Day: January 4, 2012

Proper And Smart Move For Obama To Make Recess Appointments For Consumer Financial Protection Bureau And National Labor Relations Board

Ronald Leave a comment

President Obama has been stymied constantly on appointments to various government agencies by Republican filibusters in the US Senate.

The Republicans are not contending that Obama’s appointments are not qualified, but simply playing politics and refusing to approve appointments to necessary positions on important government agencies.

So the President, in another example of aggressiveness, has made a recess appointment of Richard Cordray, former Ohio Attorney General, to be the heed of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency formulated by Elizabeth Warren, who knew she would never be approved to head the bureau, so is running for the US Senate.

Recess appointments are allowed in the Constitution to prevent Congress from paralyzing government by refusal to fill positions in government agencies. Barack Obama has not been the first President to do this, with George W. Bush using the power extensively, most notable with John Bolton as a recess appointment to be United Nations Ambassador.

Cordray’s appointment will be effective for two years, to the end of 2013.
And Obama also made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, another government agency that Republicans wish to paralyze, but Obama took action and should be commended for it.

This is the fighting Obama that should have been there from day one, fighting the GOP, but after nearly three years of trying to get along and work with Republicans, Obama is following the aggressive tactics of Democratic Presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Bill Clinton! Kudos to him!

The “Bible Belt”, Religion, And The Republican Presidential Race

Ronald Leave a comment

After Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucuses by EIGHT votes over Rick Santorum, some saw it as a victory.

But others pointed out that Romney actually received SIX fewer total votes than he did in 2008 in the Iowa Caucuses!

And Romney did not do well among evangelical Christians, which are a very large portion of the Republican vote in Iowa. Considering also that he received just 25 percent of the vote, the same percentage as in 2008, brought to mind that his Mormon faith MAY have an effect in the Southern primaries and other Midwest primaries where evangelical Christians still look at Mormonism as a religious cult, in areas considered the “Bible Belt”!

So Mitt Romney is not seen as overcoming the religion question as John F. Kennedy did in 1960.

But the problem is that Jon Huntsman is also a Mormon, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are Catholic, the problem that existed for Kennedy. Only Rick Perry and Ron Paul are evangelical Christians or Baptists, which is predominant in the South.

The question is whether Rick Santorum, who shares the religious and family values of many Southerners, but is a Catholic, can win them over and have an impact in future primaries. He is already trying to appeal to blue collar whites who are often rural in environment and religious more than the rest of the country. Will Perry and Paul have a better shot, particularly in the South, and can Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism, overcome that fact?

The point is that religion COULD be a factor in the final decision as to who the GOP Presidential nominee will be!

The Dangers Of The National Defense Authorization Act Signing By President Obama

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President Obama, on his way back from vacation in Hawaii, quietly signed the National Defense Authorization Act, bitterly opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil libertarians.

Without much fanfare, Obama signed the legislation on December 31, permitting the national government to have powers it has never had
before in peacetime. The 565 page bill includes provisions allowing for indefinite detention of people that the government suspects are involved in international terrorism. The legislation seems to allow arrests by the military in the US of American citizens, a very terrifying idea! President Obama issued a signing statement regarding this legislation, but that does not mean that a future President would not abuse the law and have American citizens arrested.

This is a violation of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, and one can hope for a Supreme Court decision declaring it unconstitutional, but that is probably not likely when it comes to powers involving war and security of the nation.

This can be seen as an extension of the Patriot Act, which many concerned people also think. is a violation of our civil liberties. The fact that members of both parties in Congress passed this legislation is also very troubling.

The danger that is most obvious is that a future President could use this new legislation in a way that President Obama has made clear his administration will NOT use it. The precedent has been set, and will be hard to reverse.

One could say that as long as a person stays within the law, does not break the law, is a citizen who does nothing illegal, that he or she does not have to be concerned. But even with that thought, there is still the possibility of innocent victims who become embroiled in the growing security network of the nation, and become victims.

So we have a new concern to be worried about regarding the BIll Of Rights!

Further Proof Of The Importance Of Every Single Vote: Eight Vote Win For Romney In Iowa

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There are many Americans who think it is not important to vote, that no one person can have an impact or change a result of an election.

That falsehood was proved to be inaccurate again last night when Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucuses over Rick Santorum by the closest margin of any Republican Presidential nomination contest in its entire history–EIGHT VOTES statewide!

The win is better than a loss, of course, but realistically, Rick Santorum gained a lot more by losing by eight votes than Romney did by squeaking out such a tiny margin, and proving that he still has a problem with conservative and Tea Party Republicans, winning only one out of four votes in a state he has campaigned in since 2007, and doing no better in percentage than he did in the 2008 caucuses.

It looks more than ever that the battle is down to Romney vs the “Anti Romney”, who appears to be Santorum, plus the possibility of Jon Huntsman, but only if he is able to win New Hampshire or end up a very close second.

Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are, thankfully, no longer factors in the race, even if they decide to remain in the competition.

Ron Paul will continue to compete, but will not be the nominee, and likely will not do as well as third place anywhere else but Iowa.

Newt Gingrich will do his usual “slash and burn” strategy against Romney, copying his entire career in the House of Representatives, but a poor fourth gives him almost no chance to move on into serious competition.

So we are down to three candidates in realistic terms, and possibly only two after New Hampshire next Tuesday!