Posted on 01/10/2013 5:40:14 AM PST by SJackson
Leftists and their media advocates, well aware that the tragedy of Newtown must be exploited before Americans regain their emotional balance, are pulling out all the stops. Almost a dozen new gun control bills were introduced on the first day of the new congressional session. Joe Biden’s task force continues its frenzied pace of activity, even as it broadens its scope far beyond the reinstatement of the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, moving into such arenas as universal background checks for gun buyers, a national database tracking the movement and sale of weapons and measures that Obama could enact by executive order. Yet such an imperious manner of governance will not be limited to gun control. Obama and Democrats are embracing the same strategy with respect to raising the debt ceiling, absent any genuine spending cuts. In short, they’re acting like Republicans are irrelevant.
Yet the administration is well aware that its “never let a crisis go to waste” approach is on tenuous ground regarding gun control. The Washington Post notes that “as the shock and sorrow over the Newtown, Conn., shooting fades, the tough fight facing the White House and gun-control backers is growing clearer.” The paper then reminds Americans of several gun-related tragedies, such as the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, the Aurora movie theater massacre, the shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and one at an army base in Texas, “all of which occurred during Obama’s first term,” even as none of them elicited “national progress on curbing gun bloodshed.” The Associated Press also speaks to the urgency of getting comprehensive gun control legislation through Congress as quickly as possible, because “as the shock of the Newtown shooting fades, so, too, will the prospects that pro-gun lawmakers will work with the White House to tighten restrictions.”
The implications here are obvious: a president facing reelection was “powerless” to take on “entrenched interest groups,” as in law-abiding Americans who support the Second Amendment. Now that the election is over, Obama, much as he promised Russian President Dmitri Medvedev with respect to foreign policy, can be more “flexible” in his approach to gun control. Furthermore, because of the emotionalism necessary to sustain such broad (and likely unconstitutional) changes, time is of the essence. Ergo, Obama will be entirely justified in taking whatever steps are necessary as quickly as possible, even if that means pushing the boundaries of executive power — or stepping over them.
Such brinksmanship is hardly accidental. Although the president and Democrats knew as far back as August 2011 that the combination of tax increases and spending cuts engendered by the last debt ceiling debate would kick in on January 1, 2012, serious negotiations were put off until the very last minute–and beyond. This intransigence was intentional. The Democrat-controlled Senate tabled every spending bill sent to them by the Republican-controlled House, and failed to enact any budget for more than three-and-a-half years. The same party that completely derided the extension of the Bush tax cuts in 2010 as an unconscionable addition to the national debt, suddenly favored them. Yet in the end, the so-called “grand bargain” was a farce, producing little more than an additional $3.9 trillion dollars of debt over the next ten years, according to the CBO.
Furthermore, even as negotiations were ongoing, America once again reached its borrowing limit on December 31, as the national debt climbed to more than $16.3 trillion. On December 26, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warned he could take “extraordinary measures” to prevent America from defaulting on its obligations for a couple of months.
Now one might be inclined to think that national default would trump gun control as the most pressing issue of the day. Republicans certainly think so. “The biggest problem we have at the moment is spending and debt,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said last Sunday. “That’s going to dominate the Congress between now and the end of March. None of these issues will have the kind of priority as spending and debt over the next two or three months.” Yet once again, the president has indicated that he will push the envelope. ”While I will negotiate over many things, I won’t have another debate with this Congress on whether they should pay the bills we racked up in the past,” he said on January 2.
And just like they are doing with gun control, Democrats are urging the president to run over congressional Republicans, using executive authority. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reportedly told other Democrats he supports such a move, using the 14th Amendment as a vehicle. Nancy Pelosi echoed that assessment. “I’ve made my view very clear on that subject: I would do it in a second,” said Pelosi on January 4. They are joined by Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and James Clyburn (D-SC), the second- and third-ranking Democrats in the House, as well as Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and former president Bill Clinton, who claimed he would do it “without hesitation and force the courts to stop me.’’
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states that “the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” Harvard law professor and former Obama advisor Laurence Tribe underscores the arrogant nature of Democrats’ thinking. “We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking the 14th Amendment gives [Obama] this authority,” he warned. “It’s just a fantasy.” John Yoo, a former legal adviser to President George W. Bush, agreed. “The Framers wanted the president to exercise emergency power in response to national security threats, not over domestic affairs where Congress and the president have had plenty of time to deliberate and figure out a solution,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Obama himself has said he will not bypass Congress and invoke the Amendment, but given the president’s track record of lying and/or changing his mind at the last minute, Americans should take no comfort from the statement. What Americans should take from this issue, and the issue of gun control, is that Democrats are more than willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want, and “force the courts to stop” them, even if it necessitates creating one of the most divisive atmospheres Americans have ever endured in the process.
That is the essence of imperiousness and brinksmanship. Thus, while they are rushing gun control legislation while emotions are still raw, they will delay debt ceiling negotiations until they can gin up a similar level of public frustration on that issue. That is why Obama, despite getting his tax increases on the “rich,” wants to re-negotate tax increases. ”Now, if Republicans think that I will finish the job of deficit reduction through spending cuts alone…then they’ve got another think coming. That’s not how it’s going to work,” he said, two days after the fiscal cliff deal was made. “It’s going to have to be a matter of shared sacrifice, at least as long as I’m president. And I’m going to be president for the next four years.”
And for the next two years at least, Republicans will control the House of Representatives. In a logical world, that would mean Democrats have to find some common ground with the GOP. Yet somehow the president and his party have convinced themselves that Republicans are an obstacle — not a partner — in solving America’s most pressing problems. No doubt a large part of their arrogance is due to the reality that, when Americans get utterly disgusted by this continuing spectacle, they have the utmost confidence the mainstream media will blame Republicans for any and every debacle.
Yet that odious arrangement may be far more tenuous than both Democrats and their media sycophants realize. A substantial number of Democratic voters were shocked to discover that their taxes went up when the temporary payroll tax deduction enacted in 2009 went back up from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent. For many of them, that may have been one of the first indications that the “raise taxes on the rich” narrative promoted by the unholy Democrat-media alliance was a fraud. If the president and his party continue to push the envelope on imperious governance and brinksmanship, it won’t be the last shock they receive. Not by a long shot.
IIRC, the NRA PAC backed Reid. Damn these organizations that refuse to accept the reality that a democrat is a democrat FIRST! EVERYTHING falls secondary to the furtherance of their party's nefarious objectives.
There is no room for a king in this country and we must make that completely clear.
There, fixed it. And yes, by National Socialist I do mean fascist. Just look at how Reid, Pelosi, obama et. al. lust for power and control and long to take unilateral action "running over" Republicans and anyone that stands in the way of their power-mad visions. That isn't democracy people, that is fascism.
Oh Billy Boy... if your Marxist faggot Manchurian candidate, or even your infirm wife, tried to pull this shit, he wouldn't have to worry about the courts. He'd have to be concerned about the 25 million armed Americans beating a path to the White House demanding his Communist head on a platter.
Americans are getting fed up with this crap. Even liberals are starting to wonder what's going on in DC.
As long as there are enough revenues coming in to service the debt, the 14th Amendment will not come into play.
“...Americans are getting fed up with this crap....”
And yet, he was re-elected. Other than voter fraud, how in the he!! did that happen?
“...Even liberals are starting to wonder what’s going on in DC....”
Which libs? They will start to wonder what’s really oing on in D.C. when the gravy train comes to a gtinding halt. We are far from that point being reached.
The news media are Public Enemy #1. Americans across the country should be dragging reporters, editors & anchors out into the streets for some frontier justice.
right?...right?
after this past year of Romney bashing, and freepers voting for bammey boy, I'm getting to the point that I could care less....
you anti romniacs wanted bammey boy...YOU GOT HIM AND YOU OWN HIM!
thank all the freepers who took joy in voting for bammey boy or bammey boy sidekicks in third parties...or, freepers who didn’t vote at all....they make me ill....
There's your answer. Those of us demanding answers on vote fraud are called kooks by the MSM and even by conservative radio hosts. No one wants to expend the effort, time, or money required to investigate it, but I think we all know it's happening on a broad scale. 2014 will be the final rundown, I think.
Which libs?
I work with a healthy cadre of liberals who are regularly discussing Obama and the goings on in DC. They are all older white males, so maybe they're just racist?
This has always been such absolute electoral suicide for Dems, part of me can’t believe they are doing it again.
And part of me thinks this is just a big red herring to keep us all occupied as he rolls Boehner for more deficit spending and tax hikes.
***There is no room for a king in this country and we must make that completely clear.***
What happened to socialist President Salvador Allende, of Chile, in 1973 comes to mind.
Swiss Cheese comes to mind.
Just don't raise the debt ceiling. Additional debt will not be authorized by law, and we can start to really do something.
Just
Don't
Raise
it.
Anyone question now why the idiot in our White House has recently armed all federal agents with an enormous amounts of weapons and ammo? Has anyone now any questions as to why they needed all those weapons and ammunition?
They know there’ll be some big problems pretty soon with the citizens of this country.
This is far beyond a conspiracy.
Coalition to hold national ‘Gun Appreciation Day’ amid calls for more gun laws
Published January 09, 2013
| FoxNews.com
Firearms groups are banding together across the country with a so-called “Gun Appreciation Day” this month as part of a bid to check the increasingly vocal anti-gun movement.
Organizers of the appreciation day, set for Jan. 19, hope to achieve the same level of outpouring as one in August for Chick-fil-A, which had faced criticism after the fast-food chain publicly acknowledged its opposition to same-sex marriage.
The organizers are encouraging gun-rights supporters to “send a message” to President Obama two days before his second inauguration by “lining up around the block” at gun shops, ranges and shows with a copy of the Constitution, U.S. flags and a “Hands off my Guns” signs.
The effort comes as Vice President Biden on Wednesday began a series of White House discussions on gun control, part of his larger task force effort to gather ideas for legislation, then submit them to the president. He said Wednesday that the administration might use “executive orders” to achieve some of its goals.
URL
Article plus Poll
Gun dealers challenge US reporting requirement
Published January 09, 2013
| Associated Press
A lawyer for two Arizona gun dealers argued Wednesday that the Obama administration overstepped its legal authority in trying to halt the flow of U.S. guns to Mexican drug gangs when it required dealers in border states to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles.
Attorney Richard Gardiner told a federal appeals court panel that the directive requires gun dealers to create a records system and the government has no authority to do that.
At issue is a requirement that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives imposed in 2011 on gun sellers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The requirement compels sellers to report to the ATF when anyone buys — within a five-day period — two or more semi-automatic weapons capable of accepting a detachable magazine and with a caliber greater than .22.
The bureau says the requirement is needed to help stop the flow of guns to Mexican drug cartels.
Gun issues are in the spotlight these days as the Obama administration works on new policies to tackle gun violence after last month’s school shooting in Connecticut. Tracking guns and limiting gun and ammunition purchases are among the ideas suggested so far by advocacy groups, officials and others.
The Gun Debate: Gun owners warn new laws would hurt ability to fight crime
By William La Jeunesse
Published January 09, 2013
| FoxNews.com
This is the first part in a Fox News series examining the controversy over gun violence and gun control.
As Congress prepares to debate new bills aimed at curbing gun violence, many gun owners fear Washington regulations will actually limit their ability to stop crime.
“The best empirical research on the matter finds that, where gun ownership levels are highest, in fact, homicide rates are far lower,” said University of Texas at Dallas criminologist Tomislav Kovandzic.
The mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and a movie theater outside Denver have become a political springboard, opening the door to new gun restrictions ranging from mandatory waiting periods to specific gun bans to a national gun registry. Mother Jones magazine recently published a lengthy investigative article claiming to show how ineffective armed citizens are at stopping mass shootings.
But some criminologists say lawmakers are missing the point. They say studies show guns stop more crime than they cause, and using mass shootings as an excuse to pursue gun legislation could do more harm than good.
Newsmax
Huckabee: Obama Shows Contempt for Constitution in Gun Grab
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 10:29 PM
By: Todd Beamon
Former GOP Arkansas Gov. and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee blasted the Obama White House on Wednesday for Vice President Joseph Biden’s suggestion that executive orders might be used to curb gun violence following last month’s mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.
“Does this administration have nothing but contempt for the Constitution and the Congress?” he asked in response to an email query from Newsmax. “How can an ‘executive order’ trump not only the actual text of the Constitution, but the checks and balances of power in which no branch could act unilaterally and with indifference to the other branches?
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/huckabee-obama-contempt-constitution/2013/01/09/id/470757
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