Big Dogs Weblog

Justice Department Covers Obama’s Power Grab

Jan 13, 2012 Political

The Justice Department, headed by corrupt Attorney General Eric Holder, has weighed in on King Barack Hussein’s “recess” appointments and has found, surprise, that Obama did nothing wrong.

Justice noted that pro forma sessions are not breaks of the longer recess and that the Senate is not able to receive communications from the White House or to advise and consent. Perhaps this would be true if the Senate was in recess (and only courts can determine it) but the Senate was never gaveled into recess. It has adjourned every three days since December and I can find nothing in the Congressional Record indicating the Senate body made a motion to recess.

So the Senate was never in a recess. This was done, as indicated on the Senate website, so that one body does not have to ask the other for permission to adjourn (longer than three days requires consent of the other chamber).

It happened under Harry Reid so contrary to the referenced article, the Republicans did not do this, they carried it on. It is likely Reid did this to keep from having to ask the House for permission to adjourn because they were in a heated debate on the tax cut plan and the House might have said no.

In any event, the pro forma scheme has been used by both parties to block recess appointments and Ted Kennedy wrote an amicus for a court over a Bush recess appointment. In that brief, Kennedy made the argument that everything Obama has now done is wrong. He was arguing against a Bush appointment but the argument would clearly apply to what Obama is doing.

It is no surprise that the Fast and Furious Justice Department sided with Obama. They support his power grab and their actions in the past show they have little regard for the Constitution or the rule of law.

Justice argues that the pro forma sessions do not constitute a functioning body that can render advise and consent on nominees. First of all, the Senate is capable of taking in communications and second of all the names in question had already been submitted. In other words, Obama would not have needed to submit their names for consideration because they were already submitted for consideration and had not been acted upon. One was in process and the other two were so new that the Senate had not even had the chance to act on on them.

Second, even if the entire Senate was in session the nominations would not have been acted upon immediately. It is likely, given past experience, that the Senate would take quite some time deliberating on the nominations.

So no matter how it is sliced, Obama made a power grab and did an end run around Congress. That end run will probably run afoul of the Constitution and embarrass the inexperienced power grabber in chief.

All these people need to be run out of town come November.

We need to remove King Hussein from his throne.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: justice department, lies, Obama, power grab, recess appointments

No Background Checks On NLRB Appointees

Jan 6, 2012 Political

It is bad enough that Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he made what he calls recess appointments when the Senate was not in recess but two of the appointments he made never made it through the vetting process and the Senate never had a chance to advise and consent. As such, Sharon Block and Richard Griffin were sent up after the Senate had adjourned (but did not go into official recess) and they do not appear on the list of Obama nominations.

These two did not have background checks, security checks and were not checked to ensure they paid their income taxes (a common problem among Obama appointees). None of this mattered to the Dictator of Amerika, King Barack Hussein, who appointed them anyway.

It is tragic that he violated the Constitution though it is not surprising. It is just as bad that he never gave the Senate time to even put these nominees through the proper vetting process.

King Hussein said he appointed folks because he knew Republicans would obstruct. It was, preemptive. So he has now embraced the Bush doctrine of preemptive strikes.

The Senate was not in recess and has had a pro forma session every three days. That appears to be consistent with Senate rules (and the Constitution says the Senate makes its own rules for how it is run) so Obama usurped the authority of Congress.

None of these appointments came up while the Senate was in recess and only one has been submitted for proper review. The Senate has not yet acted on these nominations so Obama decided he would take matters into his own hands, violate the Constitution, tick off a lot of people and do what he wants, rules be damned.

I hope he does not expect much cooperation when things ramp back up. He wants a trillion more added to the debt ceiling and he will want to make more nominations.

Republicans need to step up to the plate. Take Obama to court over this and get a ruling. If it goes in our favor then great. If not then you guys need to filibuster every motion to adjourn or motion to recess from now on. Keep everyone in DC and Obama will not be able to do an end run.

Until we take the King off his throne we need to use all the tricks.

We can start by not providing for a salary to anyone who gets a recess appointment and then proceed to not providing funds for their agencies.

The power of the purse will derail a dictator every time.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: background, king obama, liar, national security, recess appointments, taxes

Obama Said It Was Bad When Bush Did It

Jan 5, 2012 Political

In 2008 the inexperienced Barack Obama was campaigning on Hope and Change. He talked about how bad George Bush was and how he would not do the things Bush did. He vowed to close Gitmo and signed the papers to do it. That facility remains open because the so called smartest prez evah found out that it was easier to promise to do something than to actually do it.

Barack Obama also said he would not use signing statements on legislation sent to him by Congress. He said that the president has the power to veto if he does not like something in legislation and then it is up to Congress to override the veto. That is very true (and Congress can rework the legislation) so on this he was correct. Signing statements have no Constitutional authority and they are not binding.

The problem is Obama uses signing statements. He has used 20 of them so far. He said he would not but when he did not get his way he used them.

Obama also did an end run around Congress to make so called recess appointments when the Senate is not in recess. His own Justice Department argued that a recess had to be longer than three days in order for presidents to make a recess appointment. The Senate has been holding pro forma sessions every three days to keep Obama from making appointments but he made them anyway. Obama was part of the Senate that used the same tactic to keep George Bush from making such appointments.

We see once again that when this petulant man does not get his way he ignores the rules and does what he wants.

Now it looks like as if he will be involved in something else he bashed Bush for. Obama will outsource jobs.

When he was a candidate (for the Senate and for the White House) he said that outsourcing was bad. He bashed Bush and his then Senate opponent Jack Ryan for outsourcing saying that Illinois families depend on keeping the high quality jobs here in America.

Barack Obama is part owner of GM. He bailed them out and the government has a large ownership in the company. Obama took taxpayer money and helped GM out so he could help his union supporters. Even though the company should have been allowed to fail and go through bankruptcy, Obama chose to bail it out.

Now GM might be outsourcing the production of the Chevy Volt to China. It is not set in stone yet but it looks as if the company will be moving production to China.

Obama and the government can stop this because they own part of the company. Instead, they will allow GM to outsource jobs after the taxpayers were fleeced of tons of money to bail them out.

How does the left rationalize the continuous lies from this man?

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: china, gitmo, lies, Obama, outsourcing, recess appointments, signing statements

Obama More Like Bush, Where Is Liberal Outcry

Mar 27, 2010 Political

When George Bush made the recess appointments of John Bolton and several judges the left went bonkers. How dare he do that? Who does he think he is? Hell, the Senate had one member in session at times in order to keep him from making such appointments during his time in office. They did not like it because they were obstructing his appointments and he went around them. I did not care because he is allowed under the Constitution to make such appointments. But the Constitution has never really meant much to the left.

Barack Obama waited until Congress took recess to make 15 recess appointments:

Fed up with waiting, President Barack Obama announced Saturday he would bypass a vacationing Senate and name 15 people to key administration jobs, wielding for the first time the blunt political tool known as the recess appointment.

The move immediately deepened the divide between the Democratic president and Republicans in the Senate following a long, bruising fight over health care. Obama revealed his decision by blistering Republicans, accusing them of holding up nominees for months solely to try to score a political advantage on him.

“I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government,” Obama said in a statement. AP via My Way News

I do not care that he did this because it is allowed under our Constitution. What I find amazing is his rationale for doing it. He said that Republicans were obstructing his appointments for political gain and he needed to fill the positions. This is the rationale Bush used and the left went nuts but in this case, the left encouraged Obama to take a page out of the Bush playbook and do it as well.

[note]The left did not like Bush’s recess appointments so they worked to keep them from happening:

Starting in 2007, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid prevented any further recess appointments by Bush. A compromise was worked out for the August break, and Bush did not make any recess appointments. However, no agreement was reached for the two-week Thanksgiving break in November 2007, and as a result, Reid decided to keep the Senate in session by having pro forma sessions every three days. Prior to this, there had been speculation that James Holsinger would receive a recess appointment as U.S. surgeon general. The Senate was also kept in session over the Christmas break as well as during 2008 breaks. Hence, Bush was unable to make any further recess appointments during his presidency. Wikipedia[/note]

It makes the case less worthy when the argument is that the other guy did it or that it is OK now because Republican obstruction is different than Democrat obstruction.

What is really amazing is that the Democrats still have a 59-41 advantage in the Senate and they had a 60-40, filibuster proof, majority. They could have easily gotten these guys approved if they had not wasted so much energy on the health care takeover. If getting them in was so important then it should have been done first. Considering most parts of the health care takeover do not take place for four years it seems they could have prioritized a little better.

So Obama has made the appointments and they must be approved by the end of the next session of Congress. I am willing to bet they are not approved and will be vacant seats again at the end of next year.

I know Obama claims obstruction but some of these folks had some real issues that were going to be investigated by the Senate committee. It would have been ugly, particularly for union lawyer Craig Becker who was appointed to the National Labor Relations Board.

They will have to work hard to screw things up further because these guys have until the end of next year and they are done.

Yep, Barry Obama is doing just what Bush did and he has the support of the left, those who bashed Bush for doing the exact same thing.

The left is full of hypocrites. But in their true Alinsky fashion, the ends justify the means.

Never surrender, never submit.

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Tags: alinsky, craig becker, lies, Obama, recess appointments

Reid Holds Senate in Session

Nov 16, 2007 Political

Senator Harry Reid is holding the Senate in session over the Thanksgiving break to prevent President Bush from making recess appointments. Reid is upset because some of the people Democrats want are not being considered by the President.

“While an election year looms, significant progress can still be made on nominations,” Reid said. “I am committed to making that progress if the President will meet me halfway.

“But that progress can’t be made if the President seeks controversial recess appointments and fails to make Democratic appointments to important commissions.” Roll Call

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution specifically states that it is the President’s job to nominate people for various positions and it is his alone. The approval is with the advice and consent of the Senate but the job of nominating belongs to the President so if he does not want the people the Democrats like it is his choice, not theirs.

Reid can keep the Senate in session if he wants but I certainly hope this means that they will be in DC and not home with their families. If he holds them in a pro forma session then he must have the minimum required to do the job. I realize he is saying that they will be non voting but in order to be in session they must be present, or at least the minimum required to conduct business. If they all go home the President should make the appointments he wants and let the courts sort it out.

Being in session means being present and if he is doing this then he needs to ensure his people do not leave town. If he is a real leader he will stay there with them because that is what a true leader does.

Having said that, Reid will probably be on the first plane out of town.

Tags: constitution, Democrats, president bush, pro forma session, recess appointments, senator harry reid, thanksgiving, true leader