If we could stop looking to the federal government to solve our problems that would be great

Posted: March 5, 2020 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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It is abundantly clear from the transcripts of the Constitutional Convention and the transcripts of the Ratification Debates, the framers of the Constitution would never have dreamed that the federal government would become the primary solver of all the problems facing the people of the United States.  In fact most would be horrified, saddened, and confused to learn how it is now.

The framers of the Constitution would be horrified to learn that most problems are now solved on the federal government level because they knew the end result of this would be an extremely large and powerful federal government.  They knew that such a large and powerful federal government would be an extreme threat to the rights and liberty of the American people.  They took great care to write a Constitution that would prevent the federal government from growing so large and powerful.

The framers of the Constitution would be saddened to hear that the American people chose to abandon the constitution that they so expertly crafted for us.  Only by abandoning the Constitution could we allow the federal government to become the solver of all of our problems.

The framers of the Constitution would be confused that the federal government is now the primary solver of most of our problems because of all the provisions they worked into the Constitution to make sure the federal government would not have power and authority to carry out this role.  The federal government created by the Constitution was only meant to carry specific roles namely, to defend the United States as a whole, to represent the United States as one nation diplomatically to other nations, and to prevent the individual states from squabbling with each other.  The Constitution created a federal government with a very limited number of powers, all of them clearly spelled out.  None of those powers grant the federal government the power and authority to solve problems such as healthcare, poverty, education, and so much more.

The framers of the Constitution knew that the individual States, local governments, and individuals were the proper places to solve the problems of this nation,  That is exactly the blueprint they used when they wrote the Constitution.

Here is my solution to the healthcare crisis that would fit into the Constitution, and has a remarkable probability of working: let each state come up with their own unique solution to the problem for the residents of that state.  The government of each state could communicate with each other to find out which solutions worked the best and perhaps copy it.

The federal government has tried to fix education and has only made the problem far greater.  The same holds true for poverty.

To increase the prosperity of individuals the federal government needs to get out of the way.  For far too many decades the federal government has smothered private businesses with too many regulations.  President Trump has begun to dial this back, however, there is so much more that needs to be done.  Greatly slashing tax rates would be a tremendous help also, the first Trump tax were only a small step in that direction.

The war on poverty has only resulted in more poverty and way too much dependence on government handouts.  Private charity would do far more good along with the greatly increased standard of living that would be generated for everyone with slashed regulations and taxes.

So many other problems we are looking to the federal government to solve would actually be solved at the state and local level if we let that happen.

Joe Biden Saved by the Mrs. Tessi Democrats

Posted: March 5, 2020 by datechguy in culture, elections, politics, primaries
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Back in Jr high I had a crush on a girl named Mary Beth Tessi.

She was not only beautiful girl (oh what eyes!) and as Italian as her name implied but brilliant. As far as I was concerned time stopped when she entered a room. Alas for the dreams of a 13 year old she married someone else, a very fine and devout fellow and like myself has been married over 30 years. Both are very lucky to have each other but I must confess 40+ years later I still melt a bit on the rare occasions I see her.

Oddly enough while I rarely see her the person I DO still see regularly is her mother who I never knew in my youth. She’s in her late 70’s early 80’s is very devout and I admire her greatly. While considerably younger than my mother (who would be 96 if alive today) they were friendly and despite my balding head and occasionally gray beard she invariably slips me a five dollar bill and tells me to buy myself and DaWife some ice cream when she sees me.

I constantly run into her at Church or Catholic events or in adoration but there was one time she really threw me off.

It was about five years ago during the primaries, I had run into her at Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the subject of the primaries and election came up in passing and she expressed her hope that Hillary would be able to win.

I was Gobsmacked. There could not be a candidate more antithetical to the values of a devout Catholic than Hillary but as I spoke to her a bit on it I suddenly realized something.

Mrs. Tessi came of age at a time when the most powerful Catholic from Massachusetts was John McCormick a devout Catholic. Her daughter Mary Beth was born during the term of John F Kennedy the 1st Catholic President of the United States and her 2nd when Bobby was still alive. During her 40’s the biggest name in the Democrat party nationally and in the state was Tip O’Neill as Catholic as you can get. Furthermore Hillary had stayed married to a cheating husband a very Catholic thing.

She wasn’t a person who followed politics and when she thinks of the Democrat party she still thought of it as the party of McCormick, O’Neill & Kennedy and I certainly wasn’t going to able to shatter that illusion, in a few minutes when my own mother didn’t figure it out Jan 2010 two years before she died.

And that brings us to SuperTuesday and Joe Biden.

If you look at the exit polls there was a huge divide when it comes to age on the Democrat side. Among the worst groups for Bernie Sanders were Democrat voters over the age of 65 (15% for Bernie). For Joe Biden this was among the best groups for him (48%). Meanwhile the best group for Bernie were people age 18-29 (58%) and 2nd were those from 30-44 (41%). Those age brackets were Biden’s worst (30-44 23%, 18-29 17%).

This is very significant, because one of the things I’ve observed in life is that what you were taught in school tends to stick with you.

The age groups who voted for Joe Biden were born at a time when Democrats and Republicans alike were cold warriors and taught in school that still extolled Capitalism and discussed the Horrors of communism. If you were born in 1975, the low end of the 45-65 you were being taught American History while Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and St. John Paul II were bringing down the Evil Empire of the Soviets. If you were born in 1965 you were taught the evils of communism and if you were born in 1955 or before odds are you had a family member who fought against the communists in Korea. It’s worth noting btw that voters age 45-65 AND 65 or older do didn’t vote for Biden went for Mike Bloomberg the vocal pro-capitalist in the race.

For the last two weeks when it became likely that Bernie Sanders could be the Democrat nominee those voters who were taught the evils of communism and socialism were confronted by an MSM who fearful of what an unrepentant communist at the top of the Democrat ticket would do to races at the bottom for the 1st time did not sugar coat Bernie Sanders love of Communism and history of backing folks like Fidel. They finally saw Bernie Sanders for what he was not because the media and party which knew all along, finally found it in their interest to tell them.

And so remembering the lessons of their youth they turned out and voted against their cold war adversary. For those who decided that they just couldn’t vote for a human gaffe machine who couldn’t tell his sister from his wife ended up voting for Mike Bloomberg the unrepentant Capitalist in the race. It’s no coincidence that among the groups that Bloomberg did best with were the 45-65 & 65 and up age groups while voters who were in school in time to hear Socialism and Communism glorified (ages 30-44 & 18-29) loathed him.

It’s fair to say that for now Barack Obama’s efforts to push Mayor Pete and Senator Amy out of the race might have saved Joe Biden’s political life. It’s even fair to say that Joe Biden’s political life was saved by Black voters who remember him as Obama’s right hand man.

But I think that Joe Biden campaign lives another day because the Mrs. Tessi Democrats remembered the lessons of their youth and voted to save their party against an evil they still recognized.

Alas in four years there will likely not be enough of them to do so again.

DaTechGuy’s Midnight Court Podcast is Back Live Mon,Fri 12:35 AM EST

Posted: March 4, 2020 by datechguy in personal

And now a shameless capitalism update

It’s been 18 months since I dropped my old podcast which was simply too much work but I’ve decided the time has come to revive it.

So DaTechguy’s Midnight Court is back and streaming LIVE at my youtube Channel Datechguyblog here.

I know the burning question on your minds.

Why now and why on earth do a live Podcast at 12:35 AM twice a week when people are least likely to be watching live? Why not on the weekend?

  1. I’ve noticed that there has been a drop in traffic and subscriptions lately. I need to raise an extra $180 or so a month so if I’m to convince people that we’re worth your time and your TipJar Hits I need to provide content. A live podcast is a great way to do so.
  2. Between my Catholic Radio show for wqph 89.3 FM (Your Prayer Intentions Saturday’s at noon) the face to face tabletop baseball league I’m commissioner of (Alternate Saturday’s at Zeda’s Pizza Fitchburg if you’re interested) The two online baseball leagues I’m currently running (interested in joining go here) writing for the blog, work and actual life with DaWife and family there aren’t a lot of time widows to do this
  3. I work till midnight Sunday-Thurs in a place where few people speak English and nobody talks much politics so when I get home at 12:20 and everyone in the house is asleep I’m just bursting with things to say. So it’s the perfect time to do it since I have to unwind anyways
  4. Frankly I like the challenge of trying to build an audience and there is no more challenging time to try that a time slot like that.

So far we’ve done three, here is the pilot which was kinda rough

Episode 2 Trump as a Kamikaze Scotsman

and Episode 3 on Conventional Wisdom

You’ll note there is no fancy studio or anything else. There’s me on the bed with the laptop camera and a mike. If you want bells and whistles, sound effects a colorful background and the like, you won’t find them on this podcast. (Oh and if you’re wondering where DaWife is ,due to hip problems she’s had to sleep on the recliner as we can’t afford one of those hospital beds. If (hopefully when) that clears up I’ll move to the Podcast to the Kitchen or the Den)

But if you liked the old DaTechguy on DaRadio show and want to hear me on the issue of the day, along with some culture, sports, religion then this is the podcast for you.

Let me know what you think and if you want to help me pull in that extra $180 a month, feel free to kick in.

The Socialist Republic of Philadelphia

Posted: March 3, 2020 by chrisharper in catholic, Church doctrine
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By Christopher Harper

The Socialist Republic of Philadelphia, where I live, has launched two attacks in recent months—one against a neighborhood to force a safe injection site there and the other against the Catholic Church to force it to place foster children with same-sex couples.

In a city where you have to pay an extra tax on soda pop because it can cause people to gain weight, hypodermic needles were going to be free. But that’s how the Democrats run Philly, a place where you could toss a hand grenade in virtually any direction without injuring a Republican.

The idea of the safe-injection sites is to get heroin, fentanyl, and other drug use off of public streets and into medically supervised facilities. The organizers, a nonprofit called Safehouse, argued that the site would reduce overdose deaths, prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, limit drug-related crime, and offer addicts a range of social, legal, and housing services.

In February, a federal judge cleared the way for a site, which would be the first in the country, with the support of Mayor Jim Kenney.

Most observers had expected the site to be located in Kensington, a North Philadelphia neighborhood that has long been a haven for drug users. The organization, however, decided to open up in South Philadelphia near Broad Street, one of the major thoroughfares in the city.

But neighborhood residents got the nonprofit and its supporters to back down—at least for the time being.

City Councilman Mark Squilla, who initially supported the site, accused Safehouse directors of choosing a facility location under “the cloak of darkness” without consulting the council or residents.

U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain, who plans to appeal the court ruling, said: “We believe that Safehouse’s proposed activity threatens to institutionalize the scourge of illegal drug use—and all the problems that come with it—in Philadelphia neighborhoods.”

In another court battle, the City of Philadelphia wants to force a Catholic foster agency to place children with same-sex couples—a practice that violates church teachings. 

The case, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, is the latest battle between the claims of same-sex couples and those who disagree on the grounds of religious beliefs. The case is broadly similar to that of a Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The court found in favor of the baker in that case. 

The city stopped placements with the agency, Catholic Social Services, after a 2018 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer described its policy against placing children with same-sex couples. The agency and several foster parents sued the city, saying the decision violated their First Amendment rights to religious freedom and free speech.

Nevertheless, a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, ruled against the agency. The city was entitled to require compliance with its nondiscrimination policies, the court said.

The case is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is likely to hear arguments next fall.  

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