Mummies Redux and Another Sane Court Ruling

The Supreme Court just ruled in favor of Pleasant Grove, a city that had been sued by a fringe group that wanted it's founding rules placed next to the 10 Commandments in a park. This is very important and 9-0 ruling. I believed this is how the court would rule, but I never would've guessed that it would be unanimous. I like being pleasantly surprised. This is a great precedent: just because you have a right to say something doesn't mean that all of society must acknowledge your speech. This group can still go and worship in their pyramid with no hindrance from the government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/washington/26scotus.html?hp

Check out what I said when this case was on the docket: http://arlingtonline.blogspot.com/2008/11/mummies-10-commandments-and-supreme.html

A Sane Court Ruling

Let me start out by saying that I'm always reticent when a court makes a ruling on science. It's a little disconcerting that someone with a JD is now an expert on anything from particle physics to microbiology. That being said, finally a court has ruled that there is no connection between the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) and autism. This has been a nut job conspiracy theory for years now. "Well, maybe mercury in the vaccine might have caused autism." And maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt. No one has ever demonstrated why there would be a connection between the two.

As someone who has been around autistic and handicapped people all his life, I sympathize with these families. But most of them just wanted money, maybe to help their families, but still. This ruling was also a slam at the trial lawyers. And hopefully, there will be fewer people who do not vaccinate their children because of some pseudo-scientific rot gut.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/02/13/health-buzz-court-rules-on-vaccines-and-autism-and-other-health-news.html

Really? A center-right country?

So after Obama got elected, a lot of people said, "Yes, he did run on the left, but this is still a center-right country. There's only so much he can do." Well, I don't think we live in a center-right country anymore. I think we might finally be shifting to a center-left country, pseudo-European socialist country.

Consider this: in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected president, he ran as a "New Democrat" and stated that "the era of big government" is over. He even promised a middle class tax (once in office though, he enacted one of the largest peace time tax increases in history). He had left wing beliefs, but could only get elected as a centrist. Also recall that once in office, there was public outrage over many extraneous programs in the 1993 Budget Bill, for example the infamous "midnight basketball" program. These all told cost 10s of billions of dollars, more money back then... I guess a lot of money any time.

Now look at today. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, their fellow traveling Marxicrats are working on "stimulus" bill (a euphemism if there ever was one) that will cost somewhere around 900 billion dollars! And the price is still rising! And this is in addition to a $700 billion bailout just 6 months ago!!! There is no outcry from the public. Admittedly, the bill is not that popular according to some polls, but its hardly a backlash.

Obama openly ran as a socialist-esque, far left wing Democrat. His opponent, McCain, that monument to imbecility, tried to be a Neo Teddy Roosevelt. Very left and sort of left, those were our choices. Now that the Marxists are securely in power, we're going to see socialism like never before. How is it that we've gotten to the point where these were our choices in president? Ronald Reagan and Scoop Jackson they're not. Socialism is here again!