Peeling Back Congressional Overreach

Photo: http://freedomist.com/

Heritage   "Americans are all too familiar with the federal government’s intrusion into our daily lives. It sometimes seems that the feds have their hands in nearly every aspect of our daily life: what we drive, how we educate our children, down to the very food we eat. Unfortunately, Americans are less familiar with how the federal government is able to justify such intrusions.

"They should look no further than the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which is embodied in: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 ."   Hat tip to The Freedomist

NYC Russians Flock to GOP – Say Democrats Are “Too Socialist”

Gateway Pundit  "Many New York City Russians are reportedly flocking to the Republican Party, claiming that the national Democrats’ “socialistic” policies remind them too much of Mother Russia’s top-down oligarchy they fled from in the past."

They have tasted and seen what American liberals cannot imagine.

An ex-Soviet immigrant goes Socratic on his liberal American critics.  "Question Insanity: What to Ask Progressives":

"Dear Americans, these are some questions I have collected in 16 years of living in your country. Please see if you can answer them for me:"...

Obamacare Criminalizes Medicine

The Daily Beast  "The president's health-care plan is one big entrapment scheme, argues Shikha Dalmia of  Reason Foundation —one that will turn both patients and providers into criminals, pushing some families to fudge their tax reports to receive better care."

Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir  "When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan.1."

Palin's Food Fight

Wall Street Journal  "Mrs. Palin would be more effective if she made some distinctions among the Obama policies that really are worth opposing. ObamaCare further redistributes the cost of obesity and other lifestyle ills by forcing individuals to buy the insurance that Washington says is for their own good, and then subsidizes the cost for some at the expense of others. That really is an affront to liberty. Telling kids to eat their vegetables and run around the block is merely instructing them to take responsibility for their own choices."

Palin’s Counterproductive Complaint "Mocking the First Lady and portraying her anti-obesity campaign as several steps on the Road to Serfdom is exactly the type of thing that will turn the public against the legitimate efforts by conservatives to rein in the reach and scope of government. Ms. Palin might consider this before she takes yet another unfair shot at Mrs. Obama."  Peter Wehner

Obama's new start

Charles Krauthammer  ""Harry Reid has eaten our lunch," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, lamenting his side's "capitulation" in the lame-duck session. Yes, but it was less Harry than Barry. Obama came back with a vengeance. His string of lame-duck successes is a singular political achievement. Because of it, the epic battles of the 112th Congress begin on what would have seemed impossible just one month ago - a level playing field."

START the Damage Control  "Last week’s rushed vote on New START in the lame-duck session of the Senate represented that body’s abandonment of its constitutional obligations to provide to “advise and consent” on treaties, despite the best efforts Sen. Jon Kyl and some of his colleagues to prevent the Senate from being reduced to such a “rubber stamp”. The vote cannot be undone, but the damage can be mitigated if our leadership exercises the political will to do so."

So You Lost Your Election

Iowahawk  "A[n] outplacement transition guide to life beyond Washington for former members and associates of Congress"  H/T to American Thinker.

Jennifer Rubin: Interview with Israeli ambassador Michael Oren

Part One:  "...the ultimate test is whether Iran will cease enrichment on its soil." What about the use of force? He said, "The position of both the U.S. and Israel is that all options remain on the table. But it is important for Iran to take that seriously, to lend that credibility." He declined to offer a specific way of enhancing the credibility of a military option, saying only, "There are ways to communicate that [a military option is real] to the Iranians." "

Part Two:  "...Oren discussed the onslaught Israel now faces -- not on the battlefield, but in the court of public opinion and in international bodies. In recent years, efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state, that is, to challenge its legitimacy as a state and ability to act in its own interests, as does every other country, have increased dramatically."

The 22nd Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting

Media Research Center  "Welcome to the Media Research Center’s annual awards issue, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2009 (December 2008 through November 2009).
"To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 48 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers, and media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of five to eight quotes in each category."  More from MRC:

Rick Moran at American Thinker has this comment: "The rest of the list will no doubt bring back fond memories of liberal cluelessness and lefty doltishness."

Rich Terrell: The Obama Infrastructure Plan

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Happy Hol...er, Merry Christmas!

http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/

Glossy al-Qaida magazine focuses on how-to tips, politics

 Raymond Ibrahim.com  "An English-language jihadist publication released online this month is another sign that al-Qaida or copycat groups are becoming increasingly adept at packaging their message for a young western audience, experts say.

In case you access it for the pictures and
not the articles, here's Mr. January

"The magazine, called Inspire, includes content that advises young people of what to expect when joining a jihad, or holy war, instructions on how to make bombs with household ingredients, messages from Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and even delves into the debates on the Muhammad-cartoon controversy and the banning of the niqab face veil in France."

 

A Contest: Which Local Government Deserves a Lump of Coal?

Big Government  "This post could be entitled, “So many dumb bureaucrats, so little time,” but let’s have some fun and turn it into a contest. Which bone-headed decision by a local government best exemplifies mindless bureaucracy, politically correct nonsense, and government waste?"