COMMENTARY AND OP-EDS
Peter Ferrara: Washington Knows Best
This column originally appeared on The American Spectator website on December 30, 2009.The health policy atrocity that Washington Democrats are now finalizing represents an ugly new turn in American politics. From almost the founding of the Republic, we have seen demagogues seek to sway public opinion in their favor with [...]
Orrin Hatch, Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: Why the Health-Care Bills Are Unconstitutional
President Obama's health-care bill is now moving toward final passage. The policy issues may be coming to an end, but the legal issues are certain to continue because key provisions of this dangerous legislation are unconstitutional. Legally speaking, this legislation creates a target-rich environment. We will focus on three of its more glaring constitutional defects.
Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: ObamaCare: Running for Rushmore?
"Ever since Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform in 1912, seven presidents -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- have taken up the cause of reform time and time again," President Obama said in a statement hailing the Christmas Eve Senate vote to take over 1/6 of the nation's economy. "Such efforts have been blocked by special-interests lobbyists who have perpetrated the status quo that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people."
Ken Blackwell: Senator J. Wellington Wimpy's Health Care Bill
Pollsters like to say their surveys are like a snapshot, limited to the time and the picture frame in which they are taken. What we are seeing in polling on the takeover of health care by the federal government is a consistent opposition by the American people. No major poll shows the people supporting the House or Senate bill.
Ken Blackwell: In the Long Run..
John Maynard Keynes is considered one of the leading lights of liberal economics. Challenged by a critic who said that in the long run, Keynesian economics would lead to national bankruptcy, Keynes memorably responded with a witticism: "In the long run, we're all dead."
Ken Klukowski: High Court Rejects Challenge to NRA's Signature Law
In 2005, the National Rifle Association of America enacted a law that probably saved the American gun-making industry from bankruptcy. And just this last week, the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to this landmark legislation, ensuring this law stays on the books to preserve America's culture of lawful firearm ownership.
Ken Blackwell: Power Player of the Week?
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga is the proprietor of the influential liberal blog Daily Kos. The blog is a must-visit site for those who are serious about the direction of the Democratic party. The blog was influential in the rise of Vermont's former Gov. Howard Dean in the run-up to the 2004 election.
Ken Blackwell and Ken Kluklowski: Court Strikes Down Law De-Funding ACORN
As Fiscal Year 2010 finally begins, a judge has struck down Congress' law ending federal funding of ACORN. It's ironic in that de-funding ACORN was the only example of fiscal restraint we've seen from Barack Obama, even more so since he's now stacking the courts with judges that will continue to issue such rulings. And perhaps that's what he's wanted all along.
Ken Klukowski: Health Insurance isn't Car Insurance, Mr. President
Asked about the constitutionality of his healthcare bill's key provision, President Obama said it's legal because people have to buy car insurance. That statement is so dead wrong as a matter of constitutional law that it makes anyone who practices constitutional law wonder how the Harvard Law School faculty would now grade their most famous graduate.
Ken Blackwell: Something's Still Rotten in Denmark
President Barack Obama has completed his months-long "deliberations" over his latest Afghanistan policy. He got more applause from Republicans than from Democrats after his long-running Hamlet act. The Prince of Denmark was famous for his indecision: "To be or not to be..."
Ken Klukowski: High Court Considers Whether Feds Can Make Everyone a Criminal
What if there was a federal law stating that anytime you owe anyone a duty to be honest and you violate that duty, you're committing a federal felony? Guess what--there already is. And now the Supreme Court is deciding whether to strike it down.
Ken Klukowski: Obama Seeks to Evade Accountability in Supreme Court
The Supreme Court heard arguments in a case over an executive-branch agency that is completely outside presidential control. Team Obama argued that the Court should keep it that way, leaving in place an agency that meddles in business affairs, but cannot be stopped by the public and for which Obama cannot be blamed.
Ken Klukowski: White House Hypocrisy on Executive Privilege
Congress wants the White House staff director involved in the now-infamous "gatecrasher" dinner to explain what happened. She won't, because President Obama is invoking executive privilege. While there's a decent claim for executive privilege here, Barack Obama's hypocrisy is nothing short of stunning.
McDonald v. City of Chicago
The case McDonald v. City of Chicago presents to the Supreme Court the issue of whether the Second Amendment right to bear arms is applicable to state and local governments, or instead is only a right that Americans have against the actions of the federal government. Specifically, the question is [...]
Ken Klukowski: Upcoming SCOTUS Case: Major Implications for Obama's Czars
The American people are fed up with an out-of-control government, largely run by unaccountable officials like President Obama's "czars." The Constitution strictly limits how officials can get their jobs and their power, and the Supreme Court is about to weigh in on one of those cases.
Ken Klukowski: Justices Debate Whether Courts Can Take Property
If government action takes your property, the Constitution says government must give you fair market value for it. But what if a court takes your property? That's what the Supreme Court is going to decide.
Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: De-Fund Holder's Manhattan Transfer
Ex-White House counsel Greg Craig thought it was a good idea to transfer Eliàn Gonzalez from the arms of his loving family in Miami into the arms of Fidel Castro. Transfer Eliàn from Florida to Cuba. Bad idea. Attorney General Janet Reno thought she might have to prove her toughness by transferring dozens of women and children from a Waco cult headquarters to eternity. Really bad idea.
John Armor: Get-Out-of-Jail Free Card for Terrorists
When the ACLU loses on a security issue, America wins. And vice versa. On Monday, the ACLU lost when the Supreme Court overturned the Second Circuit's order to release photos of alleged detainee abuse. The ACLU had sued to get the photos despite concerns that they could be used by our enemies to endanger American soldiers.
Ken Blackwell: Dismiss General Casey
We don't yet know how bad the Ft. Hood shooter's case was. We do not know--and we must find out--how it was possible for an Army medical officer to openly express treasonous statements and not be court martialed. We do not know if the shooter or his family members were under surveillance by the FBI or other federal law enforcement agencies. We must soon find out.
Ken Blackwell: Politicizing Medicine, Medicalizing Politics
I'm not a doctor. I don't even play one on TV. Nor is Steve Pearlstein a doctor. Pearlstein is the respected business columnist of the Washington Post. His weekly column scorched President Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for her decision to override an impartial expert panel's advice on mammograms.