• Catholic Newspaper: Ban Kids With Gay Parents From Catholic School Because They Might Bring Porn To Class
• Ho-Hum Part II
• Ho-Hum Part II
• Michael Medved: Religious Bigot
• Michael Medved: Religious Bigot

• It Must Be A Pretty Long Short List
• It Must Be A Pretty Long Short List
• Rick Santelli Takes On The White House
• Rick Santelli Takes On The White House
• Don’t You Have To Wear Clothes to Qualify ?

Here we stand in 2010 and the Republicans are asking fiscal conservatives and libertarians to trust them again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times ? No, you’re going to have to prove it this time before I trust you.

Read the whole thing.

• The Coming Crack Up
• The Coming Crack Up
• Comment Left Elsewhere Of The Day
• Comment Left Elsewhere Of The Day
• The Great Libertarian Purge Of 2008

Let’s see what they come up with.

• Atlas Shrugged Movie To Go Into Production ?
• Atlas Shrugged Movie Update
• Atlas Shrugged Movie Update
• Atlas Shrugged Movie Begins Filming
• Yet Another Atlas Shrugged Movie Update

The whole thing looks vaguely familiar:

• If You’re Reading This, Another Show Will Be Cancelled
• If You’re Reading This, Another Show Will Be Cancelled
• Saturday At The Liberty Papers
• Saturday At The Liberty Papers
• Eurosocialism And The Internet

• Lou Dobbs Doesn’t Believe Illegal Immigrants Have Natural Rights
• John Stossel Explains Why Free Trade Is Good
• The Final Presidential Debate: The Complete Video
• The Final Presidential Debate: The Complete Video
• A Fiscal Conservative’s Case For Tax Increases

I’ve written before about the questionable libertarian allegiances of Wayne Allyn Root, the LP’s 2008 Vice-President nominee and currently an At-Large member of the Libertarian National Committee. Now, Root is out with a blog post about the so-called “Ground Zero” Mosque that is anything but libertarian in it’s sentiments and it’s conclusions, and it should be of concern to anyone who thinks that Root represents the direction the Libertarian Party should take in the future.

Root starts out with the same sort of milquetoast paeans toward religious liberty and property rights that we saw in his book, but he quickly goes off in a direction that makes it clear that, on this issue, he is more in line with Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich than any Libertarian (or libertarian):

This proposed building of a mosque on hallowed ground is an ATROSITY towards America. To build a celebration of Islam within steps of 9/11 does nothing to increase religious freedom…it inspires hatred, divides our cultures, and increases the odds of violence and hate crimes. Common sense suggests this mosque, being built in this specific location, is NOT being built as a sign of friendship between Muslims and Americans…but rather as a sign of the lack of respect…a belief in our weakness…and an attempt to embarrass and belittle us. The financial district of Manhattan is not a residential area with a large number of Muslim residents for the mosque to serve. Therefore common sense suggests that the only possible reason to build it there (rather than in Brooklyn or Queens where there are large Muslim populations) is to show Muslim contempt for Americans by building a monument to Islam in the shadow of the site of their greatest triumph over America.

It is an offense to build a mosque in that location- an offense to all Americans (including Muslim Americans), all Christians and Jews, all relatives of 3000 dead heroes at the World Trade Center.

First of all, Root is just completely wrong on the facts here. The Cordoba House isn’t at all what he and the project’s critics have represented it to be:

The building’s planners, the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, have said it’s modeled on religious and community centers such as the YMCA, and that the 13-story, $100 million building would also include an arts center, gym and a swimming pool, as well as a mosque. It would be two blocks away from Ground Zero.

Two blocks away and nowhere within line of sight of the area where the attacks actually occurred.

The attempt by Root, Palin, Gingrich, and other opponents of this project to call this a “Ground Zero” mosque are therefore a complete misrepresentation of the location of the project. A misrepresentation obviously intended to lead people to think that a mosque is being built on the location of the World Trade Center rather than being constructed inside an already-existing decades old building as part of a larger project that would be open to the public as a whole. For that reason alone, Root’s appeals to emotionalism and the supposed “atrocity” that this project represents should be rejected as silly and, quite frankly, dishonest.

Root goes on:

Yes, private individuals and organizations have the right to build houses of worship with their own funds. But one has to wonder where the money is coming from to build a 15-story building on some of the most expensive real estate in the country. We Americans believe in the separation of Church and State. If it turns out that this project is sponsored by a foreign government — either directly or through a state-sponsored organization that engages in terrorism — than the idea of this being an issue of religious freedom is a sham and an argument can be made that our Constitution would actually prohibit this mosque from being built.

Except, of course, for the fact that there is no evidence that this is the case. More importantly, there is no connection between the organization that wants to establish the center and anyone associated with the September 11th attacks.

In the end, Root falls into the same anti-Muslim hole that Palin, Gingrich, and others have. All he’s really saying is that we can’t let them scary Muslims build what they want to in a building they own. While he doesn’t go as far as Gingrich and Palin in calling for government action to stop the project, he adopts the same attitude of religious intolerance and, for any libertarian, that’s just unacceptable.

Let’s contrast Root’s paean to fear-of-Muslims with something published this past weekend by Libertarian National Committee Interns Marissa Giannotta and Josh Roll:

The attacks on 9/11 and its victims should not be ignored, however, we cannot lay blame on the entire Islamic community for the terrible acts that occurred on that day.  The Islamic cultural center would be a great way for others to learn about Islam and ultimately build bridges between the United States and the Muslim World.  Islam by principle is not an extremist religion and not all Muslims should be portrayed in such way.

More importantly, those who have ownership of the site should have the freedom and the right to build what they wish.  Property rights should be respected as a right for all citizens, not just a few. Our platform clearly states, “The owners of property have the full right to control, use, dispose of, or in any manner enjoy, their property without interference, until and unless the exercise of their control infringes the valid rights of others.”  The Islamic cultural center does not infringe on the rights of others.

As Steven Chapman describes in his article at Reason, “Palin is not a slave to intellectual consistency. Change the church to a mosque, and put it a couple of blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, and she suddenly loses all patience with the rights of religious believers.”

Libertarian Party candidate for New York State Governor, Warren Redlich, also weighed in on the issue stating, “…I have asked some people if they would object if it was a synagogue, church, Jewish community center, or YMCA. All of them say that wouldn’t bother them. So the reason for opposing this facility is because it’s associated with the Muslim religion. That violates freedom of religion under the First Amendment.”

As Thomas Knapp notes, this is a litmus test for all libertarians (Big-L, or small-l):

If you don’t support private property rights and freedom of religion, you aren’t a libertarian.

Period.

Cordoba House, the project being fraudulently referred to as a “mosque” by those attempting to prevent its construction, is planned for construction on private property and with private funds.

The opponents of Cordoba House are attempting to stop its construction by persuading a government board to declare the building currenly standing at the project’s prospective location “historic” so that the owners can be forced to “preserve” it and forbidden to demolish it and build a structure more to their liking there.

The opponents of Cordoba House oppose private property rights. Their opposition to private property rights stems from their opposition to freedom of religion. They are, therefore, not libertarians.

That, Mr. Root, is libertarianism. Perhaps you’re in the wrong party.

Update: Jason Pye has weighed in with his own take:

Property rights and religious freedom are among the principles of a free society, basic liberties are supposed to be protected from the mob. To hear of anyone casting them aside is concerning. For a libertarian to do it is a betrayal of these core values that we are supposed to believe in.

Indeed.

• The Insane Hysteria Over A Planned Mosque Near Ground Zero
• Homegrown Anti-Muslim Terrorism
• The Fight For Property Rights In Virginia
• The Fight For Property Rights In Virginia
• Rising Out Of The Ashes

RUSH: We’re sitting here and since everybody is buzzing in Vietnam about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, we are, too. We’re buzzing about Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. We’re wondering if there is a Lewinsky in Chelsea’s husband’s future. Greetings, and welcome back. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Open Line Friday, Rush Limbaugh. Let’s grab a phone call, since it’s Open Line Friday.

Rush, you’re an asshole.

• Will The Clinton Dynasty Never End ?
• Will The Clinton Dynasty Never End ?
• David Shuster Is An Idiot
• David Shuster Is An Idiot
• The Bride Wore A Princess Leia Slave Costume

H/T: United Liberty

• Where Orwell Got It Wrong
• Judge Napolitano On Natural Rights And Why The PATRIOT Act Is Wrong
• Judge Napolitano On Natural Rights And Why The PATRIOT Act Is Wrong
• New Carnival Of Liberty Schedule
• New Carnival Of Liberty Schedule

1. On Tuesday, I noted that Andrew Sullivan is continuing his bizarre obsession with Trig Palin’s birth;
2. Yesterday, I dove into the Shirley Sherrod story;
3. And today, I’ve got pieces up about JournoList, which seems to be much ado about nothing, and Newt Gingrich’s recent anti-Muslim rant.

• Andrew Sullivan, Birther ?
• Andrew Sullivan, Birther ?
• Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, And Crossing The Line
• Sarah Palin, Bristol Palin, And Crossing The Line
• Lesbians For Hillary

In an election for US House of Representatives in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District today, 07/20/10, Republican State Senator Robert Hurt defeats incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello 58% to 35%, according to this latest exclusive WDBJ-TV poll conducted by SurveyUSA.

The seat is one of many Republicans hope to capture in November 2010. 39 “take-aways” are needed for Republicans to capture control of the US House of Representatives.

Perriello, who defeated 6-term Republican Virgil Goode by 727 votes in 2008, today trails among most demographic groups. Among men, Hurt leads by 19 points. Among women, Hurt leads by 26. White voters back Hurt 2:1; black voters back Perriello 2:1. Twice as many Democrats cross over to vote Republican as Republicans who cross over to vote Democrat. Independents break Republican. Perriello runs most strongly among Democrats, African Americans, liberals, moderates, those who have unfavorable opinions of the Tea Party movement, among pro-choice voters, and among those who do not own guns … each of which is today a minority among likely voters in VA’s 5th district.

The composition of likely voters for this survey is 42% Republican, 27% Democratic. This composition reflects an energized Republican base and an enthusiasm gap for Democrats, evident in SurveyUSA polling from around the country. If the electorate is more Democratic than shown in SurveyUSA’s model here, the Republican still wins, though his margin of victory is less. For example, if hypothetically there were an even number of Democrats and Republicans in the likely voter model, Republican challenger Hurt wins today by 11 points, not 23.

The one flaw in this poll may be the composition of the sample, but considering that  Bob McDonnell defeated Creigh Deeds by 41,614 votes in this district in 2009, it may not be that far off.

• SurveyUSA: McDonnell +17, Bolling +14, Cuccinelli +16
• SurveyUSA: McDonnell +17, Bolling +14, Cuccinelli +16
• SurveyUSA Predicts A Blowout In Virginia
• SurveyUSA Predicts A Blowout In Virginia
• Ohio: Obama Closes In, McCain Coasts To A Big Buckeye Victory

Animal cruelty charges have been obtained against a woman whose dog died from being left in a car in 104-degree heat July 6, according to charging documents filed in Frederick County District Court.

A summons has been issued charging Cathryn Cordyack Washington, 67, of Fairmont, W.Va., with two cruelty charges for failing to provide adequate food, water and shelter and infliction of unnecessary suffering and pain, documents state.

Harold Domer, director of Frederick County Animal Control, said the investigation by Sgt. David Luckenbaugh found that Washington arrived at the Frederick Costco parking lot about 9:30 a.m. and found that the store did not open until 10 a.m.

Once the store opened, she left her 14-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, Delta, in the car and shopped until about 11:15 a.m.

When Washington returned to her car, she found Delta in distress and the dog died, Domer said.

Washington then went back into the store and returned dog products she had purchased, he said

Ma’am, your dog was more of a human being than you’ll ever be.

• Fairfax County To Consider Electronic Traffic Summons’
• Fairfax County To Consider Electronic Traffic Summons’
• From Our Dumb Criminal Files
• From Our Dumb Criminal Files
• I Knew This Was Coming

Last night was the first game at Yankee Stadium since the deaths of Bob Shepard and George Steinbrenner and, it was, understandably, an emotional night:

As Yankee Stadium fell silent early Friday evening, Frank Sinatra’s voice wafted over the loudspeakers. Sinatra was singing “My Way,” a tune that George Steinbrenner no doubt knew well and with which he surely identified.

No one did it quite the way Steinbrenner did in his 37 years as the principal owner of the Yankees, and Sinatra’s song provided a fitting introduction for a 20-minute pregame ceremony that honored both Steinbrenner, who died Tuesday, and the team’s longtime public-address announcer Bob Sheppard, who died two days before Steinbrenner.

By the end of the night, the somber mood had dissipated, giving way to the rhythms of a stirring game between the best teams in the American League. Because he lived in Tampa, Fla., Steinbrenner took special joy in beating the Rays, and the Yankees honored him with a 5-4 comeback victory.

“Another one of those special moments at Yankee Stadium,” said Derek Jeter, the Yankees’ captain.

The Yankees, who trailed by 3-1 heading into the sixth and by 4-3 entering the eighth, won when Nick Swisher, whose homer an inning earlier tied the score, ripped a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth off Lance Cormier. Swisher’s hit scored Curtis Granderson, who led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice. After Granderson slid home, the Yankees mobbed Swisher, chasing him into right field. Perhaps the only thing Steinbrenner adored more than his Yankees was Ohio State. Swisher, a proud Buckeye, felt the same way.

“I think pretty much the agenda today was to win,” Swisher said. “That was what Mr. Steinbrenner would have wanted us to do.”

Today is Old Timer’s Day, so I’m sure the tributes will continue as will, hopefully, the winning.

• Yankees Win Game 2 Of ALCS After 13 Inning Marathon
• Yankees Win Game 2 Of ALCS After 13 Inning Marathon
• The Babe Settles In To His New Home
• The Babe Settles In To His New Home
• Cubbies To Help Yankees Christen New Stadium

• Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics And Polls
• Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics And Polls
• Joe Scarborough Lies
• Clinton Lies About The Polls
• Joe Scarborough Lies

RICHMOND- Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that the Commonwealth of Virginia has posted a preliminary revenue surplus at the conclusion of the 2010 fiscal year on June 30th. The Governor estimated the surplus, after miscellaneous interest payments are distributed, will be at least $220 million. The primary source of the surplus comes from individual withholding and non-withholding and corporate income tax receipts. As of January, the Commonwealth faced a $1.8 billion budget shortfall for the remainder of FY 2010. Working together, Governor McDonnell and the General Assembly closed this shortfall during the 2010 legislative session.

The final figure for the surplus will be made official in August when all year-end adjustments are made and the Governor appears before the joint money committees of the General Assembly. Today’s announcement comes just months after the Commonwealth’s budget shortfall of $4.2 billion in the FY 2011/2012 budget was also closed through spending reductions, without a tax increase.

Speaking about the financial turnaround, the Governor noted, “Just six months ago we faced a $1.8 billion shortfall in Virginia’s budget for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2010. When the General Assembly convened I made it clear that we would not balance Virginia’s budget by making it harder for Virginians to balance their own. Through bipartisan cooperation we made tough realistic decisions and closed that shortfall without a tax increase. We continued this work by addressing the unprecedented $4.2 billion shortfall in the Fiscal Year 2011/2012 budget, the spending document that has just gone into effect, in the same manner. We have reduced state spending in this new biennium to 2006 levels. At the same time we put in place funding for a number of job-creating incentives and programs that are already helping us attract new employers to the Commonwealth.”

The Governor continued, “After some necessary adjustments and disbursements that still must take place, I believe the official surplus at the conclusion of FY 2010 will be at least $220 million. The majority of the surplus is already dedicated within the budget to a number of areas. One of those is to fund a one-time non-recurring 3% December bonus for Virginia’s state employees. Our state employees have worked without any increase in pay for nearly four years. This session of the General Assembly, I proposed a plan supported by Democrats and Republicans to incentivize state employees to save state dollars at the fiscal year-end, and receive an incremental bonus of up to 3% if a surplus was achieved. For too long the unfortunate standard procedure in state government has been for agencies to spend down all appropriated funds to zero prior to the ending of the fiscal year. We successfully changed that model by implementing private sector principles of rewarding fiscal discipline and sound management of scarce resources. State employees were successful in identifying more than $28 million in savings, and I thank them for their efforts and their dedication to our Commonwealth.”

“Another area benefiting from the revenue surplus will be our local school districts. They will gain an additional $18 million in funding from surplus dollars derived from an increase in sales tax collections. It has been a tough budget for public education, and this unanticipated funding increase should prove positive for our schoolchildren.”

“In addition to these obligations, 10% of the surplus dollars, or $22 million, will be set aside, in accordance with budgetary requirements, for Virginia’s Water Quality Fund, helping the Commonwealth in our continuing efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. I’m pleased that this surplus puts us on track to make the first deposit into the Transportation Trust Fund of 67% of all undesignated fund balances as required by the 2007 statute.  The allocation of the remainder of the surplus will be determined in the weeks ahead in accordance with statutory requirements and final financial calculations.”

The Governor concluded, “This is a positive development for our state, but this continues to be a very tough economy. Virginia workers, families and business owners are all tightening their belts. So is Virginia state government. Through reducing spending and making tough choices we have closed historic budget shortfalls without tax increases, and run a surplus. This work has positioned Virginia to be a national leader in job creation and economic growth in the years ahead.”

Good work, Governor !

• Prince William County May Tap Into Reserves To Finance Immigration Law
• Prince William County May Tap Into Reserves To Finance Immigration Law
• Freedom Comes To New Jersey
• Freedom Comes To New Jersey
• Obama Releases Budget With Record-Setting Deficit

It’s been known for some time that George Steinbrenner was in bad health, but the news today of his death in Florida is nonetheless sad and shocking:

George Steinbrenner, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died Tuesday morning. He was 80 and lived in Tampa, Fla.

“He was an incredible and charitable man,” the family said in a statement.

“He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports. He took a great but struggling franchise and turned it into a champion again.”

Steinbrenner’s death came nine months after the Yankees won their first World Series title since 2000, clinching their six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at his new Yankee Stadium.

Steinbrenner had been in failing health for the past several years and had rarely appeared in public. He attended the opening game at the new stadium in April 2009, sitting in his suite with his wife, Joan. When he was introduced and received an ovation, his shoulders shook and he cried.

He next appeared at the Yankees’ new home for the first two games of the World Series, then made his final appearance at the 2010 home opener, when Manager Joe Girardi and shortstop Derek Jeter, the team captain, came to his suite to present him with his 2009 World Series championship ring.

(…)

Steinbrenner was the central figure in a syndicate that bought the Yankees from CBS for $10 million. When he arrived in New York on Jan. 3, 1973, he said he would not “be active in the day-to-day operations of the club at all.” Having made his money as head of the Cleveland-based American Shipbuilding Company, he declared, “I’ll stick to building ships.”

But four months later, Michael Burke, who had been running the Yankees for CBS and had stayed on to help manage the franchise, departed after clashing with Steinbrenner. John McMullen, a minority owner in the syndicate, soon remarked that “nothing is as limited as being a limited partner of George’s.”

Steinbrenner emerged as one of the most powerful, influential and, in the eyes of many, notorious executives in sports. He was the senior club owner in baseball at his death, the man known as the Boss.

A pioneer of modern sports ownership, Steinbrenner started the wave of high spending for playing talent when free agency arrived in the mid-1970s, and he continued to spend freely through the Yankees’ revival in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the long stretch without a pennant and then renewed triumphs under Torre and General Manager Brian Cashman.

The Yankees’ approximately $210 million payroll in 2009 dwarfed all others in baseball, and the team paid out millions in baseball’s luxury tax and revenue-sharing with small-market teams.

In the frenetic ’70s and ’80s, when general managers, field managers and pitching coaches were sent spinning through Steinbrenner’s revolving personnel door (Billy Martin had five stints as manager), the franchise became known as the Bronx Zoo. In December 2002, Steinbrenner’s enterprise had grown so rich that the president of the Boston Red Sox, Larry Lucchino, frustrated over losing the pitcher Jose Contreras to the Yankees, called them the “evil empire.”

But Steinbrenner and the Yankees thrived through all the arguments, all the turmoil, all the bombast. Having been without a pennant since 1964 when Steinbrenner bought them, enduring sagging attendance while the upstart Mets thrived, the Yankees once again became America’s marquee sporting franchise.

And brought seven World Series titles to the Bronx in the process.

There’s a lot to say about a guy like Steinbrenner. As a young baseball fan in the 70s and 80s, I remember being alternatively thrilled with him and pissed at him depending on the impact of his sometimes micro-managing of the team. Back to back World Series wins in 1977 and 1978, followed by a disappointing loss to the Dodgers in 1981, were the good days. But there was also a part of Steinbrenner’s tenure that was less than successful, and the drought from 1982 to 1995 is one that every Yankee fan remembers well.

And then there were the feuds. Billy Martin. Reggie Jackson. Dave Winfield. Joe Torre.

At one point or another, they all feuded with The Boss and, usually, Steinbrenner was the bad guy in the public narrative. But, flaws and all, he was a guy who loved the Yankees and wanted to win, and that much we could appreciate.

As was once said under very different circumstances, he may have been a son of a bitch sometimes, but he was our son of a bitch.

Rest in peace, George.

• Cubbies To Help Yankees Christen New Stadium
• Cubbies To Help Yankees Christen New Stadium
• The Sad, Pathetic History Of The Yankees And Their Managers
• The Sad, Pathetic History Of The Yankees And Their Managers
• King George’s Reign Comes To An End

NADER: What’s the sanction for President Bush and Vice President Cheney? [...]

NAPOLITANO: They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted for torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrants. I’d like to say they should be indicted for lying but believe it or not, unless you’re under oath, lying is not a crime. At least not an indictable crime. It’s a moral crime.

NADER: So you think George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should even though they’ve left office, they haven’t escaped the criminal laws, they should be indicted and prosecuted?

NAPOLITANO: The evidence in this book and in others, our colleague the great Vincent Bugliosi has amassed an incredible amount of evidence. The purpose of this book was not to amass that evidence but I do discuss it, is overwhelming when you compare it to the level of evidence required for a normal indictment that George W. Bush as President and Dick Cheney as Vice President participated in criminal conspiracies to violate the federal law and the guaranteed civil liberties of hundreds, maybe thousands of human beings.

• Karl Rove: I Initially Told Bush Not To Pick Cheney For Vice-President
• Karl Rove: I Initially Told Bush Not To Pick Cheney For Vice-President
• Waiting For the Shoe To Drop
• Waiting For the Shoe To Drop
• Eugene Robinson: Idiot Extraordinaire

• Lou Dobbs Quits CNN
• Lou Dobbs Quits CNN
• Ron Paul On Lou Dobbs
• Ron Paul On Lou Dobbs
• A Fiscal Conservative’s Case For Tax Increases

Also, over at OTB I wrote this morning about what really looks like the beginnings of Sarah Palin’s campaign for the White House.

• Definately TiVO Worthy
• Definately TiVO Worthy
• Sarah Palin Reportedly Headed To Iowa
• Sarah Palin Reportedly Headed To Iowa
• Going Rogue, Going Rouge: Will There Really Be A Difference ?

Bob Sheppard, whose elegant intonation as the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium for more than half a century personified the image of Yankee grandeur, died Sunday at his home in Baldwin, on Long Island. He was 99.

His death was confirmed by his son, Paul.

From the last days of DiMaggio through the primes of Mantle, Berra, Jackson and Jeter, Sheppard’s precise, resonant, even Olympian elocution — he was sometimes called the Voice of God — greeted Yankee fans with the words, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Yankee Stadium.”

“The Yankees and Bob Sheppard were a marriage made in heaven,” said his son Paul Sheppard, a 71-year-old financial adviser. “I know St. Peter will now recruit him. If you’re lucky enough to go to heaven, you’ll be greeted by a voice, saying, ‘Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to heaven!’ ”

In an era of blaring stadium music, of public-address announcers styling themselves as entertainers and cheerleaders, Sheppard, a man with a passion for poetry and Shakespeare, shunned hyperbole.

“A public-address announcer should be clear, concise, correct,” he said. “He should not be colorful, cute or comic.”

Sheppard was also the public-address announcer for the football Giants from 1956 through 2005, first at Yankee Stadium and then at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

He signed a new two-year contract with the Yankees in March 2008 but was not at the stadium that season, when he was recovering from illness that brought a severe weight loss. His longtime backup, Jim Hall, replaced him.

Sheppard did not feel strong enough to attend the ceremonies marking the final game at the old Yankee Stadium on Sept. 21, 2008, but he announced the Yankee starting lineup that night in a tape recording. During the season, his recorded voice had introduced Derek Jeter at the plate, a touch the Yankee captain requested to honor Sheppard

If you’ve been to Yankee Stadium, it’s hard to forget Sheppard’s voice echoing through the place, he’ll be missed.

Here’s a video of his announcement of that final lineup at the House That Ruth Built:

And here’s a tribute video the Yankees did in 2000 for Bob Sheppard Day:

• Good News For Yankee Fans
• Good News For Yankee Fans
• Yankees Win One For Shep And The Boss
• The Babe Settles In To His New Home
• The Babe Settles In To His New Home

• Reason.tv Interviews Daniel Hannan
• Reason.tv Interviews Daniel Hannan
• Reason.tv Interviews LP Presidential Candidate Wayne Allyn Root
• Reason.tv Interviews LP Presidential Candidate Wayne Allyn Root
• Coming Next Week At Reason TV: Honoring Ayn Rand And Her Ideas

• Your Copy Machine Is A Security Risk
• Ron Paul: I Probably Won’t Run For President In 2012
• Ron Paul: I Probably Won’t Run For President In 2012
• Bobby Jindal On 60 Minutes
• Bobby Jindal On 60 Minutes

Part One:

Part Two:

• Ron Paul At Loyola College, New Orleans
• Ron Paul At Loyola College, New Orleans
• It’s A Double Dose Of Crazy: Orly Taitz On Michael Savage
• It’s A Double Dose Of Crazy: Orly Taitz On Michael Savage
• Leslie Carbone Talks About Slaying Leviathan

While there are some interesting structural arguments to be made on behalf of a power of nullification, of course it is not recognized by the text. And my doubts that it was thought by the founders to be a power reserved to the states is fueled by James Madison’s famed Report of 1800 in which he defended the Virginia Resolution objecting to the constitutionality of the Aliens and Sedition Act. I include a lengthy excerpt from Madison’s report in my casebook, including this telling passage near the end. (So readers have the full context, I include the paragraphs in full while putting in bold the more crucial language):

Nor can the declarations of either [the citizens or the legislature of Virginia], whether affirming or denying the constitutionality of measures of the Federal Government, or whether made before or after judicial decisions thereon, be deemed, in any point of view, an assumption of the office of the judge. The declarations, in such cases, are expressions of opinion, unaccompanied with any other effect than what they may produce on opinion, by exciting reflection. The expositions of the judiciary, on the other hand, are carried into immediate effect by force. The former may lead to a change in the legislative expression of the general will; possibly to a change in the opinion of the judiciary; the latter enforces the general will, whilst that will and that opinion continue unchanged.And if there be no impropriety in declaring the unconstitutionality of proceedings in the Federal Government, where can be the impropriety of communicating the declaration to other states, and inviting their concurrence in a like declaration? What is allowable for one, must be allowable for all; and a free communication among the states, where the Constitution imposes no restraint, is as allowable among the state governments as among other public bodies or private citizens. This consideration derives a weight, that cannot be denied to it, from the relation of the state legislatures to the federal legislature, as the immediate constituents of one of its branches. . . .

I realize this is only one statement by one founder. But if James Madison’s most famous defense of the earliest alleged act of state nullification expressly denies, or at minimum equivocates about whether, there is a literal power of nullification in states, then I would need to see pretty compelling evidence of original meaning to the contrary. And recall that no other state supported the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. Indeed, Madison’s report was written to respond to criticisms lodged against the effort.

Indeed, if the man who pretty much wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights didn’t believe that there was a nullification power inherent in state authority, then that would seem to me to argue pretty succinctly that nullification is a bankrupt constitutional doctrine.

• Sarah Palin: Let’s Enshrine Bigotry In The Constitution
• Sarah Palin: Let’s Enshrine Bigotry In The Constitution
• Russ Feingold’s 28th Amendment
• Russ Feingold’s 28th Amendment
• Supreme Court Upholds Federal Power Of Indefinite Detention

One of two civil claims brought against religious group Agape Ministries may be settled out of court, a lawyer has told the Adelaide District Court.

One of the plaintiffs cannot be named because of a temporary suppression order.

That plaintiff and another former church member, Martin Penney, are suing pastor Rocco Leo and two of his associates, Joe Venziano and Mari-Antionette Veneziano.

They want their money back, claiming they handed over more than $400,000 and $1 million respectively to the church based on lies about a doomsday scenario.

How does that saying go ?

A fool and his money are soon parted.

• Is It Really Fraud If You Consent ?
• Is It Really Fraud If You Consent ?
• French Court Declares Scientology A Fraud
• French Court Declares Scientology A Fraud
• Baptist Minister: We Need To Stop Burning Flags, And Start Burning Fags

• Sarah Palin Defends Rand Paul, While Michael Steele Throws Him Under The Bus
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Two Hundred Thirty Two Years Ago, Thomas Jefferson wrote the following:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

And so the men of 1776 rebelled against King George III, citing as examples numerous examples of his usurpation of the rights of man. And, quite honestly, given the historical record and the example of dictators far worse than George III that history has produced, one might sometimes wonder if the colonials were overreacting. After all, it’s not as if King George had authorized usurped legal authority to conduct surveillance on his own citizens, or conducted a war based on false assumptions, pardoned a close aide, taken property from one citizen and given it to another, or restricted people’s ability to earn a living in their chosen profession. Heck, when you look at the taxes that led the colonialists to rebel and compare them to what gets taken out of your paycheck every week, its hard to understand what they were so upset about.

Seriously, the lesson of 1776 isn’t so much that George III was a good guy, but that we’ve forgotten the warning of Thomas Jefferson that

[T]he price of liberty is eternal vigilence.

We’ve let freedom be eroded, little by little, to the point where the idea of the state being allowed to put surveillance cameras on street corners to “watch” us seems natural. We’ve let privacy become a charade to the point where the Social Security Number has in fact become the National ID that it’s advocates promised it never would become. We’ve let government involvement in the economy expand to the point where a trillion dollars in tax collections seems like a trivial amount.

We’ve become the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water.

The question, then, is when does it become enough ? When will the American people finally wake up and realize that their liberties are being eroded on a daily basis ? And, where are the heirs of Jefferson ?

Further Reading:

James Joyner fisks The Declaration of Independence

And you should also check out something that Rick Moran did a few years ago, a three-day “liveblog” of the Continental Congress.

1. The vote for independence
2. Discussions on the text of the Declaration
3. The approval of the Declaration

That one is worth reading in full.

• Thoughts On Independence Day
• Thoughts On Independence Day
• Thoughts On Independence Day And Liberty
• Thoughts On Independence Day And Liberty
• When In The Course Of Human Events

It’s been a fun four years, and despite a haitus here and there, I’m pretty pleased that I’ve been able to make this enough of a regular thing that over 1.8 million people have seen fit to stop by. Of course, I’m not doing most of my political blogging over at Outside The Beltway but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about this place. Stay tuned, because I’ve got a few ideas to share……..

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• 600,000
• 600,000
• Movin’ On Up

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• Friday Morning Blogging
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• Time To Analyze The Blog
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Now this is a European idea I wouldn’t mind seeing brought to America.

We’re working to create a more open and less intrusive society through our Programme for Government. We want to restore Britain’s traditions of freedom and fairness, and free our society of unnecessary laws and regulations – both for individuals and businesses.

This site gives you the chance to submit, comment on, or vote for ideas about how we can do this. Your ideas will inform government policy and some of your proposals could end up making it into bills we bring before Parliament to change the law.

So if there are any laws or regulations you’d like us to do away with, then submit your idea. If you see ideas here already that you like the look of, then rate them and get them moved up the list. And if there’s more you’d like to say, then talk to others in the comments section for each proposal.

It’s time to have your say. After all – it’s your freedom.

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