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Post from The Heritage Foundation on this, a most reverent of days, Veterans’ Day. It is a day during which we, as Americans, - all Americans, – should extend our deepest gratitude to the selfless people who serve in our military. They voluntarily go out into the world and perform their duty to preserve our rights and freedoms; because they do this well, you and I don’t have to do it here at home. Yet. If the current administration and Congress continue to eliminate our troops’ ability to defend us, and themselves, there may come a time when we will need to do the work our troops are currently doing. Pray it doesn’t happen soon.
Respectfully – and with deep gratitude to our troops, past, present and future,
Penny Crosson
Midland, Texas
Today, we at The Heritage Foundation will honor Veterans Day by pausing to remember those who sacrifice in defense of freedom for our country. Heritage honors all who serve past and present in the United States Armed Forces, their families, and all military retirees and veterans. We solemnly remember those fallen men and women who gave the last full measure of devotion and will also not forget those who have yet to come home and remain missing in action.
This national holiday warrants a diversion from discussing domestic priorities to take a closer look at what Congress and the White House are doing about many pressing defense issues.
Some policymakers seem want to keep defense and military issues out of the headlines, choosing instead to continue cutting the defense budget to fund domestic programs. This observation is based on actual outcomes from this year’s defense budget debate.
During the past few months, Congress and the President effectively shut down the purchase of next-generation equipment for the military. That includes: the Air Force’s F-22 fifth-generation fighter aircraft, the most sophisticated in the world; the Army’s ground vehicles designed to replace a combat fleet built in the 1970s and 80s; two types of helicopters-one which fulfills the unique duty of rescuing military personnel held behind enemy lines; and large cuts to the missile defense program designed to thwart the threat of long-range ballistic missiles from hitting U.S. shores and cities.
What’s likely next year? Jack Reed (D-RI), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently opined that the Department of Defense should buckle up for some (more) “painful adjustments”-as if any more could be borne by those in uniform-and get ready to do the following:
- sacrifice defense dollars to pay for TARP, the stimulus bill, domestic programs and the federal debt;
- hand over another chunk of the defense budget to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for civilian aid or “soft power” programs; and
- delay or cut weapons programs that are not “absolutely essential.”
Unfortunately, Congress set a horrible precedent, having given the President so many of his defense cuts during a time of war. That just makes more devastating cancellations likely in the coming years.
The problem is that, since they have no new weapons systems to slash, politicians will need to start eliminating equipment that today’s troops are using everyday. This includes replacements for tanks, trucks, ships and planes that are already worn out after nine years of consecutive warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In short, finding further “savings” in the defense budget would require cutting to the bone and hurting those in uniform. Having a world-class military and truly honoring those who serve requires policymakers to provide the same technologically-advanced equipment to defeat any enemy when necessary and protect those in harm’s way.
Providing the military just enough to barely get by is dangerous, and an outright dereliction of duty by federal policymakers whose first job is found in the preamble of the U.S. Constitution: to provide for the common defense of the American people.
White House communications director Anita Dunn announces her resignation. Beck at it again
That was a muslim terrorist act. Guantanamo is too good for him.
At least now we know for sure who has been listening to the concerns of the American people. Now to find good oponents to boot them out.
A brand new US Navy vessel! A fitting tribute to New York in memory of Sept 11. Steel from the twin towers used in making the ship! I pray terrorists would tremble from her might!
Obama Rewards Party Donors with White House Perks
Remember the Clinton scandal from the 1990s when the Bill and Hillary shamelessly rented out the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House to top Democratic donors? Well, not to be outdone, it appears President Obama is now offering up the entire White House complex for sale.
This according to The Washington Times:
During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.
High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.
One top donor described in an interview with The Times being given a birthday visit to the Oval Office. Another was allowed use of a White House-complex bowling alley for his family. Bundlers closest to the president were invited to watch a movie in the red-walled theater in the basement of the presidential mansion.
Now The White House, as expected, is downplaying the scandal. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in an email to reporters that “it’s no surprise” that some who have contributed to Democratic campaigns have visited The White House. But in his meandering justification, Pfeiffer managed to ignore the central charge against the Obama White House — that party donors given White House access and other perks in exchange for cash donations. Which, of course, could be in violation of a number of federal laws.
Pfeiffer also took his Clintonian defense of the Obama administration one giant step further, claiming that the administration has not only conducted itself with integrity in this situation, but that, overall, it has put into place the “toughest ethics standards in history.” Other than “ethics waivers,” enemies lists, government threats and attacks on businesses, media and talk radio hosts, and politicizing the NEA (see below), etc.?
And what about those White House visitor logs?
Pfeiffer boasted in his email defense that “for the first time in history, records detailing who visited the White House will be made public on a regular basis.”
But this doesn’t come close to telling the full story. The White House did promise that it will release some White House visitor logs in the future but it has not released visitor logs from the first nine months of the administration…which just happens to be the period of time these alleged donor visits took place. We, of course, are fighting to have all of the visitor logs released.
As we said in a press statement about this latest scandal, “Attorney General Holder can demonstrate his independence by appointing a special counsel to conduct an independent investigation of these serious allegations. In the meantime, the Obama White House needs to respond to our and others’ requests for information about White House visitors.”
Too many in the liberal media have fallen for their hero Obama’s line that this is a non-scandal. It will be up to honest news outlets and independent watchdogs like Judicial Watch to try to get to the full truth of this latest Obama scandal.
Respectfully submitted,
Penny Crosson
| From “New American”
Written by Alex Newman |
| Tuesday, 27 October 2009 05:35
|
| President Barack Obama granted himself more broad powers late last week when he declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, announcing the decision over the weekend to a chorus of ridicule and fiery criticism.
Officials tried to downplay the importance of the move, with many major media outlets largely echoing government commentators. “This is not a reaction to any new developments; it’s a proactive step, a useful tool going forward,” said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin, quoted in a USA Today article entitled “‘National emergency’ for H1N1 no cause for alarm, experts say.” Some officials are comparing it to declarations of emergency before hurricanes hit land.
The widely touted effect of this emergency declaration is that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be able to waive some bureaucratic regulations involving hospitals and government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and others. The order would allow hospitals to bypass federal rules and set up emergency rooms off site to deal with a mass influx of patients, for example.
An anonymous administration official told CNN that it also “gives the federal government more power to help states.” It also helps to implement government triage plans, like one being developed in Florida that calls for pulling the plug on certain people and rationing medical care. In addition, the presidential order further mobilizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to prepare for potential disaster.
But there is more than simple administrative processes at work. “The stakes just got raised with this proclamation,” Arizona State University health law professor James G. Hodge, Jr. told the Washington Post. “Broader powers of the federal government are now authorized to respond to the emerging outbreak.”
Some analysts are warning about the extraordinary claimed authorities associated with the emergency decrees. Mike Adams, editor of Natural News, highlights some of the purported presidential powers in an article entitled “President Obama declares national emergency over swine flu pandemic; but why?” These include the potential for forcing U.S. citizens to receive vaccinations or be quarantined and even the “effective nullification of the Bill of Rights,” he said.
Other commentators have even suggested the possibility of martial law.
Congress’ research arm confirmed the draconian powers that the President claims for himself. “Emergency powers are not solely derived from legal sources. The extent of their invocation and use is also contingent upon the personal conception which the incumbent of the Presidential office has of the Presidency and the premises upon which he interprets his legal powers,” wrote the non-partisan Congressional Research Service in a 2007 report about “National Emergency Powers,” citing an “authority.” “In the last analysis, the authority of a President is largely determined by the President himself.
The report further notes that under the existing system, “The President may seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens.”
So far about 1,000 people have died from swine flu-related complications in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Globally, the World Health Organization claims about 5,000 deaths were linked to the disease. The New York Times reported that millions of Americans have been infected and cites officials who claim there have been about 20,000 hospitalizations.
But on average, the CDC claims 36,000 deaths each year are linked to the seasonal flu. Also, the flu season in the Southern Hemisphere is on its way out, and so far the virus has proven extremely mild. And a recent CBS investigation pointed out that numbers of swine flu victims have been widely inflated. Many observers are wondering what makes the swine flu a veritable emergency in the first place, leading to speculation about what it means.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had already declared a state of emergency over the swine flu outbreak back in April. HHS also issued a “formal declaration of a Public Health Emergency” in April even though there had only been 20 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus.
However unbeknownst to many Americans, the United States was already under a state of national emergency even before the swine flu proclamation. In September, President Obama issued an “Emergency Executive Order” dealing with terrorism to extend the state of national emergency originally declared by Bush in 2001 for another year. So even without the swine flu “emergency,” the executive branch was already claiming the extensive powers purportedly granted by these executive orders.
The administration emphasized that this new declaration was not in response to any developments. Officials also said it has nothing to do with the number of questionable vaccines available being far below the government’s original estimates. It is simply a “proactive” measure, the White House insists. The preparations for a swine flu outbreak developing over the last several months have become increasingly more militarized and draconian, however this trend has gone largely unnoticed by the main stream media.
But the emergency delcaration issue has brought a number of questions into the public debate. Why is government continually behaving as a nanny for the American people, warning them to stay home and take their shots and wash their hands? Why is the President declaring emergencies and claiming for himself extraordinary authorities — particularly when there is not even a semblance of need? Where is any of this authorized in the Constitution?
In fact, there isn’t any authority for this in the Constitution. Emergency declarations do not trump the Supreme Law of the Land, no matter what the President or the media may claim. Hospitals should not be regulated by the federal government in the first place, particularly since it has no authority to do so. Vaccines and treatment, if necessary, will be provided far more efficiently by the private sector. So it is past time to put the government back in its constitutional box and for Americans to assume personal responsibility for their health and decisions. |
Respectfully submitted -
Penny Crosson
Midland, Texas