Book Review: Coolidge | Gene Healy | Cato Institute

Book Review: Coolidge | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: "If there was ever a time when the president could simply preside, it has long passed. As early as the Eisenhower era, political scientist Clinton Rossiter observed that the public had come to see the federal chief executive as “a combination of scoutmaster, Delphic oracle, hero of the silver screen, and father of the multitudes.” Under the pressure of public demands, the office had accrued a host of responsibilities over and above its constitutional ones: “World Leader,” “Protector of the Peace,” “Chief Legislator,” “Manager of Prosperity,” “Voice of the People,” and more."

"In politics, it’s often easier to “do something,” however unwise, than it is to hold firm:"

"But unlike modern supply-siders, Coolidge attacked the beast head-on, instead of hoping to “starve” it indirectly."

"The tax cuts that Coolidge and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon orchestrated took millions of people off the tax rolls. Unlike Mitt Romney, Coolidge and Mellon didn’t worry that they’d created a new horde of “takers.”"

"Coolidge “removed William Burns, the head of the Bureau of Investigation, and curtailed wiretapping, one of Burns’s favored tools.”"

"Coolidge ordered the release of Wilson’s remaining political prisoners."

"for all Coolidge’s faults, “the itch to run things did not afflict him….He never made inflammatory speeches….No bughouse professors, sweating fourth-dimensional economics, were received at the White House.”"

Obama's Executive Death Warrants | Cato Institute

Obama's Executive Death Warrants | Cato Institute: "Khan and Awlaki senior probably weren’t any great loss to humanity, but there’s an important matter of principle here: Can a president really serve as judge, jury and executioner over any American he deems a security threat?"

"Legal scholar Ryan Alford observes that the 13th century marks “the last time when the executive branch of any country governed by the common law had asserted that it was legal to kill a citizen on the basis of an executive order.” Obama’s “executive death warrant” is more than a breach of the Fifth Amendment’s due process guarantee, he argues, it’s an affront to the entire Anglo-American constitutional order."

"It seems it’s perfectly legal for the president to deem you a terrorist and vaporize you with a drone. But there’s one thing that he can never do: penalize you for failure to purchase health insurance. That would be tyrannical, you see."

School bus driver who flunked drug test can keep job, New York court rules | Fox News

School bus driver who flunked drug test can keep job, New York court rules | Fox News: "A New York bus driver who was fired after failing a random drug test should be reinstated, the state’s highest court ruled on Tuesday.

The Albany Times Union reports that the Court of Appeals' unanimous ruling supports the conclusion of an arbitrator who determined the firing of Cynthia DiDomenicantonio in November 2009 was too severe a punishment for the 10-year district employee."

Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh - CSMonitor.com

Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh - CSMonitor.com: "A protest that has at times swelled into the hundreds of thousands entered its ninth day today in Bangladesh’s capital, touched off by the outcome of a war crimes trial that has awoken an astonishing struggle over this country's identity and the role that religion plays in its fractious politics."

State of the Union?

When was the last time that the "state of the union" was really a status update and provided new information? In this communication age is the constitutional requirement that "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union" really needed? Does it even make sense to call it the "state of the union address" when it is more like a annual policy speech?