Presidential War Powers

Harry Reid's a blithering idiot. I have no idea how he was ever elected to public office. It's not so much his position on the War Powers Resolution, but that it's at odds with his claim that the public wants the troops home from Afghanistan. Frankly, Americans are weary of overseas commitments altogether, but at least the Afghan deployment enjoyed broad bipartisan support to begin with, back in the day. With Libya, the administration took the easiest route to do something --- anything --- in North Africa and the Middle East amid the wave of revolutions taking place in the "Arab Spring." And there's been little public consensus on major U.S. role in Libya.

This guy sucks:

Unfortunately, a Ron Paul wing in the GOP is joining with the Dennis Kucinich Demo-nuts to push for action on the Resolution. A lot of folks in the right blogosphere have made something out of this as well, and it goes to the lack of vital national interests at stake, and that's understandable. That said, John Yoo's got a new piece up on the Commander-in-Chief's authority on the use of force, "The GOP Plays Politics With the War Powers Resolution," and Yoo's the man:

Congressional Republicans should not try to outdo Mr. Obama in a game of unprincipled one-upmanship. But that's precisely what key GOP leaders have done. Earlier this week, House Speaker John Boehner sent a letter to the White House accusing Mr. Obama of violating the War Powers Resolution. "The Constitution requires the president to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed,'" he wrote, quoting the president's responsibilities under Article II of the Constitution. "And one of those laws is the War Powers Resolution, which requires an approving action by Congress or withdrawal within 90 days from the notification of a military operation."

Mr. Boehner's claim ignores the Constitution's fundamental nature as supreme law. As Chief Justice John Marshall declared in the foundational case of Marbury v. Madison (1803), the Constitution is "a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means," and any act of Congress "contrary to the constitution is not law." If the Constitution gives the president the executive authority to use force abroad, Congress cannot take it away. Surely Mr. Boehner agreed with this proposition before the current president took office. He, for instance, never claimed that President George W. Bush's exercise of broad executive powers in the war on terror violated the Constitution. Nor does he appear to have thought that legislative authorization of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars was constitutionally necessary in 2001 and 2002.

Not to be outdone, House Republicans Roscoe Bartlett, Dan Burton, Howard Coble, John Duncan, Tim Johnson, Walter Jones and Ron Paul joined with Dennis Kucinich and other Democrats this week and filed suit in a D.C. federal court seeking to halt U.S. military operations in Libya. They may see themselves as purists, but they are not demonstrating fidelity to the Constitution by launching a legal effort that they know to be utterly futile ....

RTWT.

Added: See Allahpundit's write up on the New York Times' story, "NYT: Obama overruled top Pentagon, DOJ lawyers on Libya war powers" (via Memeorandum). And check JustOneMinute, "Obama Goes Shopping For Legal Advice." It's the hypocrisy that's stunning.

California Economic Recovery Stumbles, New Jobs Report Shows

Atlas is still shrugging.

At Los Angeles Times, "California employers drop 29,200 jobs in May."

California's employers halted hiring in May, shedding 29,200 jobs from payrolls in yet another worrying sign that the nation's economic recovery is foundering.

The state's unemployment rate fell to 11.7%, from 11.8% the month before, according to the state Employment Development Department, but the job losses are the most significant since September of last year. The unemployment rate can fall when the state loses jobs because people drop out of the labor force, either because they're frustrated or are leaving the state.

California has the second-highest jobless rate in the nation, after Nevada.

The jobs data comes among worrying signs in California and the nation. Home sales in California dropped 13.3% in May from a year ago, and prices dropped 10.4%. Stocks teetered this week amid renewed fears that Greece will not be able to service its significant debt burden. And debates in Congress led some economists to worry that the U.S. will default on its debt payments, which would create further financial problems.

Still, economists said the ups and downs in the job market are to be expected in a tepid recovery.

"This is completely consistent with what we expected in California — the recovery is going to be slow," said Bill Watkins, director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University.

Right.

To be expected, since this is the Obama Depression. They just don't call it that.

Suspected Al Qaeda Bomb Package at Pentagon

The threat as been regarded as serious, with some non-explosive materials found.

See John Hayward, "The Pentagon Package Threat." Also, at Gateway Pundit, "Muslim Carrying Bomb Detained Near Pentagon."

Also, at ABC News, "Man With Suspicious Materials Detained Near Pentagon." (At Memeorandum.)

More at CBS News, "Pentagon scare suspect ID'd as Marine reservist."

Are Unions Connected to Terrorism?

At Washington Post, "Activists cry foul over FBI probe."

CHICAGO — FBI agents took box after box of address books, family calendars, artwork and personal letters in their 10-hour raid in September of the century-old house shared by Stephanie Weiner and her husband.

The agents seemed keenly interested in Weiner’s home-based business, the Revolutionary Lemonade Stand, which sells silkscreened baby outfits and other clothes with socialist slogans, phrases like “Help Wanted: Revolutionaries.”

The search was part of a mysterious, ongoing nationwide terrorism investigation with an unusual target: prominent peace activists and politically active labor organizers.

The probe — involving subpoenas to 23 people and raids of seven homes last fall — has triggered a high-powered protest against the Department of Justice and, in the process, could create some political discomfort for President Obama with his union supporters as he gears up for his reelection campaign.

More at that link above.

At the video, former FBI agent Brian Weidner suggests any funding U.S. "peace" groups provide to "humanitarian" organizations could be funneled to terrorism.

And here's this, from Red State:

All along, the activists have claimed they have no ties to terrorism, despite the appearance that the investigation is into possible ties to the communist Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), “a revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization in the United States” that is seeking to end America’s free-enterprise system.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has links (literally) to both the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [background here] and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) [background here], two groups on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

Another of those being investigated is Hatem Abudayyeh who, according to his bio, is the Executive Director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII), is a founding Advisory Board member of the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), and sits on the National Coordinating Committee of the United States Palestine Community Network (USPCN).

Now, with possible indictments looming, some of the individuals being investigated are attempting to strike back.

Several activists and their lawyers said they believe indictments could come anytime, so they have turned their organizing skills toward a counteroffensive, decrying the inquiry as a threat to their First Amendment rights. All 23 of the activists invoked their right not to testify before a grand jury, defying U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office is spearheading the investigation. A spokesman for Fitzgerald declined to comment.

The activists have formed the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, organized phone banks to flood Attorney General Eric Holder’s office and the White House with protest calls, solicited letters from unions and faith-based groups and sent delegations to Capitol Hill.

“I am so disgusted when I see that so many union people have been targeted in this,” said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, including four members who are possible targets.

On May 17th, according to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression’s website, another activist’s home was raided in Los Angeles and the activist, Carlos Montes, was detained and questioned about the Midwest activists, as well as the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

On June 16th, the Committee is planning a “Day of Action in Solidarity with Carlos Montes.”

On the actvists’ website, there is a timeline of events that includes actions the activists have taken to counter the investigation into their activities, as well as the list of Democrat politicians the group has enlisted to support them.

By the looks of it, with indictments possibly being issued soon, there will likely be much more coming out in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Check Red State for all the links to the activist organizations. There's a protest scheduled today in Alhambra. Kinda early though, so I don't know if I'll make it.

Michele Bachmann Enters Presidential Race

At Bloomberg, "Tea Party Favorite Bachmann Enters Republican Presidential Race."

And New York Times, "Bachmann Announces Presidential Candidacy."

President Obama Silent on Anthony Weiner Resignation

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz have both called on Weiner to resign. And now House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is calling for Weiner's resignation. No word yet on President Obama. Perhaps he's busy with his own wieners:

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Key Al Qaeda Operative in 1988 Embassy Bombings, Killed in Somalia

At Atlanta Journal Constitution:

NAIROBI, Kenya — The al-Qaida mastermind behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania was killed this week at a security checkpoint in Mogadishu by Somali forces who didn't immediately realize he was the most wanted man in East Africa, officials said Saturday.

The death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed — a man who topped the FBI's most wanted list for nearly 13 years — is the third major strike in six weeks against the worldwide terror group that was headed by Osama bin Laden until his death last month.

Mohammed had a $5 million bounty on his head for allegedly planning the Aug. 7, 1998, embassy bombings. The blasts killed 224 people in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Most of the dead were Kenyans. Twelve Americans also died.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — who was on a visit to Tanzania on Saturday as Somali officials confirmed Mohammed's death — called the killing a "significant blow to al-Qaida, its extremist allies, and its operations in East Africa.

"It is a just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and elsewhere — Tanzanians, Kenyans, Somalis, and our own embassy personnel," Clinton said.

More at that link above, although I think the same lessons apply now that applied after the Abbottabad raid: Targeted killings don't kill the Al Qaeda organization. Depending on whom you talk to, global jihad constitutes an amorphous, multi-faceted terror network, with many alliances of convenience and substantial ties to state actors, such as Pakistan. There's lots of work to do in that sense. See, for example, Jayshree Bajoria, "Pakistan's New Generation of Terrorists."

NewsBusted: 'Barack Obama's new reelection campaign strategy'

Via Theo Spark:

Britain and France to Share Aircraft Carriers

I think every American should read Tom Clancy's, Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier. The ships are the sine qua non of global power projection, and a key indicator of great power status. CSM just reported last month on the increasing prestige of carriers among nations, amid heightened international security demands requiring that kind of operational mobility. See, "Aircraft Carriers Gain Naval Clout." At the clip below is the USS Abraham Lincoln, which I visited in 1999. It's a Nimitz-class carrier. The last carrier from the group is the USS George H.W. Bush, commissioned in 2009. The Navy is moving to the Gerald R. Ford class carrier program, with the first two ships expected to be commissioned in 2015 and 2019. Ten carriers from that groups are expected to be deployed, guaranteeing a global U.S. ocean-going preponderance throughout most of the 21st-century.

I mention this just as news reports indicate that Britain and France are set to share aircraft carriers. See Telegraph UK, "We should share aircraft carrier, say French." I wasn't quite sure what to think of this, so checking around I found this at Reuters, "INTERVIEW-French navy boss sees Libyan military humanitarian aid":

ENTENTE CORDIALE

One area earmarked for cooperation is the use of aircraft carriers. In a sweeping review last year, Britain cut its defence budget of 36.9 billion pounds by 8 percent in real terms up to 2015, scrapping its only aircraft carrier.

While the short distance between coalition bases and Libya means an aircraft carrier is not essential, Forissier said a British carrier would have been useful to reduce air time, boost attacks and relieve the Charles de Gaulle.

Forissier would like the French flagship to return to base to replace older Super Etendard jet fighters with the latest Rafales. If it were forced to continue its operations "it would only begin to have serious problems in the autumn," he said.

A new British carrier, the Queen Elizabeth, due by 2020 will be designed so each country could fly its planes off the other's ship. The aim is to have one carrier at sea at all times.

British crew will learn on the Charles de Gaulle so that the Queen Elizabeth can enter operation once finished. One British watch officer is currently operating on the French vessel.

While similar foreign policy aims made a Franco-British alliance inevitable, national sovereignty remained, he said.

"France needs its aircraft carrier and Britain needs one to carry out its sovereignty as it wishes, but what is important is to make the planes inter-operable so that we can train on either one in periods of maintenance."

Forissier believes the two governments should consider building together a cheaper carrier to be used for training.

"If we both want to have a permanent operating presence then we'll both need two aircraft carriers and I don't think given the financial situation our governments have the means."

While Paris has hardly touched its military budget, Forissier said he was "stunned" by the Royal Navy cuts, at a time when it has had costly operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The Royal Navy, which was always an example for us, is in a tough situation," he said. "It makes me wonder whether we'll also have to go through this in the future."

Part of avoiding that has been the closer cooperation.

"I know in Great Britain you pay tribute to Nelson and here we pay tribute to Napoleon, but really we have good reasons to work together," he said, looking at a painting celebrating a French naval victory over the Royal Navy in 1781.

Now, go check out James Fallows, who suggests we not belittle China's efforts to deploy an aircraft carrier fleet, "Please Read This Article About the Chinese Navy." And whether one agrees with Fallows or not, the key to remember is that at one point Britain's navy was the unrivaled master of the seas. Today the U.S. fills that role. Britain and France are now both struggling to maintain a single operational aircraft carrier, while in the U.S. our outgoing secretary of defense has recommended military downsizing. It all relates in the rise and fall of nations. Quite an interesting set of interrelated developments.

Economy is Rough Road for Obama

Economic issues are the toughest for a president seeking reelection. That's why whoever wins the GOP nomination will have an excellent chance of beating Obambi.

See LAT, "With economy stumbling, Obama hails auto industry bailout":

Reporting from Toledo, Ohio — Facing a cascade of slipping economic signs that could endanger his reelection, President Obama sought to shift attention to a decision he made early in his term that appears to be paying off: bailing out the auto industry.

Obama's appearance Friday at a Chrysler plant in this politically important state showed how few economic stories he can highlight. New figures Friday showed unemployment rose to 9.1%, the second straight month that the jobless rate climbed. Speculation grew that the economy might slip into another recession, which would hurt families nationwide just as the 2012 campaign begins.

Obama's trip — his 13th to Ohio since his inauguration — follows a week's worth of coordinated messages in which administration officials depicted him as being able to make the "gutsy" decisions that should give voters confidence in uncertain times.

Drawing attention to the auto bailout would have been risky at one point. Before the 2010 midterm elections, independent voters disdained bailouts, deficits and stimulus measures.

But Democrats now believe the auto bailout in particular is a way to distinguish themselves from Republicans. They see government intervention as an important tool in protecting both workers and business from the shocks of unfettered markets, and they believe voters buy that argument.

Ohio. It's a key battleground state, with 18 electoral college votes. Keep your eye on the Buckeyes over this next 18 months. Obambi will be traveling up that way a lot more.

Obama Challenged on War Powers

He's getting hammered on this, and folks are talking about the introduction of ground troops. And Congress hasn't authorized the deployment? Obama's lame...

See Business Week, "Boehner Offers Libya Resolution Demanding Details on Objectives.." And New York Times, "House Sets Votes on Two Resolutions Critical of U.S. Role in Libyan Conflict":

WASHINGTON — The House will vote Friday on two measures that are strongly critical of President Obama’s decision to maintain an American role in NATO operations in Libya, reflecting increasing disenchantment among elements of both parties about the United States’ involvement in the conflict.

The decision to put the resolutions to a vote came after Republican leaders earlier this week postponed consideration of one of them, which would direct the president to end American’s military involvement in the operations. It was sponsored by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, the Ohio Democrat who is one of the most liberal members of the House.

The leadership feared that the Kucinich measure would pass with backing from an unlikely coalition of liberals and conservatives, a step they contended would send the wrong message to allies engaged in other conflicts with the United States.

On Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner took the unusual step of presenting his own resolution to his caucus to be voted on by the full House on Friday, along with the Kucinich measure.

If either or both were to pass, it would represent the most assertive stance by Congress to date on the Libya conflict and highlight the chronic tensions between the executive and legislative branches over the president’s ability to wage war without Congress’s express approval.

Amazing. The deadline for congressional authorization was May 20th. This is an illegal war without legislative action. Even President Bush got approval for Iraq. Boy, that's some change.

Mitt Romney Officially Launches 2012 Campaign

From PBS:

And at NYT, "Romney, Opening Race, Presents Himself as the Candidate to Face Obama."

I like Romney. But as I've said, I worry he's not conservative enough to generate enthusiasm, and if he's the nominee he may not differentiate himself enough from Obama, especially on the RomneyCare albatross.

New Ad from Emergency Committee for Israel Slams Obama on Israel Peace Proposal

Thanks both Democrats and Republicans alike, for standing with Israel. Puts Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the outs as well:

Voiceover: When President Obama sided with the Palestinians, members of both parties stood with Israel.

Harry Reid: Nobody should set premature perimeters about borders.

Steny Hoyer: Israel’s borders must be defensible.

Bob Casey: Jerusalem is the undivided and eternal capitol of Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu: And I see a lot of new friends of Israel here…. Democrats and Republicans alike.

Voiceover: The Emergency Committee for Israel thanks Israel’s true friends, Democrats and Republicans alike.

ADDED: Alana Goodman has more: "Here’s to Bipartisan Support for Israel."

Samantha Power: 'Interventionista!'

The woman is repulsive.

The National Interest piece, by Jacob Heilbrunn, is here: "Samantha and Her Subjects."

And Peter Berger has a critical review at The American Interest: "Samantha and the Lone Sheriff."

Heilbrunn criticizes Power on a number of counts—for being selective in her choices of outrageous atrocities (no mention in the book of the genocidal actions of Stalin and Mao), for giving undue respect to endorsement of interventions by the United Nations, for painting too rosy a picture of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Brazilian diplomat murdered while on a UN mission in Iraq (he is the subject of another book by Power, Chasing the Flame, 2008). But he criticizes her mainly for “providing an ideological smokescreen for the use of American military power in dubious circumstances”. Heilbrunn savors the irony of Power having opposed George W. Bush’s intervention in Iraq and now justifying Obama’s in Libya. In defending the latter action, she (as well as Obama himself) sounds very much like Bush defending the invasion of Iraq. She insists on an important difference: Bush, though he tried, failed to get a UN endorsement; Obama acted with such an endorsement, thus seemingly in accord with the liberal creed of “multilateralism”.

RELATED: See a more friendly albeit obstreperous interventionista: GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD.

Political Scientist Michael McFaul Tapped as Ambassador to Russia

A professor of political science at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. McFaul had an obligatory essay back in 1992, widely assigned on graduate syllabi: "A Tale of Two Worlds: Core and Periphery in the Post-Cold War Era." This is quite an accomplishment for him. At New York Times: "Policy Adviser to Become U.S. Ambassador to Russia":

WASHINGTON — President Obama has decided to send the architect of his so-called Russia reset policy to Moscow as the next United States ambassador there, seeking to further bolster an improved relationship as both countries head into a potentially volatile election season.

Mr. Obama plans to nominate Michael McFaul, his top White House adviser on Russia policy, for the post, according to administration officials who declined to be identified before the formal announcement. Mr. Obama told the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, of his choice during a meeting in France last week, officials said.

In selecting Mr. McFaul, Mr. Obama is breaking with recent tradition in Moscow, where all but one of eight American ambassadors over the last 30 years have been career diplomats. But in choosing someone from his own inner circle, Mr. Obama underscored his determination to keep Russian-American relations a centerpiece of his foreign policy after his early push to reset the relationship following years of growing tension.

“Mike, as the guy who really helped the president establish the reset, is the perfect person to go to Moscow to make sure there’s no lapse in momentum in the relationship,” one of the administration officials said ...

Although not a diplomat, Mr. McFaul, 47, is widely considered one of the foremost American voices on Russia, with deep contacts in Moscow. He was a Rhodes scholar who first traveled to the Soviet Union in 1983 and lived there at several points over the next decade. A Stanford University professor and Hoover Institution fellow, he is the author or editor of more than 20 books, establishing a reputation as a vocal advocate of Russian democracy and sharp critic of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin’s crackdown on dissent.

Mr. McFaul’s friendly ties with neoconservatives at times have generated suspicions among his fellow Democrats, but since joining the White House he has also occasionally been at odds with fellow democracy advocates who have been critical of the reset policy.

He's a good guy. Amazing Obama's not sending some ACORN communist to Mosow.

ROBAMA!! President Uses Autopen to Sign Patriot Act Extension

Glenn Reynolds disapproves (as does Jonathan Turley at the clip).

And see NYT, "Making Legislative History, With Nod From Obama and Stroke of an Autopen":

WASHINGTON — Generations of children learned the basics of the American legislative process from a “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoon, in which “Bill” sings, “If he signs me, then I’ll be a law.”

But now, apparently for the first time in United States history, a bill has been signed into law by autopen, at the direction of President Obama, who is in Europe on a weeklong trip.

Congress on Thursday passed legislation extending the Patriot Act for four years. With the existing terror-fighting authorities set to expire at midnight Thursday, the White House concluded that a mechanical signature would have to do.

With that, Mr. Obama turned the autopen, a machine that reproduces signatures and is ubiquitous in government and business for routine transactions — letters, photos, promotional materials — into the ultimate stand-in.

He and his lawyers also found a way around a routine but costly tradition, in which White House staff members fly, unsigned legislation in hand, to wherever the president happens to be.

That tradition dates back decades.

Well, ROBAMA wouldn't want to preserve tradition, especially something traditional dealing with the Constitution. No surprise here at all.

BONUS FAIL: Asshat No More Mr. Nice Guy cries foul, but comes up short anyway. That said, Xeni Jardin concludes with the appropriate skepticism.

'America in the World' — The Last Speech by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

The text is available from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs).

And at Wall Street Journal, "The Gates Farewell Warning: America can be a superpower or a welfare state, but not both":

Robert Gates, who steps down next month after four-plus years at the Pentagon, is making his retirement lap a tutorial on America's defense spending and security needs. His message is welcome, especially on Memorial Day, and even if he couldn't always heed it in his time as Secretary of Defense.

In a series of farewell speeches, Mr. Gates has warned against cuts to weapon programs and troop levels that would make America vulnerable in "a complex and unpredictable security environment," as he said Sunday at Notre Dame. On Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Gates noted that the U.S. went on "a procurement holiday" in the 1990s, when the Clinton Administration decided to cash in the Cold War peace dividend. The past decade showed that history (and war) didn't end in 1989.

"It is vitally important to protect the military modernization accounts," he said, and push ahead with new capabilities, from an air refueling tanker fleet to ballistic missile submarines.

More at the link at top. The statistics on "entitlement overstretch" are staggering.

Obama's Mideast Plan Strains Jewish Ties

At LAT, "Obama's Jewish backers on edge over his Mideast peace plan."

Well, you know, perhaps LAT's got a skewed sample. Folks at the Times should check with M.J. Rosenberg and his Jewish pro-terror allies.

And ICYMI, Bret Stephens, "An Anti-Israel President."

Stephens is also at the video and just destroys Simon Schama:

RELATED: At Haaretz, "Israel preparing itself for Twitter war over Palestinian state: Foreign Ministry bracing for a flood of pro-Palestinian tweets ahead of the UN session on a Palestinian state."

FULL VIDEO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Speech to United States Congress

Did you watch it? The text is at Facebook (via Memeorandum).

Netanyahu beats Obama on standing ovations, and that's without a teleprompter.

BONUS: If you haven't yet, be sure to check out M.J. Rosenberg on Twitter. The dude slurred Netanyahu as a "terrorist" the other day, but that tweet went down the memory hole. No worries though. Rosenberg's going all out at Talking Points Memo, "Congress to Palestinians: Drop Dead." And there's more anti-Jewish slurs on Twitter.

This is What Happens When You Trade Land for Peace

From Israel: You're Not Alone: