IBD: Elena Kagan "looks like an ambitious radical stealthily...grooming herself for the pinnacle of judicial power"

Put it all together and this looks like an ambitious radical stealthily, and for many years, grooming herself for the pinnacle of judicial power. But is this nonjudge, with precious little trial experience even as a lawyer, even qualified?

As the Hot Air blog noted, her appearance before the justices representing the government on the losing side of the recent Citizens United case was an embarrassment. For falsely claiming that for over a century the high court endorsed expenditure limits on political speech by corporations, Kagan was immediately scolded by Justices Scalia and Kennedy.

"We only disapprove of something when somebody asks us to," Scalia reminded Kagan. Kennedy complained that "it doesn't clarify the situation ... to suggest that for 100 years we would have allowed expenditure limitations. ... We've never allowed that."

And furthermore, why another New York City liberal who went to Princeton? Apparently the only difference between Kagan and the president's first nominee, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, is, as he said in announcing her, that Kagan is a fan of the Mets, not the Yankees.

Kagan's undergrad thesis at Princeton — one of the few writings we have by her — was on the history of socialism in New York City. Does that suggest someone in touch with most Americans?

Under Obama's budget, spending would invite a rating downgrade on U.S. bonds in 2018

In March, credit-rating agency Moody's warned that America's top-notch credit rating could be at risk. Thanks to the country's increasingly precarious fiscal situation, "their ‘distance-to-downgrade’ has in all cases substantially diminished."

But how close are we to losing our credit edge? IBD reports:

In the wake of the financial crisis and recession, Moody's Investors Service has brought new transparency to its sovereign ratings analysis—so much so that 2018 lights up as the year the U.S. could be in line for a downgrade if Congressional Budget Office projections hold.

The key data point in Moody's view is the size of federal interest payments on the public debt as a percentage of tax revenue. For the U.S., debt service of 18%-20% of federal revenue is the outer limit of AAA-territory, Moody's managing director Pierre Cailleteau confirmed in an e-mail.

Under the Obama budget, interest would top 18% of revenue in 2018 and 20% in 2020, CBO projects.

The Congressional Budget Office has been sounding warning alarms for months now. Just a few weeks ago, CBO director Doug Elmendorf gave a presentation arguing that the country is on a "worrisome" fiscal path and that making changes of the necessary magnitude is an urgent task for policymakers.

IBD: White House let 4.3 million acre Arizona antelope preserve become haven for illegals and drug runners

Arizona moves to protect its citizens from a raging border war, and the administration and its activist supporters cry racism. Why is antelope protection more important than protecting American lives?

"We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday after signing a tough new immigration law giving police more power in dealing with illegal immigration. "But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation."

Arizona's new law is a reminder that the states formed the federal government and not the other way around. One of the federal government's functions was to provide for the security of the new country against foreign enemies and intruders. At this, and particularly under this administration, it has failed miserably.

There are 460,000 illegal aliens in Arizona, a number that increases daily, placing an undue burden on the state's schools, hospitals and law enforcement. Arizona has a window seat to an illegal invasion and on the escalating and violent drug war in Mexico that has put American lives and society at risk.

On March 27, the consequences of a porous and unprotected border claimed the life of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz after he radioed his brother that he was checking out someone he believed to be an illegal immigrant.

Incredibly, his murderer escaped to a pronghorn antelope area that the Interior Department of Secretary Ken Salazar had placed off-limits to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

So unserious is the administration about protecting the border that it has allowed a bureaucratic turf battle between Interior and Homeland Security to let 4.3 million acres of wilderness area become a haven and highway for illegal aliens, drug smugglers, human traffickers and potential terrorists.