Health Law in Peril

Based on the opinion expressed in this article, and an interview I listened to on NPR, it seems that the individual mandate included in the President's health care law is in real danger.

This is shocking to many of the law's supporters, who seem to have overlooked that a well-intentioned law could run contrary to the Constitution by extending Federal power beyond it's legal limit. Even if the law fulfils what they see as a moral obligation of government, this does not make it constitutional.

Of course, by the time the Court issues its opinion in the fall, they could uphold the mandate and all this become moot.

Gross Injustice

I haven't blogged about Cuba in a while, and this editorial from the WSJ is a good place to start. It discusses the situation of Alan Gross, who has been held in Cuba since 2009. He has been tried for espionage, and may spend up to 20 years in a Cuban prison, though few expect him to serve the full sentence.

Cuba has long been prone to Libyan-style domestic oppression, but we have looked the other way for a very long time. Now we have a United States citizen, being tried for his role in a USAid program, and we are impotent to change the situation. Obama has attempted to make some gestures toward greater openness, but they have not been reciprocated. This would be an appropriate time to put away the carrot.

Independence & the Court

This is a great article about the political ramifications of recent Supreme Court decisions. In particular it looks at how the Obama administration will likely face more push back from a conservative-leaning Court.
Obama has demonstrated petulance in response to some of these issues, as in his State of the Union address. I like the following quote from the article.

McConnell, the law professor, said the administration's broad set of regulatory moves made a clash almost inevitable. "It does not mean the courts are being 'political,' " he said. "It is the way the institutions are designed, to create checks and balances."

I think it will be too much to imagine that Obama will take this view.

A Few Things

Just a few things I've read lately, mostly in the WSJ-

• Apparently animals have attorneys in Switzerland. Weirder things have happened. I suppose they are running out of things to spend money on over there.
• Here is a belated remembrance of a woman who played a critical role in developing useful Crock Pot recipes. I am a devotee of the slow-cooker, and I will offer a moment of silence for the good woman when next I cook a favorite dish (Cafe Rio Pork).
• New York politicians are on a roll, as scandal after scandal seems to be emerging.
• I thought this was a neat piece from the NYT on the first Latin baseball player to play in Japan. At 76, he's still there.

Good night.

A Bad Day for Mexico

I heard about the death of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata last week. His hunger strike, helped along by mistreatment at the hands of the Cuban government, led to his death.

I was not aware that at the same time, Cuban leader Raul Castro was being feted by Mexico's Felipe Calderon.

There is a sad history of apathy toward the crimes of the Castro regime. The trend continued last week and Mr. Calderon had the misfortune of having Zapato, a longtime non-violent protester, die during Castro's visit. He should have known better and demonstrates that he is no statesman by his actions.

A Good Day for Colombia

The presidency of Alvaro Uribe has been a successful one. During his tenure Colombia has enjoyed improvements in almost every aspect of life. Among his successes has been the weakening of the FARC, once one of the most powerful terrorist and criminal organizations in the country. While still a major force, they have not been able to diminish the free-market economic success that Colombia has enjoyed, despite help from neighbor governments unfriendly to the right-leaning Uribe.

Uribe was considering running for a third term as president. He is popular, and may have been successful. The Colombian Constitutional Court has declared that such a move would be unconstitutional, and Mr. Uribe will abide by its decision.

This is in stark contrast to the actions of Hugo Chavez, who has successfully extended his time as president of Venezuela, and Honduras' Zelaya, who would have violated his country's constitution in pursuit of the same.

Colombia will benefit from the institutional discipline required by the Court to issue this decision, and by the actions of the president to honor it.

Above the Fray

I haven't commented here on President Obama's inappropriately direct criticism of the Supreme Court in his State of the Union. Clarence Thomas, who said that he does not like to attend given the partisan natures of the State of the Union address, defended the Court's recent decision involving corporate giving to political campaigns. This New York Times article has an excerpt. Particularly interesting is this bit of historical context for some of the overturned legislation, a 1907 law which restricted corporate giving in campaigns:

He added that the history of Congressional regulation of corporate involvement in politics had a dark side, pointing to the Tillman Act, which banned corporate contributions to federal candidates in 1907.

“Go back and read why Tillman introduced that legislation,” Justice Thomas said, referring to Senator Benjamin Tillman. “Tillman was from South Carolina, and as I hear the story he was concerned that the corporations, Republican corporations, were favorable toward blacks and he felt that there was a need to regulate them.”

It is thus a mistake, the justice said, to applaud the regulation of corporate speech as “some sort of beatific action.”

Defending the Faith

This is a good piece by O'Grady, summarizing her conversation with the Cardinal of Honduras. The Church has received some criticism for the role it played in affirming the correctness of Zelaya's ouster. It has been a difficult period, but the Cardinal's words are truthful and fair.

Democracy Cures Ills

The diplomatic kerfuffle in Honduras continues.


In November there will be scheduled Presidential election. The interim president will not be running. He lost the primary. The ousted president is not eligible under the Honduran constitution. So someone apart from the current administration and the previous administration will be president. Hopefully this will solve the problem, as Michael Totten explains on Commentary Magazine's website.


Waiting for the election will be too-little, too-late with regard to correcting the mistakes we've made with our relationship. In the WSJ O'Grady has more.

Obama- Fumando la Pipa

The Obama administration continues to make poor choices with regard to Honduras. O'Grady addresses it perfectly in today's Journal. Here is an excerpt:

If the Obama administration were a flotilla of ships, it might be sending
out an SOS right about now. ObamaCare has hit the political equivalent of an
iceberg. And last week the president’s international prestige was broadsided by
the Scots, who set free the Lockerbie bomber without the least consideration of
American concerns. Mr. Obama’s campaign promise of restoring common sense to
budget management is sleeping with the fishes.
This administration needs a win. Or more accurately, it can't bear another loss right now. Most especially it can't afford to be defeated by the government of a puny Central American country that doesn't seem to know its place in the world and dares to defy the imperial orders of Uncle Sam.
I'm referring, of course, to Honduras, which despite two months of intense pressure from Washington is still refusing to reinstate Manuel Zelaya, its deposed president. Last week the administration took off the gloves and sent a message that it would use everything it has to break the neck of the Honduran democracy. Its bullying might work. But it will never be able to brag about what it has done.

What the...?

According to one report, State Department officials have recommended that the Honduran ouster of Zelaya be termed a military coup.

This is a terrible idea. Scroll down if you don't know why. What a bunch of morons.

Twisting

Watch this clip from MSNBC. It shows a man carrying an AR-15 and handgun while protesting against the Democratic Health Care plans in Arizona. (via Hot Air).

His presence and armed status leads the hosts of this show to discuss the alleged resurgence of white hate groups and the potential for harm to come to the president. There IS one problem with this particular instance-

HE'S BLACK!

I am NOT saying that President Obama faces no race-related threats, but there is huge overpromotion of the idea that current opposition to the health care proposals is primarily race-based. This is like saying that Bush was hated by the left for his racial or socioeconomic background (though the latter may have played a role with some).

President Obama and the liberal democrats in Congress have violated some principles that resonate with most Americans. That is the true source of these protests, legitimate loonies notwithstanding.

No Friend

More insight on the issues with the Obama administration's handling of Latin American relations.

Change I Can Believe In

It has taken the White House far too long to come to the conclusion that many have maintained for over a month- the ouster of Honduran President Zelaya was legal.

The threat of U.S. sanctions has been lifted and Investors Business Daily explains the good news-

By ending the threats, talks can begin. Constructive solutions, like early
elections or persuading Honduras' congress to add an impeachment law to its
constitution, can now be put on the table.
The reality is, the Hondurans shouldn't be on the spot at all. What happened wasn't a coup; it was a good-faith effort by decent people to fix a difficult situation that threatened their democracy.
This, by the way, also opens the door to a return of democracy in troubled nations like Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. People in those nations can take courage from Honduras.
The U.S. was smart to take the side of freedom. The Hondurans, however, were right all along. After all, it's their democracy. And now they've won it back.

And perhaps we can now exert pressure on those, like Chavez, that subvert democracy and the rule of law.

Furthering bolstering the Honduran case against Zelaya, Mary Anastasia O'Grady exposes the link between Zelaya and the Colombian terrorist and drug trafficking group FARC. She also discusses how Venezuela's cozy relationship with leftists like the FARC is also exacerbating the drug problem in the Western hemisphere.

With Friends like These

We keep pushing ourselves further in the wrong direction with regard to Honduras. From today's WSJ:

The State Department announced Tuesday that it revoked the diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials because the U.S. doesn’t recognize the interim government of Roberto Micheletti. Hondurans can be forgiven if they recall the bitter Vietnam-era joke that while it can be dangerous to be America’s enemy, it can be fatal to be its friend.
The U.S. didn’t release the names of the banished, but the Honduran daily El Heraldo said they included the Supreme Court judge who signed the arrest warrant of former president Manuel Zelaya, as well as the president of the National Congress. Honduras is now in the fifth week of a constitutional crisis that was provoked when then-president Zelaya violated the Honduran constitution. He was warned by the attorney general but he persisted and, with support from Hondurans of all political parties, he was arrested and deported on June 28.

The Obama administration has yet to provide a reasonable justification for their treatment of the interim government, while said government has made a very clear case for the correctness of its actions.

Jersey

You may have heard about the corruption sting in New Jersey that led to the arrest of many public officials.

Ever wonder how the state got so crooked? Here are a few ideas.

Fallando

The Obama administration continues to mess up Latin America. Is this man responsible?

I continue to follow, with great interest, the situation in Honduras. The interim president, Roberto Micheletti, explains how Honduras's ouster of Zelaya was a VICTORY for the rule of law and democracy.

I hope someone in the White House reads this and can put the right pieces together. Based on their handling of trivial domestic matters, I have to question whether that's likely.

Mas Confirmation

More on today's hearing- a scathing critique from a Georgetown law professor (via Instapundit):

If she was not perjuring herself, she is intellectually unqualified to be
on the Supreme Court. If she was perjuring herself, she is morally
unqualified.

Confirmation

I'm not a lawyer, but I like the law. These are two interesting articles related to the confirmation hearing of Sonia Sotomayor.

This one is from the New York Times and contains some excellent questions that there is little chance Sotomayor will be asked by the Senators at the hearing.

On a related note, law professor Randy Barnett has some advice regarding the kinds of questions that senators SHOULD ask that will provide actual insight into her judicial philosophy.

Obama Subverts Democracy

I'm extremely frustrated with the Obama administration's disregard for the sovereignty of Honduras.

Mary Anastasia O'Grady continues to do a fantastic job of highlighting the very real difference between our diplomatic stand and what it the actual LEGAL FRAMEWORK in Honduras.

Hundreds of emails from Hondurans flooded my in-box last week after I reported on the military's arrest of President Manuel Zelaya, as ordered by the Supreme Court, and his subsequent banishment from the country.
Mr. Zelaya's violations of the rule of law in recent months were numerous. But the tipping point came 10 days ago, when he led a violent mob that stormed a military base to seize and distribute Venezuelan-printed ballots for an illegal referendum.
All but a handful of my letters pleaded for international understanding of the threat to the constitutional democracy that Mr. Zelaya presented. One phrase occurred again and again: "Please pray for us."

This administration needs to change the way they look at the situation or they risk serious damage to whatever reputation we have for supporting the sovereignty of our allies.