The State of Our Union Is Broke!

Once again, Mark Steyn cuts through the hyperbole and makes us laugh all the way to the poor-house. READ MORE

Cartoon of the Week

Courtesy of National Review Online (click on image to enlarge)

See What Tax Increases Did for Illinois

John Hayward of Human Events wrote a great short piece about the credit downgrade in Illinois that begs the question: "If Liberalism is the answer to our problems, why is every Liberal state going bankrupt?" READ MORE

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Constitution!

Let us pause for a moment of silence and give thanks for the wise beneficence of our exalted El Presidente, Obama the First.

He is a man on a mission. He came to Washington to get things done. And he is too big a man, too great a visionary, to allow himself to be constrained by the laws that restricted the powers of former presidents.

El Presidente's latest assertions of executive power, his recess appointments made while the Senate was not in recess, were bold and creative end-runs around the dilly-dallying of Congress.

“We can’t wait,” Obama said recently when he appointed Richard Cordray as director of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). He also made three new appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), after giving the Senate less than a month to consider two of the three nominations.

In former times, our less illustrious presidents allowed the Constitution to impede their progress towards authoritarian rule. They respected that pesky clause in the Constitution concerning the "Advice and Consent" powers of the Senate in regard to executive branch appointments.

But not El Presidente! He is a man of action! When the Senate wanted to slow down the appointment process and legislate some limits to the regulatory powers of the new CFPB, our Dear Leader unilaterally declared the Senate to be in recess, and then proceeded to make a recess appointment.

Never before in our history has a president taken it upon himself to decide when the Senate was in recess. The senators used to do that for themselves. The wimps.

But with Obama the First in the White House, we don't have to worry about long, boring congressional debates, or political compromise. I know I'll sleep better tonight knowing that he holds the reins of power.

El Presidente has compiled an impressive resume of extra-Constitutional actions, some of which are listed below, courtesy of Heritage.com.

In a recent article at Heritage.com, Lachlan Markay detailed some of the Great One's executive excesses:

"The Democrat-controlled Senate rejected his cap-and-trade plan, so Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency classified carbon dioxide, the compound that sustains vegetative life, as a pollutant so that it could regulate it under the Clean Air Act.

"After Congress defeated his stealth-amnesty immigration proposal, the DREAM Act, the Department of Homeland Security instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to “adopt enforcement parameters that bring about the same ends as the DREAM Act,” as Heritage’s Mike Brownfield explained.

"When the woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act–explicitly designed to bolster labor unions’ dwindling membership rolls–was defeated by Congress, the NLRB announced a rule that would implement “snap elections” for union representation, limiting employers’ abilities to make their case to workers and virtually guaranteeing a higher rate of unionization at the expense of workplace democracy.

"After an innovation-killing Internet regulation proposal failed to make it through Congress, the Federal Communications Commission announced — on Christmas Eve, no less — that it would regulate the Web anyway, despite even a federal court’s ruling that it had no authority to do so.

"In its push for national education standards, the Education Department decided to tie waivers for the No Child Left Behind law to requirements that states adopt those standards, shutting Congress out of the effort.

"Rather than push Congress to repeal federal laws against marijuana use, the Department of Justice (DOJ) simply decided it would no longer enforce those laws.

"DOJ made a similar move with respect to the Defense of Marriage Act: rather than seeking legislative recourse, DOJ announced it would stop enforcing the law."

Profit Makes the World Go 'Round

John Hayward of Human Events wrote a great piece recently praising the moral superiority of the profit motive as a way of getting things accomplished.
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The Stranger Sitting Next to You

Where Can a Desperate Man Go to Find Hope?

A visitor came to our church last Sunday.

Joe had been raised in a Christian home, but drifted away from the church in his teen years. He had seen a lot of Christians talking the talk, but very few walking the walk, so he finally concluded that "religion" was a bunch of baloney, and he decided to make his own way in the world.

As Joe grew older he discovered that his life, without God, was falling apart. His third marriage was in shambles. He was struggling with alcoholism. Lately he had been so depressed that he was contemplating suicide.

Joe was at the end of his rope. He was searching for answers. He realized something in his life had to change.

Someone in our congregation invited him to church last week, so he came here to visit. During the service, Joe was thinking, "God, I need to know if you are real. I need to know if you can help me. I just can't take it anymore."

When the pastor finished his sermon, he began to give an invitation. Joe sat in his pew, listening intently, desperate for something to give him hope. He wondered if God really cared about him. Was He truly listening? Would He really take back this lost sheep?

In an auditorium filled with people who profess to know the Almighty God, one might expect that there would be a reverent, prayerful silence while the preacher invited a lost sinner to step into eternal life by giving his heart to Jesus.

Aside from worshiping God, what activity could possibly have a higher priority in a Bible-believing church than introducing someone to their Creator?

But our visitor could not hear most of the invitation. People around him were gathering up papers, zipping up their Bibles, and generally rustling about in the pews, eager to be the first ones out the door so they could beat the rush to the parking lot.

A few people even got up and left before the invitation was finished.

Joe was so distracted by all of this commotion that he stopped listening. As he looked around at his restless neighbors, the small demon assigned to discourage him leaned in close and whispered, "If the members here don't think this message is important enough to listen to, why should you?"

"Why should I listen to this?" Joe suddenly asked himself. "Just like I thought -- it's all a bunch of baloney."

So he left.

He even got to be the first one out of the parking lot.