The Economist on The lawsuit against Obama

So sue me   "BARACK OBAMA is taking a somewhat irreverent approach to the lawsuit House Republicans voted to wage against him for exceeding the constitutional bounds of the presidency. “We could do so much more if Congress would just come on and help a little bit,” he said on Wednesday, scolding GOP lawmakers during a speech in Kansas City. “Stop just hatin’ all the time.” Chuckling, Mr Obama betrayed no anxiety about being sued. “I know they’re not that happy I’m president, but that’s OK,” he said. “I’ve only got a couple years left. Come on! Let’s get some work done.”

 

http://comicallyincorrect.com/2014/08/01/stop-hating-obama-1/

 

"The irony of the lawsuit is lost on no one. Republicans cite a number of unilateral executive actions in their criticism of Mr Obama’s "imperialism", but the lawsuit concentrates on delays he has ordered in the implementation of several provisions of the Affordable Care Act." ... 

...

"In John Locke’s "Second Treatise of Government", a source of inspiration for America’s founders, the legislative branch of government stands above the others: “there can be but one supreme power, which is the legislative, to which all the rest are and must be subordinate.” So if Mr Obama is really usurping legislative authority, as the GOP claims, the lawsuit may in fact be justified."   

 

 

Political theatre, political pain   ..."The Affordable Care Act is meant to work by applying pain to those who fail to comply with its mandates. Republicans believed this pain would help them win the senate and repeal Obamacare. They're outraged that Obama should get to delay and thereby possibly avoid altogether the potentially self-negating political consequences of his signature legislation simply by unilaterally amending its timeline to better suit his party's interests. Mr Obama effectively denied the Republicans the political theatre they wanted by refusing to bring the pain he had promised voters. So the Republicans are doing their best to bring the pain to Mr Obama by theatrically accusing him of imperial lawlessness—a move sure to rouse their base—in a way that reminds voters of the pain of Obamacare that will soon descend upon them ... unless the Democrats are chucked out of the Senate.

"Mr Boehner's suit may be terrible law, but it's not bad theatre, and it's very possibly smart politics. " ...    

How vets can survive

http://netrightdaily.com/category/cartoons/branco-toons/

 

Hat tip to Harley Standlee; Placerville, CA

Put Down the Cupcake: New Ban Hits School Bake Sales

New Requirements May Squeeze Out Gooey Fundraising Fare; Fat Standard

WSJ

"At Chapman School in Nebraska, resourceful students hawk pizza and cookie dough to raise money for school supplies, field trips and an eighth-grade excursion to Washington. They peddle chocolate bars to help fund the yearbook.

"But the sales won't be so sweet starting this fall. Campus bake sales—a mainstay of school fundraisers—are going on a diet. A federal law that aims to curb childhood obesity means that, in dozens of states, bake sales must adhere to nutrition requirements that could replace cupcakes and brownies with fruit cups and granola bars." ...

Pointless Studies Week at College Insurrection; Interesting Video on Teachers Unions

College Insurrection    "Your weekly foray into the strange world of higher education."

 

Who’s up for wasting some time and tax dollars?

• Yale and NYU Get $200K Government Grant to Study why Wikipedia is Sexist

Maybe we really do need an extra grade.

• Freshman Year of College to Become Grade 12.5?

We can use it to focus on spelling.

• University of Texas Misspells ‘Texas’
• UC Berkeley Diploma Features Unusual Typo

To be fair, Texas is getting some things right.

• Admiral William McRaven Named New Chancellor of University of Texas System 

...
Let’s learn something about teachers unions.

• Prager University – Teachers Unions vs. Students

Let's hope this lawsuit by Congress turns out to be a good idea.

Alan Caruba: Yes, Sue Our Lawless President!

 

... "Americans and many around the world are increasingly fearful of a President who has demonstrated no regard for the checks and balances of our incredible Constitution, the oldest in the world that still functions to protect individual rights and which sets forth the divisions between our legislative, judicial and executive departments of government.

"Congress, however, will not impeach President Obama, but the House will sue him on the basis of just one of the many examples of his dictatorial use of executive orders to ignore the power of the legislative branch to pass laws he took an oath to enforce. He has unilaterally and illegally altered the Affordable Care Act 27 times..."

 

Larry Kudlow asks, Rather than a lawsuit, why not a growth plan?   "In other words, is the GOP sending voters a clear message about what it will do if it captures the Senate and House?"

(July 30) Top Ten Myths about the House’s Proposed Suit Against Obama   "H.Res. 676 raises some interesting legal issues, but much of the pushback against it is misguided."

...Myth 10: President Obama issued far fewer executive orders than did other presidents, which proves he has not abused his executive authority. A president can abuse his powers in many ways other than issuing formal executive orders, and the number of such actions is much less important than the scope and nature of those that are illegal. It was a serious abuse for Richard Nixon, and perhaps one other president, to provide any form of encouragement or tacit approval to appointees in the IRS to give special scrutiny to his political “enemies.”

Going Viral

HopeN'Change

 

... "Off the top of our heads, we're thinking your garden variety death-to-America type terrorists. Because getting the highly-contagious virus into the United States could do inconceivable damage.

"But how to do it? Even an airport TSA officer is going to be made suspicious by a fuzz-filled petri dish in someone's shoe, or an alleged bottle of V-8 that is coagulating into layers of blood plasma.

"Which is why the best way to smuggle in the virus is to smuggle in someone who's infected. Sure, it could be your standard suicide vest-wearing nitwit who's anxious to start boinking virgins in the hereafter...but how much better would it be if the viral timebomb was inside a child who might not even know he or she was infected? A child whose unrestricted movement into and around our country was actually facilitated by our government?

"Consider this scenario: terrorists obtain vials of infected blood in Liberia (not hard since everything there is spinning off the rails). Transport those vials into Central America, pay off a few "coyotes," and start giving "free vitamin shots" to unsuspecting kids heading for the American border. Then just sit back and enjoy the apocalypse!" ...

Reprise: Clueless in Gaza; John Kerry has legitimized Hamas’s criminality.

Charles Krauthammer

 

... "Which is what provoked the severe criticism Kerry received at home. When as respected and scrupulously independent a national security expert as David Ignatius calls Kerry’s intervention a blunder, you know this is not partisan carping from the usual suspects. This is general amazement at Kerry’s cluelessness.

 

"Kerry seems oblivious to the strategic reality that Hamas launched its rockets in the hope not of defeating Israel but of ending its intra-Arab isolation (which it brilliantly achieves in the Qatar-Turkey peace proposal). Hamas’s radicalism has alienated nearly all of its Arab neighbors. "

....

"Remember the complaints that the heartless Israelis were not allowing enough imports of concrete for schools and hospitals? Well, now we know where the concrete went — into an astonishingly vast array of tunnels for infiltrating neighboring Israeli villages and killing civilians. (More than half a million tons, estimates the Israeli military.)"   Emphasis added, TW

You mean THIS concrete the heartless Israelis tried to block from getting into Gaza?

The tunnels have changed the balance of power: Israel is under siege by Hamas- not the Arabs who are under siege by Israel.

 But Kerry is carrying out the policies of his clueless boss, who continues to swagger and taunt before adoring crowds.

 

Photo below from this post by Weasel Zippers 

 

A Speech Every American High School Principal Should Give

Dennis Prager  Points one through four are covered at the link:

... "Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way — the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago — by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

"Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky — to be alive and to be an American.

Snopes points out that no principal used these words. Only that Mr. Prager would love to have one do so.

Hat tip to John Uhrig, Texas.

Obama's Inexplicable Love for the Dark Side    "Even the American left is finally realizing that this is the strangest administration in living memory. Obama simply has no real precedents, which is why he seems so utterly foreign. American presidents tend to be pragmatists, but Obama is locked into a simpleminded ideology of Good vs. Evil. Obama is Good, and anybody who disagrees with him is Evil.

"Much of this oddity stems from the president’s personality, which many people have described as a mix of major narcissism, borderline personality disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder."...
...
"When all is said and done, the answer is simple.

"This administration, and our political-media elites, no longer supports good against evil.

"That is why they must be fired and discredited as soon as possible." 

Krauthammer: World’s Anti-Semitic Reaction to Gaza 'Orwellian'

Breitbart  (Video not available)   Video link

  "On Friday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer discussed his latest Washington Post column, which criticized the role Secretary of State John Kerry has played in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"Krauthammer pointed out the latest breach of a cease-fire by Hamas has given Kerry the opportunity to walk back some of his efforts that gave Hamas the benefit of the doubt. But the other problem for Israel has been the inability to win over public opinion around the world.

“ 'The rest of the world's reaction to what's happening in Gaza is Orwellian,” Krauthammer said. “It is shocking, especially in Europe. It is a resurgence of anti-Semitism not seen since the `30s, this is a recurrence, it's all over the world, and don't tell me its anti-Zionism. You listen to the slogan, you see the sign, Hitler was right in Germany, a sign in Germany saying that this is a veneer that is a front for anti-Semitism and it is back. It's all over the world. And that's what we're now beginning to face.

Krauthammer: Rarely does international politics present a moment of such moral clarity.    “ 'Here’s the difference between us,” explains the Israeli prime minister. “We’re using missile defense to protect our civilians and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.' ”

Finnigan’s War

This Ain't Hell
 

 

"To commemorate the 60th anniversary of The Korean War, actor/filmmaker Conor Timmis sets out on a year long journey to honor his late grandfather and the heroes of America’s forgotten war. Narrated by Mark Hamill (Star Wars). 100% of all filmmaker profits go to benefit the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIA’s. Interview highlights include Chosin Reservoir hero Maj. Kurt Chew-Een Lee, Medal of Honor recipient and Holocaust survivor Tibor Rubin and members of the Korean War’s all-black 2nd Rangers."

Chronology of the 2nd Ranger Infantry Company (Airborne)

 

Taegan Goddard: The GOP's Border Spectacle

Not encouraging. How can a president so unqualified to run this country have succeeded in tying his opposition into such knots?

 

Political Wire : Wall Street Journal editorial: "Republicans should be heading toward a November election victory, perhaps even a big one, adding to their House majority and maybe picking up the six or more seats necessary to control the Senate. Yet never underestimate their ability to save the day for Democrats, not least by showcasing the GOP's immigration neuralgia... the GOP again gave the country the impression that its highest policy priority is to deport as many children as rapidly as possible back from wherever they came."

"House Republicans may have scrambled enough on Friday to save themselves from a total meltdown. But this latest immigration debacle won't help the party's image, which is still recovering from the government shutdown debacle of 2011. A party whose preoccupation is deporting children is going to alienate many conservatives, never mind minority voters."

Sadly, the rest of the WSJ article is subscription only. Perhaps this source will open.

The party melts down one more time over immigration.  "Republicans should be heading toward a November election victory, perhaps even a big one, adding to their House majority and maybe picking up the six or more seats necessary to control the Senate. Yet never underestimate their ability to save the day for Democrats, not least by showcasing the GOP's immigration neuralgia.

"The House GOP looked ready Friday to pass a bill to address the influx of children over the Southwest border, though not before providing another spectacle of internal disarray. The bill should have been a moment to redirect attention to President Obama's cynical handling of the border problem and to the Democratic Party's immigration divisions. Instead the GOP again gave the country the impression that its highest policy priority is to deport as many children as rapidly as possible back from wherever they came.

On the other hand...
It Wasn't Pretty, But It Worked: How the Right Won the Summer Immigration Battle

 

... "Conservatives capitalized on a perfect storm of the new House GOP leadership team's inability to whip enough votes Thursday and the hardline stance of key conservatives. Their effort was aided by aggressive movement activists, the conservative media, and a national mood against President Barack Obama — which led many Americans to call their representatives demanding they come up with a solution to the ongoing crisis at the border.

"And once the House GOP conference united on a plan, House Democrats went into overdrive Friday in an attempt to derail the new united GOP front." ...
    
Yet it appears Mr. Obama is the one gloating every day.