More than a little distracted on this session tonight. I ended up working longer than I normally do, then spent a significant amount of time on the phone with a friend.
So news. Big surprise — Mike Pence thinks Justice Roberts hasn’t been good.
Why? Because he’s not a down-the-line Republican vote on the Court like most of the Democrats have been…because he’s not Alito?
Yeah. I don’t agree with that.
For what it’s worth, even some of the Democrats don’t necessarily vote as a block. Breyer is about the most-partisan. Kagan and Sotomayor have both had things that are a bit off the reservation. Her highness, The Notorious RBG, is completely out-to-lunch on some things, but there’s times when she actually does write things that make sense.
What Roberts did with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, however, is something that to most straight-line Republicans is unforgivable.
I disagree.
If you read the decision, he absolutely eviscerates the left’s longtime argument that Congress can do basically whatever it wants in the name of regulating (Interstate) commerece.
No. Congress has the power to tax, and not much more than that.
I agreed with Justice Kennedy’s take that the penalty was a prohibited capitation, but that’s not what the majority decision said.
Whatever.
This latest bit was regarding what Roberts did with regards to Louisiana’s restrictions on abortion.
I am opposed to abortion. I am also opposed to capital punishment. (It’s almost as if I’m a part of the Papist conspiracy or something…..)
I recognize that amending the Constitution is really the only way to get rid of either.
Consequently, I can’t get too wound up when rulings come down against whatever menial meddling has taken place to end either one.
Amend the Constitution. That’s what the amendment process is for. If you can get 2/3rds of both houses, and 3/4ths of the states to agree, it’s done.
Then you’re not despairing about what happens in a plurality of another branch of government.
(Bubuhbut we should have fiat rule of the plurality! National popular vote now! End the filibuster in the Senate! Yeah, I know I suck at arguing for things I don’ subscribe to…)
Flashback to a long, long time ago. If it was a person, it’d be able to buy beer and cigarettes now.
(But would have been able to be drafted years ago, or go to prison for life long before that…..)
Self Abuse – 8/6/1999
No, I’m not talking about carving N’Sync logos into my arm with a razor blade……
But this is an issue I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Some of these coping methods which seem so normal, can be termed as self abuse.
Let’s list some of them:
Overeating
not eating
sleeping all the time
not sleeping at all
chainsmoking
getting drunk off your ass
coffee
but there are so many…..I tend not to sleep, and live off coffee.
These normally are described as coping methods.
It has been said that happier people live longer…..maybe it’s partially due to the lower frequency of self abuse due to sadness.
Well, I’m off to refill my coffee cup…..later.
None of those was an appropriate reaction, but I didn’t know of any other way back then. I was sort of healthy, so it wasn’t as big an issue.
I should ask my PsyD next week about how I drop off on those sorts of things when I’m down. And, there, I almost beat myself up by saying that I can’t even manage to do that sort of thing correctly.