ICYMI: What we got right and wrong after 9/11, a big blow to Obamacare, real Texas growth and fake public spending
Catching you up on what you might have missed during the past week:
- The 9/11 tenth anniversary is approaching, with reflections and remembrances coming more and more frequently. Here are two very good ones on very different topics: First, what we got right in the war on terror; and second, why art — novels, movies, musicians — failed us after the attacks.
- An explanation for why the 11th Circuit’s carefully researched and thoroughly argued ruling last week, striking down the individual mandate in Obamacare but leaving the rest of the law intact, makes this case the most important of those which could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
- A pair of pieces explaining why Richard Nixon’s wage and price controls, introduced 40 years ago this week, were bad policy that still echo today.
- A review of a book that argues there’s little scientific basis for “the damaging cult of pristine wilderness and the false ideology of the balance of nature.”
- Two pieces taking on common criticisms of the growth of jobs, and the economy more broadly, in Texas.
- And finally, a “Jaywalking” style video (see here or below) describing government spending programs and asking random people whether they’re real or fake.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
63 comments Add your comment
Rickster
August 18th, 2011
12:21 pm
First!
She can ask me anything she wants.
David
August 18th, 2011
12:50 pm
Did you see the long line of people who don’t want to work at Atlanta Technical College today?
And you did know Richard Nixon was republican, right?
jconservative
August 18th, 2011
12:51 pm
So we avenged the death of 3000 Americans on 9/11.
But in doing so we had 6500 American soldiers killed, thousands wounded and spent way over a borrowed $1 trillion.
But if everyone had “closure”, well, then it must have been OK.
carlosgvv
August 18th, 2011
1:12 pm
The Myth of Pristine Nature is completely in keeping with those who deny global warming and promote the increase of predatory capitalism. A world with a steadly increasing population and steadily shrinking glaciers and a steady decline in species is brushed aside as liberal nonsense. This is precisely what the Big Corporation leaders want. As long as they get their fortunes, they could not possibly care less about the long-term damage their business policies are doing to the environment, humanity and other species.
UGA 1999
August 18th, 2011
1:26 pm
Wrong….electing Obama…….Right…..2012 (Perry)
that's goofy
August 18th, 2011
1:27 pm
Creative people failed us! They didn’t make enough good films, music or poetry about 9/11. I will agree most songs were terrible (looking at you Alan Jackson) but I did like Courtesy of the Red White and Blue. There have been some movies made – but they were terrible. Then again I think cinema began a slow death in the late 70’s and finally went on life support in the 90’s.
Still trying to justify the Iraq war? If the W/Dick/Rummy were honest about reasons people would not have supported the war.
Don't Tread
August 18th, 2011
1:31 pm
“The government’s position amounts to an argument that the mere fact of an individual’s existence substantially affects interstate commerce, and therefore Congress may regulate them at every point of their life. This theory affords no limiting principles in which to confine Congress’s enumerated power…If Congress can force us to buy a privately issued product, what can’t it do?”
“We have not found any generally applicable, judicially enforceable limiting principle that would permit us to uphold the mandate without obliterating the boundaries inherent in the system of enumerated congressional powers.”
In other words: blatantly unconstitutional. And liberals wonder why people don’t like Obamacare.
Steve
August 18th, 2011
1:31 pm
Don’t forget the 250K innocent Iraqis that we killed in that “war.” What a joke.
UGA 1999
August 18th, 2011
1:34 pm
Steve…..Innocent….Really? I suppose you think the Nazi’s were innocent as well.
DannyX
August 18th, 2011
1:34 pm
WOW, Newport Beach is ground zero for Republican fund raising. That place is 99% Republican.
$100,000 for 6 months work, on the beach! With benefits. Jealous MARTA bus drivers may turn Republican.
UGA 1999
August 18th, 2011
1:38 pm
DannyX….Being a repub is great!
Aquagirl
August 18th, 2011
1:41 pm
If Ms. Dimbulb from the “Real or Fake?” video doesn’t understand science, she needs to keep it to herself. The shrimp treadmill study was gathering data on–well, shrimp. We eat those. So do a lot of other things. There’s a whole industry based on the little buggers. If they can’t get around very well, it does matter. A bunch of dummies yukking it up about pointy-headed scientists within apparent shouting distance of the Smithsonian? Big heaping plate of irony. Which is nowhere as tasty as shrimp.
If you don’t understand science, go watch American Idol and swill your beer. Leave the smart people alone. China doesn’t need help stomping us into the dirt of ignorance, we’re doing an awesome job ourselves.
Bubba
August 18th, 2011
1:52 pm
Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.
DannyX
August 18th, 2011
1:52 pm
“Being a repub is great!”
Maybe, it sure is if you are a Republican male cheerleader. Rick Perry would become the 4th Republican cheerleader President out of the last 7 Republican Presidents.
Young Republicans listen up, if you want to be President its best that you are a male cheerleader. I’m pretty sure its some sort of secret society. Forget football, cheer leading in college is your Republican ticket to the White House.
Now give me a “R”
UGA 1999
August 18th, 2011
1:54 pm
Danny….haha like Obama wasnt a cheerleader….right! That is hilarious. All words and no substance.
UGA 1999
August 18th, 2011
2:03 pm
“Hope and Change” “Hope and Change”
EQUALS
“More of the Same” “More of the Same”
Aquagirl
August 18th, 2011
2:23 pm
….shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.
Crank up that treadmill and give those suckers a real workout, we could add shrimp drumsticks.
JASon
August 18th, 2011
2:33 pm
“$100,000 salaries for top-ranking government officials in California”
Yeah, what’s your point. This article is hack
JDW
August 18th, 2011
2:35 pm
I know it’s a little early for Halloween but if this doesn’t scare you nothing will…
“If Rick Perry and George W. Bush had been born in the same family, W would have become known to friends as “the smart one.” ”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/17/moore.perry.bush/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9
I don’t know how Kyle could have missed that one in his weekly roundup.
As for the rest of the stuff…when I got to the bit on “The Centrality of Iraq” I had to stop and hurl.
There is not one single shred of credible evidence anywhere that Iraq played any part whatsoever in al-Qaeda’s thinking. And there was certainly no link between Saddam and Bin Laden. In fact it seems to me that the two would have been natural enemies what with Saddam being about as anti-Islamic government as possible.
Kyle, I think you need a better reading list, you are polluting your mind.
jt
August 18th, 2011
2:40 pm
.From that first revolting article/link that Wingfield supplied…………apologizing for the War on Terror/Bankruptcy/MIC Bailout”————–
“Yet the most authentic verdict on the soundness of our national-security apparatus comes not from the media elite or the anti-TSA mobs, but from the American people as a whole. And to Americans kept safe these 10 years, the propaganda storms on the left and right have proved to be little more than white noise. ”
.
So this d%ckweed calls us “anti-TSA mobs”.
.
Czar Alexander Romanov and his family……………………………considered the peasant’s complaints………………………..merely NOISE……………..too.
.
Welcome to the Ron Paul Revolution.
Jimmy62
August 18th, 2011
2:48 pm
That’s goofy: They were honest, they laid out several reasons. The media decided to only talk about WMDs, but if you go back and actually watch or read anything from Bush or Cheney back in 2003, they list WMDs as only one of many reasons. The others included (but not limited to) taking out a dictator who was mass murdering his own people, and helping to install a democratic governing system, both of which were accomplished.
Rewrite history if you will, but the facts are that Bush laid out many reasons beyond WMDs (which were not a lie, everyone thought Saddam had them, even Saddam said he had them), and you and the media only heard what you wanted to hear.
SBinF
August 18th, 2011
2:56 pm
Who cares if the arts failed us. I am more upset that our leaders failed us, allowing us to involve ourselves in two seemingly endless wars.
Yup, much larger disappointment.
Ivan
August 18th, 2011
3:11 pm
Jimmy62,
Not only rewriting history, but redefining WMD’s as only being a 200 ton nuclear warhead. Forget about all the chemical weapon caches found that were obviously not going to be used. They were just there for decoration.
The truth
August 18th, 2011
3:31 pm
Bush sent thousands to die in Iraq for no reason other than to help his rich buddies make a killing and send the US economy to the dumps!..I know Obama is black, and that is a big problem with America but a blind man could see Bush was the worst president ever followed by Reagan!
carlosgvv
August 18th, 2011
3:40 pm
Jimmy 62 – “helping to install a democratic governing system”
Montesquieu was a French philosopher whose writings greatly influenced Thomas Jefferson’s writing of The Declaration of Independence. Montesquiue also believed that laws should be suited to the people for whom they are made and that they should be in keeping with their inclinations, resources, number, habits and customs. I think it’s a safe bet to assume you never heard of Montesquieu. It’s probably also safe to assume that Bush and Cheney either never heard of him or chose to ignore him when they decided to impose the code of Washington on a people still in the dark ages.
Michael H. Smith
August 18th, 2011
4:16 pm
Failing to mention John Locke when speaking of Thomas Jefferson and the writing of the Declaration would be an intellectually unforgivable oversight.
http://www.anesi.com/q0033.htm
Joe The Plumber too.
August 18th, 2011
4:43 pm
@UGA- no urkle obummer was a water boy for real basketball players.
Dumb and Dumber
August 18th, 2011
4:44 pm
Right. Everyone KNEW Iraq had WMD, except for the UN investigators who had been in-country monitoring Iraq’s military who strongly disagreed with Bush’s decision to go to war.
So who exactly is re-writing history?
Michael H. Smith
August 18th, 2011
4:46 pm
Saddam never complied with standing U.N. resolutions from Gulf War I. In truth Bush needed nothing more beyond Saddam’s violations of those U.N. resolutions to attack him and Iraq. In fact, any nation that was in or part of the coalition against Saddam from Gulf War I could have attacked him and Iraq based on nothing more than those same said U.N. resolutions Saddam failed to honor.
“One” of the things I hold against George W. to this day is the needless sham he put on when he really didn’t have to pursue that BS line of show and tell before the U.N. that only disgraced a very honorable General who stuck his neck and reputation out for a lie, when even he questioned: What if we don’t find any WMD?
With all that said, DEMS as a party got nothing to talk about on this ordeal, either. Your party had all the power necessary to end both Bush wars up until the 2010 election and YOU DIDN’T! Therefore, you have no moral high ground or standing on this issue whereof to speak any further then the Republicans.
For we conservatives… yeah, we got baggage from the Bush wars and his reckless liberal spending. However, the rest of you got luggage of your on to tote now as well. Namely, this current bum.
Joe the Plutocrat
August 18th, 2011
5:03 pm
I’m speechless. We got nothing “right” in the war on terror because it is not possible to wage a war on a tactic. In addition, between the first WTC attack in 1993 and 9/11/01, we the People spend more than $1 trillion on any number of alphabet soup boondoggles (DoD, CIA, NSA, DIA, FBI, FAA) anti-terrorist/counterist programs that produced absolutely zero ROI; and how did the USA respond; we opened another tab to the tune of $3 trillion (and counting). I can’t even begin to understand what led you to opine about the role/responsibilities of “artists” in the post 9/11 world. seriously, KW, I think you need to step away for a couple months and clear your head.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 18th, 2011
5:18 pm
TDRWOFTD- Parasites don’t care whether their hosts survives and neither do dummycrats.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Thee Magnificent!!! mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
August 18th, 2011
5:28 pm
obozo has been the second coming of Tom Tancredo as far as immigration goes; getting all of em to move out of this economic hellhole back to the home country where they can find a job.
Kyle Wingfield
August 18th, 2011
5:39 pm
MHS: Not sure why that comment got held up. I’ve pushed it through.
Dusty
August 18th, 2011
5:55 pm
I must not go to the right places. I’ve never seen a shrimp on a treadmill.
Linda
August 18th, 2011
6:25 pm
My 401K was in the toilet again today, so I tried to flush it on down. Now, I have a $200 plumbing bill that I would like to send to Obama. Does anyone have Martha’s address?
Michael H. Smith
August 18th, 2011
6:31 pm
Kyle Wingfield
August 18th, 2011
5:39 pm
Thank you, Mr. Wingfield.
Michael H. Smith
August 18th, 2011
6:34 pm
Today’s economic news is very, very bad. obumer has got to go.
sevgen
August 18th, 2011
6:35 pm
All we have to do is repeal Pres. Ronnie’s EMTAL (if you’re condition is triaged life-threatening, you get treatment regardless of ability or willingness to pay). Within mere instants after that most foul socialist law is committed to history, 99.9% of Americans will be insured.
‘Course, the next thing you’d have to do is re-staff all our ERs and hospitals to replace those who would refuse to deliver health care based on such feudal, cowboy-capitalist, elitist terms.
Hillbilly D
August 18th, 2011
6:47 pm
I must not go to the right places. I’ve never seen a shrimp on a treadmill.
Me either. I’ve seen a few coming out of the water, or in refrigeration, or at the dock, but mainly I’ve seen them on my plate. All fried up nice and fixing to do what they were intended for.
Linda
August 18th, 2011
7:09 pm
We were on a trip to Crystal River when my husband had to leave to take care of some business. Until then, I never knew shrimp had heads.
Linda
August 18th, 2011
7:14 pm
Wouldn’t be funny if Jimmy Carter decided to run against Obama in the Democratic primary? There’s been $1.6 T (trillion, not billion) of taxpayer money spent in gimmicks to turn around the housing crisis. Carter could run on the premise that he’s helped build more houses (for Habitat for Humanity) than Obama has saved from foreclosure.
Run, Jimmy, run!
Linda
August 18th, 2011
7:39 pm
Where are all the liberals/progressives/socialists? Businesses started out with lack of consumer confidence, which escalated into the worse dip in consumer confidence in over 3 decades. Business leaders have been hiding under their desks for months.
Is it possible that liberals/progressives/socialists are also hiding under their desks or their computers? Who is left to defend Obama? Even the blacks have jumped ship.
It is reported that Obama will come out after Labor Day with a jobs bill, in his Superman pajamas. That should work!
Rich
August 18th, 2011
7:41 pm
Kyle, in all fairness why don’t you remind your readers that Obama never ran on the individual mandate, he was against it. The insurance industry pushed Congress to include it.
fitzgerald
August 18th, 2011
7:43 pm
Most of the time, I enjoy reading articles about many subjects such as these mentioned here. However, all the time I definitely enjoy the comments that come after the article(s). Thanks for keeping me entertained and my sanity, most of the time, on a level plane.
THE "REAL" TRUTH
August 18th, 2011
8:00 pm
Thank you for that moment of clarity @Rich 7:41 pm. Frankly, Kyle, we wanted a single payer system. Screw the insurance companies. So please get it right. The President moved away from single payer to gain some Right wing support, and we saw how that played out. So, enough of the rubbish, k.
Oh, and being ex-Army, we defended our country pursuant to the orders by our leaders. We went after those that brought pain upon our shores, and we destroyed them. I don’t know about any other soldier, ex or current, that feels the need to glamourize war. I was telling my friends the other day, I hope no one in this country ever sees what we saw. I certainly don’t want it on the big screen as some over the top action flick for the pretenders to get behind. I don’t want to hear it in a song. ANd I could care less that actors support or not. It was our job.
Linda
August 18th, 2011
8:09 pm
Rich@7:41, Obama never ran on the individual mandate & the insurance industry pushed Congress to include it? You are SO wrong.
Obama & the Dem.’s health care goal is govt. public insurance, a single payer system. They want to eliminate employer coverage. They are succeeding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-bY92mcOdk
We already have 2 health care programs that are bankrupting America. What’s wrong with one more?
Linda
August 18th, 2011
8:19 pm
Anyone who thinks the fed. govt. will be more compassionate with health insurance claims than private health insurance companies & can be less bureaucratic with less red tape are whistling Dixie.
Waste, fraud & abuse will turn into tornadoes, bankruptcy & torture.
independent thinker
August 18th, 2011
8:34 pm
Twenty years since the Bush presidents got us entangled in a war with Iraq
independent thinker
August 18th, 2011
8:39 pm
Wenty years since the Bush cowboys got us involved in a war with Iraq . We have spent over a trillion and lost more lives than 9-11. For what – Is the middle east a better place? Is oil cheaper? Have we dealt with our real enemy Iran or have made them bolder? So tell me what does it say about the US as a superpower if after twenty years we have no military and political accomplishment in this hell hole?Only one presidential candidate in 2008 said it was time to end the madness, Why are we still there? Where does the money come from to pay for this cowboy adventure?
Linda
August 18th, 2011
9:01 pm
Now, Obama has taken us into another war in Libya, with permission from the UN & NATO. Congress learned of it that Friday from TV after returning home from DC. Dems. sued in court, but Obama was full stream ahead. He left to go to Brazil to look after George Soros’ interests. After all, Soros is our REAL president.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 18th, 2011
9:09 pm
” what does it say about the US as a superpower if after twenty years we have no military and political accomplishment in this hell hole?”
——————–
It says we have some folks so invested in hating our President Bush that they are unable to acknowledge that a democratic Iraq and an Afghanistan freed of Taliban rule are good things.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 18th, 2011
9:18 pm
“why art — novels, movies, musicians — failed us after the attacks”
———————–
They failed us because they were focused on stoking hatred of our President Bush rather than on anything meaningful or important. Voters rejected the America-hating libtard propaganda though, and re-elected Him.
Linda
August 18th, 2011
9:28 pm
Obama thru Hillary said today that the leader in Syria MUST GO, after 5 mts. of his slaughtering thousands of his own people, sort of like they said the leader in Libya MUST GO after slaughtering thousands of his own people. WOW! These depots are shaking in their boots, due to our commander-in-chief’s threat to cut off their Wheaties. My goodness!
Thulsa Doom
August 18th, 2011
9:37 pm
So Obama is going to introduce a jobs plan in September. Right after his vacation at the exclusive martha’s vineyard with all those millionaires and billionaires he’s always ranting about. This fool is tone deaf.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 18th, 2011
10:01 pm
“Leading from behind”
Obozo: Loser.
gm
August 18th, 2011
10:43 pm
That right Rep bigots: I love the term Obama care because he cares about the 30 million women and children with no health insurance, I am sure satan is very proud of the conservative rep party.
Rick Perry Tex 1 out 3 people are with out health care, the rest of the country are awake of these red neck all white gathering of the tea party, please tea party idiots if we ever get attack again please dont pick up the flag and sing dixie and then start telling us we are all Americans, no we are not, you are not Americans.
Dr. Pangloss
August 18th, 2011
11:32 pm
There’s no getting around the facts. Texas is 26th in employment, 1st in people working at minimum wage, 1st in children living in poverty, 1st in births to teenagers. There is no miracle. There is oil, and there is gas, but there is no miracle.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 19th, 2011
7:02 am
Doc, it must be pretty scary, the thought of your failed Idiot Messiah Obozo being compared to someone who has actually created jobs, eh?
williebkind
August 19th, 2011
10:07 am
Dr. Pangloss
August 18th, 2011
11:32 pm
Well, if all that you said is true there must be a huge democratic plantation in Texas and I bet they speak a different language.
williebkind
August 19th, 2011
10:09 am
gm
August 18th, 2011
10:43 pm
Hey become a doctor and do a lot of volunteer services.
atler8
August 19th, 2011
11:05 am
Linda,
You don’t fool us at all, EVER! If Bush or any other politician with an “R” attached to him had proposed the cautious & measured steps against Libya & Syria that the Obama Administration has taken, you would have fallen all over yourself to line up in support of it. Just like Newt, who within 10 days totally flip-flipped on his own stated view on involvement in Libya once Obama took a measured course against Libya that had similarities to what Gingrich had laid out.
I don’t see our troops on the ground fighting in Libya or Syria or haven’t you noticed that fact?
You & your ilk are just the party of NO! & of no ideas & the rest of us are sick of it! After Bush & Co. drove our nation into this ditch we are in, we’ll be danged if we hand the driving keys back over to the gop again!
joe
August 19th, 2011
11:23 am
The most shocking thing in that jaywalking video is the “oiled-up dude” saying he’s not going to have children…LOL. Not a breeder? Shocking I say!!
Exit Strategy
August 19th, 2011
2:52 pm
What a joke you cons on this site are. When the GA unemployment numbers came out, it was all Obama’s fault that it was sooooooo bad. (Gov. Deal and GA Repubs? not so much) But now when someone shines a spotlight on the Texas numbers, it’s all the good-work of that delightful Rick Perry. This is why the Cons and Repubs have ZERO credibility. At least with Obama, we are creating jobs (almost 2,000,000 seasonally adjusted). Can’t say that with your last Republican president.