Obama

WASHINGTON - Libertarian Party (LP) Chairman William Redpath issued the following statement today in response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address:

"Tonight's speech was a reminder that, for decades, the policies of Republicans and Democrats alike have failed. Libertarians are asking people to take matters into their own hands. Instead of just complaining, we're encouraging ordinary Americans to step up and run for Congress on the Libertarian Party ballot line.

By Julian Sanchez, Originally Posted by the The Nation.

We know the rules by now, the strange conventions and stilted Kabuki scripts that govern our cartoon facsimile of a national security debate. The Obama administration makes vague, reassuring noises about constraining executive power and protecting civil liberties, but then merrily adopts whatever appalling policy George W. Bush put in place. Conservatives hit the panic button on the right-wing noise machine anyway, keeping the delicate ecosystem in balance by creating the false impression that something has changed. We've watched the formula play out with Guantánamo Bay, torture prosecutions and the invocation of "state secrets." We appear to be on the verge of doing the same with national security surveillance.

By Ronald D. Rotunda and J. Peter Pham, Originally Printed by the Washington Post.

People can, and undoubtedly will, argue for some time about whether President Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. Meanwhile, though, there's a simpler and more immediate question: Does the Constitution allow him to accept the award?

Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, the emolument clause, clearly stipulates: "And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."

By Jill S. Sprik, Originally posted at AmericanThinker.com.

Despite countless speeches and news conferences, did you ever hear President Obama express the following ideas?

1. Not everything is a federal issue; some things are for the states to decide.

2. I hear what you're saying and you have a good point.

3. One of the beautiful things about our constitution is the liberty given to individuals to pursue their dreams. There is great opportunity in our country to succeed.

4. In an effort to stimulate job growth and despite the objections from my party, I am working with Congress to reduce taxes for small businesses.

President considering backing what he called the “biggest middle-class tax increase in history”

WASHINGTON -- America’s third largest party Tuesday reminded President Barack Obama that supporting a proposed $246 billion tax on employer-provided health care benefits – a proposal he opposed as “the biggest middle-class tax increase in history” in campaign ads – would break his promise to oppose any form of tax increase on families making less than $250,000 a year.

Gene Healy is a vice president at the Cato Institute and the author of The Cult of the Presidency. This article appeared in the DC Examiner on June 30, 2009.

"I am a firm believer in the power of the free market," President Obama told the Wall Street Journal recently. The "irony" surrounding his public image as a collectivist, the president insisted, was that "I actually would like to see a relatively light touch when it comes to the government."

Either Obama is as confused about the definition of irony as pop singer Alanis "rain on your wedding day" Morrisette, or he was being disingenuous. Given the president's ambitious, state-bloating agenda and longtime disdain for free enterprise, the latter is more likely the case.

Reprinted from boortz.com, By Neal Boortz.

I hope that you got the chance to see the exchange yesterday at White House press briefing. Robert Gibbs starts to get really flustered when a CBS reporter continues to hound him over the fact that Obama town hall events are completely staged. There are no "random" questions from the audience. Everything is pre-selected, every question is screened, etc. So this reporter calls him out on it, and then Helen Thomas gets involved. She says that she has never seen this level of control in the White House before. And if anyone should know, Helen Thomas would.

I just LOVE that woman!