PRESIDENTIAL POWER GRAB - ALL HAIL KING OBAMA!

PRESIDENTIAL POWER GRAB

We need to call, email or FAX members of the US Senate and protest an upcoming bill.  S 679 is titled: Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011 The complete text is here: Click Here This bill removes from the Senate the power to vote their consent for Senior Government Appointments, placing in the Office of the President powers contrary to those accorded in the Constitution.  While it is tacit that the process to name and approve these appointments needs to be streamlined, it should not be upon the backs of our rights and freedoms declared in the United States Constitution. The Constitution's Appointment Clause reads: "... shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments." The Heritage Foundation wrote in a recent article the following: "The Senate Should Preserve, But Speed Up, Its Role in Senior Presidential Appointments When the delegates of the states gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 and wrote the Constitution, they distributed the powers of the federal government among two Houses of Congress, a President, and a judiciary, and required in many cases that two of them work together to exercise a particular constitutional power. That separation of powers protects the liberties of the American people by preventing any one officer of the government from aggregating too much power. The Framers of the Constitution did not give the President the kingly power to appoint the senior officers of the government by himself. Instead, they allowed the President to name an individual for a senior office, but then required the President to obtain the Senate's consent before appointing the individual to office. Thus, they required the cooperation of the President and the Senate to put someone in high office. Many of the Framers had practical experience with government and recognized that not every office would be of sufficient authority and consequence as to merit the attention of both the President and the Senate to an appointment to the office. Therefore, they provided a means by which the Congress by law could decide which of the lesser offices of government could be filled by the President alone, a court, or a department head."   By removing these offices from the Senate consent process, they diminish the power of the Senate and increase the power and role of the Presidency, further reducing the Checks and Balances set up by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution.  Furthermore, S 679 does not determine if the offices named in the bill are of "little or no consequence".  Rather, it deems that because the Senate is too slow, the sponsors feel that they should streamline the process and bypass the Senate Confirmation process.  Now wouldn't it make more sense that if speeding up the process of appointments, then the Senate shouldn't the Senators review their internal process and look to modify it?  Also, the Executive Branch  should look internally at their own procedures in an effort to streamline the vetting process which has become over-burdensome and invasive as it travels through the federal bureaucracy before reaching the Senate.  As usual, this legislation uses a sledgehammer to fix a problem, when a Love-Tap is more appropriate.  Legislation should not be necessary to "mandate" that the President tell his staff to cut the layers of bureaucracy, communicate with other departments and agencies (You know - Play nice boys!), nor to tailor the vetting process to the needs of the actual job the appointment is being made.  The "Working Group"created under the Executive Branch and appointed directly by the President not only is an additional power grab, but another layer of bureaucracy we can ill afford and a relinquishment of powers conferred upon Congress by the Constitution. ** More than 200 positions will be affected - this is a sampling of some of the Appointments to be directly under the Power of the President: The Agriculture Department's Commodities Credit Board Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service Administrator The Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The Commerce Department's Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information The Defense Department's Assistant Secretary for Networks and Information Integration The Assistant Secretaries of each of the armed services for financial management The Education Department's Assistant Secretary for Management Education's Commissioner of Education Statistics All 7 of the Assistant Secretaries of Energy The Department of Homeland Security's Director of the Office of Domestic Preparedness Homeland Security's Assistant Administrator of FEMA for Grant Programs The Department of the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer The Treasurer of the United States Director of the US Mint The Governors and Alternate Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (amending Section 3 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act) Governor and Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank (amending Section 3(a) of the Asian Development Bank Act) Governor and Alternate Governor of the African Development Fund (amending Section 203(a) of the African Development Fund Act) Managing Director of the Corporation for National and Community Service The Office of Management and Budget's Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management Director of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund  If this doesn't scare you?  How about this fact - The bill sponsor is Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and includes Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) as co-sponsor.  The following Republicans also signed onto S 679: Alexander (TN) Brown (MA) Collins (ME) Johanns (NE) Kyl (AZ) Lugar (IN) McConnell (KY) Hot Air also has a good article on this boondoggle! Read it here!

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE NOW AND TELL THEM

VOTE NO!

ON S 679 AND ANY COMPANION BILLS THAT WILL DIMINISH THE POWER OF CONGRESS AND INCREASE THE POWER ACCORDED TO THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE BRANCH.

Libturd Attacks Tea Party

An anonymous person emailed me several days ago, after my editorial appeared in the Gazette.  They wrote: “I will be attending the Tea Party Rally on Sept. 12. I will be looking to see if the Tea Party representatives and speakers will be speaking to solutions to our nations problems and not be apart of the problem. I will not be looking for gripes, complaints, anti-Obama or racial placards.”

My response to QUEBILL@aol.com was: “You are most welcome to join us, however we will not restrict FREE speech.  It is not the responsibility of those who are part of the Tea Party movement to create "solutions".  It is our responsibility to make our voices heard to elected officials and candidates so they may form solutions.  It is our responsibility to seek out individuals who can lead us out of the quagmire both parties lead us into and support them in their efforts.

We do not tolerate racism and will continue to battle it as we did throughout the civil rights movement, which without us would have been even longer in occurring.

It it odd you did not sign your name!

Ann Ubelis
Beaufort Tea Party co-founder”

In other words, the type of people who populate the Tea Party movement are the same foot soldiers who fought the Revolutionary War, who supported the Abolitionist movement of the Civil War And who stood shoulder to shoulder throughout the Civil Rights era fighting for equality.  Ordinary American Patriots fighting extra-ordinary battles, while being publicly derided and mis-represented.

We seek out capable and honest people who support the foundation of this nation, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  It is our duty and responsibility to find leaders with wisdom, courage and common sense to formulate solutions and implement them.  We seek out organizations that espouse the Tea Party principles to help form solutions and support these leaders, such as the CATO Institute and the Heritage Foundation.

Look around you and what do you see?  The average Joe.  The everyday American. A sleeping giant that was poked into action by irresponsible actions of our government. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —    

That to secure these rights, Gov’ts are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”

Our fore fathers knew the extent and limits of our tolerance & when  pushed to a certain point, “We The People” would be moved to action.  They knew that those of us that have the ability to take action, have the absolute responsibility to act.”

It was President Andrew Jackson who said, “One man with courage makes a majority”   Well, We are the Majority and Silent No Longer!

Now, QUEBILL@aol.com, before I introduce our guest speakers, I’ll leave you with one final thought. It was the Renaissance Author Dante who said, “the hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in a time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”

You cannot silence us with your disinformation and veiled threats.  We will be Silent No Longer!

Kiss Your Wallets & Credit Lines Good-Bye!

Take a minute and click on this link to sign a petition to

Stop Finance Reform now!

As the stock market melts down once again, Congress and our President just don't get the picture.  Once again, the Senate creates a legislative nightmare of Finance Reform totaling more than 1700 pages.  Haven't these Senators, who feel they are far more superior in intellect than the average voter, learned from the Boondoggle called Health Care Reform?  We still don't fully understand what is in that debacle and day by day, we learn more and the picture just aint right! (I know, aint aint a word!)

What makes me really mad, everyone fought hard to put Scott Brown in Ted Kennedy's seat, and now he's turned his back on our voices and voted to bring this monstrosity to the floor.  No wonder why Harry Reid is crowing he has the votes to pass this act.  Thanks Scott!  Keep this up and there will be no second term, we promise you!

We need to step up our game and let our Senators know, we don't want this bill!  We want sensible reform that includes Fannie and Freddie Mac.  If you want to curb wild swings in the market, you need to look at the automated computer penny traders that are not regulated.  Stop the "To Big To Fail" policies.  Don't try to legislate and regulate every single transaction in the business world, which includes any agreement I make personally with a company I owe money to and our repayment schedules.  Small banks will fail because of the massive regulation that will be imposed.  If you thought you have a hard time getting credit now, just wait until this beast hits!

There will be unintended consequences in this bill.  If JP Morgan and Goldman Sacks are salivating over this bill, then I for one believe, we better take a long look at it, there is definitely something wrong here! 

Take a minute and click on this link to sign a petition to
Stop Finance Reform now!