JEFF JACOBY: Why do the liberals rage? "[E]nvy and resentment, which liberals think of as sensitivity and compassion, are at the very core of the liberal conception of good government."

MORE MADNESS: Montana honor student faces expulsion for leaving hunting rifle in car while at school.

When I was in high school, during deer season nearly every student's pickup truck had one or more rifles on the gun rack hanging inside the back window in the cab. Occasionally, there'd be a deer tied to the fender of the car or in the bed of the pickup.

I don't recall any shoot-outs on campus.

[Update] Sanity prevailed.

COLOR ME NERVOUS: we have Barack Obama to lead us.

DON’T GET COCKY: “[T]he United States will come up with different judges.”

Anyone who believes the feds won’t go judge-shopping is seriously deluded.

YOU MUST GET GUN RANGE TRAINING. But you can’t get gun range training.

Linked from Instapundit.

WHO’S THE REAL PRESIDENT - Bill Clinton? Or Michelle Obama?

IF THE MANDATE AUTHORITY (in Virginia v. Sebelius, the Virginia challenge to Obamacare) somehow survives the Supremes, shouldn't we anticipate that the federal government can then require Americans to purchase Chevy Volts ... whether they are licensed to drive or not?

VICTORY! from Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli:

Virginia won the first round of the constitutional fight over the federal health care law. I also told you I'd get back to you with more details later in the day, and I'm keeping my promise.

Arguments and Outcomes

There were two basic arguments in this case.

First, Virginia argued that the individual mandate was beyond the power of Congress and the President to impose under the Constitution. Specifically, Congress claimed that their regulatory power under the Commerce Clause allowed them to order you to buy their government-approved health insurance, even if you decide not to buy health insurance.

The judge ruled that the federal government does not have the power to compel you to buy health insurance as part of its attempt to regulate the entire field of health care and health insurance. Thus, Virginia won this argument.

Second, the federal government advanced a 'fallback' argument in case it lost on its commerce clause argument. The feds' fallback argument was that the financial penalty you have to pay if you don't buy the government mandated health insurance is a tax.

This may sound like an odd argument from a political standpoint - usually they say everything is NOT a tax (in fact, they argued the penalty was not a tax while they were trying to get the bill passed); however, they changed position after the bill became law to try and save the bill. What they were trying to do was to get the courts to agree that because the penalty would presumably raise some revenue, it was therefore a 'tax' under the taxing and spending for the General Welfare Clause of the Constitution.

No judge in the country has bought this argument, and Judge Hudson was no exception. He ruled that the taxing power of Congress does not save the bill, because the penalty for not buying the mandated health insurance is not a tax.

The federal government only had to win on either of these two arguments, while Virginia needed to win both to prevail, and we won both!

What's Next?

Certainly the federal government will appeal their loss in the district court to the 4th circuit court of appeals within the next 30 days. And whichever side loses in the 4th circuit will certainly appeal to the Supreme Court. And no one has any serious doubts that ultimately the constitutionality of the individual mandate will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

That could take approximately (very rough approximation) two years. We are discussing with the Department of Justice accelerating the case, and those discussions have been very cordial thus far. More on that later.

Conclusion

Today is a great day for the Constitution. Today the Constitution has been protected from the federal government, and remember, an important reason for the constitution in the first place was to limit the power of the federal government.

Today is also a day of a small degree of vindication. When we first filed suit, the screeching of the liberals was deafening. Everything from accusing us of playing politics instead of practicing law, to filing what they called a 'frivolous' lawsuit.

I want you to know, that our team makes decisions based on the Constitution and the laws. Period. We deal with the consequences of our decisions separately, but first and foremost we have been and will continue to be true to the Constitution and laws of the United States and Virginia, regardless of whether it's easy or hard in any particular case.

There’s a long way to go, but this is an excellent start.

YA THINK? One nation, under too many laws.

This, from a newspaper that never saw a law it didn't like.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, MANDATES, SMALL BUSINESS, AND OBAMA: ”He’s never had to make a payroll, and private enterprise is the enemy.”

KABOOM: another Palin-hater self-combusts. Read the comments.

ATTRIBUTED TO RAHM EMANUEL: Never let a crisis go to waste. Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison adds: if that doesn’t work, create a crisis.

PALIN-HATING COLUMBIA PROFESSOR and Huffington Post blogger busted for incest (with his daughter). My favorite comments:

Kathie Shaidle: “Liberals: your moral and intellectual superiors!"

Commenter livermoron at Don Surber’s place: ”Incest sure explains a lot about the left and academia.”

Instapundit: “The best and the brightest at Columbia University.”

Oh, the embarrassment.

ANOTHER THOUGHT: “Ending weeks of speculation and rumors, President-Elect Barack Obama today named Bill Clinton to join his incoming administration as President of the United States, where he will head the federal government’s executive branch.”

Obama never wanted to be President of the United States; he wanted to be Emperor of Earth.

THEY TOLD ME if I voted for Hillary, Bill Clinton would basically be co-president - and they were right!

More here and here.

PEAK COAL? The point that is being missed, I think, is that the peaks were regulatory peaks, not resource peaks.

THEY’RE BACK: Tax deal larded up with TARP special interest provisions. The Democrats won’t give them up and the Republicans haven't gotten the message. It's going to take more than one election.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ‘SCIENCE’? EPA suddenly retreating on emissions rules enforcement.

GOING GALT: New poll indicates 40% of physicians will retire or find other work under ObamaCare.

Not surprised, I hope.

WOULD YOU VOTE for Sen. Reid’s tax cut bill? No. I think we can get a better deal from the new Congress in 2011.