Topic: When You Are So STUPID You Have To Ask...

[trapeze]

...if the Constitution still matters.

Or maybe when you think that the average American is so stupid that he/she will not understand the importance of the Constitution and therefore is open to giving such an idiotic question even a moment's consideration.

But probably most likely is that you (the author) thinks that everyone is as stupid as you are.

LINK to a very, very stupid article.

Samples of the jewels of colossal ignorance to be found within:

The framers were not gods and were not infallible. Yes, they gave us, and the world, a blueprint for the protection of democratic freedoms — freedom of speech, assembly, religion — but they also gave us the idea...that South Dakota should have the same number of Senators as California, which is kind of crazy.

This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between the two houses of Congress. And a lack of curiosity to even explore the issue. The author is probably equally mystified as to the difference in term lengths between representatives and senators.

They created checks and balances to neutralize any concentration of power. This often makes for disorderly government, but it does forestall any one branch from having too much influence. The framers weren't afraid of a little messiness. Which is another reason we shouldn't be so delicate about changing the Constitution or reinterpreting it.

Delicacy, of course, has nothing to do with changing the Constitution. The methods of amending it are clearly defined and always have been. It's hard to do for a reason. But this guy doesn't know or care why.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has asserted that the President is in violation of the War Powers Resolution, passed in 1973, which requires the President to withdraw U.S. forces from armed hostilities if Congress has not given its approval within 60 days.

It's actually the War Powers Act. That means it's a law which carries just a little more weight than a mere resolution.

Since the signing of the Constitution in 1787, Congress has declared war exactly five times: the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II.

An incomplete list at best. Patently false at worst. It leaves out the Iraqi War Resolution. Also left off of the list is the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (authorization to go to war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan). These very obvious false statements are made in the article for the express purpose of providing cover for O'Bama on Libya.

The government also compels us to buy car insurance (if we want to legally drive our car), which is a product from a private company.

Moronic point that tries to equate the voluntary action of car ownership with the involuntary act of being born. It also (purposefully) confuses state government laws (on car insurance requirements) with O'BamaCare federal mandates regarding health insurance.

I could go on and on and on with how stupid this article is, how fabulously stupid and dishonest the article's author is, etc. but you get the point.

The author is either incredibly ignorant about the Constitution (always a possibility) or extremely dishonest in its interpretation in his slavish desire to carry water for O'Bama. I'm going to guess that it's a 40/60 split.

And, yeah, it's crap like this that explains why Time magazine readership has been declining steadily for years: They keep lowering the bar for their readers. At some point it will have to become an audio only publication because their demographic will be too heavily made up of those who are too stupid to read.

[trapeze]

The Affordable Care Act may be bad legislation, as some contend, but that doesn't mean it's unconstitutional. There's no law against bad laws. The remedy for bad laws is elections.

Wow. I thought the remedy for bad laws was the Supreme Court. Who knew?

[trapeze]

Here's the best of the stupid quotes:

If the Constitution was intended to limit the federal government, it sure doesn't say so.

It just doesn't get any more ignorant than that. That Bill of Rights thingy is a mirage. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

[trapeze]

Maybe Time is hiring high school dropouts to write their stuff.

[Sectionhand]

What else would one expect from a lefty rag like Time ?

[trapeze]

Oops, sorry...my mistake. This piece of crap article was written by Time's managing editor, Richard Stengel who apparently considers himself to be a Constitutional scholar because he was once the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center.

According to his bio, one of his greatest accomplishments while at the NCC was the creation of the Liberty Medal. And in case you didn't know:

The Liberty Medal is an annual award administered by the National Constitution Center of the United States to recognize leadership in the pursuit of freedom.

A partial list of award winners:

Jimmy Carter (1990) for his work toward stamping out the very existence of the only true democratic nation in the middle east.
King Hussein of Jordan (1996) for actively promoting freedom and liberty and stuff in his autocratic regime.
CNN International (1997) for actively promoting the left wing point of view.
Kofi Annan (2001) for overseeing the murder and rape of hundreds of thousands of Africans who wished they had liberty and freedom.
Hamid Karzai (2004) for posing as the head of the freedom and liberty lovin' Taliban haven known as Afghanistan.
Bono (2007) for just being a really cool dude who cared a lot about AIDS and Africa and stuff.
Mikhail Gorbachev (2008) for being everyone's favorite communist despot.
Steven Speilberg (2009) for making ET and because O'Bama just wanted a photo op with him.
Tony Blair (2010) for being the Democrats' favorite liberal British prime minister.
Robert Gates (2011) for killing lots and lots of non-freedom and non-liberty lovin' terrorists.

Roughly a two thirds of the Liberty Medals have been awarded to non-Americans and a lot of the award winners are arguably enemies of freedom and liberty. But then O'Bama got a Nobel Peace Prize on the come and has spent all his time since working toward earning the first annual Nobel War Prize so really not too surprising when you think about it.

You will also note the absence of Ronald Reagan's name from the list. Gorbachev, yes. Reagan, no. Makes perfect sense if you're a lib.
Also GWB is not on the list. Karzai, yes. GWB, no. Again, makes perfect sense if you're a lib.
Also not on the list is "the American Serviceman." CNN International, yes. American soldiers/airmen/sailors, no. Makes perfect sense if you're a lib.

So you can easily see why Richard Stengel, Constitutional Expert, is so very proud of this award that he got credit for creating.

BTW, Stengel's bio is very proud of his magna cum laude graduation from Princeton and his subsequent Rhodes scholarship. Not so proud of his major or his degree since it isn't prominently featured anywhere. That's usually a pretty good indication of a solid liberal arts degree in something totally useless like English or Literature. Maybe even something really crappy like the arts.

[Sectionhand]

If you see and listen to Stengel you'd swear he was queer but I guess he's not . As far as his degree , I think it's safe to say he wasn't a Phys. Ed. major but it's doubtful that his academic rigor is of a generally useful nature .

[AlanS]

If you see and listen to Stengel you'd swear he was queer but I guess he's not . As far as his degree , I think it's safe to say he wasn't a Phys. Ed. major but it's doubtful that his academic rigor is of a generally useful nature .

Philosophy, maybe?

[IronDioPriest]

This is part of the Leftist method. They see highly charged obstacles to their agenda, and someone takes the point position, daring to touch the third rail. Then it's out there - part of the discussion. Soon others become emboldened to speak out, as they see no great harm coming to the first. They have seen the constitution as an obstacle for a long time. They need people to start questioning is viability and applicability in order to begin dismantling it. A Time Magazine front-page hit piece on the nations founding document will facilitate emboldening Leftists to begin openly discussing its demise.

[BigAlSouth]

Time Magazine: The "Buggy Whip" of Print Media.

I can say with pride that I have never, ever purchased a copy of this irrelevant, declining source of liberal news and progressive movement cheerleading.

[trapeze]

I can say that, too. My parents used to subscribe to it back in the seventies.

[trapeze]

Perhaps, Time being a lib trendsetter wannabe, this is an attempt at anti-Tea Partyism by way of insulting and degrading that which the Tea Partiy holds most dear. I mean besides (for some) love of God.

[Predator Don]

It's an apologist, cover piece for our current commander in chief.....The one who has sullied the Constitution at every opportunity.

Trap, with your permission, would you mind if I used portions of your critique? Pieces of crap such as this need to be attacked and I have the idea of an opinion piece for my small local paper, if I can get it printed.
If I can't get it printed, then I'll buy the space.
This type of garbage needs to be challenged.

[Alphabet Soup]

I can say that, too. My parents used to subscribe to it back in the seventies.

My parents preferred Life (take that however you may)...

[BigAlSouth]

I can say that, too. My parents used to subscribe to it back in the seventies.

My parents preferred Life (take that however you may)...

Wham!

[John Florida]

Is it any wonder that kids read this and come out dumber than they went in?

[ToddF]

If you see and listen to Stengel you'd swear he was queer but I guess he's not . As far as his degree , I think it's safe to say he wasn't a Phys. Ed. major but it's doubtful that his academic rigor is of a generally useful nature .

Philosophy, maybe?

English 

[John Florida]

If you see and listen to Stengel you'd swear he was queer but I guess he's not . As far as his degree , I think it's safe to say he wasn't a Phys. Ed. major but it's doubtful that his academic rigor is of a generally useful nature .

Philosophy, maybe?

English 

 Art?

[ToddF]

No snark that time.  English according to Wiki.

[Pandora]

Here's the best of the stupid quotes:

If the Constitution was intended to limit the federal government, it sure doesn't say so.

It just doesn't get any more ignorant than that. That Bill of Rights thingy is a mirage. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?

It's willful "ignorance" if you will.  There's a list and some "shall nots", so in this case, the nuance must "escape" them, despite their ilk finding a "right" to abortion that isn't listed either, despite the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness stated elsewhere.

This is just another spoke in the wheel of "the Constitution was written for another time; it's outdated".

None of these ditwads understands the first thing about Principles.