van jones resigns

It’s 1:28 a.m. on Sunday, September 6.  I just got a news alert e-mailed to me from the Washington Post.  Van Jones has submitted his resignation.  I believe we can chalk this up as a Conservative victory.  Let’s not stop now.

- Cal -

now is the time to act!

I believe there has been a sufficient hue and cry from concerned Americans regarding the appointment of an avowed Communist–Van Jones–as an advisor to the president that he will be pressured to submit his resignation within the next few days.  However, pressure still needs to be applied.

I sent my post  regarding my feelings about Van Jones and the czars to Udall, Bennet, and Coffman.  If you feel the way I do, I encourage you to do the same.  If you haven’t contacted your representatives before, it’s easy.  Just go the links provided on the right side of your screen.  They have all made it easy to contact them by e-mail.  Do it, you’ll feel great.

- Cal -

the threat of centralized power – part 2

I, like so many others, have become alarmed at the appointment of 37 czars who are now whispering into the ear of our president without any congressional oversight.  The president has skillfully executed a flanking maneuver around the legislature and completely avoided the advice and consent clause that would have ensured some level of vetting and approval.

As far back as February of 2009 Politico reported the following:

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving Democratic senator, is criticizing President Obama’s appointment of White House “czars” to oversee federal policy, saying these executive positions amount to a power grab by the executive branch.  In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, Byrd complained about Obama’s decision to create White House offices on health reform, urban affairs policy, and energy and climate change.  Byrd said such positions “can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials.”

My advise to the legislature would be, do not let this president undermine the Doctrine of Separation of Powers.  Do not let this president usurp the authority of the legislative branch of our government.  Do not let him destroy the system of Checks and Balances that has served this country so well for more than two centuries.  Do not abdicate your authority to this renegade administration.  If the executive branch ever needed very close scrutiny from the other two branches of government, it is now.

The president has seized power through the unilateral appointment of more czars than any president before him.  The legislative branch needs to flex some muscle immediately while it still can.  The Constitution does not require Senate confirmation of czars, which allows the president to act with impunity.  President Obama has over-reached with the appointment 37 czars.  He’s centralizing power by circumventing the legislature and establishing a monarchy.  Do not stand idly by while he does this.

Democrats have got to stop playing the roles of Obama toadies and sycophants.  The Republicans have got to stop sitting on the sidelines and consolidate their leadership.  There are great leaders in the Republican Party—pick one and we will follow.  Both parties have to follow the inspired leadership of Senator Byrd and stand up and be counted.  Do not let President Obama continue to dismantle the framework of the most successful republic the world has ever seen.

The Obama power-grab has to be countered by the legislature imposing itself on the czars and forcing them through the same vetting process a presidential cabinet member has to go through.  He didn’t ask the Senate for permission to hire all those czars, don’t wait for his permission to run them through an ad hoc confirmation process.  Legislative scrutiny will weed out the radical Communists like Van Jones and any other unsavory types that should have never been allowed to get anywhere near the President of the United States.

I’m a product of the Cold War.  Many alive today don’t realize that not so long ago the only way an avowed Communist like Van Jones could have gotten near the president would have been within the crosshairs of the Secret Service.  Now we have a president that actively seeks out and cozies up to Communists.  What is this world coming to?

“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!”

- Cal -

The Fox is in the Hen House

I work in the aerospace industry making and launching rockets.  Our biggest customer is the United States Government, more specifically, NASA and the military.  This means our primary source of income is your tax dollars.  Some of the satellites we launch cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions and in some cases more than a billion dollars.  We get a lot of “help” from our customers to make sure the rockets we build will work the first time every time.  Deliberate and thoughtful consideration is given to the smallest of details.  Should we fail in even the slightest way, your tax dollars could easily end up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean instead of that perfect orbit.  Those of us in the industry take seriously our stewardship over our tax dollars.

Our president and many of our elected representatives don’t seem to share this same level of respect and concern for the fruits of our sweat and toil.  However, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  After all, it was the will of the people that effectively removed the checks and balance of our three branches of government.  With our vote we opened the gate wide and invited the fox into the hen house.  Now they are spending our money with drunken abandon.  They allowed your neighbor to reach into your pocket and take 4,500 of your dollars to buy a new car.  How philanthropic of you.  Those whom we trusted to lighten our load have placed upon our backs and the backs of our children for generations to come a crushing national debt of nearly $12 Trillion Dollars.  Those of us in the aerospace industry would never be allowed to fritter away our customer’s hard earned money in the same reckless and irresponsible way the Obama Machine is fleecing the taxpayers of the United States.

- Cal -

The Threat of Centralized Power

There was a time not so long ago that the federal government plodded slowly along.  It was a sleepy time.  Sure, there might be an occasional spate of excitement, but it would settle down quickly.  The three branches of government kept a watchful eye on each other.  They “checked” on each other as prescribed in the Constitution.  This scrutiny ensured that no one branch would become too powerful and overwhelm the other two thus leading to tyranny.  There was “balance” in the government just as our Founding Fathers had intended.  However, since the advent of Barack Obama my head has been spinning.  It seems that everyday the Obama Machine, with its jackhammers and crowbars, attempts to dismantle one more piece of the foundation upon which this great country rests.

The latest assault comes in the form of a draft of Bill S.773 sponsored by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). Declan McCullagh with CNET News disclosed that the bill would “permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.” He further reveals, “It requires a ‘cybersecurity workforce plan’ from every federal agency, a ‘dashboard’ pilot project, measurements of hiring effectiveness, and the implementation of a ‘comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy’ in six months–even though its mandatory legal review will take a year to complete.”

Again, we have another ill conceived and sweeping change that very likely threatens the liberties granted us by the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution.  In addition, it appears our representatives hope to ramrod this piece of legislation down the throats of their constituents without appropriate due diligence.  This modus operandi doesn’t surprise me.  Their cavalier disregard for the will of the people has become the hallmark of the Obama administration.

This is, yet, another example of the way power is being centralized in the Executive Branch thus subverting the checks and balance necessary for the success of our form of government.  Where are the detractors who assaulted President Bush after he signed into law the USA PATRIOT Act a scant one and a half months following the terrorist attack on September 11?

With the PATRIOT Act we overwhelmingly cracked the door and allowed Totalitarianism to slip it’s foot in ever so slightly.  Bill S.773 will open the door a little more allowing another incremental increase in Totalitarianism in this great country of ours.  Then slowly but steadily over time our civil liberties will continue to slip away until we have willingly, with our vote, placed them all in the hands of a single tyrant.

At some point we have to draw a line.  We have to stop the usurpation of our unalienable rights.  Contact Senators Rockefeller and Snowe and let them know that Bill S.773 is not to be considered lightly, and if they seek to further encroach upon our liberties without appropriate checks and balances their “careers” as public servants will come to an abrupt halt when it comes our turn to “speak” in the voting booth.

- Cal -