Last fall Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) visited Heritage to talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the “unaccountable” nominee to head the agency. At the time, there was speculation President Obama would attempt to bypass the U.S. Senate to install Richard Cordray as CFPB director. That’s exactly what happened today in what Heritage’s Todd Gaziano calls a “tyrannical abuse of power.” At the time of his visit in October, Shelby said bluntly, “I think it would be devastating if we let [Obama] make a recess appointment.” Of course, this …
Whatever became of President Barack Obama’s vaunted foreign policy czars, who were to transform America’s international relations through soft power diplomacy? The answer is nothing good. One by one the czars have fallen by the wayside, leaving a trail of bureaucratic irritation and diplomatic failure behind them. The Administration now at least tacitly acknowledges that the whole operation was a mistake. Last week’s resignation of Stephen Bosworth as special representative for North Korea marks a milestone in the czars’ decline and fall. In the words of Foreign Policy magazine’s blog, …
This is the third in a four part series. Matthew Spalding’s new book, We Still Hold These Truths, examines the timeless principles and practical wisdom that have been the source of America’s monumental success. In this video segment Spalding details how the rise of Czars in American government – unelected bureaucrats with great regulatory power - pose a grave threat to the liberty of all Americans and fly in the face of the nature of the Constitution. Watch:
Yesterday the United States Department of the Treasury Special Master of Compensation Kenneth Feinberg announced a wage control scheme for the 175 executives of the seven companies that have received the most funds from the taxpayer funded Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). At first the Obama administration denied any involvement in Feinberg’s decision. Politico reports: In fact, sources within the administration say the decision to cap corporate pay was Kenneth Feinberg’s, and his alone. A senior administration official tells POLITICO that Obama did not sign off on the pay master’s …
This week, we saw scores of Hollywood liberals rushing to the defense of Roman Polanski, a man who has admitted to sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl in 1977 and running from justice ever since. The most cited excuses were: It was a long time ago; she forgave him (after a large civil settlement); the judge was too strict and the most concerning…he said it was consensual. Whoopi Goldberg went as far as to not call it a “rape-rape” and rationalize that many other cultures find sexual intercourse between a 44 year …
Last week, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced an amendment to the Interior Department appropriations bill that would have withheld federal funds for some 18 “czars” appointed by the Obama administration and not confirmed by the Senate. “There is no careful Senate examination of their character and qualifications. And we are speaking here of some of the most senior positions within our government,” Collins told USA Today. Senate Democrats went on to kill Collins’ amendment using a procedural tactic which “deeply disappointed” Collins. It is a shame the Collins amendment was …
When news broke that self-proclaimed communist and former Obama adminstration Green Jobs Czar Van Jones signed a 9/11 truther petition in 2004, we wrote: Green Jobs Czar is the perfect job for a 9/11 truther. Just as Popular Mechanics has debunked all of the crazy 9/11 truther claims, research both here in the U.S., and abroad, has repeatedly demonstrated that subsidizing high cost renewable energies destroys more jobs than it creates. Then, this weekend on Meet the Press, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman defended Jones, calling the internet “an open …
Late this Saturday night President Barack Obama’s Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Van Jones, resigned amid what the Washington Post calls another “lapse in the administration’s vetting procedures.” That’s putting it mildly. Jones is an admitted former communist and black nationalist. His Ella Baker Center for Human Rights produced a rap record in 2005 “hosted by” cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal, in which Jones links the Palestinian fight against Israel as part of the “global struggle against the U.S. led security apparatus” that “we need to see …
If you like what’s happened to the auto industry, you’ll love this. Bloomberg is reporting today that Ron Bloom — the head of the Obama Administration’s automobile task force — will soon get an expanded portfolio, with responsiblity for crafting Administration policies for all manufacturing industries. Yet another Obama Administration czar? Don’t expect the White House to use the dreaded “C” word, but that seems to be the plan. By itself, of course, that’s no bad thing — after all even George Bush had a “manufacturing czar” within his Commerce …
