Day: January 23, 2014

Now folks, this greatly warms the cockles of my heart

I think we need a name for Mississippi House Bill 44 such as Leary’s law or the SLAPP Happy Nut job Foreign Judgment Non Enforcement Act of 2014. I imagine the folks in officialdom in Nova Scotia, now known for being a defamation haven from which felonious politicians and their close business associates can sue their US based critics will be paying close attention to the bill sponsored by State Representative Jeffrey Smith from District 39, which has now been referred to the House Judiciary A Committee. Editorially Slabbed New Media is 100% behind House Bill 44. The preamble from Section 1 well explains:

The Legislature finds that it is the public policy of this state to protect its citizens from the application of foreign laws when the application of a foreign law will result in the violation of a right guaranteed by the Constitution of this state or of the United States, including, but not limited to, due process, freedom of religion, speech, or press, and any right of privacy or marriage as specifically defined by the Constitution of this state.

How about some lovely music from the incomparable Babs:

Noonan nails it: Our Selfish ‘Public Servants’

And folks the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan (subscription required) could have been just as easily talking about <insert state capital> as Washington when she described the politicians as “the locus of selfishness in the modern world.” As a long time subscriber you’d think Slabbed wouldn’t be so hard on the WSJ Editorial Board, who I have personally skewered more times that I can remember but a couple of the columnists like Noonan often do a great job lending context to issues and explaining things.  These snippets nail it IMHO:

There isn’t a staffer on the Hill who won’t tell you 90% of members are driven by their own needs, wants and interests, not America’s.

And the greed doesn’t end:

The single most memorable thing I ever heard from a Wall Streeter was from one of its great men, who blandly explained to me one day why certain wealthy individuals were taking an action that was both greedy and personally inconvenient to them. “Everyone wants more,” he said, not in a castigating way but as one explains certain essentials to a child.

People in public life have become more grasping, and less embarrassed by it. But the odd thing, the destabilizing thing as you think about it, is that we’re in a crisis. We’ve been in it since at least 2008 and the crash, and the wars. We are in unprecedented trouble. Citizens know this. It’s why they buy guns…..

Indeed. The whole piece is well worth the read for those with a subscription.