2-2-13 Hodgepodge

Happy Randsday!

In other words, today is Ayn Rand's birthday.

I second Harry Binswanger's sentiment and will be spending the first half of my day accordingly.

To celebrate Randsday, you do something not done on any other holiday: you give yourself a present. Randsday is for getting that longed-for luxury you ordinarily would not buy for yourself. Or for doing that long-postponed, self-pampering activity you cannot seem to fit into your chore-packed schedule.

Randsday is for reminding ourselves that pleasure is an actual need, a psychological requirement for a human consciousness. For man, motivation, energy, enthusiasm are not givens. Psychological depression is not only possible but rampant in our duty-preaching, self-denigrating culture. The alternative is not short-range, superficial "fun," but real, self-rewarding pleasure. On Randsday, if you do something that you ordinarily would think of as "fun," you do it on a different premise and with a deeper meaning: that you need pleasure, you are entitled to it, and that the purpose and justification of your existence is: getting what you want--what you really want, with full consciousness and dedication.

Personal policy precludes me discussing details here, but I'm really looking forward to this!

Weekend Reading

"Otherwise, Mr. Obama is a mere piker when it comes to issuing decrees; he's been easily out-distanced by the likes of those Republicans - e.g., Eisenhower and Reagan - who today's conservatives claim to be paragons of constitutionally-limited government." -- Richard Salsman, in "When it Comes to Abuse of Presidential Power, Obama is a Mere Piker" at Forbes

"Luck had nothing to do with it, other than serving as a general term for coincidence and happenstance combined with the creativity and effort required to bring that idea into reality." -- Michael Hurd, in "What Lurks Beneath the Sanctimonius Disdain for Money" at The Delaware Wave

"People who have genuine self-esteem don't squander their time with people they don't respect." -- Michael Hurd, in "What's a Snob?" at The Delaware Coast Press

"[T]he thought that I had only two [rounds] remaining in the event the second attacker didn't flee or had backup didn't sit well with me, especially given the fairly common incidents of crime involving multiple assailants." -- Paul Hsieh, quoting Ryan Moore, in "'Carrying a Gun Saved My Life': Meet Ryan Moore" at PJ Media

My Two Cents

Richard Salsman's remarks on executive orders are a must-read. Here's another excerpt.

Historically, legal counselors to U.S. presidents have justified executive orders on these brief and somewhat ambiguous Constitutional passages. But additionally, in Mississippi v. Johnson (1866), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a U.S. president legitimately performs two basic functions - ministerial and discretionary - and that executive orders can legitimately facilitate each. Not until 1952 were specific rules and guidelines given for what a president could or could not via executive orders. In Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) the Supreme Court invalidated Truman's decree on steel mills, on the grounds that he was attempting to make law (a legislative function), not merely carrying out (or "executing") existing law. Presidents since that decision have tried to cite the specific laws they are acting under, when issuing new executive orders.

Salsman also points to a valuable resource: a linked list of Presidential executive orders.

Too Bad He's "Not Making This Up!"

A Massachusetts school recently threatened with suspension a five-year-old boy for the horrific acts of building a toy gun out of Legos and -- imagine this! -- pointing it at other kids and making shooting noises.

The rationale of a school official for this de facto imagination ban?

"We're trying to create an atmosphere of respect," says Barnstable School Superintendent Mary Czajkowski.

If you think that reads like the punch line to a bad joke, you are not alone: I discovered a story from a link at Dave Barry's blog.

-- CAV