LAR: Obama the UsurperX
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Feb. 10, 2012
Obama is tearing down the constitutional firewalls between state and church, and imposing his will alone. But it's even worse than that.
The state imposes its will on the church.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) brought suit against SeaWorld on behalf of the orcas performing in their aquatics show, citing that it violates the 13th amendment which prohibits slavery.
That jobs thing sure didn't last long It is hard for most Americans to understand how it is contrary to the national interest to create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs.
CNNMoney.com: Mortgage deal—What the critics say ALG President Bill Wilson rips $26 billion settlement between banks and government over alleged fraud in mortgage lending. Obama the Usurper
By Bill Wilson
Barack Obama has once again reminded the American people that he has no reservation at all about dictating to his subjects what they must do and when they must do it.
Take his most recent power grab. Whether one agrees with the use of contraception or not, forcing religious institutions to pay for a practice that violates their own doctrines is a gross misuse of government power and a violation of the First Amendment.
This policy was not even a part of the health care law that Congress voted on, it was a regulation issued from on high by the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House. It initially applies to religious-affiliated institutions like hospitals, colleges and charities, but if it stands, there will be nothing in the way to also force it onto churches and houses of worship in the future.
Obama is tearing down the constitutional firewalls between state and church, and imposing his will alone.
But it's even worse than that. This is a consistent pattern of ignoring and twisting the law to enact his political agenda — no matter what the cost. What is revealed are the actions of a man concerned primarily with the acquisition of raw power.
Obama has pretended congressional recesses into existence to make radical appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Get full story here. Your Will Be Done
Get permalink here. Free Willy… from slavery?
Have you ever seen the show The Dog Whisperer? It features a man who claims he can telepathically communicate with and speak to dogs. Following its success, a new show is to be aired in its place:
The Whale Whisperer. The heartwarming story of a group of people who believe that they can communicate with and understand the feelings of Orca whales.
Okay, that's not real — but this is.
Recently officials representing the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) brought suit against SeaWorld on behalf of the orcas performing in their aquatics show, citing that it violates the 13th amendment which prohibits slavery.
As ridiculous as that may seem, it is unfortunately very real. This case, which was just shot down in the California courts, attempted to claim that the "employment" of the whales amounts to unlawful imprisonment and that Tilikum, Katina, Corky, Katsaka and Ulises (the names of the San Diego parks five Orca whale performers) are being held against their will.
Jeff Kerr, general counsel for PETA, when asked to describe the reasoning behind the failed lawsuit stated that "Coercion, degradation and subjugation characterize slavery and these orcas have endured all three."
Clearly someone is just bitter that they never get to see Shamu perform.
This assertion by PETA is basically stating that the rights laid out in the Constitution by our forefathers, for all of the humans living in the United States, should now also apply to all of the animals as well. Is the next step a union for polar bears?
Get full story here. That jobs thing sure didn't last long
President Obama "is focused like a laser on putting people back to work," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) assured us last fall — echoing repeated statements by President Obama and Administration officials who "can't wait" for Congress or others to take action and create jobs.
The jobs thing didn't last long, however. The President soon vetoed TransCanada's application for permits to build the Keystone XL pipeline. Approving them "would not be in the national interest," he declared.
It is hard for most Americans to understand how it is contrary to the national interest to create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs, increase U.S. gross domestic product by an estimated $350 billion, and bring 830,000 barrels of oil per day via pipeline from friend and neighbor Canada to Texas refineries. It's hard for us to grasp how pipelining Canadian oil is worse than importing oil in much riskier tankers from unstable, unfriendly places like Venezuela and the Middle East — or how it's better for the global environment to transport Canadian oil by tanker to China, where it will be burned under far less rigorous pollution laws and controls.
It's equally hard for average citizens to comprehend how more than three years of careful environmental studies are insufficient, especially after the State Department had issued several reports concluding that the pipeline would have only "limited adverse environmental impacts" in areas that are already dotted with oil wells and crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines.
To suppose, as the President insisted, that Keystone would generate "a lot fewer jobs than would be created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance" is simply baffling.
In view of White House intransigence, what should Congress and TransCanada do now?
The 1,660-mile-long Keystone XL pipeline would begin in southeastern Alberta, Canada and end in Port Arthur, Texas. Although it would incorporate the existing Keystone Cushing pipeline through Kansas and part of Oklahoma, most of the US portion (from Canada through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska, and from Cushing, Oklahoma to Port Arthur) would be new. Keystone XL would create 20,000 jobs manufacturing and installing 36-inch pipe, valves and other components to build that addition.
Environmentalists predictably went ballistic. Surface mining Alberta's oil sands damages lands and habitats, they railed. Never mind that this technique is being replaced by in situ "steam-assisted gravity drain" processes, that mined lands are being restored to forest and grass habitats, or that blocking Keystone XL will neither end oil extraction nor prevent crude or refined product shipments to China.
Mining, processing and using this oil will increase greenhouse gas levels and global warming, activists vented. Never mind that total "greenhouse gas" emissions would amount to an almost undetectable portion of annual global GHG emissions. That "dangerous manmade global warming" is an exaggerated scare that has little basis in truly peer-reviewed science. Or that there has been no warming for a decade, UN IPCC "science" is crumbling at its foundation, and increasing numbers of climate experts are publicly dissenting from IPCC orthodoxy.
Mr. Obama needs environmentalists in his camp, if he expects to be reelected. Radical greens have made Keystone XL the latest symbol of their intense hatred of anything hydrocarbon – and a centerpiece for fundraising. Like the President, they are intent on ending our "addiction to oil" and "fundamentally transforming" the energy, economic and social fabric of America.
Jobs, GDP, tax revenues and national security will therefore have to take a backseat.
As he suggested in his State of the Union speech, President Obama seems willing to generate expensive electricity for three million homes by blanketing a million acres of public lands with taxpayer-subsidized, bird-killing wind turbines, habitat-smothering solar panels, high-voltage transmission lines, and gas-fired backup units. Anti-Keystone "environmentalists" seem to have few objections to such "eco-friendly" energy. But for them a pipeline is intolerable.
Faced with these facts, TransCanada could do as Mr. Obama suggested — and reapply for permits, after the fall elections and after changing its intended pipeline route to avoid allegedly sensitive areas. In the meantime, it could continue trying to win friends and influence people.
Yes, it could. But doing so has significant pitfalls.
It would drag the process out, leave the company in the "kill zone" of media and environmentalist attacks, in a political no man's land, amid deadly crossfire from savvy and well-funded activists, journalists and bureaucrats. It would also set the stage for anti-pipeline lawsuits in courts of their choosing — perhaps in "friendly" lawsuits between "green" plaintiffs and EPA or State — when and if permits finally are granted.
A further drawback is that focusing on the State Department and White House ignores the Interior Department, Fish & Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency and many other federal and state regulatory and judicial agencies and processes that will still stand in the way of final project approval, and will likely take years to navigate.
There is a better way.
TransCanada could and should work closely and cooperatively with farmers and farm bureaus, state governors, agencies and legislators, mayors and other affected parties, to address concerns and compensate landowners for the use of their property, unavoidable impacts and damages in the unlikely event of an accident. The company should emphasize that Keystone XL will create thousands of jobs; generate billions of dollars in private, local, state and national revenue; use the best and safest pipeline technology; and bring oil from a friendly country to American refineries, motorists, farmers and manufacturers.
TransCanada should also take legal action, in state and/or federal courts of its choosing, over causes of action of its choosing. The company's permit application has been rejected — for specious environmental and overtly political reasons. The Administration's decision is clearly "ripe" for litigation.
The company may be reluctant to sue. Litigation over such matters is not as common in Canada as in the lawsuit-happy USA; the judicial territory may be unfamiliar; and the outcome is not certain.
However, in the United States environmentalists often win in the courts of media and public opinion, especially in an election year, especially with hundred-million-dollar anti-oil campaigns, laden with emotional rhetoric.
On the other hand, companies frequently win in U.S. courts of law, where they are able to compile complete judicial records with solid scientific facts supporting their projects — something that is virtually impossible to do in a sound-bite-driven (and often biased) news media. The factually bankrupt rhetoric of environmentalist campaigns is no match for sound science, when claims and arguments are scrutinized at the trial and appellate level. Faced with defeat, the green wolf packs often go off in search of easier prey.
The anti-pipeline, anti-oil sands groups will not disappear. They will most assuredly sue TransCanada and multiple government agencies if permits are ultimately issued. They will also do all they can to shut down any Pacific Gateway pipeline, any exports to Asia, and ultimately all oil sands operations.
This better way forward has strong probabilities for success. It is clearly in the national interest of both Canada and the United States that it be taken, and that it succeed.
Paul Driessen is senior policy advisor for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and Congress of Racial Equality, and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power – Black death.  ALG Editor's Note: In the following featured report from CNNMoney.com, Chris Isidore chronicles the critics of the $26 billion settlement between banks and government over alleged fraud in mortgage lending: Mortgage deal: What the critics say
By Chris Isidore NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The $26 billion mortgage settlement had a lot of support -- as evidenced by the 49 out of 50 state attorneys general that signed the deal.
But it also has its shares of critics on both the left and the right.
Conservatives called it overreaching on the part of the Obama administration, and say it rewards homeowners who haven't been paying their home loans.
Other critics of the Obama administration said the fact that the settlement will be able to help only a small percentage of troubled homeowners raises other questions about fairness.
"Certain favored borrowers will be receiving a bailout while everyone else's home values will stay underwater," said Bill Wilson, president of Americans for Limited Government. "The impact will be minimal, so the question becomes, who's getting a bailout and what makes them so special?"
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