It’s Monday, April 21st, 2014…and here’s The Gouge! In today’s Cover Story, writing at NRO‘s The Corner, Andrew McCarthy opines on…
…The underlying assumption of our belief in the rule of law is that we are talking about law in the American tradition: provisions that obligate everyone equally and that are enforced dispassionately by a chief executive who takes seriously the constitutional duty to execute the laws faithfully. The rule of law is not the whim of a man who himself serially violates the laws he finds inconvenient and who, under a distortion of the “prosecutorial discretion” doctrine, gives a pass to his favored constituencies while punishing his opposition. The rule of law is the orderly foundation of our free society; when it devolves into a vexatious process by which ideologues wielding power undertake to tame those whose activities they disfavor, it is not the rule of law anymore…
Isn’t this why America once…
…fought a war with Great Britain?!?
And since we’re on the subject of an Imperial Presidency, two items which bespeak a President-Who-Would-Be-King as out of touch with the needs and desires of his “subjects” as was George III; first, courtesy of the WSJ, Michael Saltsman details…
Why can’t every business be more like Costco? The Washington-based retailer received a glowing endorsement from President Obama in January for paying entry-level employees above the federal minimum wage. “It’s a company that’s looking out for workers,” Mr. Obama said in a speech in Maryland. Two other businesses were also recognized in recent stops on the White House’s minimum-wage promotional tour: Michigan-based deli Zingerman’s and the East Coast burger chain Shake Shack.
In reality, these businesses are case studies in why the president’s plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25—a nearly 40% jump—is such a bad idea. Not all businesses can afford the cost of Mr. Obama’s good intentions.
Nor should any business be forced to do so. Unlike Mr. Saltsman, we refuse to grant The Dear Misleader the benefit of the doubt, least of all the assumption any of his policies are even remotely based on good intentions. Besides, even were we to cut Barry some slack, Progressive “good intentions” are responsible for much of what currently ails America.
The Obamao’s either economically illiterate or a Marxist…or both! In any case, his intentions are the polar opposite of good; and frankly, irrelevant.
Second, a perfect case in point:
Tom Steyer’s Keystone Victory
The pipeline delay lets Senate Democrats have it both ways.
The Koch brothers may get the media attention, but the billionaire getting the most political bang for his buck is Tom Steyer. The hedge-fund politico has pledged to raise $100 million to help Democrats keep the Senate, and on Friday he received a major return on his investment when the State Department again delayed its decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.
State’s excuse is that it wants to wait on the outcome of a legal challenge in Nebraska, but that’s no reason for the federal government not to declare itself. Earlier this year State’s latest environmental review found no net climate harm from the pipeline, which would take oil from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast. State found that the oil sands will be developed even if the Keystone XL isn’t built.
The real reason for the delay is Democratic politics. Mr. Steyer and the party’s liberal financiers are climate-change absolutists who have made killing Keystone a non-negotiable demand. But the White House doesn’t want to reject the pipeline before November because several Senate Democrats running for re-election claim to favor it. We say “claim” because Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu and others can’t even get Majority Leader Harry Reid to give them a vote on the floor.
So Senate Democrats get to have it both ways. They can benefit this year from the riches of Mr. Steyer, who pronounced himself well pleased by the delay. But they can also run in support of the XL pipeline and the thousands of new jobs it would create. Then President Obama can formally nix it next year.
Seriously; anyone who believes Mary Landrieu’s position as chairman of the Senate Energy Committee means more energy jobs for Louisiana…or any other part of the country…is an utter idiot.
Which brings us to our last item, a recent article from The Washington Times, which maintains…
The study…found: “When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose.”
Which would certainly explain why…
…not to mention why a Republican-controlled Congress rubber-stamped Bush II’s No Child Left Behind and Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act, not to mention passing more pork than Bar-B-Q convention. Suffice it to say the skepticism with which we once viewed those who’ve long claimed collusion between Republicans and Dimocrats has significantly softened. And our trust these days resides only in God; which is just as it should be.
Finally, on the Lighter Side…
Hat tip to Balls Cotton, Mark Foster and Jim Gleaves for their contributions.
Magoo
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