Minor Wisdom

A suggestion for legislative pay raises

State Senator Ann Duplessis has caught a lot of flack lately for proposing a substantial pay raise for state legislators. Whatever you think of her proposal, two things should be universally accepted:

1. If legislators are going to be paid at all, then from time to time, a pay raise will be appropriate.
2. The legislators' vote in favor of a pay raise for themselves will always be unpopular with voters.

My own 2¢ on this issue: We should have a provision in the Louisiana Constitution similar to the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

No Law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

Under the 27th Amendment, a Congress can never enact a pay raise for itself; any pay raise is for the benefit of the next Congress. This has two benefits. First, it reduces the conflict of interests in the Congress voting on the pay raise, as 100% of the representatives and 33% of the senators have no guarantee of being part of the next Congress. Second, it promotes the perception (maybe even the reality) that any vote in this area is motivated by genuine economic concerns rather than self-interest or fear of unwarranted voter backlash.

The nutcracker sweet

This picture, spotted on Library Chronicles, is too funny not to share.

You can buy one of these gems here.

God speed, Mildred Loving

Every student of constitutional law knows about Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision striking down laws against interracial marriage. Well, Mildred Loving, the petitioner in Loving v. Va., died last Friday. We should commemorate her as we commemorated Rosa Parks.

(Hat tip to Greg Peters.)

What was that about the price of gasoline?

While we in the U.S. bellyache about the price of gasoline, millions worldwide are starting to go hungry, because food has become unaffordable. See these stories in the Washington Post and the Guardian. (Hat tip: God’s Politics.)

Global warmings

My sister Gabrielle sent me this video. The kid is lip-syncing Will Ferrell; still he does a good job of it. Gives me hope for the future of our great nation.

Speaking of George Bush, let’s give him credit for one thing. Some mooks out there thought that New Orleans was not ready to host a presidential debate. But Mr. Bush decided that we are ready to host the North American Leaders’ Summit.

Do you think you know Mike Huckabee?

Below is a video of Mike Huckabee on MSNBC, responding to the controversy over comments made by Barack Obama’s pastor. He has many good things to say. For instance:

As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

Hat tip: SojoMail.

The first

The UN’s World Food Program is facing a $500 million shortfall. The reason: rising food prices. This is bad news for the 73 million people fed by the WFP. So what does that have to do with us?

The United States is the largest single contributor to the WFP, accounting for about 40% of the agency’s food and money donations, followed by the European Union. U.S. officials have already warned that it is likely they will be cutting donations to global humanitarian organizations because of higher costs.

Source: the L.A. Times. See also the Guardian. (Hat tip: God’s Politics.)

Happy Gumdrop Fairy-Tale Land

In Your Mumia sweatshirt won’t get you into heaven anymore, TBogg explains why Ralph Nader devotees should bite their collective lips (or whatever) and vote for the Democratic nominee. (Hat tip to Suspect Device.)

The real meaning of the Second Amendment

The meaning of the Second Amendment is fiercely debated between NRA-types and gun-control types. The wording and punctuation of the amendment don’t do much to resolve the debate:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Gun-control types, stressing the first 13 words, argue that the amendment protects the state’s right to have an armed militia. But this argument disregards the phrase “the right of the people.” The NRA-types, meanwhile, argue that the amendment protects the individual’s right to bear arms, but this argument disregards the amendment’s first 13 words and the third comma.

Both sides are wrong. According to law professor Peter Junger,

the right to bear arms is the right to display armorial bearings—coats of arms—and the original plain meaning of the Amendment is that the government shall not infringe upon one’s right to be a lady or a gentleman.

Unfortunately, Prof. Junger died before finishing his thesis. But he did leave behind a draft, which you can find here.

Not that anyone should care whom I’m voting for, but ...

... it’s the guy on the left.

Photo credit: Phillip Lee.