Weasel Eric Massa vs. Warrior Jim Bunning
WASHINGTON: The balance of health care reform lies in the hands of weasels. Case in point, former Rep. Eric Massa is claiming that he alone wielded the decisive vote in the House on pending health care legislation, and now he has been forced out of Congress by the White House in order to shore up support for passage of the bill.
An initial gut reaction to Massa’s claim is that the White House will stop at nothing in order to ram rod legislation that will fundamentally change this country, even if it means destroying a congressman’s career. It is true that to date there have been promises made, bribes taken and bullying employed to secure votes for socialist style health care reform. But if we turn a light onto the players of this debate, regardless of which side they favor, we find a house full of cockroaches scurrying for a dark crevice to hide within. Few in Congress are untainted by the corruption that exists there.
This is not to say that courage and honor do not exist in Washington, but their manifestations are rare, and when they do present themselves, the person exhibiting these attributes is denigrated and vilified. Senator Jim Bunning’s recent actions in the Senate are a fantastic example of legislative courage. Senator Bunning stuck to his ground opposing unfunded mandates by blocking a $10 billion spending bill. The media was quick to react though. Instead of reporting on the “Pay-Go” law that Democrats passed and President Obama signed, news outlets screamed that the unemployed would suffer at the hands of a single senator. Read more…
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
DETROIT: President Obama addressed the nation on January 5th in response to criticism of his handling of the Christmas day terrorist attack. Early in his speech he tried to squelch criticism of his initial 4 day delay by asserting now it was a matter “of the utmost urgency.” He found fault with screeners and every agency he could think of. He announced tightened restrictions on all US citizen passengers as a fix for the problem, as well as his assurance that “We will close Guantanomo prison.”
For all his fault-finding he glaringly failed to address his own failure. Obama is trying Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a mere criminal defendant in the courts of Detroit. If Abdulmutallab were charged as the unlawful combatant he is, the military would be able to gain intelligence that would be invaluable in fighting the war on terror.
Is the United States at war? President Obama claimed that we are. In his remarks Obama reaffirmed the fact that the country is at war with al-Qaeda. Yet, as we are now all aware, this is not a traditional war involving an enemy state and uniformed soldiers. Rather al-Qaeda members pose as airline passengers placing bombs in their underwear and shoes, hardly conventional tactics. So in kind, President Obama has adopted an unconventional policy in dealing with al-Qaeda that is mudding the waters in the fight against jihadism. Read more…
WASHINGTON: Diplomatic Immunity is that cloak and dagger privilege granted to a certain few foreign government officials, the gift to do as they please within a foreign country. The purpose of the immunity is to protect the channels of diplomatic communication between nations, allowing diplomats to perform their duties with freedom and security.
Some of the protections diplomats enjoy?
- Diplomats may not be arrested or detained by authorities.
- Their residences are not subject to search warrants.
- A diplomat may not be subpoenaed as a witness in a legal proceeding.
- And a diplomat may not be prosecuted, making them immune from both criminal and civil law suits.
A diplomat’s home country may waive immunity and allow its diplomat to be prosecuted, but this rarely happens.
Because diplomatic immunity offers such broad protection, it would only make sense to limit the privilege to those foreign officials who are the pipelines of communication between the United States and their home country. But common sense does not appear to be a factor within the Obama brain trust.
On Dec. 17th, President Obama issued an Executive Order amending another executive order issued by President Regan in 1983. Regan’s executive order 12425 recognized INTERPOL (the International Criminal Police Organization) as an international organization and granted it some immunities traditionally given to diplomats with some important exceptions. These exceptions made INTERPOL property and assets subject to search and seizures, taxes, and duties. And in addition, INTERPOL was required to register any foreign agents coming into the United States as resident aliens. Read more…
WASHINGTON: If you are not already overwhelmed and perhaps apathetic due to the onslaught of legislation working its way through the halls of Congress this year, then toss this latest straw upon the camel’s back.
Members of the House have unveiled a bill authored by Illinois congressman Luis Gutierrez, which I affectionately call “Immigration Reform version 2.0.” Because this bill, as opposed to the defeated immigration bill of 2008, by Astroturf activists, would have to be new and improved. It must be fresh and innovative; otherwise what’s the point? The American people have already said no to previous attempts at reform.
Here is the meat of Rep. Gutierrez’s new bill. It would allow migrants to legalize their status without returning to their home countries. It would give nonimmigrant status to the 20 million illegal aliens living in the United States upon registering with the federal government, paying required application fees and a $500 fine, plus pass a criminal and security background check. And best of all, the bill eliminates the ability of local law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws. Thus only the federal government and its agents will have the ability to arrest and prosecute immigration violators.
If this all sounds vaguely familiar, then it should. Rep. Gutierrez’s bill, for the most part, includes the same ideas that the American people soundly rejected in 2008. The number one item that Americans take issue with is that the bill grants amnesty to lawbreakers, and strips states and cities of their ability to deal with illegal immigration. Read more…
The "Unsinkable" Titanic
Democrats and a few Republicans must harbor the same mistaken assumption concerning American fiscal policy as that of Philip A. S. Franklin, Vice President of White Star Line when he made a comment in response to the sinking of his company’s ship, the RMS Titanic. He said “I thought her unsinkable and I based [my] opinion on the best expert advice available.” America has hit a fiscal iceberg and the ship is rapidly flooding with debt that will soon drag it to the bottom of the sea floor, and instead of bailing water over the bow, Congress is widening the hole allowing more debt to flood in.
Over the weekend Congress gave final approval to a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending measure that increases budgets for federal government agencies an average of 12 percent and gives federal workers a 2 percent pay increase. The bill also includes 5,224 pet projects known as earmarks at a cost of $4 billion. But what’s a few billion when you’re spending over a trillion dollars; we can afford it, right? (To get an idea of what a trillion dollars looks like, check out this link.)
Here is a small sampling of the disclosed earmarks:
- $2.7 million to support surgical operations in space.
- $200,000 for the Washington National Opera.
- $30,000 for the Woodstock Film Festival Youth Initiative. Read more…
WASHINGTON: Late last year, the President’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was quoted as saying “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste, and what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you didn’t think you could do before.” The stimulus bill, a fine piece of prevarication, was passed under an imminent sense of crisis, and it is this sense of crisis that acts as a powerful conduit to ram controversial bills through the legislative process. It is a strategy that the Obama administration wields often and effectively.
But why wait for a crisis to come to you? What if a crisis could be created to serve a particular purpose? This appears to be what Democrats had in mind when the House passed H.R. 2454 The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Best known as the Cap and Trade Bill, it purports to tackle the challenge of Global Warming, or if you prefer– Climate Change. Guaranteed to have a dire economic impact upon our nation, the Cap and Trade Bill has another potential dark side, a legislatively fabricated crisis. Read more…
SING SING, NY: With the House’s passage of the health care bill late Saturday night, Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts on Capitol Hill have discovered a new breed of criminal, the uninsured. Although unrecognizable based on race or gender, there are other ways to spot these reprobates. They are often young and healthy, and if you should happen to spot one at a doctor’s office, you will notice that they pay for their visit with cash.
Do not be fooled by their docile appearance, the uninsured are a threat to the American society, and a threat that Rep. Pelosi takes seriously. So much so that on page 297 of H.R. 3962 Section 59B. “TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE”, the bill mandates that those without acceptable health care coverage will incur heavy fines and jail time. Read more…
