Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Obama's Second Term Transformation Plans

 I hesitated to put this on my blog.  However, after reading a couple of posts on Facebook, I decided to do it.  I realize that some voters don't understand what is at stake in this election.  I hope and pray that this post will help to educate them.  
   
Steve McCann
May 12, 2012  
American Thinker.com
 
The 2012 election has often been described as the most pivotal since 1860. This statement is not hyperbole. If Barack Obama is re-elected the United States will never be the same, nor will it be able to re-capture its once lofty status as the most dominant nation in the history of mankind.
 
The overwhelming majority of Americans do not understand that Obama's first term was dedicated to putting in place executive power to enable him and the administration to fulfill the campaign promise of "transforming America" in his second term regardless of which political party controls Congress. That is why his re-election team is virtually ignoring the plight of incumbent or prospective Democratic Party office holders.
 
The most significant accomplishment of Obama's first term is to make Congress irrelevant. Under the myopic and blindly loyal leadership of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats have succeeded in creating an imperial and, in a second term, a potential dictatorial presidency.
 
During the first two years of the Obama administration when the Democrats overwhelming controlled both Houses of Congress and the media was in an Obama worshiping stupor, a myriad of laws were passed and actions taken which transferred virtually unlimited power to the executive branch.
 
The birth of multi-thousand page laws was not an aberration. This tactic was adopted so the bureaucracy controlled by Obama appointees would have sole discretion in interpreting vaguely written laws and enforcing thousands of pages of regulations they and not Congress would subsequently write. 
 
For example, in the 2,700 pages of ObamaCare there are more than 2,500 references to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There are more than 700 instances when he or she is instructed that they "shall" do something and more than 200 times when they "may" take at their sole discretion some form of regulatory action. On 139 occasions, the law mentions that the "Secretary determines." In essence one person, appointed by and reporting to the president, will be in charge of the health care of 310 million Americans once ObamaCare is fully operational in 2014.
 
The same is true in the 2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act which confers nearly unlimited power on various agencies to control by fiat the nation's financial, banking and investment sectors. The bill also creates new agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not subject to any oversight by Congress. This overall process was repeated numerous times with other legislation all with the intent of granting unfettered power to the executive branch controlled Barack Obama and his radical associates.
 
Additionally, the Obama administration has, through its unilaterally determined rule making and regulatory powers, created laws out of whole cloth. The Environmental Protection Agency on a near daily basis issues new regulations clearly out of their purview in order to modify and change environmental laws previously passed and to impose a radical green agenda never approved by Congress. The same is true of the Energy and Interior Departments among many others. 
 
None of these extra-constitutional actions have been challenged by Congress. The left in America knows this usurpation of power is nearly impossible to reverse unless stopped in its early stages.
 
It is clearly the mindset of this administration and its appointees that Congress is merely a nuisance and can be ignored after they were able to take full advantage of the useful idiots in the Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2009-2010 and the Democrat Senate in the current Congress. 
 
Additionally, Barack Obama knows after his re-election a Republican controlled House and Senate will not be able to enact any legislation to roll back the power previously granted to the Executive Branch or usurped by them. His veto will not be overridden as there will always be at least 145 Democratic members of the House or 34 in the Senate in agreement with or intimidated by an administration more than willing to use Chicago style political tactics.
 
The stalemate between the Executive and Legislative Branches will inure (harden) to the benefit of Barack Obama and his fellow leftists.
 
The most significant power Congress has is the control of the purse-strings as all spending must be approved by them. However, once re-elected, Barack Obama, as confirmed by his willingness to do or say anything and his unscrupulous re-election tactics, would not only threaten government shutdowns but would deliberately withhold payments to those dependent on government support as a means of intimidating and forcing a Republican controlled Congress to surrender to his demands, thus neutering their ability to control the administration through spending constraints. 
 
Further, this administration has shown contempt for the courts by ignoring various court orders, e.g. the Gulf of Mexico oil drilling moratorium, as well as stonewalling subpoenas and requests issued by Congress. The Eric Holder Justice Department has become the epitome of corruption as part of the most dishonest and deceitful administration in American history (think the pardon of Mark Rich, Fast and Furious Mexican gun walking, and Black Panther voting intimidation.)

 In a second term the arrogance of Barack Obama and his minions will become more blatant as he will not have to be concerned with re-election.  
Who will be there to enforce the rule of law, a Supreme Court ruling or the Constitution? (Answer: No one.) Barack Obama and his fellow-travelers will be unchallenged as they run roughshod over the American people.
 
Many Republicans and conservatives dissatisfied with the prospect of Mitt Romney as the nominee for president are instead focused on re-taking the House and Senate. That goal, while worthy and necessary, is meaningless unless Barack Obama is defeated. The nation is not dealing with a person of character and integrity but someone of single-minded purpose and overwhelming narcissism. Judging by his actions, words and deeds during his first term, he does not intend to work with Congress either Republican or Democrat in his second term but rather to force his radical agenda on the American people through the power he has usurped or been granted.
 
The governmental structure of the United States was set up by the founders in the hope that over the years only those people of high moral character and integrity would assume the reins of power. However, knowing that was not always possible, they dispersed power over three distinct and independent branches as a check on each other.
 
What they could not imagine is the surrender and abdication of its constitutional duty by the preeminent governmental branch, the Congress, to a chief executive devoid of any character or integrity coupled with a judiciary essentially powerless to enforce the law when the chief executive ignores them

Conservatives, Libertarians, the Republican Party and Mitt Romney must come to grips with this moment in time and their historical role in denying Barack Obama and his minions their ultimate goal. All resources must be directed at that end-game and not merely controlling Congress and the various committee chairmanships. 
-----------------------------------



Saturday, July 14, 2012

Book Review--What the (Bleep) Just Happened by Monica Crowley

 The Happy Warrior's Guide to the Great American Comeback

 Monica Crowley is amazing and so is this book.  It should be required reading for every American who loves our country.  It is skillfully written with great detail and humor.  She uses pop culture iconic metaphors and similes to help lift the reality of "What the (Bleep) Just Happened" to our country.  In the last section of the book she outlines her Happy Warrior’s guide to the great American comeback (solutions for helping to restore America).

Part I, “America, Interrupted.” In this section the concept of American exceptionalism is examined and explained.  And, we can only ask again, “What the (Bleep) has happened” to our country?  From the time of the Founding Fathers down through war and peace, economic prosperity, recessions and depressions, we “never lost the ideal—and the reality—of American exceptionalism.”  What other country has our unique history?  Monica deftly details Obama and the Democrat’s “dark vision” away from individualism and self-reliance to dependency on big government by redistributing our wealth, our resources and our power around the world.

Part II, “The Skinny Socialist is a Big Fat Liar.” Here the book takes us step-by step through Obama’s un-vetted rise to the presidency with his stated objective to “fundamentally remake America.”  His family background and other associations included Communists, Socialist, radicals and revolutionaries.  His objective became redistributionism and class warfare as a means to “establish social and economic justice.”  Saul Alinsky’s book Rules for Radical’s taught Obama how to achieve many of his goals of a collective society for the masses vs. individual freedom and achievement.

Part III, “Size Matters” describes the history and philosophy of “Keynesian Economics” that politicians use as an excuse and means to grow the government.  The book explains that ideological agendas of both parties caused them to support ever-growing more and bigger government spending so all of us could be supplied with a “safety net.” The ultimate objective, however, is to exert more power and control over our lives.  Now we have a cradle to grave nanny state which, according to Monica, has “unfunded liabilities totaling an eye-popping $117 trillion.  That total is more than all the registered wealth in the world.”

Part IV, “Dr. Strangeleader or: How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love American Decline.”  This is a treatise on Obama’s failed foreign policy.  The book describes Obama’s reaction to the jihadists who bombed the World Trade Center as probably coming from (to quote Obama) “a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.” (In other words, it was all our fault!) When, in fact, they were “middle to upper class and highly educated.”  Obama soon makes it clear that his belief is that our country is in decline, and by “leading from behind,” he can cleverly “redistribute America’s power to others.”  This section will curl your hair.

And finally, Part V, “America Unleashed.” This is my favorite part of the book.  It defines the spirit of the Happy Warrior or “We the People”—the fourth branch of government.  Happy Warriors must fight back against the tyranny of over-reaching governmental interference in our lives.  We must protect the Constitution, our homes, our families and our liberty.  And, we are reminded that although we choose to be Happy, we are still Warriors in the war against our enemies—the leftist kooks running our government.  We cannot be complacent and dependent if we are to continue to live in “the land of the free.”  So, Warriors, now is the time and this is the moment.  Go out; fight to restore America using your words, ideas, moral courage and creativity.   Good luck.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Movie Review--People Like Us

My sister, Beth, and I like to go to the movies on a Friday or Saturday afternoon (like I did in my childhood years).  Lately it has been difficult to find something that wasn’t animated, based on a comic book character, or rated R.  Last Friday, we took a chance and went to see People Like Us at the Wynsong Theater in the RiverWoods shopping area of Orem.

It begins with Sam (Chris Pine) arguing with his boss which was not an auspicious beginning.  Sam, it seems, is a super salesman in a “bartering” company.  He is an aggressive salesman who thinks he has closed a big deal for which he will be highly rewarded (he wasn’t).  When he returns home to his fiancĂ©e, Hannah (Olivia Wilde), he learns that she received a telephone call with the bad news that his father, Jerry Harper, has died.  Sam reacts unemotionally and tells Hannah that he wasn’t close to his father, a recording executive, who was very involved with his career. 

After a ruse by Sam to miss their flight to Los Angeles, they finally find another flight but miss his father’s funeral.  Lillian (Michelle Pfeiffer), his mother, sits on a row by herself waiting for her only child, Sam.  When Sam and Hannah arrive at the house, his mom hugs him and slaps his face, but warmly welcomes Hannah.  Later he finds out that he has inherited his father’s huge record collection which is quite valuable.

Now the story starts to unfold.  His dad’s lawyer summons Sam to his office where he gives him a shaving kit with his father's initials on it.  Inside he finds $150,000 cash money and a note for him to deliver it to a person named Frankie (Elizabeth Banks). He tracks her down at an AA meeting where she discloses (sarcastically) to the group that her father, Jerry Harper, has just died. 
 

Sam realizes that his father had another family that he apparently abandoned. This is a secret that changes all their lives. When he finds out his half-sister is raising an 11-year-old troubled son, Josh (Michael Hall D’Addario), he decides to stay in L.A. and get to know them. The relationship between Frankie and Sam is misunderstood by Frankie when Sam is slow to disclose their familial relationship.  When his secret is disclosed the result is anger. The rest of the movie is about evolving relationships with Sam and his mother, with Sam and Hannah, and with Sam, Frankie and Josh.

Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Hall D’Addario are all outstanding and well cast in their roles.  The story unfolds naturally highlighting unexpected difficulties that affect individual lives and families.  I was surprised that DreamWorks SKG was partially involved in making this movie.  I don’t expect it will make a lot of money or be in theaters very long.  I will say it was an enjoyable time in a cool theater on an extremely hot July afternoon in Utah.

Life Story Part II --Sleeping on a Cold Cement Floor

For some reason sleeping on a cold cement floor is an important event in my life.  I don’t understand why I remember it as an event.  What I do remember is the event itself and how it affected me then and later on.  The memory of how it all started is gone and I don’t remember some of the details.  What I do remember is that I was still a child of probably 6 or 7 years old. 

It’s hard to recreate something from your childhood when memories get all mixed up with other past experiences, hurts and feelings.  I know it was traumatic because even though I don’t remember how it started, I remember vividly 60 some years later how it felt.  I know it began with some kind of punishment or reprimand.  Maybe it was harsh words as I don’t remember being hit except for one time.

Anyway, we had two bedrooms in the basement with stucco walls and hardwood floors that Dad installed sometime when I was little.  One bedroom was on the front of the house and one was on the back.  The back bedroom was where I slept for as long as my oldest sister, Joyce, was home.   She and Velna (number two sister) shared the front bedroom until Joyce got married in July of 1948 (I was almost 10 years old by then).  Frank (my brother) and I shared the back room.  I slept in a metal double bed with Grandma Lythgoe’s heavy tied quilt on top.  The quilt was warm but not pretty.  Frank had metal bunk beds with sagging metal springs where he slept. 

Between the rooms was a laundry room with cement floors and walls.  It had a sloping floor with a drain in the middle.  Every Monday morning Mother washed with the Maytag ringer washer and rinsed in two tubs that she filled from a spigot on the wall with two hoses.  One tub always had bluing in it to make the whites whiter.  Off to the side of the laundry room was what we called the furnace room.  At some point the heat for the house had been converted from coal to gas because behind the furnace was a very ugly coal room.  It had a wooden shoot with a small metal covered opening to the outside.  Coal had been unloaded directly into the room through the opening and down the shoot.  The coal room was now used for storage but I was almost afraid to go in there—it was so dark and awful.  The furnace room had some tools and other junk in it.  Later Dad put a small sink, a metal shower and a toilet in the furnace room to help accommodate a family of six—including an adolescent (Velna) and a teenager (Joyce) besides Frank and me. 

At the time of my event the furnace room was a dark place with a huge old furnace and an old open flame water heater.

What happened?  I don’t know.  I know it was late afternoon or early evening and I went to the basement to get away.  I remember going to bed and just laying there.  It was cold downstairs.  I remember a small gas stove outside the front bedroom’s door but it didn’t give much heat.  The big furnace only had one flue which sent heat to the floor grill in the upstairs hall. 

It must have been late when I got up because everyone had gone to bed, but I was still awake.  I remember feeling sad.  Nobody came down to see how I was or to talk to me.  I know I wanted something from somebody.  But, that was not going to happen.  I wanted to run away so they would miss me.  Finally, I went into the furnace room and lay down on the bare cement floor.  I remember thinking that someone would surely come and see I was not in bed and find me there in the furnace room.  I had no blanket or pillow, only the cold floor.  I was miserable.

Well, I wasn’t found until morning.  I slept on the cold cement floor all night without anyone finding me.  I learned that night that nobody loved me.  I believed that if anyone cared about me they would have known I was missing and tried to find me.  I needed someone to care about me.  I didn’t really feel loved until I found Wally when I was 17.  He made up for everything—I could hardly believe he could love me as I didn’t know I was loveable.  As a child, I was taken care of but not loved (so it seemed to me).  Now I know that attention doesn’t necessarily mean you are loved.  But, it sure would have helped that night when I slept on the cold cement floor in the furnace room.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

ObamaCare Executive Power

This is an excerpt of an email sent to me from my friend Gloria.  It is pretty scary.   Executive power has been expanded exponentially since Obama was elected president. 

 

 The birth of multi-thousand page laws was not an aberration.  This tactic was adopted so the bureaucracy controlled by Obama appointees would have sole discretion in interpreting vaguely written laws and enforcing thousands of pages of regulations they and not Congress would subsequently write. 
 
For example, in the 2,700 pages ObamaCare [healthcare bill] there are more than 2,500 references to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There are more than 700 instances when he or she is instructed that they "shall" do something and more than 200 times when they "may" take at their sole discretion some form of regulatory action. On 139 occasions, the law mentions that the "Secretary determines." In essence one person, appointed by and reporting to the president, will be in charge of the health care of 310 million Americans once ObamaCare is fully operational in 2014.
 
Steve McCann
May 12, 2012


Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/obamas_second_term_transformation_plans.html#ixzz20FJxZg7h

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

ObamaCare--The Supreme Court Ruling (positive possibilities)

This is an email from my friend, Kent, written by Bert Atkinson, Jr.   I don't know Mr. Atkinson, but his thoughts are "interesting and positive."  It is easy to be negative when positive is so much better.  

Subject: Supreme Court Ruling

This provides a simple summary of the possibilities coming our way, but lots can happen in 4 months as we all know. Roberts sure has emerged as a brilliant Chief Justice (a reversal of opinion by the Democrats).   You might want to read this and make your own opinion on what happened yesterday with ruling on ObamaCare.

Why Chief Justice Roberts Made the Right Long-Term Decision With ObamaCare

By Bert Atkinson, Jr.

Before you look to do harm (I'm sure he means verbal not physical) to Chief Justice Roberts or his family, it’s important that you think carefully about the meaning – the true nature — of his ruling on ObamaCare. The Left will shout that they won, that ObamaCare was upheld and all the rest.  Let them.  It will be a short-lived celebration.

Here’s what really occurred — payback. Yes, payback for Obama’s numerous, ill-advised and childish insults directed toward SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States).  Chief Justice Roberts actually ruled the mandate, relative to the commerce clause, was unconstitutional. That’s how the Democrats got ObamaCare going in the first place. This is critical. His ruling means Congress can’t compel American citizens to purchase anything; EVER. The notion is now officially and forever, unconstitutional; as it should be.

Next, he stated that, because Congress doesn’t have the ability to mandate, it must, to fund ObamaCare, rely on its power to tax. Therefore, the mechanism that funds ObamaCare is a tax. This is also critical. Recall back during the initial ObamaCare battles, the Democrats called it a penalty, Republicans called it a tax. Democrats consistently soft sold it as a penalty. It went to vote as a penalty. Obama declared endlessly, that it was not a tax, it was a penalty. But when the Democrats argued in front of the Supreme Court, they said "hey, a penalty or a tax, either way." So, Roberts gave them a tax. It is now the official law of the land — beyond word-play and silly shenanigans. ObamaCare is funded by tax dollars. Democrats now must defend a tax increase to justify the ObamaCare law.

Finally, he struck down as unconstitutional, the ObamaCare idea that the federal government can bully states into complying by yanking their existing Medicaid funding. Liberals, through Obama-Care, basically said to the states — "comply with Obama-care or we will stop existing funding."  Roberts ruled that is a no-no. If a state takes the money, fine, the Feds can tell the state how to run a program, but if the state refuses money, the federal government can’t penalize the state by yanking other funding. Therefore, a state can decline to participate in ObamaCare without penalty. This is obviously a serious problem. Are we going to have 10, 12, 25 states not participating in “national” health-care? Suddenly, it’s not national, is it?

Ultimately, Roberts supported states rights by limiting the federal government’s coercive abilities. He ruled that the government can not force the people to purchase products or services under the commerce clause and he forced liberals to have to come clean and admit that ObamaCare is funded by tax increases.

Although he didn’t guarantee Romney a win, he certainly did more than his part and should be applauded.  And he did this without creating a civil war or having bricks thrown threw his windshield. Oh, and he’ll be home in time for dinner.

Brilliant.



ObamaCare--The Supreme Court (John Roberts) Decision

This (ObamaCare) Conversation is flooding the nation and as I promised, I will post things that interest me.  This came to me as an email from my daughter, Julie, but was written by Erick Erickson, editor of RedState.com


Subject: John Roberts

As you have no doubt heard by now, the Supreme Court largely upheld
ObamaCare with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority 5 to 4
decision.  Even Justice Kennedy called for the whole law to be thrown out,
but John Roberts saved it.
 
Having gone through the opinion, I am not going to beat up on John
Roberts. I am disappointed, but I want to make a few points. John Roberts is playing at a different game than the rest of us. We're on poker. He's on
chess.
 
First, I get the strong sense from a few anecdotal stories about Roberts
over the past few months and the way he has written this opinion that he
very, very much was concerned about keeping the Supreme Court above the partisan fray and damaging the reputation of the Court long term. It seems to me the left was smart to make a full frontal assault on the Court as it persuaded Roberts.
 
Second, in writing his opinion, Roberts forces everyone to deal with the
issue as a political, not a legal issue. In the past twenty years,
Republicans have punted a number of issues to the Supreme Court asking the Court to save us from ourselves. They can't do that with Roberts. They tried with McCain-Feingold, which was originally upheld. This case is a timely reminder to the GOP that five votes are not a sure thing.
 
Third, while Roberts has expanded the taxation power, which I don't really
think is a massive expansion from what it was, Roberts has curtailed the
commerce clause as an avenue for Congressional overreach. In so doing, he has affirmed the Democrats are massive taxers. In fact, I would argue that this may prevent future mandates in that no one is going to go around
campaigning on new massive tax increases. On the upside, I guess we can tax the hell out of abortion now. Likewise, in a 7 to 2 decision, the Court
shows a strong majority still recognize the concept of federalism and the
restrains of Congress in forcing states to adhere to the whims of the
federal government.
 
Fourth, in forcing us to deal with this politically, the Democrats are
going to have a hard time running to November claiming the American people need to vote for them to preserve ObamaCare. It remains deeply, deeply unpopular with the American people. If they want to make a vote for them a vote for keeping a massive tax increase, let them try.
 
Fifth, the decision totally removes a growing left-wing talking point that suddenly they must vote for Obama because of judges. The Supreme Court as a November issue for the left is gone. For the right? That sound you hear is the marching of libertarians into Camp Romney, with noses held, knowing that the libertarian and conservative coalitions must unite to defeat Obama and ObamaCare.
 
Finally, while I am not down on John Roberts like many of you are today, i
will be very down on Congressional Republicans if they do not now try to
shut down the individual mandate. Force the Democrats on the record about the mandate. Defund ObamaCare. This now, by necessity, is a political fight and the GOP sure as hell should fight. Sixty percent (60%) of Americans agree with them on the issue. And guess what? The Democrats have been saying for a while that individual pieces of ObamaCare are quite popular. With John Roberts' opinion, the repeal fight takes place on GOP turf, not Democrat turf. The all or nothing repeal has always been better ground for the GOP and now John Roberts has forced everyone onto that
ground.
 
It seems very, very clear to me in reviewing John Roberts' decision that
he is playing a much longer game than us and can afford to with a life tenure. And he probably just handed Mitt Romney the White House.
  

(A friend points out one other thing - go back to 2009. Olympia Snowe was
the deciding vote to get ObamaCare out of the Senate Committee. Had she
voted no, we'd not be here now.)
 
Read my full thoughts here.
 
Sincerely yours,
 
Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com