I was reading two news stories, side by side a little while ago. Ok, 2 seconds ago. One has Republican Speaker John Boehner warning the President he had better seek authorization to continue operations in Libya. The other is about Democratic Representative Brad Sherman amendment to a DHS appropriations bill that would stop any funds in that bill being spent in funding the fighting in Libya.
The President really should have known better, he should have known that they would fight him on this. In this political environment, he’s going to get a fight from the Republicans, ala John Boehner. And in any political environment, there will be conscientious congressmen like Rep. Sherman who will force the President, as much as they are capable, to toe the line. And in this instance, they can cut him off completely if they don’t like what he’s doing.
A thing to be applauded, from both Boehner and Sherman, really. No sitting President is above the law, none. He must, in this case, be made to follow the law, or brought to heel. I would have preferred if President Obama had just followed proper procedure in the first place, but it would be acceptable if he brought his proposals for whatever he feels must be done in Libya to Congress, so that the law may be followed.
If we are to continue calling ourselves a nation of laws, then those laws must be respected. He is not a dictator, and has not acted like one here or anywhere else, but continuing to let this go has given his more vocal critics the capacity to use just that language against him, and that is stupid.
Mr. President, you really should know better. Come to congress, bring your legal reasons for staying in Libya to them, so they may vote upon it. That will settle the issue, the sooner you do it, the faster you can get on with fixing the economy, and the other 300,000,000 things that you have to do.
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Viddy of the day: War Powers Act: Libya and Obama, from the Young Turks, a few weeks back
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Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
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And now for something completely different…
It looks very much like the NFL lockout could be nearing it’s end.
Damn.
And here I was, all ready to write about how much I could live without these Steroid fueled jackasses, and here they go getting ready to fix their issues, bury the hatchet, and get back to the business of playing football. It’s not that I offhand hate the NFL or anything, I don’t, I love football, but looking at a future without the NFL, for a while at least, didn’t really sound like a bad idea.
Think about it like this. You would get:
A year without listening to stories about some preening putz wide receiver(like Ocho Cinco who thinks he’s gods gift to the camera. A year without listening to Dan Dierdorf and his crap commentary. A year without the Mark Sanchez and the Jets (or if that doesn’t work for you, just insert name of team/player you hate here.) No annoying halftime show at the super bowl, which ALWAYS suck. No Pro bowl. No waiting for the Bengals annual implosion, or the Detroit Lions (or whatever semi-crap team) to almost make a run at respectability, but fall flat on their faces.
Just those alone would make a year without worth it.
It’s a fun sport to watch sometimes tho, so I guess it’s ok. Good to see progress being made in negotiations. Neither side really wants to lose the football season, and despite my line of crap above, neither do I.
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That’s it from here America. It’s been a long day, and tomorrow will be longer still. Go to sleep, I’ll write to you again tomorrow.
Casus Belli 