Quotulatiousness

March 5, 2011

Expanding the already expansive interpretation of the “Commerce Clause”

Filed under: Government, Law, USA — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 11:51

Rich Lowry explains why the recent court decision by Judge Gladys Kessler has such wide-reaching implications:

The easy-to-grasp distinction between an activity and inactivity is one of the most powerful legal arguments of ObamaCare’s opponents. But they hadn’t yet run up against a jurist as ingenious as Judge Kessler. She brushes aside the activity/inactivity distinction because not doing something is a choice and therefore “mental activity.”

Why hadn’t someone thought of this before? The sophists in Eric Holder’s Justice Department must be embarrassed that they didn’t themselves dredge up this killer rejoinder.

[. . .]

Kessler writes, “It is pure semantics to argue that an individual who makes a choice to forgo health insurance is not ‘acting,’ especially given the serious economic and health-related consequences to every individual of that choice. Making a choice is an affirmative action, whether one decides to do something or not do something.”

[. . .]

Under the Kessler principle, there’s no nonconduct that the federal government can’t reach. Every day, most Americans engage in nonactivities that affect interstate commerce. If you decide not to buy a house, not to buy a Chrysler or not to buy a Snuggie, you’ve impacted interstate conduct through affirmative mental actions. We’ve gone from the Constitution giving Congress the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes,” to regulating on the basis of the mental activities of individuals deciding not to do something.

If this precedent stands, the Commerce clause has effectively swallowed the bill of rights: there will be no sphere of human activity that the US federal government can’t regulate.

H/T to David Harsanyi for the link.

xkcd re-interprets the Nolan Chart

Filed under: Humour, Liberty, Media — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:36

Nolan Chart

Robert Fulford on feminism

Filed under: History, Law, Liberty, Politics — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:10

Coming up on the 100th observance of International Women’s Day, Robert Fulford takes a step back to view the feminist movement:

Some organized attempts to improve the lot of humanity claim limited victories; others do more harm than good. Only feminism can claim to have broadened, permanently, the lives of half the humans in the West. Its success, based on earnest arguments and improvised political strategies, is without parallel in the last century. Nothing since the Industrial Revolution has done so much to expand opportunity.

Feminism has altered a whole culture’s ideal version of sexual roles. It has changed the professions, most strikingly medicine and law. It has affected how children are raised, how the law deals with domestic life, how corporations and public institutions are staffed.

Like all revolutions, feminism is at war with itself. Many one-time feminists have quietly abandoned that term after watching former comrades flock behind every dubious new faction in the grievance culture. Radical feminists consider feminism a failure because it has not wiped out poverty, which should have been its goal. Events have so addled the radicals that they believe anyone who calls feminism a success is a covert enemy. Radicals believe we are living through a long dark night of conservatism and therefore have a right to be miserable, indefinitely. Celebrating anything, even the success of a movement they helped start, would rob them of their bitterness.

The world still needs the feminist spirit. It should shine a consistent light on the many millions of women who are caged by misogynistic religions and male-made dictatorships. Freeing them should become the central feminist project.

Local SCA group gets a bit of newspaper coverage

Filed under: Cancon, History, Randomness — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 10:57

Actually, compared to a lot of newspaper articles on the SCA, this one isn’t too bad:

The Society is a global organization with some 30,000 registered members reliving the world before the 17th century. Most stick to European history, but there are plenty of katana-wielding Japan enthusiasts among the ranks. Members get together and do any and everything medieval and renaissance, from armored combat and blacksmithing to the craftier trades such as glass-etching and embroidery.

The Toronto group is know as the Canton of Eoforwicof, one chapter of the Kingdom of Ealdormere, which encompasses most of Ontario and is one of 19 worldwide kingdoms. Each kingdom has its own King, Queen and handful of other royals and nobility.

Unlike a Renaissance Faire, these gatherings are not for anyone’s entertainment but their own.

“We’re not playing to an audience, we’re just doing things for fun,” Ms. Carroll-Clark says.

No mention of rapier combat (my bit of the SCA), but that’s not surprising — even in the SCA it’s a minority interest.

This week in Guild Wars 2 news

Filed under: Gaming — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 00:03

I’ve been accumulating news snippets about the as-yet-to-be-formally-scheduled release of Guild Wars 2 for an email newsletter I send out to my friends and acquaintances in the Guild Wars community.

There’s been so much information this week, thanks to the early leak of information that ArenaNet intended to release next week at PAX East, that I’m dividing the newsletter into sections:

Part 1: Commentary on earlier information

Part 2: New information on Guild Wars

  • The latest issue of GuildMag is now available for download.
  • NCSoft is introducing new password security features for your Master Account. Check the page for details.
  • Wartower.de video interview with John Stumme on the new (March 3rd) Guild Wars update. Includes information on “the Embark Beach Content Update, featuring the seven hero group, a new mission-hub, enhancements to the user interface, changes to pre-searing Ascalon, Titles and a new hero mechanic.”
  • Summary of the GW2 Thief introduction and the March 3rd GW game update.
  • Kill Ten Rats looks at the GW March 3rd update: “This update will change the game to such a degree that it might as well be Guild Wars 1.5 now.”
  • FAQ on the new Mercenary Hero feature (where you can “hire out” your other characters as heroes — a nice, but potentially expensive, way to fill out your new seven-hero parties).

Part 3: New information on Guild Wars 2

  • Localization for Guild Wars — Localizing is a big issue for software, especially one with as rich a selection of user interface options, text prompts, storylines, and all the rest of the things that set Guild Wars apart from other MMORPGs. I work in the software industry, and localization is one of the big ticket items for smaller companies (in this context ArenaNet counts as a small company).
  • J. Robert King talks about the process of developing and writing Edge of Destiny, the second Guild Wars 2 tie-in novel.
  • The next new GW2 class is officially theThief.
  • Walkthrough of a new Norn Guardian’s first quest and dynamic event.
  • A Thief packing twin pistols beats up the wildlife in a high-level area.
  • A Thief demonstrates interesting attack skills, the downed skill, and being defeated during a high-level dynamic event.
  • Massively reviews the new Thief profession.
  • Even more on the Thief, including the importance of an attribute called Initiative: “Initiative regenerates at one point a second, which allows you to fight at a fairly consistent pace without letting you spam your strongest skills. There’s a profession ability (not tied to which weapon you’re using) called Roll For Initiative (ha!) that moves the Thief well away from his current position, while giving him an Initiative boost.”

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