bleever
bleever's JournalKim Jong No Longer Just Il.
Pyongyang: Dear Supreme Leader Kim Jong Il has now been anointed by the Gods of Heaven as Kim Jong Dead, according to North Korean official state media.
"While he was Il for a long time, he has now ascended to an even more exalted position by virtue of his...uh...many virtues," reported the national government.
"As the infallible father to the people of North Korea, Kim Jong Il was beyond compare. Now, as Kim Jong Dead, his wisdom and miraculous powers to benefit his faithful nation will only increase, as he sends psychic messages to our glorious Olympic competitors, follows American starlets from the great beyond, and imbibes cognac from snifters made of the stars themselves."
Reaction from the over one million people who died of starvation under his cartoonishly self-centered stranglehold on the nation was somewhat more reserved.
Gingrich: As a historian, I understand the courts better than lawyers. But he's a lousy historian.
In this past Thursday's GOP debate, Newt Gingrich, the great intellect and historian, chose to show that he skates circles around everyone else with this little flourish:
"Lincoln repudiates the Dred Scott decision in his first inaugural address in 1861 and says, no nine people can make law in this country. That would be the end of our freedom. So I would suggest to you, actually as a historian, I may understand this better than lawyers."
Indeed, Newt. You really would suggest that. However, it would be better if you actually knew what you were talking about while wagging that big head at us.
He was defending comments he had previously made advocating "impeaching judges or abolishing courts altogether", saying that "I would be prepared to take on the judiciary if, in fact, it did not restrict itself in what it was doing."
However, in making two points comparing himself to Lincoln, he gets two points wrong:
1. Lincoln didn't repudiate the Dred Scott decision in his First Inaugural Address. In fact, he explicitly states:
Further,
No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law.
And 2. Lincoln did not, as Gingrich suggests, repudiate the power or the role of the Supreme Court. He discusses the importance of the balance of powers, saying:
He specifically addressed the role of the Supreme Court with these words:
And while he acknowledges that law that is "irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court" would concentrate power in one single branch of the government, he is only acknowledging the role of the other branches in asserting their powers as well; in fact he continues:
While it's no surprise that Gingrich could talk down to someone from the bottom of a well, it's good to remember that the more smugly he says something, the more it bears scrutiny.
And scrutiny is not Gingrich's friend.
