May 5, 2009 Posted by John at 6:20 PM | Powerline
Barack Obama's lawless conduct in connection with the Chrysler bankruptcy is sending shock waves through the business community. It is important to understand what is happening here. Many think that Obama is merely engaging in crony capitalism, favoring his political supporters (most notably the Auto Workers Union) at the expense of others. That's true, of course, but it is much worse than that: Obama has tried to bully those who have not bought his favor--Chrysler's non-TARP secured creditors--into giving up their legal rights by threatening to use the powers of the White House to damage their businesses. This sort of lawlessness is common in some of the more corrupt Third World countries, but it is brand new to the United States.
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
screw the law, screw the Constitution . . . identity politics must come to the US Supreme Court
President Obama advised not to replace David Souter with judge
BY James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Updated Monday, May 4th 2009, 7:28 AM
WASHINGTON -- Top Democrats advising President Obama on his first Supreme Court vacancy are urging him not to pick a sitting judge.
"I would like to see more people from outside the judicial monastery - somebody who has had some real-life experience," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) told ABC's "This Week."
Picking up on the outsider theme, brand-new Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania - who shepherded ex-President George W. Bush's two high court picks as the panel's former GOP chairman - agreed that the eight other justices on the bench who were lower court judges were plenty.
Specter told CBS' "Face the Nation" that he'd like a replacement for retiring Associate Justice David Souter "who has done something more than wear a black robe for most of their lives."
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Obama Approval Index
Sunday, May 03, 2009 | Rasmussen Reports
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 35% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-two percent (32%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +3 (see trends and recent demographic highlights). The number of people who consider themselves Republicans declined slightly in April while the number of Democrats held steady.
"Obama's overall approval rating among likely voters is 54 percent. His "100 days" press conference and accompanying pageant of media adulation apparently had no impact on voters. It won't be long, I suspect, before Rasmussen's approval index goes negative." -- John, at Powerline
Feeding the poor in $540 tennis shoes
BY Amy Diluna
DAILY NEWS FASHION EDITOR
Friday, May 1st 2009, 3:22 PM
Michelle Obama has taken casual to a haute new level.
While volunteering Wednesday at a D.C. food bank, the First Lady sported her usual J.Crew cardigan, a pair of utilitarian capri pants and, on her feet, a sneaky splurge: trainers that go for $540.
That's right: These sneakers - suede, with grosgrain ribbon laces and metallic pink toe caps - are made by French design house Lanvin, one of fashion's hottest labels. They come in denim and satin versions, and have been a brisk seller all spring.
Yes, the Government Is Out to Get ‘Right-Wing Extremists’
May 3, 2009 - by Mary Grabar | Pajamas Media
The Department of Homeland Security’s release of the “right-wing extremism” report should anger everyone. Janet Napolitano’s faux apology to veterans glossed over the real message of this memo: to intimidate the 60 million Americans who voted against Obama.
Consider the current Department of Homeland Security’s definitions of “extremists” according to this memo: those worried about the usurpation of the Constitution, illegal immigration, and the threat of gun control legislation. Consider the way these real fears are cast: “Many right-wing extremist groups perceive recent gun control legislation as a threat to their right to bear arms”; also they have the “perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs” (emphases added).
This administration labels those who see such real dangers for what they are as delusional. Perhaps they see us as needing a little help from government psychiatrists?
Obama himself, far from the bipartisan spirit promised — indeed, even the respect expected from the officeholder — mocks opposing opinions. He did it recently by ridiculing those who listen to Rush Limbaugh and he did it during his “town hall” meeting in Arnold, Missouri, to mark his first 100 days. He cast tea party participants as those “waving tea bags around.” His assertion then that he would be happy to have a “conversation” about federal spending and his warning that while “we have to tighten belts, [we] have to do it in an intelligent way” were audacious displays of disdain for Americans in light of his midnight-3:00 p.m. push-through of the “stimulus” bill. Does he think we have forgotten how much time he gave Congress to sign a bill over a thousand pages long — and after promising five days for public review of all bills?
In light of the events of just the first 100 days, we should be worried.
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Friday, May 1, 2009
Obama revelling in U.S. power unseen in decades
By Steve Holland | Fri May 1, 2009 9:47pm BST | Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama is revelling in presidential power and influence unseen in Washington for decades.
Barely 100 days in office, the U.S. president and his Democratic Party have firm control over the White House and Congress and the ability to push through ambitious plans.
Now, with the coming retirement of a Supreme Court justice clearing the way for him to appoint a successor, Obama already is assured a legacy at the top of all three branches of government -- executive, legislative and judicial.
On the corporate front, the federal government's pumping of billions of dollars in bailout money into banks and auto companies has given Obama the power to force an overhaul in those industries, a remarkable intervention in capitalist industries by the state.
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Hispanic Dems furious over GOP video
By Jared Allen
Posted: 04/30/09 05:52 PM [ET] | The Hill
Hispanic Democrats are furious and demanding an apology over an image wedged in a new GOP web video on terrorism that shows members of the Hispanic Caucus sitting at a table with President Obama.
“On behalf of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), we write to demand an apology for the inclusion of the picture of the CHC meeting with President Obama in the video on your official website entitled “Do You Feel Safer?,’” the CHC wrote in a letter being sent to Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), whose office created the video.
. . . “Latinos contribute to the progress of this nation, and have a long standing history of serving of our country,” Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the CHC, said in an accompanying statement. “The video posted on Congressman John Boehner’s official website is a completely inappropriate message for the leader of the minority party to send to the American people.”
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Banana Republic Capitalism
April 30, 2009 Posted by John at 10:28 PM | Powerline
The Chrysler reorganization is shaping up as another milestone in the decline of the rule of law under Barack Obama. We've said for quite a while that bankruptcy is the only viable option for Chrysler and General Motors, not--as Obama claims--because they don't know how to make the right kinds of vehicles, but because their unsustainable union contracts make it impossible for them to be profitable. That reality has now been turned on its head, as the administration has tried to bully Chrysler's secured creditors into going away, while the United Auto Workers Union, solely on the basis of political clout, would be paid at an implied rate of 50 percent and would emerge owning 55 percent of the company, with the government also holding a stake.
This is banana republic capitalism at its worst. Political influence, rather than the law, dictates the rights of the parties. When some of the secured creditors refused to be intimidated, Obama libeled them in the press, saying, outrageously, "I don't stand with those who held out when everyone else is making sacrifices." Actually, under Obama's plan the politically favored parties, principally the UAW, will benefit--will steal money, to put it crudely--from the parties who held out. Those parties call themselves the "non-TARP lenders."
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