Global Governance Hits Sacramento (Advancing a Free Society, Hoover Institution) February 22, 2012
Posted by daviddavenport in Newspaper Columns/Essays.comments closed
If you would like to see how the global governance movement could impact theU.S., look no further thanCalifornia’s capital city,Sacramento. Mayor Kevin Johnson recently received a warning letter aboutSacramento’s drinking water and sanitation—not from a constituent or city councilmember, not even from a legislator across town—from the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Yes, there is such a person and she believes she has some jurisdiction over you! Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque visitedSacramento“under [her] mandate,” where she met with a community of homeless people. She saw a “lack of access to adequate water and sanitation and adequate housing.” She also found that parks, with their public restrooms, were closed at night, and thatSacramento“criminalizes public urination and/or defecation.” All of this causes her to conclude that international human rights may be violated.
This is one of those classic cases where theU.S.signed, but did not ratify, an international treaty. But one little-known implication of that, under international law, is that the signer agrees not to do anything to defeat the object and purpose of the treaty pending a ratification decision. This is why President Bush “unsigned” the treaty creating the International Criminal Court, which President Clinton had signed but the Senate had not ratified. I think there’s plenty of room to argue here that Sacramento’s sanitation and water problems, while serious, are not defeating the treaty, but then the U.N. Human Rights Commission doesn’t usually worry a lot about possible limits on its jurisdiction.
Apparently it’s time to rewrite those American Government textbooks about federalism. Yes, some issues are still local, some state and some federal. But if you sign one of those treaties the global governance people are forever advancing, local issues can become global in scope. In the end, it seems clearly preferable to take your beating for not signing apparently inconsequential, feel-good treaties, rather than have the U.N. show up to inspect your toilets.
Please click here for a link to Advancing a Free Society: http://www.advancingafreesociety.org/
Courts Overturn Prop. 8 (Townhall.com) February 9, 2012
Posted by daviddavenport in Radio Commentaries.comments closed
The 9th Circuit federal court has decided that California’s Proposition 8, which limited marriages to a man and a woman, is unconstitutional. The 2-1 decision, authored by one of the Court’s most liberal judges, says there was no other purpose or effect other than lessening the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians. The dissenting judge said there could have been a rational reason for it, based on procreation and parenting.
The case will surely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, though perhaps first to the full 9th Circuit. No same sex marriages will be performed in the meantime.
So many questions are raised:
- Should 2 federal judges substitute their judgment for the people’s vote?
- Should states or the federal government decide social questions?
- Will other states have to recognize California’s gay marriages?
Only the Supreme Court can now say.
To listen to the audio please click on the link: http://townhall.com/talkradio/dailycommentary/634418
Independent vot… February 29, 2012
Posted by daviddavenport in Radio Commentaries.Tags: Presidential Elections
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Independent voters elected President Obama in 2008, and they will decide his reelection in 2012. But a great deal has changed in 4 years.
A recent poll shows Obama’s support among independents is down to 31 percent, from the 52 percent he carried in ’08. And a study shows that in 8 key battleground states, registration among independents is growing by 3-4 percent, so they will be important deciders.
Nearly half of independents say they haven’t made up their minds about Mitt Romney. But if the Republican race and its negative attack ads go on much longer, and then Obama spends heavily defining Romney, it will be tough.
Many independents are disgusted with both parties, so they’re difficult to predict. But in a year of negative campaigning, the effort to reach them will be both ugly and enormously important.
To listen to the audio please click on the link: