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Government & Politics

Obama’s ‘Jobs’ Bill Going Down in Flames

On Sept. 8, Barack Obama made yet another speech to a joint session of Congress. In it, he demanded that they pass his latest $447 billion “jobs” bill (i.e., Stimulus Jr.) “right away.” It took weeks to write an actual bill and bring it to a vote, and, on Oct. 11, more than a month later, it went down in flames. While on the campaign trail, Obama defiantly declared that neither he nor “the American people” would “take ‘no’ for an answer.” He chided Republicans for obstruction and challenged them to explain why they didn’t want to create jobs. The Leftmedia happily repeated the charge that Republicans were to blame. The inconvenient truth, however, was that the Democrat-controlled Senate shot down his bill.

It’s true that Republicans were united against the bill, but two Democrats joined them. And Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) actually pushed for the vote, not to obstruct it.

Republicans – and a few Democrats – realize that the president’s plan won’t work. If the first “stimulus” didn’t come close to accomplishing its stated goals, how would half the money spent in much the same way do any better? We did the math and this new stimulus doesn’t cut it. But that doesn’t mean the Congressional Budget Office isn’t trying feverishly to make it work.

The CBO determined this week that the millionaires’ tax proposed by Democrats would supposedly cover the bill’s $447 billion price tag. What the CBO doesn’t account for is the loss in tax revenue that always occurs when the so-called rich get soaked. Small businesses cut back and investment capital heads overseas. Taxes change behavior.

Even a few Democrats are starting to see that the gig is up. Some people even think that Obama is cynically seeking to use Republicans’ votes against them in 2012 – far fetched, we know. Even the Associated Press, normally a bastion of leftist propaganda, presented an unflattering analysis of Obama’s bill and his recent performance as president. The AP observed that Obama is more motivated by campaigning than governing, so maybe they’re finally coming around to what the rest of us have known for a long time.

Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is doing his part to strike fear into opponents of the bill. Campaigning in Flint, Michigan, Biden warned the crowd that if Congress doesn’t spend hundreds of billions of dollars, it would lead to (even more) rampant rape and murder. “In 2008, when Flint had 265 sworn officers on their police force, there were 35 murders and 91 rapes in this city,” Biden said. “In 2010, when Flint had only 144 police officers, the murder rate climbed to 65 and rapes – just to pick two categories – climbed to 229. In 2011, you now only have 125 shields. God only knows what the numbers will be this year for Flint if we don’t rectify it.” So why didn’t the first stimulus save all those police jobs?

On the other hand, Bill Clinton is warning that the tax increases in Obama’s bill are a bad idea in this economy. “Should you raise taxes on anybody today – rich or poor or middle class?” Clinton asked rhetorically. “No, because there’s no growth in the economy.” Oddly enough, he didn’t comment on rape and murder rates.

Obama remains undeterred. In fact, he told supporters, “We’re not gonna wait for Congress.” He said he had given his instructions to his advisers: “Scour this report, identify all those areas in which we can act administratively without additional congressional authorization and just get it done. Anything that’s within our authority to do as an administration we start doing immediately, and we don’t wait for Congress.” Hey, it’s not like this is a constitutional republic.

One final note: Obama has added even more obfuscation to his “saved or created” metric for jobs. The White House now measures stimulus results with the utterly immeasurable word “supported.” Based on his all-encompassing view of government, every job qualifies under that rubric.

The Oath Accountability Civil Action

Join the tens of thousands of Patriots who have already signed on to the Oath Accountability Civil Action for Constitutional Integrity.

To enforce our Constitution’s limits on the central government, we believe a formal legal action is necessary. This action, if successful, would require that all members of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, first and foremost, abide by their oaths “to support and defend” our Constitution, under penalty of law, and comport with its enumerated limitations on the federal government. The current scope of federal activities provides abundant evidence that many members of those three co-equal branches have long since abandoned their oaths, and, at present, there is no recourse for prosecution to enforce compliance.

To that end, we urge you to join this action with Patriots across the nation in this effort to establish legal standing as citizens, particularly those in our Armed Services who defend their oaths with blood and life. If we are unsuccessful in our effort to seek remedy for the lack of any proscription against, and penalty for breach of oath, it will be because the judiciary refuses any such accountability regarding the wanton violation of our Constitution. Such rejection would in effect condemn Americans once again to the abuse previously characterized in American history as “Taxation Without Representation.”

Our goal is 500,000 signatures. Please join us, and encourage other like-minded Patriots to do so. A large support base will be necessary if the federal judiciary refuses to hear this action and we are forced to take it to the national legislature for codification into federal law.

News From the Swamp: ‘Spending Reduction’

After all the drama surrounding the debt ceiling and the debt super-committee, anyone who’s curious about whether the federal government is actually cutting spending can rest assured that they’re not. The CBO now projects that this year’s budget deficit will hit $1.3 trillion, which is $14 billion higher than they figured in August. The budget cut wars fought between Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been a farce. Outlays in 2011 rose 4.2 percent from last year, including 1 percent increases in defense spending and Medicaid. The current deficit accounts for 8.6 percent of the economy, making this the third-highest debt rate since World War II. And the debt is growing fast. The monthly deficit for September was $64 billion – almost $30 billion higher than it was in September 2010. So much for progress on the national debt.

New & Notable Legislation

The Senate passed, 63-35, the Currency Exchange Oversight Reform Act, a measure to allow the U.S. to take action against China for undervaluing its currency. Hardly anyone disputes that the Chinese are, in fact, keeping the value of the yuan artificially low, thereby doing damage to the U.S. manufacturing sector. Yet the bill faces defeat in the House, where Speaker John Boehner warned that it was “dangerous” and could lead to a trade war with China. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai likewise said, “Should the proposed legislation become law, the only result would be a trade war between China and the U.S., and that would be a lose-lose situation for both sides.” China’s currency practices must be addressed, but it remains to be seen how that can be done successfully.

In other trade news, thanks to Republicans, Congress passed free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. While trade with the two South American nations will have limited impact, South Korea is the world’s 15th largest economy. The Washington Post reports, “The South Korea deal has the potential to create as many as 280,000 American jobs, according to a recent assessment by the staff of the U.S. International Trade Commission, and to boost exports by more than $12 billion.” These agreements were drawn up by the Bush administration. Until now, however, Obama and his weak-kneed fellow Democrats have been afraid to stand up to Big Labor.

This Week’s ‘Braying Jenny’ Award

The House on Thursday passed the Protect Life Act, a bill to bar federal funding for abortions. The bill also provides conscience protections for health care providers so that they are not forced to perform abortions against their beliefs.

This seems to us what you might call a “no-brainer.” Perhaps that’s the key to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s response: “When the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor of health care providers. It’s just appalling.” Ironically, Pelosi and other leftists have no problem letting women be killed before they’re even born, or with forcing providers to so do against their will. Pelosi has no shame.

It’s worth noting, too, that 11 Democrats voted for the bill. We wonder what they thought of Pelosi’s comments. Also, Barack Obama has promised a veto.

Senate Parliamentarians

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) went nuclear last week, arbitrarily and unilaterally changing Senate parliamentary procedure in an attempt to stifle Republican opposition in debate. Reid acted without consultation or announcement, and the new rules passed by a strictly party-line vote. Reid claimed that GOP demands for votes on amendments drove him to this drastic action, and the assumption is that Democrats will be able to move their legislation. In reality, Reid’s short-sighted maneuver will likely come back to haunt Democrats. Republicans are now in a position through procedural rules to bring Senate business to a halt – not that it was moving at a brisk pace before. Democrats think the new rule was worth the cost because Republicans will have no real say in new legislation. Is it possible that they haven’t thought far enough ahead to consider what might happen if the Republicans take the Senate in 2012?

On the Campaign Trail: Primary Dates

The jockeying for best position among states planning their GOP primaries and caucuses has gone to ridiculous extremes. New Hampshire, zealously proud of its first-primary-in-the-nation status, is holding its primary Jan. 3, and the Granite State may even push it up as early as Dec. 6 if Nevada and other states don’t cave to pressure to back their primaries further into 2012. States have been shuffling dates on the calendar for several election cycles now, aiming for more influence in the nominating process, and the campaign season has gotten interminably longer as a result.

It wasn’t always this way, though. Until 1972, the first primary was in March of the election year, and in 1968, New Hampshire was the only state to hold a primary even that early. However, in 1972, Florida began the leap-frog contest by bumping up its primary to the same day as New Hampshire’s. The latter state couldn’t tolerate this affront, and moved theirs up as well. Thus began the competition. The GOP tried threatening sanctions against states that continued this trend, including taking away half a state’s delegates, but Florida did it again this year anyway. With the convention in the Sunshine State, it’s unlikely the GOP will back up its threats.

National Security

The Iranian Terror Plot Brings Questions

“FBI and DEA agents have disrupted a plot to commit a ‘significant terrorist act in the United States’ tied to Iran,” ABC News reported this week. “[Federal] officials said the plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir, with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C. Bombings of the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were also discussed, according to the U.S. officials.” Attorney General Eric Holder said the plan was “conceived, sponsored and … directed from Iran.” If true, this plot further damages our long-deteriorating interaction with that rogue nation.

Following administration policy, after the suspects were arrested, they were indicted Tuesday in federal court. According to ABC, Manssor Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American, as well as Gohlam Shakuri, an Iranian official, “were named in a five-count criminal complaint filed Tuesday afternoon in federal court in New York. They were charged with conspiracy to kill a foreign official and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, a bomb, among other counts. Shakuri is still at large in Iran.” The conspiracy allegedly included a Mexican drug cartel.

The plot seems almost too strange – Arbabsiar was a used-car salesman from Corpus Christi, Texas, and he was supposedly recruited by Iran’s elite Quds Force to connect with the Mexican drug cartel known as the Zetas to carry out the assassination. However, several elements of the story just don’t compute. For example, the Zetas don’t commit political murders in the U.S. – it would be bad for business. In addition, many experts remain skeptical that Iran was behind the plot because it doesn’t fit their style, and Iran would stand to gain nothing from the plot’s success.

Nevertheless, Justice Department officials are standing by their story. Four years ago, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak at Columbia University, and then candidate-Obama said he “would be willing as president to meet with the Iranian leader as a way to protect U.S. interests.” How did that turn out? Well, The Wall Street Journal reports, “Mr. Obama injected a new level of gravity into the incident by taking the unusual step of authorizing U.S. diplomats to deliver a tough message directly to Iranian representatives.” That’ll show ‘em.

Warfront With Jihadistan: The Plight of Middle East Christians

Ten years after the United States freed the Afghan people from the Islamist Taliban regime, and months after the “Arab Spring” supposedly brought more freedom to many Arab states, the reality on the ground, especially for religious freedom, continues to deteriorate. According to the U.S. State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report, for example, there is not a single public Christian church left in Afghanistan despite the deaths of more than 1,700 U.S. troops and $440 billion spent to win freedom for the Afghan people. The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the report, which also notes that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

Meanwhile in Egypt, ground zero for the Arab Spring, the allegedly secular military government has actively joined the country’s majority Muslim population in brutally persecuting Egypt’s Coptic Christians. This week alone, Egypt’s armed forces killed more than 25 people and wounded hundreds when they brutally dispersed Coptic Christians gathered in front of the state broadcasting building to protest a church burning in Aswan. It is now feared that anti-Christian mobs will take the military’s active repression as license to further terrorize the Copts.

Finally, religious freedom fares no better in Iran, where that nation’s Supreme Court has ordered a retrial for the high-profile case of Yousef Nadarkhani, the 32-year-old pastor who was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity. Iranian authorities later changed their story to say that Nadarkhani had committed rape and other crimes. Sadly, for all the talk of freedom in the Muslim world, there is still little evidence it exists.

Business & Economy

Wall Street Occupied … With Giving Obama and Democrats Big Bucks

The Red October Occupy Wall Street protests taking place in New York and being copied in cities around the nation reveal the irony of Obama’s relationship with Wall Street. Forget for a moment the shocking pictures of garbage piling up, the arrests of protesters – though apparently not the one caught on camera defecating on a police car – and the competing lists of demands that include everything from forgiveness of all debt and a “living wage” of $20 per hour to a maximum allowed annual income of $40,000. While Obama’s party sends out e-mail missives blasting a “reckless Republican leadership” that’s “out of touch,” it’s interesting to note that Wall Street was very good to Barack Obama in 2008, and the 2012 cycle appears to be more of the same. All told, Obama for America received $15.8 million from Wall Street firms in 2008 and $7.2 million so far this cycle – figures that dwarf the contributions received by any other candidate.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is quickly gaining the imprimatur of groups traditionally favoring Democrats as well as the party itself, as a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee e-mail calls on recipients to sign a petition in support of the movement. A number of labor groups have also joined protests around the country supporting the group’s aims.

Sounds like “Astroturf” and not grassroots to us. Unfortunately, the stench of Zucotti Park that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg deems “not good for tourism” is very real indeed. Maybe New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was right when he wrote, “[T]here has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in the summer of 2009.” No, Tea Party members don’t violate or vandalize private property, expose themselves indecently, or get arrested for disorderly conduct – and they clean up after themselves when they’re finished, partly because they actually leave and go home.

Income Redistribution: Stimulus Was 'Surprisingly Naive’

While the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize is generally politically motivated, many of the other Nobel awards go to those truly deserving in their fields of endeavor. That’s why it’s so refreshing that a recently named Nobel laureate warned two years ago about something we already knew: government stimulus doesn’t work. New York University professor Thomas Sargent, one of the two winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics, foretold as early as 2009 that the approach of massive government spending presented “respectable reasons for doubting that fiscal stimulus packages promote prosperity” and, furthermore, that dismissing the arguments of skeptics is “not an accurate description of the full range of professional opinion.”

As time goes by, the crushing failure of the so-called stimulus package becomes more evident. For example, a $500 million program through the Employment and Training Administration that promised 125,000 jobs has spent $162.8 million so far, but it only employed 8,035 people. Of those, just 1,033 are still working after six months.

Another example of the failure of Obama’s policies is that incomes are declining at a faster rate during the so-called “recovery” than they did even during the recession that technically ended in June 2009. Politico reports, “During the recession, which economists say lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, the median annual household income fell by 3.2 percent, from $55,309 to $53,518, according to a report authored by two former U.S. Census Bureau officials. But in the post-recession period from June 2009 to June 2011, the figure fell by 6.7 percent, from $53,518 to $49,909. From December 2007 to June 2011, median annual household income fell by 9.8 percent.”

Not only was the stimulus “surprisingly naive” in the face of numerous experts advising a different approach; it has made the situation worse – unless you revel in bad news for America. In that case, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Solyndra Fallout

Solyndra, the solar-panel maker that went bankrupt after taking a $535 million loan from the federal government, is once again in the news. CEO Brian Harrison has stepped down in the wake of the scandal. Harrison and Solyndra’s chief financial officer, Bill Stover, testified before Congress last month, but pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than a dozen times rather than actually answer questions. Harrison’s is just the latest head to roll – last week, it was Jonathan Silver, the director of the Energy Department’s loan program. Unfortunately, these resignations won’t bring back the 1,100 jobs lost at the company’s manufacturing facility, or the half-trillion dollars in taxpayer money burnt up on this “green” energy source.

Culture & Policy

Second Amendment: Holder Subpoenaed

Last week, we described how Attorney General Eric Holder was playing “fast and furious” with the facts related to Fast and Furious, the ATF’s alleged undercover operation to track the straw purchase of American weapons transferred to Mexican drug cartels. We commended Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, for his efforts to get to the bottom of this scandal despite constant administration roadblocks. Issa hasn’t let us down. Wednesday, he subpoenaed Holder seeking, among other things, all communications from 16 top Justice officials regarding the operation, including Holder, his chief of staff, Gary Grindler, and the head of the department’s criminal division, Lanny Breuer.

The subpoena also asks for all documents and communications referring or relating to the murder of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, including any correspondence outlining the details of Zapata’s mission at the time he was murdered. In a statement announcing the subpoena Issa said, “Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged. … The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It’s time we know the whole truth.”

Issa’s subpoena is a challenge to Holder’s honesty before Congress – not for the first time, either. For an administration that claimed it was going to improve transparency, its attorney general’s forthrightness before Congress is awfully opaque.

Around the Nation: California Dreamin’

California is at it again. The state that gave us the University of California at Berkeley and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just handed down a quartet of laws that can only be described as absurd. First, Democrat Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown signed the California Dream Act, which will give illegal aliens taxpayer-funded college financial aid to the tune of some $14.5 million. This is an insult not only to every legal immigrant but also to every taxpayer whose earnings will go to educate lawbreakers. Second, Brown signed a law banning the open carrying of unloaded handguns in public. Previously, open carry of unloaded guns was allowed, but apparently these expensive paperweights made some folks squeamish. Fear not, though, as HotAir’s Ed Morrissey writes, “[S]tate legislator Anthony Portantino discovered this grave threat to public safety that has produced no violence and no issues, except that it makes some people nervous.” What a way to crack down on … freedom.

A third law prevents anyone under the age of 18 from using tanning beds. While this alone may not sound crazy, given the threat of skin cancer (government over-reach aside), the lunacy is revealed with the fourth law, which permits children 12 or older to make decisions, without parental or guardian consent, about receiving medical care to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. In other words, a 15-year-old can’t walk into a tanning salon for artificial sun but can walk into a medical clinic and obtain an HPV vaccination or, for that matter, an abortion on demand. Indeed, stupidity has become standard in the once-Golden State.

Judicial Benchmarks: Court to Decide on Church Ministers

The Obama Justice Department has requested that the Supreme Court hear arguments in a religious liberty case. Naturally, the administration is on, at best, dubious ground. The case is that of Cheryl Perich, a “commissioned minister” and “called teacher” at Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in Redford, Michigan. After being diagnosed with narcolepsy in 2004, she was granted leave by the school, which eventually had to hire another teacher and sought to “peacefully release” her. Perich, however, demanded to be reinstated and threatened legal action if the school failed to do so. She was then fired because taking such matters to secular court is against church teaching.

The Justice Department has backed her and is seeking to have the Supreme Court rule that the school must reinstate her on the grounds that her firing violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The school maintains that she was fired for threatening legal action, not for her disability. Furthermore, ADA contains a “ministerial exception,” so that churches aren’t forced to hire people who violate their teachings (female priests in Catholic churches, for example). The question for the court, then, is whether Perich was a “minister.” The only thing at stake is religious liberty. What could go wrong?

From the Village Academic Curriculum File

A Michigan school district recalled a book on global warming that was included in science kits this week after parents complained. “This book makes sweeping statements” unfounded in science, said Connie Duncan, director of the Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center. “We want to be sure the information we send out is 100 percent correct to the best of our knowledge.” According to the Kalamazoo News, “The book holds up Al Gore as an ‘eco-hero;’ promotes organizations such as Greenpeace and Rainforest Alliance; urges children to persuade their parents to ‘Vote Green’ and buy organic; cautions against new-home construction, the plastics industry and conventional agriculture, and notes ‘many people believe that it is best for the earth for families to have no more than one child.’” The only thing surprising here is that the district had the wherewithal to pull the book.

And Last…

Barack Obama enjoyed one vote of confidence this week. On the same day he visited Orlando for another fundraiser, the city opened the first part of a new road named after him. The construction of President Barack Obama Parkway created 150 jobs at a cost of $10.5 million (roughly equivalent to the cost of Obama’s visit, no doubt), and as Phase II begins, the city plans to hire another 150 workers. The road isn’t at all what we expected. In fact, we were surprised to learn that it’s not a dead-end dirt road littered with Recovery Act signs.

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team