Obama Power Grabs on the Horizon

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.

Americans voted in communism and a hard core Marxist to lead the government. They voted in a hard core Marxist Senate. We have officers in the military and Pentagon who kiss the butt of the chosen one to make rank. That is scary. They are in line with him. Thus, I have to look hard at their reasons for ambitions to make rank. Could they also be leaning communists? Makes me wonder. Way too many of them are in his boat now. Worries me.

Newsmax
Experts: New Gun Laws May Increase Crime, Not Prevent Violence
Wednesday, January 9, 2013 09:14 PM

By: Stephen Feller

As lawmakers debate a new version of the assault weapons ban, gun rights advocates and criminologists are pointing out that many statistics show gun ownership actually decreases instances of crime.

Banning the type of assault weapons used in massacres similar to the one last December in Newtown, Conn., may cut down on the number of casualties in mass shootings but won’t necessarily prevent them, according to Fox News.

“The best empirical research on the matter finds that, where gun ownership levels are highest, in fact, homicide rates are far lower,” said Tomislav Kovandzic, a criminologist at the University of Texas.

http://www.newsmax.com/US/gun-laws-increase-violence/2013/01/09/id/470753

Obama basically has a soft dictatorship. The constitution is nothing without people to defend it. Already Obama has the media and radical activists to go after anyone who stands up against his agenda. The republicans in congress won’t do anything. Obama will come down on corporations to make them go along with the program and for those that do not, he will use the branch of the government to go after them. Look at Gibson Guitar. They were made to be an example. Obama also has the unions in his pocket which is a small army itself.

When the chit hits the fan and they do come for guns, how many Americans are going to put their family in harms way? There will be some hold outs but the most people will comply, because look what they’ve done so far. Re-elected a known Marxist.

We must connect with local police departments, judges and the military if we are to survive. Make sure we befriend them and make them aware of right and wrong, through the constitution if we want to stop Obama’s power grab from going any lower. If the military and the police have no feelings for the general public, they will be on the side of Obama, like with all dictators.

There will be some hold outs but the most people will comply

This is discussed extensively by our founders and by generations of intellectually conservative men. The right to defend oneself is not something anyone can take away from you, by force or otherwise.

If you voluntarily disarm, you are no different than a gazelle that decided to stop running from a cheetah. Unfortunately, at the hands of a tyrant, unlike survival on the savannah, death will not be swift.

I do not believe this at all, and I've personally said myself that I will fire upon any local, state, or federal law enforcement official who attempts to usurp my right to defend myself and my family. This is discussed extensively by our founders and by generations of intellectually conservative men. The right to defend oneself is not something anyone can take away from you, by force or otherwise. If you voluntarily disarm, you are no different than a gazelle that decided to stop running from a cheetah. Unfortunately, at the hands of a tyrant, unlike survival on the savannah, death will not be swift.

This administration is good at the emotional game. They will make examples of people and use others to do their dirty work. They control the media. They will make people who protect themselves as kooks or extremists and get woman to worry about their children or loved ones. There will be people who will defend themselves but they know that and will use that to their advantage.

I'm not in any way advocating people to give up their guns but I am looking at how this administration works and how people can cave into pressure. It's just something we have to prepare for.

For our own defense, we must not act alone. We must have the locals on our side. The left knows that too and is working hard in trying to make the average citizen look like they are deranged in the eyes of the police, soldiers, etc. When the police or military sees the average person as the enemy, game is over. Look at how they are war gaming this with the FBI making the Tea Party as a terrorist group in their simulated training.

I completely get it, dragon, and I have no doubt we’re on the same intellectual plane on this discussion. My point here is that for all of the bluster the Feds are blowing, they’re not contemplating the costs in both dollars and lives that it would cost to implement such a scheme.

I’m done hiding, and I’ve made it abundantly clear even to my cousins who are both LEOs that I would have no problem taking their lives if they marched to illegal orders from an illegal law. They’ve assured me that most LEOs would not abide and would certainly be more concerned for the health and well-being of their families over the orders from their CO.

People can be cowed into doing anything. The old quote is prescient (paraphrasing): Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. People are comfortable with their iPads and iPhones, their flat screen TVs and cable, their leased Mercedes and their cushy government jobs. None of that means anything in the face of losing your life, but in the charge of defending yourself or your family against those who would do you harm either immediately or at a future point, you are justified in fighting them to the death and should die assured that the Lord will receive you for doing the same.

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