Classic Obsessions ...From Paris

I am obsessed with thoughts of simple classic things.  Lovely, classic completely impractical things. A slow bicycle stroll, wearing impeccable cigarette pants and ballet slipper shoes.  A formal candlelit dinner with real 'silverwear' requiring rigorous hand polishing and linen napkins that need to be professionally pressed.

When did life carelessly cascade into high speed practical, wearing ugly workout tennis shoes and instant pizza served on paper plates?

Wind power folly in Reno

The electricity produced by NV Energy’s $46 million wind rebate program has fallen far short of expectations.

In a startling example, the city of Reno’s wind turbines — for which the city received more than $150,000 in rate-payer funded rebates — produced dramatically less electricity than the manufacturers of its turbines promised.

“These manufacturers, when they gave us the turbines, they said they were designed to be mounted on a parapet at this height, and that’s what we did,” said Jason Geddes, who runs the city of Reno’s renewable energy program. “But when we started getting actual wind flow patterns, we realized their claims were wrong.”

As first reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal, one turbine that cost the city $21,000 to install saved the city $4 on its energy bill. Overall, $416,000 worth of turbines have netted the city $2,800 in energy savings.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/mar/30/nv-energy-windmill-program-generates-rebates-littl/

Let me try to get the math right: that one wind turbine cost the city $21,000. It saved the city $4.00 for the year. Great, in 5,250 years that turbine will have paid for itself!

Consistency is not in this President's repertoire

Brian Bolduc writing at the National Review:

On Monday, President Obama admonished the Supreme Court to uphold his health-care law, lest it overturn the legislation in a fit of “judicial activism.” The president told reporters: “I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”

Last year, however, the president took the “extraordinary step” of declaring “a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress” unconstitutional. In February 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder sent Speaker of the House John Boehner a letter notifying him that the administration would no longer argue in behalf of the Defense of Marriage Act.



http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/295295/hypocrisy-court-brian-bolduc

Michael Ramirez on point

"In short, he is simply lying."

Thomas Sowell writing at the National Review:


One of the highly developed talents of President Barack Obama is the ability to say things that are demonstrably false, and make them sound not only plausible but inspiring.

That talent was displayed just this week when he was asked whether he thought the Supreme Court would uphold Obamacare as constitutional or strike it down as unconstitutional.

He replied: “I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”

But how unprecedented would it actually be if the Supreme Court declared a law unconstitutional if it was passed by “a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress”?

The Supreme Court has been doing precisely that for 209 years!

Nor is it likely that Barack Obama has never heard of it. He has a degree from Harvard Law School and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. In what must be one of the most famous Supreme Court cases in history — Marbury v. Madison in 1803 — Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle that the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress null and void if these acts violate the Constitution.

They have been doing so for more than two centuries. It is the foundation of American constitutional law. There is no way that Barack Obama has never heard of it or really believes it to be “unprecedented” after two centuries of countless precedents.

In short, he is simply lying.



http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/295197/political-word-games-thomas-sowell

The Masters is this week: Thursday-Sunday

Can you repeat that for the real event? Champion golfer skims ball across lake for a hole-in-one in Masters warm-up

The crowd went into raptures as 27-year-old Martin Kaymer pulled off the incredible trick shot on the 16th hole in a practice round ahead of the U.S. Masters. Whether the former world No 1 will be able to repeat the amazing shot during the tournament itself is another matter.

On this day ...

In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

Promise kept.

"Under my plan energy prices would necessarily SKYROCKET!

POTUS is trying to punch above his legal weight level

James Taranto writing in the WSJ:

...But in citing Lochner, the president showed himself to be in over his head.

The full name of the case, Lochner v. New York, should be a sufficient tip-off. In Lochner the court invalidated a state labor regulation on the ground that it violated the "liberty of contract," which the court held was an aspect of liberty protected by the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause. (The legal doctrine at issue, "substantive due process," refers to the meaning of "life, liberty and property" under the Due Process Clause.)

Lochner, which was effectively reversed in a series of post-New Deal decisions, did not involve a federal law--contrary to the president's claim--and thus had nothing to do with the Commerce Clause, which concerns only the powers of Congress.

It's appalling that any president would have the effrontery to lecture the Supreme Court about a pending case. It's astounding that this president, who was once a professor of constitutional law at an elite university, would do so in such an ignorant fashion.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577321844137787970.html?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h

Romney takes DC, MD, and Wisconsin

Mitt Romney cruised to victories Tuesday in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, adding to his widening delegate lead over the rest of the Republican presidential field.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum trailed the GOP front-runner by a wide margin in Maryland and several thousand votes in Wisconsin, after he failed to get on the ballot in the nation's capital. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich lagged far behind in all three primaries.

LINK.