FLASHBACK March 2011: Obama on Deporting Illegals ‘America Is a Nation of Laws,’ Presidential Action Not ‘Appropriate’
Obama Administration Moves Forward on Climate Change Without Congress
Forthcoming regulation likely means no new coal-fired power plants will be built in the United States
By Rebekah Metzler February 22, 2013
President Barack Obama is tired of waiting for Congress to move on legislation to reduce carbon emissions, and his administration is poised to move forward on actions to do just that—including a move that will effectively eliminate the possibility of any new coal plant opening in the United States, experts say.
“We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence,” Obama said during his State of the Union address. “Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science—and act before it’s too late.”
Source: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/02/22/obama-administration-moves-forward-on-climate-change-without-congress
Sure, let’s ignore China and Germany building new coal plants like there is no tomorrow because some activist idiots (led by “death train” Hansen)have made the weak minded afraid of the weather.
What happens when people start dying in the cold winters because they can’t afford electricity? This is already happening in Britain. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240716/24-000-died-cold-homes-winter-Fears-grow-figure-higher-year-spiralling-bills.html
My comment to this unlawful presidential action spurred on by irrational fearmongering activists like Bill McKibben and 350.org is simply “Up yours, Mr. President“.
h/t to reader e. c. cowan
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In 1952 in the case of Youngstown Steel & Tube v. Sawyer involving President Truman, the court held:
“In the framework of our Constitution, the President’s power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a lawmaker. The Constitution limits his function in the lawmaking process to the recommending of laws he thinks wise and the vetoing of laws he thinks bad.”
Only Congressmen and Senators are elected to make laws on behalf of the people. In using executive orders to bypass the authority of Congress the president is acting contrary to Article I, Section 1 of the United States Constitution which reads: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…”
On January 16, this year, President Obama signed more executive orders than past presidents signed during their whole terms in office. By using executive orders he is subverting the constitutional separation of powers and behaving as an autocrat.
As long ago as 1999 a bill was introduced to Congress “to restore the separation of powers between Congress and the President”. Named ‘Separation of Powers Restoration Act’, it included the following:
“As a limit on governmental power, Constitutional framers vested Federal powers in three coequal branches of government, each with unique and limited powers and each with a coequal duty to uphold and sustain the Constitution of the United States.
“A Supreme Court justice stated, ‘The doctrine of the separation of powers was adopted by the convention of 1787 not to promote efficiency but to preclude the exercise of arbitrary power….to save the people from autocracy.
“A congressional committee print has noted that, ‘[b]ecause the President has no power or authority over individual citizens and their rights except where he is granted such power and authority by a provision in the Constitution or by statute, the President’s proclamations are not legally binding and are at best hortatory unless based on such grants of authority.’
“The Supreme Court has stated that, even if Presidents have, without congressional authority, taken actions only the Congress may take, ‘Congress has not thereby lost its exclusive constitutional authority to make laws necessary and proper to carry out the powers vested by the Constitution ‘in the Government of the United States, or any Department of Officer thereof.’
“Treaties or Executive Agreements which purport to assign powers not amongst those specifically granted to the Federal Government by the Constitution are non-binding and cannot constitute law.
” (a) The President shall include with each Presidential order a statement of the specific statutory or constitutional provision which in fact grants the President the authority claimed for such action.
“A Presidential order neither constitutes nor has the force of law and is limited in its application and effect to the executive branch.
“The following persons may bring an action in an appropriate United States court to challenge the validity of any Presidential order which exceeds the power granted to the President by the relevant authorizing statute or the Constitution:
(1) CONGRESS AND ITS MEMBERS- The House of Representatives, the Senate, any Senator, and any Representative to the House of Representatives, if the challenged Presidential order–
(A) infringes on any power of Congress;
(B) exceeds any power granted by a congressional enactment; or
(C) violates section 4 because it does not state the statutory authority which in fact grants the President the power claimed for the action taken in such Presidential order.
(2) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS- The highest governmental official of any State, commonwealth, district, territory, or possession of the United States, or any political subdivision thereof, or the designee of such person, if the challenged Presidential order infringes on the powers afforded to the States under the Constitution.
(3) AGGRIEVED PERSONS- Any person aggrieved in a liberty or property interest adversely affected directly by the challenged Presidential order.”
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/106/hr2655/text
Though the bill was not passed in 1999, given the way the president is undermining Congress by way of executive orders, perhaps it is time this or a similar bill was introduced to reestablish the safeguards of the US constitution.
Readers here might be interested in precisely where Barack Obama came from. He was lured to Chicago by Tony Rezko who is now serving time in prison (oh, to know what he knows). In fact Obama bought his ‘tony’ (excuse the pun) Chicago Hyde Park home through the maneuvers of Rezko. I always thought it interesting that Obama would choose to pick the most corrupt state, Illinois, to launch his career. And Chicago, is unarguably the epicenter of that corruption. During his early days in Chicago, Obama befriended Alice Palmer, Illinois State Senate representative in the capital in Springfield (Abraham Lincoln’s home). The U.S. congressional rep in Washington for that district, Mel Reynolds, went to prison for sex crimes relating to the affection of a 16 or 17 year old admirer, oh, and of course, corruption. Funny how life works because that is what paved the way for Obama’s rise to fame. Obama’s mentor, Alice Palmer, started a campaign to run for Reynolds’s vacated seat. Per usual in Chicago there were a slew of Democratic candidates (and probably no Republicans) vying for that seat in the primaries. Jesse Jackson Jr. (that name should be familiar) entered the fray, ultimately winning the election, and now, years later, packing his bags for a vacation in the slammer. Once Jackson ran, Alice Palmer knew he’d be unbeatable so she went to return to her state senate seat but Obama stabbed his former mentor in the back (watch out, Hillary!) by taking her to court over allegations of, get this…voter fraud – in Chicago?! Without opposition he got her seat, proceeded to vote ‘present’ 130 times (keep your thoughts to yourself), and then gerrymandered his Chicago Hyde Park District. The only election he lost after that was when he ran against the wildly popular Bobby Rush, former Black Panther member. From Springfield Obama basically sailed into the senate seat in Washington and the rest is history. But not exactly. Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich would wind up in the slammer (ahead of Jesse), one of a mere four Illinois governors to go to prison, in this case for attempting to sell Obama’s vacated senate seat. Needless to say, the angelic Obama never entered into this dirty business. At least not directly. During Rod’s trial, testimony revealed that Barack recommended, of course not directly but through a union steward, that his seat be occupied by a person of true stature: his brave envoy to Iran; his alter-ego, Valerie Jarrett.
This is the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, the healer of the planet, the stopper of the riseth of the oceans, the constitutional scholar, who presides on a plain far above us mortals. Why of course he can shut down an industry with the snap of his fingers. Do you have a problem with that?
Allen says:
February 22, 2013 at 11:01 am
“I’m in the same mindspace as Eliza. The Republicans lost the last presidential election because they couldn’t beat an incumbent that somehow turned out to be a worse performer than Bush. So America and the world gets another four years of economic decline under Obama.”
I assume that you are not aware of the extent that the MSM including television, newspapers, and our schools have been taken over by the progressives and democrats in the US. A large part of the Media had an agressive agenda to trash Romney and Republicans every day and night while twisting every issue or ignoring important news such as Fast and Furious and the Bengazi debacle. These were covered up by the administration and the media which in fact criticized Romney when he discussed the travesty. Would you believe that an administration could make up a story that it was the video that caused the demonstrations/attacks in the middle east and sell it so well? Oh! the media sold the story by ignoring the facts. The electorate was mis informed.
The most dangerous government situation is one where the compliant media is in the tank for any administration, which then becomes emboldened to assume more power and commit more egregious lies and acts.
I live in a “blue” state and stopped buying the local newspaper because it constantly bashes R and covers up for D’s. Thats how our state fell from one of the most wealthy to one going down the tank in 6 short years with excessive spending.
Romney experienced a huge head wind both during the primary and during the election and lost by only a few % points. I don’t blame him as much as I credit the media for the outcome.
“””””…..Mike Alexander says:
February 22, 2013 at 2:41 pm
“The lone dissenter on the first vote, being a congressman from Oakland, was presumably English Language impaired, and did not understand the meaning of the word “necessary”, or that to vote to NOT do that which is deemed necessary, is a fairly good definition of insanity.
That would be Barbara Lee, I think. I too thought she was crazy at the time, but I’ve come to respect her, even though I don’t agree with her politics. At least she had the guts to vote against something she believed in, which was that going to war against Iraq was wrong. It’s too bad more Congress don’t show the same amount of guts in the face of tremendous public pressure. If she’s crazy, and if crazy means voting how you really think instead of pretending to be for or against something, maybe we need more crazy people in Congress……”””””
I think maybe you didn’t read what I wrote Mike.
The vote that went 534 :1 had nothing to do with the Iraq war. It was to authorize the President to “do whatever is necessary and appropriate to curb international terrorism.” ergo to vote against doing what is necessary is insane.
Nobody said Congressman Barbara Lee couldn’t debate what it was that may be necessary; in that I agree with you she had a perfect right to represent what her Oakland constituents would want her to do; they after all elected her to do their bidding.
As to the Afghan and then Iraq wars, I didn’t keep track of her or anyone else’s vote, but I would guess that she voted no on both of them. Fine, that is what the role of Congress is.
But the fact remains that the Congress on all three occasions, did vote by a majority of both houses to go to war. And it is the job of the executive branch to implement what Congress passes.
I’ll make no judgement here as to the merits of what the Congress did; the fact is they did it, both Republicans and Democrats and independents, as they saw fit. The President did what he was told to do; not how to do it.
We can also choose to believe that the US dustbowl and high heat were also just coincidence. ‘Science’, as he has pointed out, has told us that the meteorite and the close miss of the recent asteroid was also just coincidence which I choose to believe.
It’s called BAD WEATHER, which is not just a thing of the past.
America is dead as a democracy. Obama has killed it. I encourage companies to start moving their head offices offshore.
What we have in North America is Capitalism, supposedly, but it is mitigated by a type of welfare state, or ad hoc socialism; as a means to mitigate the effects of Capitalism. Instead, my bizarre statement was to embrace both extreme philosophies as a dualism. The statement was inspired by the incorrect use of socialism moniker for Obama, he is a shrewd politician who’s words and actions (or lack there to) are not mutually inclusive. Funny how in such economic times of ‘socialism’ corporate America are recording, albeit quietly, profits.
so·cial·ism /ˈsōSHəˌlizəm/ Noun A political and economic theory of that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated…(in Marxist theory) A transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism.
Thank you for the astute relation between the F-ism and S-ism; all the more reason to be precise.
So (regarding Citizen’s United) they are again to be heard by the Supreme Court next Tuesday, and will win. And if not now, then next time or the next time or…
(they must win in preparation for 2016)
Consider:
http://www.raps.org/focus-online/news/news-article-view/article/2608/in-landmark-ruling-court-sees-off-label-marketing-as-protected-free-speech.aspx
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate-personhood/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/citizens-united-california-constitutional-amendment_n_2728560.html
http://tucsoncitizen.com/in-the-aggregate/2013/02/22/citizens-united-2-0-u-s-supreme-court-to-lift-aggregate-limits-to-campaign-contributions/
Many paradigms are modeled on the balance between two extremes:
The nature of light: wave and particle
Tao: yin and yang
You cannot change my mind on philosophies of society. Only on scientific theory.
No worries here i am a powerless as the American underclass.
Tom O says:
February 22, 2013 at 10:25 am
So far, the only “promises” made by this president that have been kept are the ones that have direct and negative impact on US citizens. All other promises made, such as ending war, stopping torture, bringing economic growth and prosperity have all been proven to be only empty rhetoric. So sad. For a supposedly intelligent and loyal American, he has chosen to be anything but.
====================================================
Gives you cause to wonder who the real enemy is doesn’t it. Are WE THE PEOPLE THE ENEMY or is it Obama and his minions?
The goblins released by the Russian revolution have their apotheosis in Obama. All of the very worst human attributes are on display, including endless, deliberate lying by the President of the U.S., and psychological projection, and immorality, and theft of the labor of the productive citizens, and a complete perversion of the rule of law, in which supporters are rewarded financially, lawbreakers are given amnesty, and anyone who disagrees with “The Won” is destroyed.
This will not end well for honest people, who are specifically targeted by the goblins. It may take several centuries, or an act of God, to put things right.
Hi Dan,
Exactly! And that is why a balance needs to be struck.
We are part of a dis-harmmonious collusion between capatalism and socialism.
China’s dictatorship has embraced the strive for harmony between the competing paradigms; hence their great success. The dictatorship mentality will be mellowed in time.
Capitalism evolves to where a machine workforce produces the cheapest products that only 1% can afford.
Socialism evolves to an impoverished ruling class.
I’ll happily take that act of God, D. B. Stealey (5:04 pm). Didn’t He say about the last days that “good will be called evil, and evil good?” And concerning honest people, (or, in this case, our Dear Leader who passes himself off as one), let me quote an old mentor: “I wouldn’t trust that SOB if he said good morning to me.”
Well this idiot got voted in didn’t he. The once great US of A is done.
A caveat, I am powerless as…, but a singularity and not 150,000,000 strong. The transformation of communist Russia to a ‘democracy’ was relatively smooth but i wonder if…
Relax Catcracker, unless martial law is proclaimed from D.C. the republicans will rule in 2016. It is definitely their turn.
@ur momisugly Dan in California,
Socialism makes sure that wealth is limited and then shrinks it out of existence.
Strange how people will not produce when you try to rob them blind.
Kajajuk: “democracy” (5:36 pm)
Political paradigms (and history) prove democracy is simply a multiplicity of wolves deciding who they’re going to devour next. A constitutional republic (i.e., the “rule of law” as opposed to “the rule of men” [where the majority usually wins for lack of an objective standard] is the ideal, but as Ben Franklin stated cogently, only “If YOU can keep it.” Rules and standards always apply in science, weather, religion and governance. “Consensus” is ever the road to ruin, even if it makes one feel good during the trip.
But John, the word has a definite meaning, in its simplest:
A political and economic theory of that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated”
It is not robbery when the villagers know that they are to share the excess of their labours with their neighbors. People produce because they are alive, and share because no one can provide all. It is a model of existing used throughout human history from the Inuit to the Marshal islands (well before that is, now not so much), All “primitive” societies had a very strong socialist slant within their tribe, capitalism (i postulate) evolved from tribal wars and resource competition (the generation of wealth or money…whatever that really is?)
All the -isms are wonderful in theory, but we are beyond theory at this point of civili evolution (this one hehehe). All the -isms, that we know of have all been tried. Do you wish a system based on infinite growth of wealth? Good luck with that. Is it because you covet others wealth or want to horde yours?
Actually, since i am indulging in this i actually want a Resource Based economy with the before mentioned dynamic paradigm…ohhhh scary!!!
Be ready for a fight to defend your rights. It is coming, and was forecast in 2008. I think many understand what has been happening in the good old U.S.of A. Just talk to those folks who have recently found out that their pay has dropped since the beginning of the year.
Remember the pledge of no new taxes on middle America from the POTUS? ~~ ” Not One Dime”
Hummm, yet 77% of Americans took on a 2% tax hike to start the new year? Let alone the price of energy that has Quote ” Necessarily Skyrocketed”
Just look at the Walmart sales numbers if you think it did not have an impact.
Google it yourselves and learn what is being forced upon you “Law Abiding Citizens” by virtue of the influence of low information voters.
I have often asked those who voted for our POTUS what he has done for this country in 5 years. They don’t have a real answer that cannot be destroyed by FACTS.
Do you?
I think we are upon an awakening in the U.S..
Many folks are feeling it for sure!
I don’t know about you, but when I realize I have been mislead, it is actually a good vibration that perpetuates my freedom!
Enjoy the new freedom, to those of you who have finally figured out you have been manipulated by costly rhetoric and costly policies, from the POTUS, and not actions on your behalf..
What’s to stop the operators of coal-fired power stations to give Obama what he wants; a total shutdown of coal-fired power stations in the USA?
Why not do it today?
I’m sure “efficiency measures” will be found to deal with the 40% reduction in available electricity. Too bad if all those homes in e.g. Chicago also miss out on district heating from the operation of those coal fired plants. After all, it’s what Obama’s constituency, the Sierra Club, want.
Deliver what that for which they wish.
I’d love to be able to buy electricity as cheaply as those in Chicago (around 5.5 to 8 c/kWh) as I’m pay 3 to 5 times that here in Western Australia.
You write: ‘King’ Obama to circumvent lawful due process on climate.
Not ‘King’ Obama. Contrasting his rhetoric with his deeds, his fondness for extra-constitutional executive orders and his position(s) on the second amendment and climate change (tyranny), one can speculate he prefers the role of King George XX.
Apropos:
This is a fantasy filk (not a misspelling) song, so I’ll not bold the last two lines, as they are extreme for reality, and I am strongly opposed to any such thing. I also despise the opening statement on the video by “surfing god”.
Verse 3:
Verse 6:
Mercedes Lackey Oathbreakers – Oathbreakers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L8ucL4oXts
Some may be interested in the fifth verse beginning:
Verse 5: These are the signs of the treacherous priest
Off topic just for fun:
Oathbreakers – The Leslac Version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEh8s3kCmHo
Magic, Moondust, & Melancholy – Mis-Conceptions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ65UNG-FQs
Do they remember why cat converters were mandated for autos? Maybe they will rethink it since they convert hydrocarbons into CO2 and water vapor. At the time it was referred to as “harmless” carbon dioxide. Pollution was cleaned up and now there was a great reduction in sun-blocking particulates and it gets warmer. I’ve seen one article, years ago, stating “Clean air means warmer air”. They could of just stopped there. It’s all about insane amounts of money being transferred from the people to those who care about the earth. Greenpeace goes to coca-cola and they snuggled up and come up with a program and get McDonalds involved and Kimberly Paper. They do all this by “Green” extortion. IF you don’t play along, we we smear you in the press and protest.. Corps. hate these people but play along with the “sustainable” programs that lines the pockets of Greenpeace. They are mafia with no guns, but use threats of smearing them, “They hate little children.” kinda crap.
The more AGW theory slips, the more radical they become. Somebody should come up with a comparision of storms before 1988 when CO2 was “safe” at 350ppm. and the extreme weather since. It’s no surprise, the weather was much worse during that time. ’74 was the worst year for extreme tornados. SO, according to McKibben, when need to get back to that weather of ’88 and prior, when it was stable and nice. /sarc
I would like to point out a few points about the Constitution that everyone knows but doesn’t necessarily remember. The first one is that Congress enacts laws, the Supreme Court, or in what has been for the last 50 0r so years, that group of people in black robes pretending to be a Supreme Court, decides whether the law passed by the Congress meets the standards of the Constitution, and the President “executes” the laws passed by Congress. Notice that ONLY Congress can create law. There is no provision in the Constitution or the amendments that empowers the President to create law – executive orders, therefore, can not have the power of law. The Supreme Court is supposed to determine if a law passed by Congress meets the standards of the Constitution. If they determine that part of it does not meet those standards, the entire bill is supposed to be null and void. The Court is NOT supposed to write law by saying part of a bill is okay and other parts are not. Only Congress can enact law, and the Supreme court “interpreting” a bill would be the same as rewriting it. I am sure the Supreme Court has been out of touch with its Constitutional directive for longer than just the 1950s or so, but I point to the Warren Court as the first court in my lifetime that actually instituted law by it’s “One man, one vote” edict. With that decision, the power within all states was turned over to the cities, which traditionally are the most corrupt part of governments, and all power was taken away from rural communities – most states can easily see the effects of the judgement as by, say, looking at the amount of road construction done in rural areas versus how much is done in urban areas.
The point of this ramble is that the President has no power – under the Constitution – to do anything other than enforce laws passed by Congress or Veto them. There is NO authority for him to write executive orders beyond temporary measures. It is the people not being educated to realize this that has allowed Presidents since Reagan to act as if they are monarchs. What Americans need to do is to force their representatives and senators to do their job or face recalls so that someone that WILL do that job is sent to Washington. Trouble is, until they are willing to give up the convenience of touch screen voting machines and go back to paper ballots, they will never have control over the election process again. Obama does what he does because Congress wants it done but doesn’t want to be “on record” as having done it. And Congress does what it does because the people are not willing to invest the effort to research for themselves which candidate running for office is the best candidate, usually allowing the TV ads to make those decisions for them.
If this country fails, it will be because the political parties have placed partisanship ahead of the nation, and the people have chosen ignorance over education. The founding fathers said, basically, we have given the nation a Republic, but a republic can only last as long as there is a vigilant and educated citizenry. Since the Department of Education was formed to generate the universally poor educational system we have in this country, people, as a whole were more educated in the workings of the nation than they have ever since. I looked at and failed miserably an 1890 8th grade test from Kansas, I believe, that you had to pass in order to graduate from the 8th grade. I am not a bad student – or rather, wasn’t when I was young – but the education I received by the time I graduated from high school had not prepared me to pass that 8th grade test, and education has deteriorated ever since.
Obama, and what he has done, angers me, but so didn’t Bush before him, and Clinton before him. Until we have a true opposition party to the two-headed monster we now call Democrats and Republicans, nothing is gong to get better. End of rant. Sorry, I get carried away at times.
I’ve said it before that the people who run the coal plants should shut them down or let them idle for a couple of days to let everybody know what it would be like without them. Here in the UK we are due to loose some of our coal plants due to stupid EU rules in a year or two and nothing has been built to replace them except windmills and with about 4000 of them working today they are giving 1.1GW while coal is 16.64GW of a total grid demand of 38.64GW. One small coal plant near London was converted to run on biomass, only thing is the biomass was shipped in from the USA and it has this unfortunate habit of at times catching fire in the storage bins and it took a lot of time and effort to put it out.How green is that.
It does make you wonder if these people ever look at the real world outside their window and think why does it look so different to this report I’m reading?
James Bull
“James Bull says:
February 23, 2013 at 12:40 am”
I know exactly what it will be like. I recall the power black-outs of the 1970’s in the UK which was all over industrial action (Strikes, pay and conditions etc etc). We had days, sometimes weeks, without power in some cases. Fortunately then we had an open fire, with a back-boiler, and gas fired cooker and fridge. I pity anyone who relies 100% on electricity.