Celebrating Festivus Between The Beltways

As part of the Seinfeldian inspired holiday, it is time for the Airing of Grievances:

★ Do Your Job- It is reprehensible that Congress can not complete its perennial duty to pass a Federal Budget by October 1st.  In fact, the House could not even bring itself around to vote but just deemed it as passed.    This fiscal muddle allowed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to attempt to jam down a pork laden Omnibus bill during the Lame Duck session which was fortunately futile.  As it stand, Congress has passed a Continuing Resolution through March 4th, 2011.

★ Reading Is Fundamental- The current Democrat majority in Congress, along with the tacit approval of the Obama Administration, has continually dropped complex 2,000 page plus bills for controversial legislation like Cap and Trade, Obamacare and Omnibus Spending packages to be rapidly voted on.  Representative John Conyers mocked opponents who wanted him to read the bill before voting.  I guess that Congressman Conyers has more important periodicals to peruse.  Such Leviathan legislation is impossible to comprehend, which allows lawmakers or their bosses to reasonably consider the merits and is rife for ladling pork barrel projects.

★ Make the Lame Duck Extinct- Maybe when transportation was sketchy and before the Twentieth Amendment was enacted in 1933, there was some justification for conducting a Lame Duck session during  the four months between the election and inauguration. The 111th Congress forestalled controversial legislation like the new START treaty, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the DREAM Act and potentially Card Check, to avoid making hard choices during a period of electoral scrutiny. Now that the day of judgment has passed for two years, lawmakers are using the Lame Duck as a time to flaunt the will of the voters.

★ Stand and Deliver-  Casual observers of politics have hailed the Obama Administration’s foreign policy as improving America’s relations with the rest of the world.  But the latest tranche of Wikileaks cables show that the Obama Administration knew that Hondurian President Zeleyas was consciously violating the Constitution to retain power and become ruler for life.   But instead of defending democracy, the Obama Administration stood with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and supported Zeleyas, to the point of even cutting off aid to Honduras during the constitutional crisis.  This episode was on the heels of the Obama Administration ignoring the cries for democracy from a failed student uprising in Iran.   The razzle dazzle of an apologetic foreign policy is not impressive when the Leader of the Free World can not stand up for Liberty, Democracy and the Rule of Law with our allies, much less sympathetic elements in opposing regimes.

★ Bureaucrats Gone Wild- The FCC voted to regulate the internet, even though this authority was not explicit within their governing legislation and this grasp at power was denied by Federal court decision.  Since the Congress was not successful in enacting Cap and Trade Legislation, it is understood that the Environmental Protection Agency will promulgate the same policies administratively.  As Homeland Security Secretary was celebrating the Agency’s success in thwarting copyright piracy of media, HSA was strip searching nuns and grandmas and narrowly avoiding transportation terror threats.  America’s hard working bureaucrats need to do their jobs, not seek to expand their power (and budgets) by doing things beyond their appropriate authority.

★ Courting Disaster- Judges have been routinely legislating from the bench. The numerous times California (both State and Federal) have chosen to invalidate the will of the people in overturning Traditional Marriage Constitutional Amendments.  The Federal District Court Judge in California who ruled this fall that the 17 year old “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” legislation for the military was unconstitutional.  The Federal District Court judge in Oklahoma who issued a preliminary injunction on ratifying a voter approved state constitutional amendment prohibiting Sharia law. The Federal Courts that have thwarted Arizona SB 1070 which echoes Federal law when enforcing anti-immigration measure.  It seems that the Men in Black are becoming comfortable in imposing their will over the will of the people, even in changes to state constitutions.

That should be enough food for thought on the Airing of Grievences.  So talk amongst yourselves as I’ve given you some topics.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to excuse myself before the Feats of Strength portion of the Festivus festivities begins.