Nontransparent government

The federal government continues to grow nearly unchecked and has an ever increasing impact on the lives of every citizen. In the name of security or the guise of the “common good”, the federal leviathan continues to grow at the cost of its citizens. Whether it’s mandating the purchase of a good or service or violating our Constitutional rights, the federal government usurps more and more liberty from its citizens. Some of these are done publicly with much fanfare and media coverage, like Obamacare or the financial reform bill, while others are done under a veil of secrecy with little to no coverage in the media. Did anyone see Obama signing the executive order on March 16? It’s not a surprise that there was no coverage of this order, but there should have been. This executive order allows the President to take control of all the labor, resources and manufacturing in the country. Of course this can only be done in the event of a national emergency, such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster, or can it? The key part in the entire executive order is the use of the word potential. This power can now be invoked in the face of a POTENTIAL threat. Who determines a potential threat? A hurricane off the gulf coast could be a potential threat; does that mean the federal government can then step in and take control of all the resources of the country or region? While this may seem like an executive power grab, it isn’t really anything new; it’s a renewal of a 1950 law. Maybe March is secrecy month, just about a week prior to the executive order; President Obama signed HR 347 into law. This bill is a direct attack on the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” HR 347 is a direct assault on free speech, peaceful assembly and a redress of grievances. On the surface, this bill may appear to have the best intentions, but opens the door for massive abuses. It allows civil servants to be insulated by groups that have a different opinion and want to voice their concerns and it is not even limited to the top ranking government officials. The President can order Secret Service protection for any individual and the Secret Service will determine who can and cannot be in the “restricted area” and even decide what is restricted. The United States is a republic, with a limited central government, at least the way it was designed. The Founders intent was to keep politics as local as possible. The states created the federal government and now, much like “The Little Shop of Horrors”, has grown uncontrollable. Please see my examiner article here for links, especially the Judge Napolitano video on HR 347.

Chairman Maobama

I haven’t done a good old fashioned rant in quite a while; I’ve been working on being objective and doing thorough research to ensure accuracy and answering to an editorial board for my examiner articles, which can be found here. There is so much to rant about I’m having trouble figuring out where to start. Let’s start with what seems to be what is all over the news. I have to be careful how I put this, I don’t want to infringe on any trademarks, the Zimmerman/Martin case. We live in America and in America, under our Constitution a person is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, judged by an impartial jury of his peers. Nearly a month after the incident, this became a national story and instantly the media convicted George Zimmerman. The New Black Panther Party issued a $1 million reward of the capture of Zimmerman, dead or alive. Spike Lee tweeted what was thought to be Zimmerman’s address; turns out it was an elderly couple. Professional sports teams even got into the act by wearing hoodies in support of the teenager. ACLU wants the United States Department of Justice to prosecute the case. A member of the United States House of Representatives wore a hoodie on the floor of the House, in violation of House rules. The Congressional Black Caucus even entered into the record that this teen was hunted down and murdered in a case of racial profiling. All of this before any trial; all of this with the police report that reported nose and head damage to Zimmerman that somewhat collaborates his self-defense story. I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t there. I don’t know if was self-defense or a homicide, there are only two that really know what happened and unfortunately one of them can’t tell his side of the story. NBC just fired an executive that edited the 911 tape. The lame stream media shows photos of the 17 year old when he was 12 or 13 and instead of using a current picture of Zimmerman, they used his mug shot from a few years ago. Now the really scary part is yet to come, what happens next. Since the media, the Blank Panthers, the Miami Heat and the CBC have already convicted Zimmerman, what happens if a jury finds him not guilty? What happens if it never goes to trial because of Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law? Are we going to see rioting like we did after the Rodney King verdict? Is it going to be worse? You already have groups of young teens beating and assaulting elderly citizens in this kid’s name. One thing I think is even more sickening than this entire incident is the lack of coverage for other incidents. You have a kid that was set on fire while the assailants hurled racial slurs at him. Chairman Maobama even weighed in on the incident, and shortly thereafter Obama campaign started selling reelection hoodies. One of the most disturbing aspects is the one sided attention. If a white or even a perceived white allegedly murders a minority it’s a federal case, literally. There are tons of minority on minority crimes every day and they barely make the news, even when it’s a minority on a white it barely makes the news. Like the white kid that was lit on fire by two black kids, that didn’t make the news. It’s like the Black Panthers standing in front of polling locations threatening voters in paramilitary gear, but “the admin” can’t find enough evidence to prosecute. The audio and video doesn’t seem to be enough even though you can clearly see and hear it. From there we can jump right on to the Fast & Furious scandal. That’s another one you won’t hear in the lame stream media, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Remember the Iran Contra Arms scandal with Reagan? That was national news, the Congressional hearings, the newspapers and all the network news channels. That was about some arms going to a band of rebels fighting a common enemy half way around the world. Fast & Furious was the government selling guns to violent drug cartels along our southern border and not a peep on the news. Not even a report on how the Justice Department and ATF have been stalling and withholding requested information. This is supposed to be our Justice Department? Selective enforcement and prosecution, withholding evidence from an investigation but aren’t we all equally protected under the law? Apparently not under this regime, I have purposely not called this presidency a regime. I usually refer to it as “the admin” but as time goes on, regime is much more fitting. No Presidency has seen such disdain for the American way of life since the Roosevelts, Franklin and Teddy and Truman. The current regime is following the anti-American playbook laid out by the progressives. Theodore, the so called “trust buster” attacked corporations, that in his opinion had become too large. Most of these companies were already in decline by the time they got busted up. The free market principles allowed these companies to grow because of better organization, management, a better product or even a cheaper product. As these companies began to dominate the market, other companies had to become more efficient and more innovative to survive. Franklin attacked the wealthy and dumped massive tax increases on them. FDR also attacked the Supreme Court, private industry and anyone else that didn’t agree with him. You didn’t even have to disagree with him; Japanese Americans were rounded up and put in internment camps during the Second World War FDR even destroyed food and crops to help keep prices high during the worst depression in the history of our country (at least so far). He created massive government programs that sapped all the extra money out of the economy, prolonging the depression for nearly a decade. Truman seized control of the railroads and used partisan politics, attacking his opponents. Any of this sound familiar? These are all the same tactics the regime is using now. He’s taken control of the auto industry (at least parts of it), massively increased government spending, and massively expanded government control over private industry. Obama continues to attack oil companies, banks and Wall Street even without good reason. The oil companies on average make a profit margin well below most standard industries. All these evil tax subsidies that Obama is demonizing the oil company for using are the exact same tax breaks that ALL US manufacturers receive. I’m not for government subsidies; I don’t think any company should rely on the government to survive. If you can’t make it on your own, should you really be given other people’s money to keep trying? That brings me to the next complaint everyone should have against this regime, the cronyism. For being the first “post racial” President and the great uniter, Obama certainly has fueled the racial flames higher than before his election and has stuck a wedge between the people. He attacks the rich, demonizes them for making money and tries to take wealth from one group to give to another group. He attacks oil companies for making a profit and taking tax breaks and funnels hundreds of millions of dollars to his favored energy companies, regardless of the condition of the company. Chairman Maobama funneled taxpayer money to his green energy cronies, hundreds of millions of dollars sent to a failing company. Much like the auto bailout, if we don’t save these automakers from bankruptcy it will destroy the American auto industry. After hundreds of millions of taxpayer money, GM still had to declare bankruptcy but now the regime had control and gave it to more of its cronies, the auto workers union. The government then screwed all the GM bondholders, by law, bondholders are the first to be paid under bankruptcy law but not under Maobama, give other people’s money to his political cronies. The blatant lies, misrepresentations and half-truths this President continues to spout and the lame stream media, still in love with Maobama, will spread the lies as the gospel and the sheeple continue to buy the fertilizer. What will it take for the sheeple to have their eyes opened? Our liberty is under constant attack, Bush started with the unPATRIOT ACT and it continues with the NDAA. Many of these laws that Congress passes are unconstitutional, it will be interesting if either of those make it to the Supreme Court. Not only is the cronyism rampant and as obvious as the nose on your face, but the bullying tactics continuing throughout the regime. Chairman Maobama openly threatens members of Congress by stating he will go around them if they don’t pass HIS agenda. He says he wants a bipartisan approach and then refuses to listen to any position and forces highly controversial legislation through on a strictly partisan basis. He talks of compromise but then the only compromise has to come from the other side. The Chairman says one thing and then does the exact opposite. Remember as a member of the Senate, he slammed Bush for his spending, $4 trillion in 8 years and then spends $5 trillion in just over 3 years. He slams Bush for the PATRIOTIC ACT and then extends it and goes one step further with the NDAA. He continues policies and programs that helped contribute to the situation we are in and then blame everyone he can, usually the previous admin. It goes on and on, let’s look at the lies next. Most recently, he was exposed as a liar on his resume. Where Maobama claims he was a Professor and taught Constitutional law turns out that he was a lecturer, not a professor. That makes a little more sense than as a Constitutional Professor; he didn’t know that the Supreme Court has overturned laws for over 200 years. Even the left leaning factcheck.org has shown where Obama has been caught not telling the truth. My favorite is his lie about the deathcare bill passing by a strong majority. Really, seven votes in the House is a strong majority? He should have said a strong democratic majority, the bill passed along party lines. We can call him on his oil production claim as well. Oil production may be up, but it’s all on private land, land the federal government couldn’t stop the production on, much like he did in the Gulf, ANWAR, off the Atlantic Coast, off the Pacific coast and about everywhere else oil could be drilled. Chairman Maobama constantly lies about the Republicans blocking his bills; he fails to mention that his own party kills his bills and budgets. His jobs bill failed in the Democrat lead Senate, his budget failed in the Senate 98-0, meaning not one Democrat voted for it, next year’s budget failed in the House with no votes supporting the bill, not even a democrat. He lies about Republicans wanting dirty air, dirty water and people to die, the fact that so many people actually believe those lies, that people would believe that another person would actually want those things shows how far we have gone. Obama lied about the Supreme Court decision on the Citizens United case, either he is unfamiliar with the law or he’s listening to the lame stream media distort the decision. Obama lies about the financial disaster bill and the deathcare bill. The financial disaster bill didn’t do anything, it allowed the “too big to fail” banks off the hook, kept the taxpayers on the hook for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Tons of lies surrounding the deathcare bill, most notably that it will bring down insurance costs. Shall we talk about the oil spill, the one he wouldn’t rest until it was stopped, but took nearly 3 months to do anything, except play golf and vacation on the taxpayers’ dime. Let’s talk about the recession bill or as Maobama calls it, the stimulus, the one that saved jobs, something no economist or politician can explain how to compute. How about shovel ready jobs, at least he admitted that one, sort of laughing off that shovel ready isn’t really shovel ready. How about the big lie about the recession bill keeping unemployment under 8%, which hasn’t been seen since the Bush Administration or the lie about closing Gitmo or cutting the deficit in half in his first term. Those are just some of the lies that Maobama has told since he was elected, while campaigning, he lied about Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Ann Dunham or his lies about a transparent administration or not allowing earmarks or not hiring lobbyists, all lies. He has also lied about his ties to ACORN, or allowing American citizens 5 days to review any bill before he signs it. My favorite lie, is when Maobama claims he visited 57 states and still had a few to go. I wanted to save the best for last, not lies but the fear mongering. I feel this is the worst he can do. Play on the made up fears and lies based on fear. He used fear to avert a government shutdown by lying to military and seniors about cutting off their pay. He used fear tactics to ram through his deathcare bill, he used a false story about Ms. Dunham and lied about insurance companies and Republicans stance. He constantly demonizes and attacks oil companies, banks, Wall Street firms and the rich, he constantly admits he wants to take people’s money and give it to someone else, someone more deserving of your hard earned money than you. Chairman Maobama and his regime have played the race card time and time again. Those investigating Fast & Furious were accused of being racist. If you are against the deathcare bill, you are racist. If you believe in God or guns, you are a racist. If you are against Maobama and you aren’t called a racist you will be condemned as a terrorist. If you are a returning solider from overseas, you are a terrorist, if you belong to or associate with the tea party, you are a terrorist. Let’s get into it a little more, let’s talk about Maobama’s past. Actually it’s really hard to discuss his past, most of it is sealed. We hear from the lame stream media that this is the most brilliant man to ever hold the office, but nothing to verify it against. Bush, who has been called dumb and an idiot more times than I can remember, but his records aren’t sealed. No President has ever had his school records or his past sealed from public view, after all, he is a civil servant, serving the citizens but we can’t know anything about him, except what he wants us to know. We can look into his past a little bit, like how he started his political career in an admitted domestic terrorist who blew up government buildings. He sat in a church for 20 years and listened to an anti-American pastor slam America. I don’t see how a reasonable person could sit there and listen to all that garbage, if they didn’t believe the same things. Remember when it comes to the election, just vote no to Maobama. This could be one of the most important elections of our time. It’s time to make a stand, do you want to live in another European socialist cradle to the grave society or America, the greatest country in the nation.

It's not all about the Presidency

With Romney winning all three primary contests on April 3, he is more than half way to the republican presidential nomination. Santorum, the closest candidate is still more than 350 delegates behind Romney and no one has been able to cut into that lead. With all the focus on the Presidential election this year, one thing that’s overlooked is the Senate and House races. One third of the Senate is up for reelection and the entire House of Representatives and that can always upset the cart. The Republicans are trying to keep control of the House and the Democrats are trying to keep control of the Senate, it goes without being said that both sides are trying to gain control of both houses of Congress. Representatives Joe Heck (R), Shelley Berkley (D) and Mark Amodei (R) are all running for reelection. Both Heck and Berkley were elected in 2010; Amodei was elected by a special election after Dean Heller was appointed to the Senate seat vacated when John Ensign resigned. While Harry Reid is not up for reelection, Joe Heller, who replaced Senator Ensign, will be on the ballot this November. What’s important to remember is that although Nevada has already held its Presidential Caucus, the state primary has not happened yet. Early voting runs from May 26 through June 8 with the primary held on June 12. You can still register and vote in the primary up until four days prior to the start of early voting. Now is the time to start researching the candidates and exploring the ballot initiatives to become an informed voter. If you are not going to take the time to understand who and what you are voting for, do everyone a favor and stay home. When you show up to vote, be sure to show your picture ID, you don’t have to but it’s a good precedent to set and don’t forget to ask for your paper ballot. Remember to check out my examiner article here for all the links.

SCOTUS votes on Healthcare

The six hours of oral arguments have ended and the speculation has begun. One thing is for certain, the Supreme Court has already decided the outcome of the Obamacare lawsuit. Don’t expect to hear that decision before this summer. This is common practice for the Supreme Court, after hearing oral arguments, the Justices take a private poll on how they stand on the case they just heard. This doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t change their mind before the rulings are publicly announced. The first day of arguments, the Court heard whether the case could actually be heard. The Anti-Injunction Act of 1867 prohibits the Court from hearing a case before the tax is actually collected. The government has argued since the law was passed, that the penalty for not obtaining insurance was not a tax. Day one of the arguments, the government argued that the individual mandate penalty did not constitute a tax. The second day of arguments, the government argued that under the tax and spend power; Congress has the ability to impose the tax penalty on its citizens. Yes, you read that correctly. Day one, Obamacare penalty IS NOT a tax but in day two, Obamacare is justified under the tax and spend power given to Congress. So the government wants it both ways. The major argument on the second day was whether Congress has the power to force Americans to engage in commerce under the so called “Commerce Clause.” The commerce clause has been abused to “allow” Congress to do just about anything they want. In the case, of Wickard v Filburn, Congress used the commerce clause to justify penalizing a farmer for growing wheat on his private property for his personal consumption. If the government can force us into commerce, what can’t they force us to do? Day three of the landmark Obamacare lawsuit was focused on the severability of Obamacare, whether the Court can throw out parts of the law and retain others or if the entire law must be ruled unconstitutional. If you listened to the Solicitor General stumble through the cross examination by the Supreme Court, you would think that this law has little chance to survive, but stranger things have happened. Most legal analysts seem to think the law will be struck down along “party” lines, 5 to 4 This could have a profound effect on Las Vegas. Las Vegas leads the nation in unemployment and foreclosures. The central theme of Obamacare is the individual mandate, which forces every person under penalty of law to purchase a product from a private company. With economic hardships among the worst in the nation, forcing people to spend their limited resources on products or services they may or may not want does not make sense. According to President Obama, we are in the worst recession since the great depression; families have had to tighten their belts, so according to the President, the government should make us all spend more money that we don’t have. As always, see here for my article with links.