Regime Rule: How Obama Wields Power

His imperial regime acts unilaterally without regard to the constitution.  He has centralized power, trampled religious freedom and favored foreigners over natives.  He has taken over the health care system.  Critics are branded disloyal and are subject to intimidation.

Yet the leader has a cult-like following and the palace media shields him from scrutiny in his own country while lionizing the autocrat as a near deity.

All those words have been written about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.  But they could have just as well been used to describe the presidency of Barrack Obama.  Democratic loyalists may protest the characterization, but the facts reveal Obama has governed more like a totalitarian than a president.

Since his election, Obama has abused the power of his office in a breathtaking manner that has no parallel in the history of the country. He has ignored constitutional limitations, created crises to subvert congressional authority, while smearing and bullying opponents of his agenda.

Here is just a partial list of the president's disregard for the constitution and the legislative process:

• The president unveiled 23 proposed executive orders last week on gun control.  During his four years in office, Obama issued 144 orders, according to the National Archives.  Many have been incompatible with the expressed will of Congress, which constitutional scholars view as an abuse of executive orders.  
• The president has usurped the powers of Congress by altering immigration laws.  Obama has circumvented the legislative process to relax immigration policy not once, but on at least two occasions since he became president, the latest on January 2.  The changes impact enforcement of a 1996 immigration law approved by Congress.  
• The president has made so-called "recess" appointments when the Senate was not legally recessed.  It has happened several times during the Obama presidency, most recently with the appointment of the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• The president has ignored the 1921 federal law that calls for the executive to submit an annual budget. During his first term, the Senate passed a budget on April 29, 2009.  Not a single budget has been approved by the Senate since then. Obama has submitted only one annual budget and it was defeated 99-0 in the Senate and 414-0 in the House. 
• The president has presided over a regulatory regime that has issued more new federal rules than any recent White House occupant.  New regulations have averaged 17,212 per year under Obama, according to Mercatus Center.  That is twice the number of the last Democrat President Bill Clinton. Today's regulatory costs amount to $2.2 trillion annually, estimates the Mercatus Center.   
• The president brushed aside constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom to require religious organizations to violate their own beliefs to supply contraceptives and abortion pills to their employees under Obamacare. He made the decision after vowing he would never force religious organizations to be subjected to the mandate.  

Obama's excuse for aborting the established legislative process is that he "can't wait for Congress" to act.  The truth is that the president is unwilling to compromise with lawmakers.  Instead of working with Congress, he issues executive orders and unleashes a torrent of regulations that carry the impact of law but are never submitted for legislative approval. 

Now Obama is threatening to raise the nation's debt ceiling without Congressional approval, although most constitutional experts agree he lacks the authority.  That hasn't stopped Obama in the past from ruling by executive fiat.   An obeisant media looks the other way at Obama's heavy-handiness.

Obama's overstepping of constitutional bounds can no longer be ignored.  Unless Republicans grow a spine and challenge this perversion of established precedent, the president's power will grow unchecked.  Soon Americans may be unable to recognize the democracy created by the founders.     

Guns And Hypocrisy

Vice President Joe Biden, who has often been guilty of shooting himself in the foot, is the perfect impostor to lead the president's phony gun control commission.  No one has been more hypocritical than Biden on the issue.  That's saying a lot because there's a tsunami of speciousness on banning guns.

Biden admitted on April 26, 2007, at a senate hearing that he kept a gun in his home.  While serving as a senator, Biden voted "no" on May 11, 1999, on a motion that would have required sales at gun shows be completed by federally licensed dealers.  That same year Biden opposed increasing mandatory penalties for the illegal transfer or use of firearms. 

Biden isn't the only politician who has been two-faced on gun control.

California Senator Diane Feinstein, a shrill proponent of banishing guns, confessed at a senate hearing in 1995 that she acquired a gun for her protection after an attempt by terrorists from the New World Liberation Army to bomb her home.  

"I carried a concealed weapon and I made the determination if somebody was going try to take me out, I was going to take them with me," Feinstein growled at the hearing.  Soon after her confession, the duplicitous Californian called for an "outright ban" on gun ownership.

Add President Obama's name to the shameful list of sanctimonious charlatans.

After the horrific carnage at the Sandy Hook elementary school, the president rushed to join in the chorus for gun control legislation. When the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), raised the specter of armed guards at the nation's schools, Obama demurred.

The president certainly feels differently when his own daughters are involved.  There are no less than 11 armed security guards on duty at all times at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where his daughters are enrolled.   And the school has advertised for more guards.

Obama also has lied about his stance on guns.  In 1996, then Illinois senate candidate Obama answered "yes" to a survey asking if he supported legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns."  However, he backtracked in the 2008 presidential campaign, claiming an "aide" filled out the form, even though it was later confirmed the answers on the document were in his handwriting.

No wonder many Americans distrust the president's intentions on the gun issue.  Many believe the Biden commission is nothing more than a convenient way for Obama to appear open minded on the matter, covering up his own extremist views on gun ownership.    

Incidents like the Sandy Hook massacre are reminders of America's culture of violence that has been fed by homicidal video games, movies, rap songs and television shows.  Killing too often is glorified.  Most people ignore the siren call of violence, while a few succumb to its allure.

If banning weapons would end killings, most informed Americans would support gun control measures.  However, they need look no further than our neighbor to the south, Mexico, to understand the futility of regulation.

During the 1960's, Mexico approved strict gun ownership laws, prohibiting private citizens from carrying a firearm or a concealed weapon.  There is only one legal gun store in all of Mexico.  Yet Mexico has three times the murders as the U.S., even though our population is three times larger.

There is no credible evidence that gun ownership promotes violence.  Switzerland has three times as many gun owners as Germany, but significantly fewer murders per 1,000 residents.  New Zealand and Finland have low murder rates, yet their citizens are among the best armed.

Most informed Americans understand that knee-jerk legislation or ill-conceived executive orders cannot shield us from murder and mayhem.   Gun laws may make some feel safer, but regulations will never accomplish the objective of ending murder and mass killings.

Legislation cannot rid the world of evil.  Hypocritical politicians refuse to acknowledge this truth.  Instead, they play on public emotion and fear to appeal to the uninformed while the compliant media swaddles gun control advocates in moral superiority.

Victims of the Sandy Hook shooting deserve better from the nation's leaders.    

Bold Predictions For 2013

Predicting the future is as hazardous as scaling Mount Everest in a pair of loafers and a thong swimsuit.  Any sane person wouldn't attempt it.  However, every year investment gurus, economic thinkers, global academics and others try their hands at forecasting.

Most predictions turn out to be wrong.  A 2005 study at the University of California at Berkley confirmed it.  Researchers surveyed 82,000 predictions over 25 years by 300 leading economists and found their conjectures were no more accurate than random guesses.

But that knowledge won't stop your scribe from shimming into the New Year with some prophecies for 2013.  Be prepared for more speed bumps than green lights in the year ahead.

1.  The U.S. economy will record a second consecutive year of tepid growth.  The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a key measurement of the economy's output, will inch above two percent, but fail to reach three percent, the level needed to sustain healthy growth.

2.  Obamacare will stumble from the starting gate.  Lawmakers, including Democrats, will vote to delay its implementation as sparring over insurance exchanges in the states exposes the many flaws inherent in the bloated legislation.

3.  The U.S. Supreme Court will fail to deliver a a definitive answer on same sex marriage in its rulings on two cases.  Chief Justice John Roberts will again disappoint conservatives as the court punts the question back to the states and further muddles the issue.

4.  California goes the way of Greece.  The once golden state will plunge deeper into debt as the Democratic controlled legislature refuses to cut spending and trim state employee benefits.  The governor will seek federal loan guarantees to prop up the state's sinking finances.    

5. The European Union will show fissures as France balks at support for tighter budget controls.  The Eurozone economy will contract for a second straight year, plunging more countries into debt spirals that force EU bailouts and feed German anxiety about serving as Europe's paymaster.

6.  Unemployment stubbornly stays above 7 percent, despite the federal bureaucracy's efforts to jigger the measurement.  The number of Americans in the workforce continues to decline as more people become discouraged and stop looking for employment.

7.  A major data breech involving millions of consumers proves to be a tipping point, fueling calls for a national crime force dedicated to tracking down and prosecuting hackers.  The nascent bureaucracy will reside within the FBI.

8.  Vice President Joe Biden's gun control commission issues a wad of tangled recommendations.  Most are doomed to defeat, but Congress approves an assault weapons ban, which will have as little impact as the last one passed in 1994.

9. Despite talk of budget cuts, the federal government ends 2013 by adding another $1 trillion to the nation's debt.  Obama and Democrats renew efforts to raise taxes on high earners and call for a wealth tax on the assets of the top two percent.

10.  The housing industry finally shows signs of a pulse.  Growth in home equity, sparked by rising prices, convinces more homeowners to get back in the market.  Sales tick up to 5 million, a level not seen since 2008.

For doubters, please feel free to print and save this list.   Just remember, the author makes no claims as to the accuracy of these predictions.  But just in case a few prognostications turn out to come true, patent papers have been filed on the crystal ball used to divine the future.

What If Santa Was A Democrat?

Underneath Santa's bulky red suit beats the heart of a Republican.  He owns a small business employing hundreds.  His North Pole firm is non-union.  His business accepts no government aid.  He believes in charity, giving away billions worth of toys every year.  He even has a traditional marriage.

Christmas would be a lot different if Mr. Claus was a Democrat and the federal government was in charge of overseeing the holiday.   

No children could perch on Santa's ample lap.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would deem it too hazardous for kids.

Santa would deliver no gifts to children in households earning $250,000 and above.  These children would be assessed taxes on their allowances to pay for toys for middle class kids.

Children who requested Ken and Barbie dolls would be surprised Christmas morning to discover Ken and Bruce under their tree. The dolls come with a California marriage certificate.

Santa's workforce would not pass muster with the feds.  Too many elves.  Quotas would be established to insure the North Pole business employed more hobbits, jihadists and transvestites.  

Every girl and boy would receive the same exact gift to make Christmas more fair.  Santa may be pro-choice,  but that doesn't apply to toys.

Santa would trade in his sleigh and eight tiny reindeer for a Chevy Volt and eight tiny Prius.  However, the jolly man would only be able to visit four homes between each charge.

After squeezing down the chimney, Santa would confiscate all guns in the house.  He would turn over the weapons to the feds, who would peddle them to Mexican gangs.

Santa would leave voter registration cards and cell phones in the stockings of households receiving federal handouts.  

Children of Hollywood couples would put out large piles of cash for Santa's Political Action Committee. In return, Santa would overlook their naughtiness.

Each boy and girl would get a contraceptive and a video on safe sex. Santa would also leave behind his unlisted North Pole cell phone number and a topless photo of himself.

Santa would rip all religious symbols from the walls and holiday trees in homes.  Exceptions would be made for Muslin households.

Homes in states that have approved marijuana use would be visited several times on Christmas eve.  Even Santa needs to boost to make it through the holidays.

Instead of cookies, Democrat households would leave an apple and a stalk of celery for the overweight St. Nick to comply with First Lady Michelle Obama's healthy eating guidelines.

Federal anti-discrimination guidelines would prevent Santa from yelling, "Ho-Ho-Ho."  The government insists the traditional greeting is insensitive to ladies of the night.

Santa would no longer refer to the holiday as Christmas.  It would be renamed Entitlement Day to reflect how children of Democrats view their right to toys.

As you can tell, Christmas would be pretty dreary if Santa was a Democrat.

Let's keep Christmas Republican and free of government intrusion.

GOP Bumper Sticker: Boot Boehner

House Speaker John Boehner appears to be doing his best Neville Chamberlain impersonation in the fiscal cliff negotiations with President Obama.  Chamberlain, England's former prime minister, was infamously duped into appeasing Germany in 1938, only to watch Adolph Hitler unleash a wretched war that engulfed Europe.

Boehner has played the modern day role of Chamberlain by negotiating with a president who has no appetite for compromise. Obama has washed his hands of reforming entitlements, paring the federal budget and trimming the deficit.  In return for nothing but empty promises, Obama has demanded the GOP capitulate and raise tax rates on America's top earners.

This is not a negotiating ploy.  The president believes, because he won a second term, that Americans share his vision of the United States: a country overburdened with debt, saddled with bloated entitlements and handcuffed by federal budgets that depend on ever increasing amounts of debt.

With the media's collaboration, Obama has fooled many into thinking he wants a deal.  He doesn't.  Dunderhead Boehner has not figured that out.  How else do you explain why he keeps trotting up to the White House like a puppy starved for a head pat?  The speaker should have ended the sham long ago by refusing to bargain with a president bent on coercing Republicans to abandon their principles in exchange for meaningless offers for future action on federal spending.  

The bumbling Boehner has been outflanked, outmaneuvered and out smarted in the negotiations.  He has ceded the national narrative to the president by focusing on entitlements instead of the national debt, an issue that concerns most Americans.  He has angered his own party by throwing in the towel on tax increases.  If that wasn't enough, he has failed miserably in his role as party spokesperson.  His news conferences have been irksome, stilted and insipid.

Republicans must overhaul their tactics to save face.  Fortunately, they still have time to salvage a modicum of respect by making these four changes.

1.  Force a vote on raising tax rates on the top bracket.  Forget trying to knit a grand bargain.  Obama will never agree to the GOP laundry list anyway.  He never made any pretense he was in the mood for a bargain.  Make this solely about a tax boost.  That is the only issue that matters to Obama.  He needs a win to placate his base. Serve it up to him on a platter.  He's going to get it anyway.

2.  Vote "present" when the tax increase plan floats to the House and Senate floor.  Republicans should make the Democrats own this tax increase.  They can do this by simply voting "present" to show their disapproval. Even some Democrats may balk at rubber stamping the president's proposal.  When the economy craters,  make Democrats defend the hike in the 2014 mid-term elections.

3. Ditch talk of entitlement reform as part of a bargain.  Democrats know as well as Republicans that entitlement programs are on a suicidal march to bankruptcy.  However, they want the GOP to suffer the consequences of any measures that reduce benefits to recipients, especially seniors.  That's why they have gleefully watched as Boehner harped on entitlements.  Democrats would be only too happy to sign an agreement that alters entitlements just so later they could claim the GOP held a gun to their heads.  They want Republicans blamed for taking away seniors' aid.  

4. Republicans should shift the focus to the 2013-2014 federal budget.  Once the tax increase passes, the GOP should compel the administration to produce a budget that can be voted on in both houses of Congress. Obama and Democrats have dodged votes on fiscal budgets the last three years because their spending excesses would be unmasked.  They prefer secret negotiations instead.  A budget battle provides the GOP with the ideal forum to reign in deficits, lower debt, rehabilitate entitlements and cleave federal spending.

However, nothing will happen as long as Mr. Appeasement shepherds the House.  Neville Chamberlain resigned the premiership in 1940 after his disastrous bargain with Germany.  Boehner needs to take a lesson from history and vacate the office of Speaker of the House while there is still time to save the republic from an economic calamity.

Warren Buffet: The Orifice of Omaha

Billionaire blowhard Warren Buffet is leading a one-man band to drum up support for hiking taxes on his pals in the upper earning bracket. The once publicity shy businessman has become a media darling and a personal shill for President Obama during his high-profile class warfare campaign.

Most Americans know little about Buffet, dubbed the "Oracle of Omaha" for his ability to cherry pick undervalued companies for his firm, Berkshire Hathaway.  His net worth has been estimated at something north of $46 billion. But he is less than forthcoming about his immense wealth.

The 82-year-old, self-described agnostic has invested billions in companies ranging from railroads to candy companies, jewelry chains, insurance underwriters, newspapers and furniture stores.  Buffet scrupulously avoided the limelight for most of his career until he recently became infatuated with notoriety.

In his latest evangelical outreach, Buffet lectured the country on how jacking up taxes would boost the morale of those unwashed middle class Americans.  His sermon was delivered as the president stumped on the moral imperative to eliminate the Bush tax cuts for high-income families.

The pomposity of Buffet is only eclipsed by his hypocrisy.

For starters, Buffet's army of lawyers and tax accountants at Berkshire are contesting nearly $1 billion in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claims against his companies.  One of the firms, NetJets, sued the government over $642.7 million in back taxes, interest and penalties.

The sanctimonious Buffet could set a good example for corporations by paying his business taxes.

While Buffet scolds others about paying their fair share of taxes, the iconic billionaire has taken deliberate steps to shield as much of his income as possible from the IRS.  For instance, Buffet has shifted billions of dollars into a private charity to skirt paying billions in taxes.

Buffet pays a lower tax rate than most Americans earning $250,000 and up because the majority of his wealth has been generated by stock ownership, which is taxed at a lower rate than wages. That helps explain why the industrialist lobbies for higher tax rates on those wretched small business people.

The hypocrisy doesn't end there.  

Included in Buffet's portfolio of companies are life insurance firms that peddle estate planning products that help the wealthiest Americans lower the amount of taxes they pay the government.  When taxes are raised, it fuels demand for even more tax shelters, which benefits Buffet's legion of companies.

Buffet's support for President Obama's soak-the-rich scheme is not entirely altruistic either.

The moneyed mogul counts Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) among his holdings.  Obama's push to grow the government bureaucracy has benefited GEICO, a company that serves a large portion of the federal workforce.

Buffet also hit the jackpot when the president derailed the multi-million dollar Keystone Pipeline project.  Obama's decision opened the doors for the tycoon's railroad company (BNSF) to haul oil across the country at a higher rate than it would have cost to pump the crude over a pipeline.

Yet the media has cloaked Warren Buffet in a sheen of self-righteousness. 

Buffet, like Obama, isn't really interested in tax fairness.  The narcissistic magnate wants to ingratiate himself to the president to secure preferential treatment for his sundry industries.  Buffet has always finagled every advantage to enrich his vast portfolio.

If he wants to "boost the morale" of the middle class, Warren Buffet should shut up.  A little more silence from the Orifice of Omaha would be a welcome relief for all Americans.      

Middle Class Malarky

Even for a man with a penchant for political exploitation, President Obama's rhetoric on the extension of the Bush tax cuts has plumbed new depths of demagoguery.  In a desperate gambit, the White House warned that failure to reach a tax deal would sack middle class families' Christmas shopping plans.

"The president believes Democrats and Republicans should come together to renew middle class tax cuts,"  the White House said in a statement that predicted retailers' Christmas stockings would be stuffed with lumps of coal if the Republican-authored tax cuts were allowed to expire.

The crass appeal from the White House painted the president as a champion of the middle class, a favorite theme of the Obama campaign during the election.  What makes the empty oratory so odious is the fact that the Obama presidency has been no friend of the middle class.

On practically every economic measure, middle class Americans are worse off than four years ago.

Annual incomes for the middle class have plummeted an average of $4,520 since President Obama took office in 2009, the year the recession officially ended.  The Census Bureau reported that median income has belly-flopped to $50,054.  That's a 4.1 percent decline from 2009.

The median income level is the lowest it has been since 1995, nearly two decades ago.  The president and his economic policies have failed miserably to deliver a recovery for the middle class.  In fact, the middle class has fallen further behind under Obama.

During the Obama presidency, the ranks of the middle class have shrunk.  Pew Research found that 51 percent of all adults fell into the middle income tier in 2011.  In 1971, more than 60 percent of Americans were included in the middle income echelon.

Middle American earners' share of the household income pie also has diminished.  Middle income households account for 45 percent of all earnings.  Just two decades ago, middle earners' share of total income was 62 percent, according to Pew Research.

Meanwhile, health care premiums have skyrocketed $3,000 since Obama assumed the presidency.  Inflation has hijacked 6.62 percentage points of purchasing power from the middle class in the last four years.

Obama has saddled Americans with national debt that stands at $51,972.66 for each middle class man, woman and child. Appallingly, that means Greece's national debt per person is now 35 percent lower than the United States, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Yet Obama has the audacity to claim the tax extension will save the middle class from financial ruin.   Who is he kidding?  Obama's real agenda isn't to lift the middle class.

The president wants to stoke the fires of class warfare, pitting the middle class against the wealthy in an effort to create divisions that will promote income redistribution.  The rich are Obama's bogeymen, blamed for everything that can't be pinned on former President George W. Bush.

Another year of Bush's tax cuts will not cure what ails the middle class.  Economic growth across every industry is the shining hope for the middle class to recover from the losses suffered under the current administration.

Without a robust economic rebound, even Santa Claus won't be able to rescue the middle class.