This past December, there was a major kerfuffle at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as it was trying to pass a new rule regarding union elections before the term of pro-union Democrat Craig Becker, a (legal) recess appointment by President Obama, expired at the end of that month. The lone Republican on the Board, Brian Hayes, threatened to resign if the Board attempted to pass the rule, which allowed unions to speed up the elections of union representation and keep businesses from being able to mount a reasonable challenge to keep unions out. Hayes voted on various procedural issues regarding the rule (he voted against every one); but, on December 16, the Board issued a 2-0 vote approving the new rule without consulting Hayes. Per the NLRB, the rule was valid because the Board had the minimum three members required to make a quorum to pass anything. But because Hayes had no involvement in the final passage of the rule, D.C. Circuit District Judge James Boasberg, an Obama appointee, rightly concluded no quorum existed in the adoption of the final rule.

This is a big deal, as you’ll see.

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JWF had this to say after the Komen Foundation caved to the lefty hate crowd following its decision to restore its previously renounced Planned Parenthood funding:

Komen had seen a huge increase in financial support despite the relentlessly negative publicity. We’ll see how long that lasts now that they’re back in bed with the abortionists from Planned Parenthood.

The New York Times lets us know:

Susan G. Komen for the Cure may have popularized the color pink as a universal symbol of breast cancer fund-raising. But these days, many of the breast cancer foundation’s local affiliates are singing the blues.

And yet, neither the Times or those Komen people they interviewed give the real definitive reason.

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I don’t know if 30-year old Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke is a slut. But she’s already exhibited all that is needed to be a politician in the Democrat Party; Fluke’s a liar.

Via Steve Gilbert, Alana Goodman of Commentary Magazine has a policy letter from Georgetown’s President John DeGioia [emphasis mine]:

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Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit here. But it doesn’t help when Karl Rove, aided and abetted by Allahpundit, seeks to give us another 4 years of tyranny under Barack Obama. Either Allahpundit is just an extreme contrarian, or he is in desperate need of an intervention:

Dude, I’m nervous.

Or maybe I’m the one needing the intervention.

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During this past weekend’s address by the President, Barack Obama decided to create a fake issue about Republicans wanting university student loan interest rates to rise. But while he doesn’t mention it, this is a failure created by Obama and his party.

Here’s why.

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Over at Mother Jones, lefty extremist Kevin Drum wrote an insulting piece of tripe called “Helping the Poor is Now Apparently Anti-Bible“. Apparently, Drum took umbrage at a statement pastor Rick Warren made on ABC’s This Week:

Well certainly the Bible says we are to care about the poor….But there’s a fundamental question on the meaning of “fairness.” Does fairness mean everybody makes the same amount of money? Or does fairness mean everybody gets the opportunity to make the same amount of money? I do not believe in wealth redistribution, I believe in wealth creation.

The only way to get people out of poverty is J-O-B-S. Create jobs. To create wealth, not to subsidize wealth. When you subsidize people, you create the dependency. You — you rob them of dignity.

After admitting that he agrees with Warren’s sentiment, Drum gets nasty:

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Hollywood liberal Ashley Judd proclaims herself a “victim” in the “War on Women”. No, not the “war” Democrats/liberals/progressives say is being waged by Republicans/conservatives; this war is the one that’s been going on for decades by her fellow liberals, men and women, the real misogynists. But actually, this is an inner war Ashley is fighting with herself, and her screed is more of a whine to cast blame on others (the culture; the “Patriarchy”, whatever that is) for her feelings. Ace has an extremely long post fisking Judd in detail. Robert Stacy McCain weighs in as well, in a much more succinct manner. Here’s my take.

Dear Ashley,

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Via Althouse; an Obama-appointed federal judge, William Conley, issued a ruling that struck down parts of Wisconsin’s Act 10, the law that led miscreant Democrat politicians and miscreant public union employees to abandon their posts in order to throw a childish temper tantrum. The most controversial part of the law, stripping all but pay from any collective bargaining agreements negotiated by non-public safety public employee unions (called general employee unions, or as I will call them, general public employee unions), was left intact. But, the requirements for employee recertification of union representation by the general public employee unions was tossed. Plus, the state must begin automatic of withdrawal of union dues from those employees affected by Act 10 by May 31, 2012 (giving the state time to seek an injunction from the 7th Circuit to maintain the status quo); in other words, the Wisconsin state government is required to fund the general public employee unions’ money laundering operation so that these unions can use the dues, extracted from taxpayers, to fund Democrat campaigns.

I have no doubt the 7th Circuit will issue an injunction so that the state can avoid having to redo its payroll system in order to comply with part of Judge Conley’s order. I don’t see how this ruling can stand on the merits, because it doesn’t appear to have much merit. Click below to see why.

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Michael and Chantell Sackett bought some land in Idaho, intending on building a home there.  After getting all the requisite permits and beginning the work in 2007, the EPA swooped in, called the Sacketts’ property wetlands, subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act, and put a halt to the work.  Worse, the EPA said the Sacketts couldn’t go through the courts because the Clean Water Act didn’t allow for it until the EPA was done making the Sacketts’ lives more miserable. This included charging the Sacketts up to $75,000 per day in fines; at this point, the Sacketts would have been fined around $100 million.  The U.S. District Court in Idaho agreed (a G. H. W. Bush appointee), as did a unanimous panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (a Reagan appointee and two Clinton appointees). Yesterday, a unanimous Supreme Court overruled all of them, saying the EPA had made a final ruling and it was time for the Sacketts to have their day in court. Justice Scalia wrote the majority opinion, and Justices Ginsburg and Alito each wrote a concurring opinion.

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In yesterday’s New York Times, more-or-less conservative columnist Ross Douthat has an excellent piece that must be read in full. Here is the key portion of the piece:

At the same time, if liberal social policies really led inexorably to fewer unplanned pregnancies and thus fewer abortions, you would expect “blue” regions of the country to have lower teen pregnancy rates and fewer abortions per capita than demographically similar “red” regions.

But that isn’t what the data show. Instead, abortion rates are frequently higher in more liberal states, where access is often largely unrestricted, than in more conservative states, which are more likely to have parental consent laws, waiting periods, and so on. “Safe, legal and rare” is a nice slogan, but liberal policies don’t always seem to deliver the “rare” part.

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It’s time the GOP, not only the candidates but those in Congress, come out with a new message. They got crushed when Obama and Democrats accused them of wanting to raise taxes on the “middle class” when they were supposedly holding up the bill to maintain the payroll tax rates Obama and Democrats set a year before (as part of retaining the current income tax rates for two more years). And as pointed out by Lori Montgomery with what she says congressional aides call “Taxmaggedon”, a whole slew of taxes are going up on January 1, 2013. It’s actually worse than what is being reported. In fact, it can be framed that while Obama has talked about raising taxes on who he deems “rich”, Obama has already raised everybody’s taxes at least seven times already.

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If this post were part of a court decision, it would be a concurrence in judgment; I agree with Dan McLaughlin’s main point about the 9th Circuit panel’s Perry ruling striking down California’s Proposition 8 [emphasis from original]:

There are arguments for and against same-sex marriage as a policy matter, but the argument for declaring that the Constitution mandates that only one set of those arguments be considered “rational” is itself irrational and intellectually indefensible. This is so not only because it begs the question by redefining the language and because it ignores basic biological reality, but most of all because the argument for striking down Proposition 8 treats history, culture, tradition and social convention inconsistently. It should not be taken seriously as constitutional law.

However, I think he misses the two main points that allowed the 9th Circuit panel to rule as it did, while bringing up another item that I believe is secondary at best. I covered it extensively last week, which I believe should be read first to understand where I’m coming from. I will apply the arguments I brought up from there.

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Not too long ago, I don’t remember when exactly, Libya under Moammar Qaddafi was added to the useless UN Human Rights Council. During the so-called “Arab Spring” where Libyans were rebelling against Qaddafi, Libya was suspended from the Council due to the atrocities committed by the dictator. A few months later with a supposedly new government installed and Qaddafi dead, the suspension against Libya was lifted. Here are the results:

Gays threaten the continuation of the human race, Libya’s delegate told a planning meeting of the UN Human Rights Council today, reported the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group. It was the first appearance in the 47-nation body by the post-Gaddafi government, whose membership was restored in November following Libya’s suspension in March.

You know, President Bush kept the U.S. out of this fraudulent group of nincompoops because he knew who would be allowed to sit in the council. But thanks to the “smart diplomacy” of the idiot-in-chief and the harridan masquerading as Sec. of State, the U.S. gets to be accessories to this fraud.

Thanks for nothing, Barry.

Cross-posted at Scipio the Metalcon.

Don Surber, a brave soul, ventured into the land of the “community-based reality” and plucked out this gem, “Access To Birth Control Is A Fundamental Component Of Climate Survival.” Ignoring the ridiculous premise (and title), here are a few things that need to be pointed out.

Did you ever notice how progressives, of both sexes, those who supposedly believe in equality, put the onus on women to take care of contraception? I mean, a guy can dump $10 into one of those condom machines you find in the public restroom of a gas station. Or just go to the drug store to pick up a box. But progressives would rather make the woman take care of it. I would suspect they would make the women get their tubes tied rather than have the men get vasectomies.

I also notice how progressives complain about how existing institutions like the Catholic Church should use their own money or taxpayer dollars to support the policies promoted by misogynist progressives. They never use their own money to buy up all the condoms needed and distribute them for free, do they?

That’s because progressive men want a free ride through life, to be as irresponsible as they want to be without having to pay for anything themselves. Worse, progressive women are stupid enough to let them get away with it.

Cross-posted at Scipio the Metalcon.

Mark Steyn’s recent column has Barack Obama creating a new religion à la Henry VIII. Henry is definitely more well-known than most other English monarchs, but there is another English king the President is emulating, King Charles I (Charles is on my list as one of the 10 worst kings of England and the U.K.). The reason is, Obama’s religion is already in place, having been established by seven Supreme Court Justices in Roe v. Wade (and perhaps earlier by another seven Justices in Griswold), just as Henry’s religion was already in place (established in 1534) by the time Charles became king in 1625. What I wonder and worry about is if history is going to repeat itself; Charles’ tyranny led to the English Civil War.

Below is a primer on Charles and how many of his actions are being repeated by our own tyrant Barack Obama.

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The California same-sex “marriage” saga continues. A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the most overturned Circuit in the country, upheld a lower court decision that overturned Proposition 8, a voter initiative passed in 2008 that put into the California Constitution a definition of marriage so that the state only recognize marriages when they are between one man and one woman. The ruling on Perry v. Brown was split with the Carter-appointed Judge Reinhardt (the most liberal judge on the 9th) joined with the Clinton-appointed Judge Hawkins in the majority (Reinhardt wrote the opinion) while the (George W.) Bush-appointed Judge Smith concurred in part and dissented in part. The skinny on this in my view is that it is an activist decision upholding an activist decision upholding an activist decision. But it’s more than that too, something brought to the fore by the Obama regime’s war on religion, and in particular, Christianity. This is a long piece, but I believe well worth the read. Again, I should note as a disclaimer that I am not a lawyer or legal scholar; this is simply an opinion.

The ruling answered three questions. The first two were answered unanimously. The first had to do with plaintiff’s standing in the case; since the state didn’t provide counsel to defend Prop. 8, its drafters did. The question was whether or not they could; the court ruled that they could. The second had to do with whether or not the District Court ruling should be vacated since the judge in the case, the now-retired Vaughan Walker, stated after he ruled that he was gay and in a long-term relationship, indicating a conflict of interest; again, the panel ruled no recusal was necessary and Walker’s judgment would stand. The third was the main part, the constitutionality of Prop. 8 itself.

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Unbelievable. Post-racial? A joke. Treating fellow Americans as fellow Americans? Forget it. Before Florida’s Allen West became the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I don’t know when the last time they had a Republican in their clique. It’s had only Democrats since at least 2006; even here, they won’t even allow fellow Democrats who aren’t black to join (the CBC wouldn’t allow Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen to join, even though the majority of his constituents in the district in Memphis he represents are black).

The chairman of the CBC is Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO). He recently appeared at a forum held be Rep. West, and was asked some pointed questions by The Daily Caller’s Nicholas Ballasy (there is a video at the link as well). Cleaver’s answers are illuminating.

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I didn’t watch President Food Stamp give his campaign speech masquerading as the 2012 State of the Union speech. But I did read through the transcript. Erick Erickson has it right when he said:

Barack Obama’s State of the Union is all about letting you know that government is going to do everything for you and when it can’t keep its promises, it will take from the successful and give to you.

But it was more than that, in my opinion. Much more than that. And the White House inviting Warren Buffett’s secretary to sit next to the First Lady is an expression of what that more is.

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You’d've thunk that after flushing a half-billion taxpayer dollars down the toilet on Solyndra, Barack Obama and his administration might have learned something. Alas, ’twas not the case. Hopefully, events in Germany might provide Obama with the impetus to change course, although changing course is something not seen throughout the Obama regime.

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Texting while driving is stupid. Driving drunk is stupid. Texting while driving drunk…all I can say is, OMG!!! Via JWF comes this:

The wife of retiring U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey was text-messaging and at nearly twice the legal limit for driving drunk when she rear-ended a car Wednesday night on Lark Street, according to a police report.

“I was texting,” Allison Lee-Hinchey, 49, of Hurley told a police officer as he questioned her about the 9:12 p.m. crash, according to the report filed in City Court. Asked if she had been drinking alcohol, she allegedly said, “I had a glass of wine” at a work function.

Perhaps Ms. Lee-Hinchey didn’t get the news that New York state banned texting while driving last year. Maybe she believes her connections might allow her to weasel her way out of it, at least until her hubby retires.

For work, Ms. Lee-Hinchey is a lobbyist. Something tells me she should join her husband in retirement. Based on her less-than-stellar driving record (an understatement), which is noted in the link, she should never, ever drive a car again.

One other thing is stupid. A federal ban on texting while driving. After all, there isn’t, and should never be, a federal drunk driving law.

Cross-posted at Scipio the Metalcon.