824 NYC navigation case... sounds like he agrees with you?

  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0022_0001_ZS.html

  PS: every time Justice Scalia opens his mouth about "strict construction" I'd love too shove that opinion down his throat... I won't even get into the other two ignorant remarks he made about the other famous commerce cases(Wickard v Filburn & Schechter Poultry v US) in the recent ObamaCare decision. And by the way: taxpayers don't subsidize Social Security...but listen you go on believing they do... Just remember the name: "Frances Perkins"... a juris birdie told her how to get around the Supreme Court ax when she proposed the Social Security Act in 1934 . . . just call it a tax! As for veterans benefits: it's OK for them to fight and defend our country, but hey if you get wounded... your on your own! Government not responsible to make you whole. . .

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  2:57 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013

  The Federalist Papers predates the Supreme Court and the Constitution. It is penned by very few who gave voice at the Constitutional Convention. The purpose for writing it was to convince various state legislators and officials to approve the Constitution. In my opinion reading Beveridge's descriptions of the key states voting Conventions in his biography of John Marshall... it's debatable as to just how much impact the Federalist Papers had? They are quoted and used in arguments in a number of decisions, but you need to read the entire case to get the whole picture of the issue at bar. You cannot resort to the Federalist Papers as the Holy Grail to base Court decisions on. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay: all had different political bents...which is inchoated in their writings.

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  11:46 am on Saturday, May 18, 2013

  oldsoldier- would stay away from links like 'proud's' listing. But if you want the truth about the Constitution go to the source of it's history...

  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topic.htm

  You can start off in my opinion by reading this case on commerce... to get an idea of what it was like before Constitution...they called it states rights!

  http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0022_0001_ZS.html

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  11:25 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013

  oldsoldier- last comment on Constitutional issues... means diddly squat here...no one cares or learns anything?

  ...you said: "when you make a choice to live somewhere or select a lifestyle, that is your choice - But I should not have to pay for it..."

  Just what are you referring too...your tax dollars going to fund national disasters...You oppose that? Or do you think that your tax dollars are being used to subsidize these pre-Firm properties...that's what you're opposed too? Well they changed the law with BIggert/Waters...no more subsidies.

  You also have to realize that flooding occurs along the Mississippi, affecting corps, livestock, river transportation, etc. There is a cause and effect; maybe not having anything to do with you, but perhaps the general welfare of many others. . .

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  10:13 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013

  Try reading the Preamble to the Constitution where in part it said:"promote the General Welfare" So tell me...if the Government shouldn't be involved in business. . .what are all those lobbyist in Washington for?

  ...and the NFIP was instituted to promote in simple terms: growth and development, along with making flood insurance affordable, and protect homeowners from catastrophic loss(general welfare) Things were going along pretty good, until 2005 when Katrina & Rita struck, resulting in monies not being adequate to pay all the claims, causing the Treasury to put up money, something like $17.5 B, which needs to be paid back.

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  12:05 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013

  Mr. Esposito- regarding farm subsidies, you have to read American history after WWI, to understand how subsidies came about...a brief rejoinder:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_policy_of_the_United_States

  ...and granted that Congress should repeal these subsidies...there outdated and exploited. . .should be part and parcel toward deficit reduction.

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  11:16 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013

  @Squandered Youth- thanks for the reply. Don't want to rehash what I already said. As for information: your link and other links on here including GAO reports, points fingers at Katrina. . .mismanaged and over spent for political reasons in my opinion(trailers for one), that now everybody involved in flood insurance will be paying for.

• On the article Move to Halt Flood Insurance Rate Hikes Blocked By Pa. Senator

  

  Spooner

  5:04 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013

  Norma- until you can come up with another solution(listen up 'proud') to bring the program back to sustainability, like it was before Katrina...attempting to reintroduce the bill will go nowhere, other than to politicize the issue more, like yous have already done with Senator Toomey. . .

  As was written in that report that they keep posting here: the Biggert/Waters Flood Act was (4)four years in the making. That would have put it starting in 2007. That's almost five years before it was signed into law by President Obama, with overwhelming Congressional support.