Free Republic

The Bush Administration, especially in the person of Vice President Cheney, had an expansive view of presidential authority. It was articulated as an interpretation of the Constitution, in particular Article II, which is about the presidency. Truman similarly took an expansive view of presidential authority when he seized the steel industry during the Korean War, but the seizure was overturned by the Supreme Court. (The Bush Administration had a mixed record in the Supreme Court in defending its expansive view of presidential authority, which centered on antiterrorist policy.) Clinton used administrative regulation to try to get around the Republican Congress...

Over 500 people gather at Port of Oakland in bid to prevent Zim ship from unloading in protest of Gaza flotilla raid. Organizers say dockworkers have agreed not to show up to unload vessel ___ Flotilla protest reaches California: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at the Port of Oakland before dawn Sunday in a bid to prevent an Israeli cargo ship from unloading for the day. Richard Becker ANSWER Coalition, one of the groups which organized the protest, told the San Francisco Chronicle: "Our objective was to boycott this ship for 24 hours, and we succeeded in doing that." The...

After years of inactivity, the National Labor Relations Board is set to come roaring back. And everyone expects it to give Big Labor a new edge in its dealings with management. Thanks to two recent NLRB recess appointments by President Obama, employers are bracing for new rules on workplace organizing efforts, including how and when the elections are held, which employees can be organized, what data must be turned over to unions during elections and what access they would have to workplaces. Business could also face new restrictions on what they can tell employees during elections and new penalties that...

A grassroots non-denominational church lobby is blasting President Barack Obama for using recess appointments for two individuals who are so radical they couldn't even be confirmed by a Democratic-controlled Senate. Since Congress adjourned on Friday (March 26), President Obama has appointed no less than 15 of his languishing nominees. The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) is concerned about two in particular, including radical professor Chai Feldblum who is to serve as a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. TVC executive director Andrea Lafferty says Feldblum is way out of the mainstream. "She has stated that sexual liberty trumps religious liberty,...

This weekend President Obama implemented a recess appointment for Craig Becker to head the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On January 8th, 2001, Becker told a radio audience that he was a supporter of American businesses hiring undocumented, illegal aliens. The man that will be implementing rules to govern labor relations in America is a supporter of breaking America's labor laws to hire illegal workers. ... and Barack Obama's radical agenda rolls ever onward. audio at linkhere

Over the weekend, we noted the recess appointment of Craig Becker, the former Service Employees International Union lawyer to the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB oversees labor and business relations, so this represents a pretty big payback for Big Labor even if Becker cannot serve past the end of the current Congress (January 2011). How big? Over at the Washington Examiner, Mark Hemingway elaborates on Mr. Becker’s take on labor/management relations:

Barack Obama and organized labor have made no secret about promoting each other's interests. Indeed, his 2008 presidential victory would have been much more difficult in absence of union financial contributions and volunteer work. Thus, Obama's recess appointment Saturday of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, effectively overriding a Senate Republican filibuster last month, served as an IOU as well as an expression of the president's will. Becker, currently a top union lawyer, has argued that workers should not have any right to opt out of union representation. Moreover, he's counseled a large local union founded as a...

President Barack Obama has elected to bypass the Senate and unilaterally install 15 nominees, including the controversial Craig Becker to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, a move sure to infuriate Republicans.

The Senate on Tuesday rejected Craig Becker, President Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board. Becker got 52 votes — but he needed 60 to break a GOP filibuster. Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska even voted no. On the surface, new Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., wasn’t important. But he denied Democrats' ability to break a GOP filibuster, so there was no point in vulnerable senators sticking their necks out

Major Garrett tweets this response from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka on the defeat of Craig Becker: "A Republican-led filibuster has put political interests over the needs of America’s working families," Trumka said. "We support President Obama’s expressed willingness to make recess appointments of critical posts in the federal government if that’s what it takes to get around minority delay and obstruction."

Fox News now reporting that Pres. Obama;s nomination of leftist radical labor union associated Craig Becker has failed in the US senate.

Craig Becker Uses Rules for Radicals For #1 SEIU-Obama priority, the ends justify the means President Obama’s radical union-backed nominee to the National Labor Relations Board lied to a Senate confirmation panel earlier this week about his ties to the embattled leftist advocacy group ACORN. The nominee is Craig Becker, who, at least until recently, was longtime associate general counsel to SEIU. Becker is considered radical in part because he believes that “employers should have no role in the unionization process,” according to Brian Johnson, executive director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom. During a hearing Tuesday by the Senate...

Guest post from Americans for Tax Reform If the Senate’s schedule remains unchanged, a cloture vote on Obama's nominee to the National Labor Relations Board, Craig Becker, is expected Thursday, February 4. Such a move will disenfranchise the Senate’s newest member, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. Democratic leadership reaffirmed numerous times that the Senate would not vote on any health care legislation until Senator Brown is seated. Harry Reid: “We’re not going to rush into anything. We’re going to wait until the new senator arrives to do more on health care.” Jim Webb: “It is vital that we restore the respect...

Business interest groups are rallying against an Obama administration labor board nominee they fear will implement new rules making it easier for unions to organize. Labor lawyer Craig Becker was re-nominated to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week. His nomination last year was approved by a Senate panel but never received a confirmation vote by the full chamber. Becker, an associate general counsel to both the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO, is being treated by business trade groups as someone who could institute parts of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) through executive action if...

Date: Saturday, December 12, 2009 Time: 11:00am - 3:00pm Location: Washington, DC Lafayette Square across from White House (Metro: Farragut West or Farragut North) 10:30 AM YAF will counter protest the 9/11 "inside job" conspiracy theorists. They call it an anti-war rally, but the nuts and bolts are coming from the left coast for this!!! This just cam in last minute!!!! Contact: jordan@yaf.com or 202-596-7923 to join with YAF In Freedom, YAF Come protest the likes of: Scheduled Speakers Dennis Kucinich US Representative (D-Ohio) and former Presidential candidate, www.kucinich.house.gov Cynthia McKinney 2008 Green Party candidate for President, former six-term Democratic...

WASHINGTON — A Google search has reunited a father with the daughter he has been trying to track down for three decades. April Antoniou, 30, of Newnan, Georgia, and her father, Scott Becker, of Wichita, Kansas, have been making the rounds of television news and talk shows since their Internet-aided reunion this month. Antoniou and Becker told Atlanta television stations WGCL-TV and 11Alive they had been independently trying to find each other for years but with no success. Antoniou said she had frequently turned to Google but had no luck because her father's name is relatively common and she knew...

Boris Becker: 'My Daughter Anna Wasn't Conceived In A Broom Cupboard... It Was On The Stairs' [Pics in URL] By Daily Mail Reporter 15th October 2009 Former tennis champion Boris Becker has revealed that the infamous 'broom cupboard' restaurant liaison - which led to the conception of his third child - actually happened on some stairs. The five time Wimbledon winner had sex with model Angela Ermakova on the steps of London's Nobu restaurant in 1999. The romp with model Angela Ermakova which apparently was over in 'five seconds', produced a daughter, Anna - now nine, and cost Becker his...

<p>A founding member of the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois met in New York City tonight with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.</p> <p>Jodie Evans, who co-hosted Obama's first major fundraiser in Hollywood in February 2007 just after Obama announced his candidacy and is a top fundraiser and donor to Obama's campaign, led a delegation of leftist anti-American groups that held a private meeting near the United Nations. The stated purpose of the meeting was to "serve as an opening for diplomatic resolution" to prevent war between Iran and the United States.</p>

Mounted police charged in to break up an outdoor press conference and demonstration against the Iraq war in Washington on Thursday, arresting three people, organizers and an AFP reporter said. "The police suppressed the press conference. In the middle of the speeches, they grabbed the podium" erected in a park in front of the White House for the small gathering, Brian Becker, national organizer of the ANSWER anti-war coalition, told AFP. "Then, mounted police charged the media present to disperse them," Becker said.The charge caused a peaceful crowd of some 20 journalists and four or five protestors to scatter in...

The "Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors" is an organization which "supports and promotes individual and collective resistance to war and preparations for war", according to its website. Among the resources available on the website are How-to guides on being AWOL, various reasons for getting out of the military, as well as a list of reasons one should not join the US military. The following picture on its website illustrates the goal of the organization: This organization lists among its sponsors former Democratic congressman Ronald Dellums of California. Dellums was an anti-war, anti-military radical who created a stir during the Vietnam...