DOES THE CONSTITUTION MATTER? If it doesn't, then your Freedom doesn't matter.

OH, MY: California delays its carbon trading program for a year. I don't understand; just because what little remains of California's manufacturing and energy sectors will flee the state is no reason to abandon environmental nirvana.

"IT'S JUST A QUESTION OF MATH. If you don't ask the wealthy to pay their share, the money is going to come from children and the elderly."

Uh, huh. Note that the American 'middle class' is missing -- they're protected. Those remaining are either wealthy, elderly, or children. The elderly and children are victims -- hence also protected. The remaining Americans are the wealthy -- to be used by the liberal ruling class who dine on other people's money.

GOOD NEWS -- but not for environmentalists.

Natural gas just might be the energy solution environmentalists say they want, but actually can’t stand because nothing would put them out of business faster.

Read it all.

BIG GOVERNMENT: Small Business Should Be Smaller.

THE JOY OF BEING A TEST PILOT: crew flies Boeing 747-8 to Pittsburgh for a sandwich.

U.S. PLANS STEALTH SURVEY on access to doctors. The plans died almost within hours of becoming public, of course, but the plans themselves tell you one important fact about big government liberals: they don't trust the American people.

THE SHUTTLE ERA HAS ENDED. Does anyone care?

Some do. It may be the destination that captures the imagination, but it's the voyage that creates the progress.

MORE: Dream Chaser project hits milestones.

BACKING DOWN? Speaker John Boehner:

Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes. I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase.

Now is not the time to back away, Mr. Speaker. If we must risk default in order to get spending under control, then we must do it. Tax changes must wait for a later day.

"WITH THEIR HANDS in my pants, my physical health, my home, and even my toilet, I have never felt so uncomfortably close to my government."

No argument from me.

THE FIVE best sentences ever written:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them; and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Illustrated.

RAY STEVENS on the Obama Budget Plan.

MORE, PLEASE.



In Orleans, Cape Cod, MA, shoppers stocking up for the 4th of July got a surprise shot of patriotism to start their weekend! This flash mob was organized by the SpiritOfAmericaBand to wish everyone a happy 4th of July!

The video is here.

OBAMA: Have we evolved as a nation past the need for a competent president?

Obama ... was a community organizer — a made up job with less accountability than the guy who rips your movie ticket at the theater — and a mediocre legislator who just voted “yes,” “no,” and “present” on things. There was absolutely nothing in his resume that would lead a reasonable person to believe he would have any competency as a president. In that light, he can hardly be considered a disappointment.

Read the rest.

IS MEDICARE A GOOD DEAL? Uh, no.

THE OVEREMPLOYED and the mal-employed. Don't click on the last link in the article unless you have a very strong stomach (and I'd suggest not flying US Airways into or out of Phoenix).

WE DON'T ESTIMATE SPEECHES:


Elmendorf’s harsh tone may be due to a perceived White House end run around Washington’s official score keeper. If Obama is allowed to get away with his current un-scored budget claims, why should any White House submit a real budget to CBO in the future?

THE SUPREME COURT SAID NO, but trial lawyers won't give up on Wal-Mart lawsuits. Of course not; there's too much money to be made if they can find a compliant judge.

It's a pity Wal-Mart can't - or won't - sue the trial lawyers association for attempted intimidation.

MY PREFERENCE is for Joe Biden to seek a new Presidential running mate for 2012.

OBAMA THANKS TROOPS at White House party:

The president and his family -- wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia --greeted more than 1,200 guests from a White House balcony Monday evening.

Reminds me of the Wizard of Id.