Is our President engaging in an act of sedition?

My friend Scott pointed me to this today – we may have a legitimate Constitutional crisis unfolding in Washington, ladies and gentlemen.

To recap the story so far: The “Obamacare” health care bill that was passed mandates that individuals purchase health insurance. This is obviously and dramatically beyond the scope of government powers granted in the constitution. A Federal Judge ruled it unconstitutional for this reason – specifically stating that the declaratory judgement was equivalent to an injunction in this case (nothing new, this is based on precedent) – and because there is no severability clause in the bill, the entire bill is thus rendered moot.

This means that the Obama Administration has two options:

  1. Comply with the ruling, ceasing immediately all activity enforced or mandated by the bill, or
  2. Appeal and ask for a stay pending its hearing.

That’s it. Those are the only legal options. However, Obama’s never one to let the law stand in his way:

The White House officials said that the ruling would not have an impact on implementation of the law, which is being phased in gradually. (The individual mandate, for example, does not begin until 2014.) They said that states cannot use the ruling as a basis to delay implementation in part because the ruling does not rest on “anything like a conventional Constitutional analysis.” Twenty-six states were involved in the lawsuit.

In a blog post on the White House website, Assistant to the President and Deputy Senior Adviser Stephanie Cutter wrote that the case is “is a plain case of judicial overreaching.”

“We don’t believe this kind of judicial activism will be upheld and we are confident that the Affordable Care Act will ultimately be declared constitutional by the courts,” she added.

My favorite part is where Obama’s Administration calls it “judicial activism” – you know, the bread and butter they’ve subsisted on for years. So now we have an Administration that has come out and said plainly that they will ignore a Federal Judge’s declaratory judgement, simply because they don’t like what it says. Take a moment and ponder that. They have stated that they will intentionally disobey the law – and do so at this moment by enforcing its statutes and staffing up for further enforcement and implementation. Legally, when using force (such as, say, threat of imprisonment) to push back against enforcement of the law or of its authority, this is called seditious conspiracy:

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

I find it difficult to believe anyone will bother trying to levy this charge against anyone in Obama’s Administration, but there the law stands. Regardless, it doesn’t effect the legality of what they are doing in any way. To quote my friend (emphasis in original):

Did you hear me? Obamacare is null and void. Today. Right now. And it will remain so unless and until the US Government appeals and Judge Vinson is overruled. The Appellate Court and/or the Supreme Court can agree to hear the case, but the Executive Branch can’t enforce it in any way unless a stay is granted. And if the higher court either upholds the lower court’s ruling or declines to take the case, then the only way to enact such a law is to pass a Constitutional Amendment.

That’s THE LAW. I don’t care if you like the law or don’t. I don’t care if you like Obama or Obamacare, or don’t. It is the system of rules by which every President and every Judge and Justice must play. If and when they step outside that system then they have no rightful authority and their actions against the system constitute insurrection, or conspiracy to same, which is called sedition. Any of these acts is grounds for impeachment.

There you have it, folks. How do you feel about the President baldly ignoring the Constitution of the United States, and then publicly stating he refuses to be held accountable by it? Do you care yet?

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation’s gratitude—the soldier’s and sailor’s widow and orphan.

Today is the day we honor those who have given their lives in defense of our country. So far just this year, 171 soldiers have paid that price in Afghanistan or Iraq – a far lower number than we’ve had in recent years, but each of those soldiers has a family and friends they left behind. Today we not only honor their memories, but reach out to support those they left behind. If you aren’t able to personally lend a hand, then perhaps you might consider donating to a charity, such as Fisher House or the National Military Family Association.

And in comment regarding the scandal du jour, I don’t think that Obama’s choice to skip the Arlington memorial today is wise or particularly respectful; however, it should be noted that he is not the first President to do so (even Reagan missed it once, although he had a good reason), and that he did lay the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns last year on Memorial Day. Can we not take a single day off from endlessly haranguing each other over politics to come together for a moment in memory of those who’ve allowed us the right to do so?

I will leave you with a fitting poem, Memorial Day, by Edward Guest:

The finest tribute we can pay
Unto our hero dead to-day,
Is not a rose wreath, white and red,
In memory of the blood they shed;
It is to stand beside each mound,
Each couch of consecrated ground,
And pledge ourselves as warriors true
Unto the work they died to do.

Into God’s valleys where they lie
At rest, beneath the open sky,
Triumphant now o’er every foe,
As living tributes let us go.
No wreath of rose or immortelles
Or spoken word or tolling bells
Will do to-day, unless we give
Our pledge that liberty shall live.

Our hearts must be the roses red
We place above our hero dead;
To-day beside their graves we must
Renew allegiance to their trust;
Must bare our heads and humbly say
We hold the Flag as dear as they,
And stand, as once they stood, to die
To keep the Stars and Stripes on high.

The finest tribute we can pay
Unto our hero dead to-day
Is not of speech or roses red,
But living, throbbing hearts instead,
That shall renew the pledge they sealed
With death upon the battlefield:
That freedom’s flag shall bear no stain
And free men wear no tyrant’s chain.

Politik blues

After getting about an hour of sleep last night, I decided to take a nap after getting home from work today.

…And I just woke up. Oops.

So! It’s been a fun one. Last night I was listening to Obama’s “town hall” in Shanghai and was amazed at how bold some of the questions were. One of the attendees asked him what he had done to earn the Nobel prize and how he was qualified with his educational background. I about did a spit-take when I heard that one – can you imagine an American reporter having the gall to ask that? Didn’t think so. Additionally, while talking about freedom of information and the “great firewall of China,” Obama slipped one of the more honest quotes I’ve heard from him:

“There are times I wish information didn’t flow so freely so I wouldn’t have to listen to people criticize me.”

It’s remarkable that the president would say such a thing. To have such thin skin as to wish that information was unavailable so that his political opponents would have nothing bad to say about him? Ridiculous and juvenile. He’s already taken plenty of swings at Fox News in particular, so it’s hardly surprising, but it is a little disheartening to hear him come right out and say something like this.

I don’t know what will surprise me about this president anymore. At first I thought he would be incompetent, having no experience and all the naivete of a young politician fresh on the national stage. After it became clear that he had an agenda above and beyond what he’d revealed, I was worried he’d cause some grief, but couldn’t imagine that the sort of thing he’s managed to achieve could possibly happen – not here, not now. And now we stand on the brink of a complete government takeover of health care, under the watch of a man who’d rather daydream about silencing those who criticize him than think about the consequences of what he’s doing.

So for those who’ve asked me in the last couple weeks why I’ve focused a bit less than usual on politics, it’s largely due to the fact that I’ve been getting increasingly depressed about the state we’re in every time I look at what’s going on in the political realm.

So that’s that, tomorrow we’ll avoid politics. Goodnight, all.

Saturdazed, pt 2

I really suck at posting on the weekend.

So today the big headline I was seeing was Obama’s massive faux pas over in Japan, where he practically prostrated himself in front of the Emperor, essentially declaring himself a lower class and inferior. In a country where the type of bow indicates your social status, not even the CEO of a large company bows that low. Of course, with Obama’s track record of swearing up and down that the US is nothing special I suppose we shouldn’t consider this anything special. HotAirPundit has a nice roundup of how other state officials have acted with the Emperor, for comparison…

Also, it’s nice to see that Newsweek has decided to drop all pretense of objectivity. Volokh explains why this tagline is even dumber than you might think.

I started playing Borderlands this week, it’s a very fun game. It was described to me as “Half Life meets Road Warrior,” and that’s exactly what it’s turned out to be in all its glory. My computer has had trouble running it, however, which has somewhat detracted from the fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to afford some long-needed upgrades soon.

Been on an Earthsuit kick this week. What a great band.

Sorry I don’t have much today, hopefully I’ll be more interesting tomorrow. Goodnight.

A Mock Trial for a Mock President

This is DISGUSTING.

A non-citizen, non-resident commits an act of war by hijacking and slamming a pair of airliners into American buildings and our President decides that rather than an act of war, which it was declared as being by the perpetrators, it was a criminal act.

This. Is. Absurd.

These terrorists are getting high end, hard-left attorneys whose jobs are to get this case thrown out and this man set free. Given the nature of the attack and the response to it, the ongoing war, etc., you face a variety of challenges in trying to actually prosecute this man according to US law: chain of custody on the evidence, proper venue, bringing national security secrets into the open – and all for a man who has no legal right whatsoever for this kind of trial?

Not to mention the media! Oh, the media will have a field day with this. Expect this to be the top story every night and the top headline every morning, as they give this raving lunatic a national platform to spew his hate and his disgusting rhetoric all over the ears and eyes of any American foolish enough to turn on the TV. This goes beyond the realm of irresponsibility and into the territory of either insanity or outright contempt for justice and the nation. Obama has thoroughly mishandled this and discredited himself even on this most basic, black-and-white issue and proven that when it comes down to it, he’d rather give a mass murderer the chance to walk free and do it all over again than let people actually say that this was Islamic terror. He is enabling murder in the name of political correctness, and getting away with it.

The madness has to end somewhere. In the meantime, I’ll be writing my left-wing nutjob of a representative, because I know that my Senators won’t hesitate to call this the insanity that it is. (EDIT: a quick Google search revealed that they already have spoken against it. Thanks, guys.)

Rudy Giuliani lets loose, it’s a rather long clip but it’s worth watching:

“First they use our planes against us, now they’re going to use our criminal justice system against us.”

He notes that this might be a way to get Bush put on trial by proxy here, and this could be a win/win for Obama. If so, this is only that much more revolting.

Further links on the insanity:

Historian Fabio Paolo Barbieri on why politicians act this way.

John C Wright on the utter folly of this disgrace.

And last but not least, the inimitable Sarah Palin.