Is Obama's Amnesty Plan Constitutional?

President Obama's executive order to protect illegal aliens from deportation and reward their criminal behavior with not just a green card, but also work permits and natural born citizen-grade social security numbers, is coming under scrutiny by the Supreme Court this week.

Certainly it is true that other presidents of both stripes in the past have used executive orders but almost all of those have been to clarify how existing laws, lawfully passed and enacted by Congress, were implemented. On the other hand Obama has used his "pen and phone", as he haughtily puts it, to circumvent constitutional law and deprive Congress (the legislative branch) of their Constitutional mandate to craft laws which the president (the executive branch) can either sign into law or veto.

After this particular executive order, Texas and 25 other Republican-led states filed a suit in federal court in Brownsville, Texas.  Last year, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the states against the federal government.

So now the case is seemingly deadlocked 4 to 4 in the Supreme Court. Justice Anthony Kennedy stated that Congress, not the president, has the authority to decide which groups of immigrants can stay lawfully in the United States. By way of clarifying his opinion of whom is tasked with this responsibility he stated, "It is a legislative act, not an executive act."



But simply handing out jobs to those who broke the law by entering this country illegally, in a criminal manner against a sovereign state, borders on stupidity not to mention giving away the store. Low to medium wage earning Americans, both union and non-union, who were born and bred here are crying out for those jobs.

In a statement, Todd Schulte, who is the spokesman for a pro-immigration reform group founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "We will continue working to pass a permanent legislative solution. In the meantime, we hope the Court will quickly cement these vital programs to help millions of American families live free from the fear of deportation."

Excuse me? Exactly in which way are trespassers holding foreign and not USA citizenship status "American families?" Only in the sense of that old linguistic canard which is often stated as, "We should all be called Americans, those of us who hail from North, Central, or South America." Somehow I doubt that is what Schulte had in mind. Rather, that sly dog is inching his foot surreptitiously onto that slippery slope that serves to mold through insinuation and repetition the opinions of those who prefer to be spoon fed by the media rather than doing their own homework.

Because hey, we're not as smart as Zuckerberg who has a big stake in low-paying job globalization.

In short, we have two huge long-reaching considerations going into what SCOTUS decrees. First, do we finally set in stone the precedent that a sitting president can disregard the Constitution and act as Emperor? And second, going forward, are illegal trespassers equally or more entitled to American jobs that taxpayers, natural-born citizens, and veterans are?

Obama's Lack of Executive Experience Showing

The fact that both Hillary and Sarah Palin pointed out, and quite correctly, that Barak seriously lacked executive experience was lost on his many disciples. But now, as his swept-under-the-carpet pastor would say, "Obama's chickens have come home to roost!"

Rest assured that this assertion is not made lightly. Barak Obama has come to office as possibly the least qualified candidate in the history of the nation. Not only that, but he still sees the world through the rose-colored eyeglasses of academia.

This is not to say that he can't mature in the ways of the world and the office, but even Joltin' Joe Biden said this is not an on-the-job-training kind of job. There's simply too much power potential involved.

Consider:

• Delivering that pathetic speech to the Iranian people. This is not realistic "reaching out;" what this boils down to is people from that culture seeing a weak and inept leader.

• After condemning President Bush for employing signing statements as an abuse of power, and promising to exercise more restraint when using them he is doing just that himself. His campaign said he would not issue “signing statements that undermine the legislative intent.” But his latest one is used to bypass whistle-blower protections for executive branch officials who give certain information to Congress. That's paranoid behavior and a lack of transparency. Even executive branch officials are civil servants, a fact lost on today's elite class of professional politicians.

• He now laments the fact that he's in a "Washington bubble" and out of contact with the common folk. Mr. Obama, as the highest executive in the land, you don't have time for that; you must use other methods to keep your hand on pulse of the nation. You're not a community organizer any more - deal with it; Get Organized.
  

Yes, I am being critical. I understand that there is a steep learning curve. But I deplore what the president is doing to our country. I'm afraid of the amount of damage he will have done before he matures in office and understands the world as it is. And you should be afraid as well.

RINOs Cross the Aisle to Feed at the Trough

Sadly, eight RINOs (Republican In Name Only) embraced the president's drunken-spending $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill.

Why? Why, to add their own pork barrel spending, of course! The bill increases spending on domestic programs by 8% on average and spews out $7.7 billion for a disappointing 8,500 earmarks. Many of these were added by the RINOs because they're "representing" you.

Here's the Earmark Lineup:
RINO, Earmarks, and the Price to you
Thad Cochran, 65, $75,908,475
Roger Wicker, 9, $4,325,000
Chris Bond, 54, $85,691,491
Richard Shelby, 64, $114,484,250
Arlen Specter, 134, $25,320,000
Lisa Murkowski, 71, $74,000,750
Lamar Alexander, 10, $5,402,000
Olympia Snowe, Just went along to get along. Cute.

So, are you feeling the love yet? I'm just wallowing in it.

On 03/04/09 White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "We've seen throughout the past few years that the amount and the number of earmarks in legislation has been cut significantly. The president believes we can do even more and looks forward to working with Congress to ensure that that happens."

Call me terminally myopic, but the only "working with Congress" that I see is Barak wielding a big rubber stamp.

He did say, "This piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business." How, Mr. President? Did you use a different courier service to deliver the bill to your desk? And why did you just sign it quietly, with no fanfare and scant opportunity for press coverage?

Hedging against your declining approval rating among those who saw you as the messiah?

I think we know the answer to that.