Pelosi Urges Obama to Sidestep Congress, Use 14th Amendment to Raise Debt Ceiling (+video)

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(Daily Caller) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi shared her own idea Sunday on how to avoid a government shutdown should the Republican House and President Barack Obama find themselves unable to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling: invoke the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Pelosi started the discussion on CBS’ “Face the Nation” by saying she didn’t believe raising the debt ceiling should be tied to spending cuts.

“I don’t think these two things should be related,” Pelosi said.

“I think that we should subject every dollar we spend, every taxpayer dollar, whether it’s defense or domestic, to the harshest scrutiny. Is the taxpayer getting his or her dollar’s worth for that spending? But on the other hand, that is a judgment that we have to make as we make cuts to reduce spending — but having nothing to do with whether the full faith and credit of the United States of America should be placed in jeopardy” . . .

Pelosi’s solution to the impasse is for the president to — as some scholars have proposed — bypass Congress and invoke the 14th Amendment, which states that “[t]he validity of the public debt … shall not be questioned.”

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CAIR vs. the Truth

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The Hamas-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, war on the truth about Islam and jihad continues: Now it has announced that it is insulted by the term “Islamist.” Or at least by its negative usage to refer to Islamic supremacists who want to impose Islamic law on free people.

In an op-ed, Hamas-CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper whined that the term was “currently used in an almost exclusively pejorative context.” Hooper complained about AP’s stylebook, which defines the term as a “supporter of government in accord with the laws of Islam. Those who view the Quran as a political model encompass a wide range of Muslims, from mainstream politicians to militants known as jihadi.”

What would CAIR call them?

The irony here is that for a long time the only acceptable term, as far as the dhimmi press were concerned, has been “Islamist.” The media and political elites struggle to obscure the political, violent and supremacist aspects of Islam, jihad and the Shariah, and twist themselves into knots to obscure the real motive and ideology that claims the lives of hundreds of thousands of infidels, kuffar and apostates from Islam.

As part of their long-standing efforts to exonerate Islam from any responsibility for the violence committed in its name, they have long settled on the ridiculous term “Islamist” for violent Muslims and supremacist advocates of Shariah. I have long had an issue with such intellectual dishonesty. Essentially, what does it mean to say that someone or something is “Islamist” as opposed to “Islamic”? Nothing, really, except that the person speaking doesn’t want to offend Islam by speaking unwelcome truths about the political nature of the religion.

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Sen. Graham Blasts Likely Hagel Selection as ‘In-Your-Face Nomination’ from Obama

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photo credit: John Orrell

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday expressed dismay at reports President Obama would tap former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) for Secretary of Defense, calling it an “in your face” selection.

“I like Chuck Hagel. He served with distinction in Vietnam as an enlisted man — two Purple Hearts. But quite frankly Chuck Hagel is out of the mainstream of thinking on most issues regarding foreign policy,” said Graham in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“He has long severed his ties with the Republican party. This is an in your face nomination of the president to all of us who are supportive of Israel,” he added. “I don’t know what his management experience is in regards to the Pentagon or global if anyway, so I think it’s an extremely controversial choice.”

Reports Sunday said that Obama had decided to name Hagel to replace current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta as early as Monday.

The selection of Hagel is likely to set off a fierce confirmation battle with many conservative lawmakers already signaling opposition to their former colleague.

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Boehner Coup Attempt Larger Than First Thought

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A concerted effort to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner was under way the day of his re-election to the position, but participants called it off 30 minutes before the House floor vote, CQ Roll Call has learned.

A group of disaffected conservatives had agreed to vote against the Ohio lawmaker if they could get at least 25 members to join the effort. But one member, whose identity could not be verified, rescinded his or her participation the morning of the vote, leaving the group one person short of its self-imposed 25-member threshold. Only 17 votes against Boehner were required to force a second ballot, but the group wanted to have insurance.

Even with 24 members, the group would easily have been able to force a second ballot round, but the effort was aborted in frenetic discussions on the House floor.

“There was an effort to get to a particular number,” said one Republican member who voted for Boehner but was familiar with the effort to oust him.

Republican Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina and Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho played key roles in organizing the plot. But participants describe its origin as organic and not led by any particular member, despite the suggestion by at least one House Republican that Amash was the ringleader.

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Oldest Swiss Bank to Shut After Guilty Plea in US Tax Probe

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photo credit: tambakothejaguar

Wegelin & Co., the oldest Swiss private bank, said on Thursday it would shut its doors permanently after pleading to a criminal conspiracy charge in the U.S. and admitting that it had helped wealthy Americans for years avoid tens of millions of dollars in taxes.

In the latest blow to Switzerland’s centuries-old banking secrecy laws, Wegelin became the latest bank on Thursday to reach a deal with U.S. prosecutors as they continue a crackdown on offshore banks suspected of helping American evade taxes.

As part of the deal, Switzerland’s oldest private bank will pay as much as $74 million in penalties to US authorities and has said it “will cease to operate as a bank” once the case wraps up.

The plea effectively marks the end for one of Switzerland’s most storied banks, whose original clients predate the American Revolution. It however, also marks a potential turning point in a battle by US authorities against Swiss bank secrecy.

Robert Fink, a New York-based tax attorney said: “It has an important symbolic significance in that you have a bank that has no branches in the U.S., but the U.S. government was able to reach them and get them to plead guilty. It puts other banks on notice as to the long arm of the U.S. law.”

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Property, Rule of Law & Freedom

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photo credit: ‘caveman chuck’ coker

While in the midst of a wholesale reevaluation of the right to private property, it is timely to reexamine the history of US property rights. What exactly caused America’s unparallelled level of prosperity and freedom? Certainly our economic success then created unparallelled global influence and military might. But what factors allowed America’s stunning growth in economic power in such a short period of time? This economic success was driven by a firm Rule of Law regime which supported the Constitution’s unique defense of private property.

What is the relationship between property, Rule of Law and prosperity? In a nutshell, history shows that unless private property is protected by a firm, unyielding and unbiased Rule of Law, markets will not flourish. Therefore, wealth will not grow and all the other things associated with a prosperous society will also fall by the wayside. The reasons for this are ultimately based in human nature. People are not automatons who simply go about doing “what we are supposed to do.” Instead, human motivation and productivity are very much tied into the rewards and risks found in any undertaking. Yet, if the government takes away the rewards of ambition, leaving behind only the risks, then productivity will fall precipitously.

It is one of the hallmarks of Marxist-influenced thinking to insist human nature does not exist. This single presumption has caused more chaos than probably any other leftist idea. It’s a direct result of assuming God is a fiction, ie religion as the Opiate of the Masses. But, if there is no God, then mankind cannot be made in His likeness—Imago Dei. Further, if humans evolved from a random series of directionless events, and there is no inherent core in people, then anything goes and nothing is out of bounds for ethics, morality, or any other human undertaking. Or, as Dostoevsky believed—Without God, everything is possible. So, the presumption mankind is just a soulless, material being is the single most destructive element in the progressive worldview, and the root cause of all subsequent economic failure.

I. History & Importance of Rule of Law

The Rule of Law as a concept is tied historically to such thinkers as Aristotle, and legal developments such as the Ten Commandments, a foundational legal code. The American Constitution is a concrete example of Rule of Law theorizing, creating a bedrock set of precepts. As a concept, the Rule of Law is a necessary addendum to the Natural Law theory of jurisprudence. It was Scottish divine and university professor Samuel Rutherford who most eloquently described the concept of the Rule of Law in his Lex Rex, or The Law is King. This work influenced the Founders, as well as philosopher John Locke’s writings on constitutionalism and property rights. Locke’s contribution to a Rule of Law republic can be seen in his chapter Section 202 of Chap. XVIII “Of Tyranny” in Book II of the Two Treatises of Government :

“Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins, if the law be transgressed to another’s harm; and whosoever in authority exceeds the power given him by the law, and makes use of the force he has under his command, to compass that upon the subject, which the law allows not, ceases in that to be a magistrate; and, acting without authority, may be opposed, as any other man, who by force invades the right of another. This is acknowledged in subordinate magistrates. He that hath authority to seize my person in the street, may be opposed as a thief and a robber, if he endeavours to break into my house to execute a writ, notwithstanding that I know he has such a warrant, and such a legal authority, as will impower him to arrest me abroad. And why this should not hold in the highest, as well as in the most inferior magistrate, I would gladly be informed.”

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Individual Health Insurance Premiums Skyrocket After Obamacare

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Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.

Particularly vulnerable to the high rates are small businesses and people who do not have employer-provided insurance and must buy it on their own.

In California, Aetna is proposing rate increases of as much as 22 percent, Anthem Blue Cross 26 percent and Blue Shield of California 20 percent for some of those policy holders, according to the insurers’ filings with the state for 2013. These rate requests are all the more striking after a 39 percent rise sought by Anthem Blue Cross in 2010 helped give impetus to the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, which was passed the same year and will not be fully in effect until 2014.

In other states, like Florida and Ohio, insurers have been able to raise rates by at least 20 percent for some policy holders. The rate increases can amount to several hundred dollars a month.

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