85 Comments

1. David Thomson:

Barack Obama is far left of center. In his heart of hearts, he probably believes the Constitution is meaningless document if it hinders his left-wing power grab. Why should this surprise anyone? We knew long a go that Obama is something of a student of the late Saul Alinsky. He was also a buddy of the terrorist Bill Ayers. And have we already forgotten Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Lastly, didn’t Obama’s presidential campaign disabled the software security features on its website so that it could receive millions of dollars in illegal donations? Republicans would have arrested and read their Miranda rights for behaving in a similar fashion.

Feb 9, 2009 - 1:57 am 2. Delia:

The USURPER in office wants to TEAR down the CONSTITUTION with both angry fists.

No shock and awe there but nobody can critique the new Pimp er President because then you’ll be called a raaaaaaaacist.

Are any of us really READY for the full-on UGLY that is coming from the Obama administration?

Hello? Bueller? Bueller?

Feb 9, 2009 - 2:25 am 3. cfbleachers:

This is actually a page out of the Chicago Machine. If you gerryrigged a district, you can influence the voting pattern.

“Counting pockets” in which you decide to fill some and pilfer others. Chicago became a one party town, no Republican has a chance to be elected or to influence even the smallest decision. It’s an unhealthy freeze out of divergent or independent thought.

One more stealth invasion, attempting to fly in under the radar in the ever-increasing strangulation of our national debate. Ironically, I believed (and still believe) that our TWO party system is broken. If you can imagine my sadness, despair and dismay at witnessing the impending train wreck barreling down the tracks at our nation’s future, as the stealth imposition of ONE party rule impales us with the shattered shards of glass dreams and the twisted steel of silenced dissent.

Our guardians of fact have abandoned us. The fourth estate has been drenched with annointing oils and sacrificed the remainder of last slivers of honor upon the altar of leftism. But I missed the statement a bit. It is not one “party”, but rather, the furthest left wing of one party, stalking their wounded prey and seeking to devour it whole.

I have been a GDI the whole of my life. This nation is at war with those who intend to implant a stealth attack on our system of self-governance. The information stream has been stolen and is producing propaganda. Principled dissent is being systematically torn from our voices. The entrenched media has sold out. Academia has shut out debate. Hollywood is openly advocating revolution.

Would someone with the power to do so please call the question? I beg of you, in name of all that is good and holy, would someone please poll my countrymen and ask them the following:

1)Would you vote for a party or system of government that openly sought to impose Socialism to replace our present free market form of governance?

2)Do you believe that the country is better served by having only one party dominate our political landscape or would two or more parties with equal opportunity for voicing opinions be better?

3) Do you believe in having the state (or government officials) making the vast majority of your decisions, or would you prefer that the state be limited in determining how you live your life?

4) Do you believe that our institutions of higher learning should encourage or discourage full exploration of all political views? Do you believe that one side of the debate should be virtually shut out and strangled from the discussion?

5)Do you believe our information stream should be attached to one party, such that we are given essentially propaganda for a silo of thought? Should facts be withheld, distorted, buried or unfairly presented to tilt public opinion for one side or another? Do you believe that our “news” is a quasi-public trust and should not be tied to one party or another?

6)If a public institution of higher learning has been found to have intentionally strangled open debate, what should be the punishment?

7)If a “news” organization has been found to intentionally stifle certain facts in order to assist one party or one wing of one party, if they have been found to continually distort facts, present half-truths, bury facts, create hit pieces for one side of a debate and puff pieces for the other, creating constant political cover for one party and constant political flak for another, what should be the punishment?

8)If you found that an attempt was being made to implement through stealth and duplicity a form of government that attacked from the inside our free market enterprise, currently consitituted, and instead sought to replace it without your knowledge and consent with a leftist statism, what would you favor doing with the conspirators who imposed it upon you?

9)Do you believe that such a thing could happen here, in this country?

If the question is called, would you agree to openly support Socialism? If not, why then would you sit idly by and allow it to be imposed in your public institutions of higher learning, in the whole of your information stream, in the halls of your representative self-governance?

Would you support fair facts, open debate, honest presentation of divergent ideas? And then let the chips fall where they may?

So would I. If my countrymen are given honest choices and CHOOSE to move toward a EuroSocialism, so be it. If they openly were presented with a choice of Swedish statism or free market enterprise and CHOSE, after careful exploration, to CHANGE our current form of self-governance, I would defend that choice will every fibre of my being.

I resent, however, the stealth imposition…the “boiled frog” approach and the vile and despicable selling out of our facts by academia and the entrenched media. We are NOT better served by a one party statism. And we least served by propaganists who gang rape our information stream in order to serve that one party statism.

If, one day…they come for me, in order to silence my voice…let there be no mistake or slander upon my name, I did not resist their ideals, but the manner in which they stole principled dissent. It was not their conclusions I resisted, but the manner in which they imposed them upon me. It was not their choices I condemned, but their stripping of my freedom to choose. I stood not against their ideals, but against their tyranny.

Feb 9, 2009 - 2:45 am 4. formwiz:

The only thing more shameful than the fact that Obambi is trying to get away with this is that Gregg (who is a big bailout supporter, don’t forget) is willing to be a party to this. He’s supposedly looking bad in terms of re-election, so, apparently, he’s selling his soul to hang on in DC as long as possible.

On the Chicago angle, cfbleachers is right. The Messiah will now use the census to raise from the dead every Democrat voter since James Buchanan.

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:44 am 5. eon:

In 2000, the Clinton Administration tried something similar, with a “computer-generated” count that they claimed would somehow be “more accurate” than the Constitutionally-mandated real head count. Their attempt to substitute a computer-created fantasy (which of course would slew in whatever direction they wanted depending on the numbers they fed in- GIGO) was thwarted by the Supreme Court, which insisted that the census continue to be an actual count as mandated by Article 1, section 2 of the Constitution.

The sole purpose of the census has always been the correct apportionment of representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Period. Dot. It has no other reason for existing in the first place. The fact that the Democratic party is attempting, once again, to subvert the census process to partisan political control tells you all you need to know about their “respect” for the Constitution.

To say nothing of their arrogance, and lust for power.

clear ether

eon

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:56 am 6. RE:

So we have power grabbing control freaks in the White House! How nice.

This is precisely the sort of thing our Founding Fathers feared. We may be looking at one of the most severe test of our US Constitution has ever faced with Obama. This current Executive Branch appears to hold it in contempt.

These are next four years are looking to be very, very ugly.

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:56 am 7. TubbyHubby:

An excellent post. One quibble I have is that the author failed to mention, specifically, the one decision that could be made when “taking” the census that would be horribly wrong for this country. The issue is “statistical estimates”. Since at least the 1990 census, the Democrat Party has pushed heavily to have the Census Bureau report its numbers based on statistical estimates – despite the fact the Constitution requires them to “count” the population. Keep in mind two undeniable facts. 1) The apportionment of seats a state gets in Congress is based on population – legal or otherwise – not voting population. And 2) it is difficult to count those who do not wish to be counted. How many illegal aliens are in this country? 12 Million? 20 Million? They certainly try to avoid being “counted”. If they are counted in the census, that number goes toward apportionmnet. Well and good, the Constitution says to count everyone. If the White House (Rahm) orders the Census Bureau to “estimate” their numbers and present that data to Congress as the “official” number, will the total be 12, 20 or 30 million? Where will those “statistically estimated” bodies reside? That is a lot of potential shifting in the number of seats that go toward one state vs another.

Feb 9, 2009 - 4:01 am 8. Ted:

Since Obama’s earnest drive to convince the nation to weaken its economic strength through redistribution as well as weaken its national defense, COUPLED WITH HIS UNPRECEDENTED WHITE HOUSE TAKEOVER OF DECENNIAL CENSUS TAKING FROM THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT, has confirmed the very threats to our Republic’s survival that the Constitution was designed to avert, it no longer is sustainable for the United States Supreme Court and Military Joint Chiefs to refrain from exercising WHAT IS THEIR ABSOLUTE CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY TO DEFEND THE NATION FROM UNLAWFUL USURPATION. The questions of Obama’s Kenyan birth and his father’s Kenyan/British citizenship (admitted on his own website) have been conflated by his sustained unwillingnes to supply his long form birth certificate now under seal, and compounded by his internet posting of a discredited ‘after-the-fact’ short form ‘certificate’. In the absence of these issues being acknowledged and addessed, IT IS MANIFEST THAT OBAMA REMAINS INELIGIBLE TO BE PRESIDENT UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Being a 14th Amendment ‘citizen’ is not sufficient. A ‘President’ MUST BE an Article 2 ‘natural born citizen’ AS DEFINED BY THE FRAMERS’ INTENT.

Feb 9, 2009 - 4:42 am 9. Sara for America:

This should come as no surprise. What else was Obama planning to do with all those ACORN reps with nothing to do until the next election.

They are so well trained for this type of thing. They are creative too, as in, walking into the most devilish of places and obtaining a voter registration from people who don’t exist.

ACORN + Census = Logical Conclusions.

Feb 9, 2009 - 4:59 am 10. Peter the Bubblehead:

Has anyone noticed that in just three weeks in office, ‘The One’ has done more to create a dictatorship in this country than Bush was ACCUSED of in 8 years?!?

Feb 9, 2009 - 5:25 am 11. Cybergeezer:

Clearly a Separation of Powers issue. “We the People” have some serious problems that need immediate attention. And it’s not the economy. This dummy is not up to the standards for the Commander in Chief.
Anarchy is not far away.

Feb 9, 2009 - 5:55 am 12. Jerry:

What the responders to this article are missing is that Obama does not have to gerrymander the districts, although I believe that he will do so; rather, he will loosen restrictions on immigration from the Middle East to create a situation similar to Europe. He will in essence support the creation of a fifth column in America. The new immigrants will sooner, rather than later, represent a new voting block to undermine traditional American values. I believe that immigration policy will represent the greatest contribution Obama will support in the remaking of America.

Feb 9, 2009 - 5:57 am 13. Jake:

This country is heading for one party (Demorats) rule. The Demorats are pursuing this goal through every means possible.

Step 1.) Silence descent by shutting down conservative talk radio. They already control every other type of media and Hollywood.

Step 2.) Grant amnesty to the twelve million illegal Demorats already in this country and give them the right to vote.

Step 3.) Halt construction on all border fences and open up the border so that more Demorats can come in.

Step 4.) Hijack the census process so that all of the remaining republicans can be gerrymandered out.

It’s painfully obvious that the liberals in this country do not realize what they are doing to their children and grand children’s future. The country that they live in will be “Third World.”

Feb 9, 2009 - 6:10 am 14. Jeff Perren:

“moved from the Commerce Department over to the chief of staff’s office”

And moderate conservatives were finger-wagging that when some suggested that Rahm’s desire for a civil corp was a not-so-thinly disguised push for a Hitler Youth organization. That doesn’t seem like such a stretch now.

And, while the stimulus is being debated, why is the Chief of Staff part of the discussion in the inner circle when Obama meets with Senators?

Raw, naked power. For Progressives, that’s what it’s always about.

Feb 9, 2009 - 6:38 am 15. seven:

Welcome to ACORN governance. ACORN helped the people turn out in voting numbers in excess of population. I suspect there must be a socialist deviant scheme behind this. As wrong as this administration is, I suspect they will tell us what the numbers are based on what they want them to be instead of actually counting.

Feb 9, 2009 - 6:39 am 16. Bilgeman:

#3 cflebleachers:

“This is actually a page out of the Chicago Machine. If you gerryrigged a district, you can influence the voting pattern.”

Yep…exactly, and this from Wikipedia shows that it’s been done before when the Alleged Hawaiian was a state senator:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Senate_career_of_Barack_Obama

the salient quote:

“In September 2001, Democrats won a lottery to redraw legislative districts that had been drawn ten years earlier by Republicans and had helped ensure ten uninterrupted years of Republican control of the Illinois Senate.[19] In the November 2002 election, the Democratic remap helped them win control of the Illinois Senate and expand their majority in the Illinois House to work with the first Democratic Illinois governor in 26 years”

The Democrats are seeking nothng more than a fundamental sea change in the political tide, based on a ten point November win in last November’s Presidential election.

I think that they are over-reaching badly, since when you look at the numbers of November a little more deeply, their agenda doesn’t have nearly the depth of support that they might wish to convey.
The greatest indicator of this is the California Prop 8 fiasco.

Aside from their pet professional minorities, academia, media, and labor bosses,(all urban constituencies), they really don’t have all that many steadfast election-to-election supporters.

Obama’s gains in suburbia are going to erode quite quickly if the economy doesn’t recover, because that’s where the people who hold the jobs that pay enough to afford the “hobby” of politics live.

I think the DNC is aware of this, and is therefore compelled to move forward with this tactic.

If they REALLY had the numbers, there would be no need to to so blatantly attenpt the stacking of the deck.

And a little research into Obama’s old State Senate district,(13), should give anyone pause at the relative benfits of being represented by him.
Here’s a hint…Rezko really profited from it.

Feb 9, 2009 - 6:53 am 17. kochevnik:

We are at war. Anyone who questions the president at this pivotal moment is a traitor who hates America.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:14 am 18. Benson:

Peter (10): yes. Obama is getting his community organized.

The president says, “I won.” The response: the constitution is our bulwark against a dictatorship of the majority. Votes do not trump ethics.

FDR, Truman, Nixon, Clinton, the Bushes — all expanded the power of the presidency to greater or lesser degrees. There is a historical trend toward tyranny, but it can be halted.

We have here a man whose training and experience are in creating political power through propaganda, mass movements, indoctrination and sheer persistence. He will use censorship and rhetoric and the audacious exercise of the power of his office to strengthen his base.

Germany faced a moment something like this in 1930; it was then that democracy failed, and the future was lost to the impulses of a lunatic amateur. Now we are about to lose our future to a relatively inexperienced newcomer. Our mountebank has also cynically abused democracy with his empty rhetoric; seldom has a man said less of substance, explained himself so incompletely, left so much to be assumed by the gullible and ideologically embittered — yet convinced so many that he is uniquely qualified to make seismic changes in our system. Yet our man has not even written a book telling us what he plans to do. We the electorate stand convicted of political imbicility.

This rascal is about to destroy our economy, subvert our Liberty, and make a shambles of our hopes.

Obama represents a genuine turning-point in our history. We must counter the community organizer with a ferocious political organization. We must create an apparatus capable of making our case, convincing others to work for Liberty and prosperity, and waging constant battle in the state and federal courts in defense of the consitution. If we do not, IMHO we face the unlikely but real possibility of civil war within two decades.

History should be our teacher. The concentration of power in the executive, and the manipulation of an electorate intoxicated with faith in The Leader, are genuine dangers. Our nation was founded on entirely different principles. Our founders were not community organizers; they were both philosophers and practical men who transmitted to us the values of the Enlightenment. In no other nation have those values flowered as they have in the USA.

Obama threatens to replace principle with Alinsky’s uniform political correctness and mechanistic fascism. He won the election, but he cannot be permitted to triumph.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:15 am 19. Angry White Dude:

Our only chance is 2010. We HAVE to take control over the house. Other than that the only solution is the second revolution! They are surely taking our freedoms.

Angry White Dude

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:29 am 20. AnninCA:

The primary reason I am no longer a Democrat was watching Obama game the caucus system and seeing that nobody in the party spoke out. That alone convinced me that I had been naive to believe that the party would stand for principles of fairness. I’ve not viewed any action the same since then.

I can’t imagine how one games the caucus system, but I’m sure there’s a way.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:34 am 21. zanne:

“Anyone who questions the president at this pivotal moment is a traitor who hates America.”=freedom fighter.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:41 am 22. Meryl:

To answer the question in the headline, “Have they no shame?” No.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:48 am 23. Bilgeman:

#19 AnninCA:

“I can’t imagine how one games the caucus system, but I’m sure there’s a way”

Project ACORN.

Exploit the wretched to elect your hand-picked delegates, and then mob the caucuses with ‘em.

Once you do that, you need to maintain their discipline to shove the agenda through.

Once upon a time, I helped take a bunch of retirees out of their retirement home to lunch at “Sizzler” in the name of a Democratic candidate for Governor. Along the way,(before they got TOO sleepy from the free grub), we made sure they were registered to vote.

Have you ever BEEN in a retirement home? They’re nearly all government-subsidized in one form or another.
I’ll eat my handgun before I’m warehoused in such a hideous urine-reeking place…I swear to God.

The trip to “Sizzler” was the high point of their month…for some, of their entire year.
There were a few who didn’t even know what a Sizzler was anymore…but they cast a valid ballot all the same.

A stone would have wept at the sight of all the blue eye shadow these poor neglected souls were applying to themselves, and how they chattered on about it.

And the guy who we were flogging won.

That’s ONE way that the cat gets skinned.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:55 am 24. Gary S.:

After the fraud-o-ree that was the 2008 election, is anyone surprised about this?

Feb 9, 2009 - 8:12 am 25. Bender:

This really demonstrates the idiotic folly of any Republican giving up his current office to take a position in the Obama Administration.

First, they are forced to defend against their own Republican beliefs.

Second, when Obama does do something unconscionable, what are they going to do? Resign in protest?? Ha! Fine, go ahead, quit. Then they have accomplished their goal of getting you out of your original office, and now they don’t have to be stuck with having you in the Administration.

Feb 9, 2009 - 8:44 am 26. Peter the Bubblehead:

Perhaps when Obama and his minions take down the Statue of Liberty they can use the scap metal to mint us all a few pennies, since that’s about all we’ll have left after this.

Feb 9, 2009 - 8:45 am 27. 24AheadDotCom:

A Dem-linked group has already explicitly stated what this is about, and it isn’t about counting “Americans” as the article says. It’s about counting foreign citizens, including those who are here illegally:

http://24ahead.com/ndn-admits-census-padding-non-citizens-gain-race-based-power

Our political elites probably aren’t going to read the comments on this entry, so if anyone wants to actually do something about this, ask a GOP leader the second question at the following link and then upload their response to Youtube:

http://24ahead.com/immigration-questions-republicans-reform-amnesty-etc

Feb 9, 2009 - 8:56 am 28. Wally Lind:

It didn’t do Clinton and the 1990s democrats all that much good. The GOP has to appeal to “Reagan democrats”. That will be more important than the census games. but if the parties screw with so many thing in an effort to corrupt our political processes, maybe we should just ban them altogether.

Feb 9, 2009 - 9:37 am 29. Sk8 Punk:

This is insane. The Republicans have ZERO game! How hard is it to take a page from 8 years of Democratic puffery and co-opt their argument to score a double hit?! First, they should recycle all the arguments and huffing about the Bush’s administration’s naked grabs for power and how we the executive was never intended to wield such power… etc. Second, they should use that to call the Democrats and media on their hypocrisy.

But in spite of all the help the democrats are giving them they still can’t make the simple argument and hit the democrats on both issues. No wonder they lost.

Feb 9, 2009 - 9:45 am 30. Mike Wilson:

#29: The problem is the GOP is still trying to play by rules that their opponent has thrown out. Until they (we) roll up their (our) sleeves and start swinging, this is just going to happen.

You can’t catch a speeder without speeding.

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:03 am 31. Mike H:

Does anyone else besides me smell a lawsuit here? Seriously, the Constitution mandates that Commerce Secretary run this thing, so why not sue to keep it that way?

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:12 am 32. Tully:

The Constitution explicitly states in Article 1, Section 2 that Congress determines the implementation of the Census “as they shall by Law direct.” They have by law directed that it be done by the Sec’y of Commerce–Title 13, US Code.

An unconstitutional power grab on the part of the WHite House. The only thing surpriswing is that anyone is surprised.

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:15 am 33. deguello:

What can you expect from a totalitarian party controlled by left-wing plutocrats,marxoid community organizers,and Stalinist enthusiasts.Conservatives need to expand militia activities to cover public activism, and legal resistance to what is clearly an attempt to turn the USA into Chavez’ Venezuela.

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:16 am 34. Jim Baker:

We can’t count on the Republicans because they don’t have the numbers anywhere to influence the dialog. Is it time to get past the dialog yet?

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:25 am 35. Captain Ramen:

Unfortunately the republicans cannot stop the democrat legislature from moving the responsibility to the white house. The keys are Specter, Collins and Snowe. The republican senate committee should deny them funding for their reelection unless they start towing the line.

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:44 am 36. Fresh Air:

Some people need to be rounded up in Washington and shot. I am completely serious. This is nothing less than a bloodless coup. These dirtballs are no more American than Hugo Chavez. I hope Michael Steele will figure this damn thing out in a hurry. I will send money…or ammunition, if necessary.

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:53 am 37. goy:

Watch for most public discussion on this in the entrenched media and in the blogosphere to be directed toward its (obvious) implications, political intrigue, parallels to Chicago politics or similarities to Hugo Chavez’ communist thuggery, when the one and only point at issue here is that this marxist-socialist power grab is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

MSNBC continues to mislead the public on BHO’s behalf by obfuscating basic civics:

- The Census Bureau is a key part of the Department of Commerce.

 
Wrong. This is an outright lie. The Census Bureau is not simply a “key part” of Commerce – as if it could be removed to some other federal jurisdiction through, say, an executive order.

The Constitution and U.S. Federal Law don’t leave any wiggle room on who has authority over the Census. Article I, Section 2 demands that:

[t]he actual [Census] shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.

 
The Law in question – Title 13, Chpt 1 – states unequivocally that the Census is performed solely under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce:

The Bureau is continued as an agency within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of Commerce.

[emphasis added]

 
Specifically:

The Secretary [of Commerce] shall perform the functions and duties imposed upon him by this title, may issue such rules and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out such functions and duties, and may delegate the performance of such functions and duties and the authority to issue such rules and regulations to such officers and employees of the Department of Commerce as he may designate.

 
Subchapter 1, Section 9 goes on to clearly place control of the Census outside the reach of the Executive, or any other federal entity other than the Department of Commerce.

BHO and his tainted administration have already played the only part they have any legal authority to play regarding the Census: nominating a Secretary of the Department of Commerce. Along with other reasons, that nomination must be specifically confirmed by direct representatives of the People – the U.S. Senate – precisely because the post is responsible for the most crucial national public survey the federal government performs.

The Democrat Plutocracy is following FDR’s New Deal playbook almost to the letter in their like-minded attempts to subvert our Constitutional Republic. And given these events, it’s instructive to note that no less then eight of FDR’s New Deal programs were reviewed and adjudicated as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. We also now know that FDR’s New Deal meddling prolonged The Depression by almost a decade.

One of FDR’s programs, entitled the National Industrial Recovery Act, is virtually indistinguishable from BHO’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in many ways. It was also a fake “stimulus” involving enormous sums spent on expansion of government programs (e.g., PWA), it handed regulation of banks to the Executive and expanded socialist ideology by directly regulating the operations of private enterprise through a myriad of complex codes, rules, regulations and amendments which made it virtually impossible to do business in the U.S. without inadvertently violating some aspect of federal law.

FDR’s National Industrial Recovery Act was found unconstitutional and overturned by the Supreme Court in 1935.

Significant as it was, there’s a critical footnote to that SCOTUS decision. And given the dangerous game afoot directed by the Dem Plutocracy, it’s just as important as recognizing the unconstitutionality of much of The New Deal. This footnote documents FDR’s response, which was his attempt to stack the Supreme Court with additional justices sympathetic to his various plans. When judicial review becomes a problem for BHO, don’t be surprised to see some similar sort of goalpost-shifting thuggery.

History repeats. Who knew!

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:55 am 38. Ralphie:

This is beautiful…

This reminds me of when FDR wanted to pack the Supreme Court so that there would be no problems ramming his National Recovery Act through without any objections. Now the Dems are trying to manipulate or gerrymander the congressional districts?

Geez!

Feb 9, 2009 - 10:57 am 39. tim maguire:

I’m surprised that not a single Obama supporter has shown up to try to disrupt this thread. Maybe they won’t defend just anything, maybe they do have their limits.

Feb 9, 2009 - 11:03 am 40. ashok:

Thank you for sharing this info – it is outrageous, but you’re right, public opinion is the main defense, and it is hard to make the public aware of this issue and get them to feel its relevant. I think that has less to do with how abstruse the issue is, though, and a lot more to do with “if you spend years telling us how Barack Obama is the Messiah, then enough people believe that to trust him on things like this.”

We can blame our media and educational system both for the fact we’re not able to convey the significance of gerrymandering on a national scale.

Feb 9, 2009 - 11:25 am 41. plutosdad:

ACORN and other groups have long held that the census did not count poor minorities enough, while information out of the Census Bereau itself has always been the opposite: the middle and upper classes don’t have the time or inclination. Community Activists are out there encouraging the poor to make sure to meet with census takers, and volunteer to be census takers, but no one is out there worried about the middle and upper classes, they just assume we’re taken care of.

This is nothing but a naked grab for power – to increase the number of Representatives for poor urban areas, and skew voting and earmarks their way.

People like Obama are convinced that poor people are not counted enough, but give no evidence to back it up. Just hyperbole and if you dare to question it you are labeled selfish or a hater or worse.

Want to make the census better? Fine. Fixing it would probably make people upset about their privacy being violated. But politicizing it easy.

Feb 9, 2009 - 11:35 am 42. Fresh Air:

I’m sure the census-takers will “discover” about 100,000 “homeless” people squatting in Detroit and enough illegals in L.A. to offset the flood of emigrees heading east from Mexifornia.

Feb 9, 2009 - 11:53 am 43. Peter the Bubblehead:

29. Sk8 Punk wrote:
First, they should recycle all the arguments and huffing about the Bush’s administration’s naked grabs for power and how we the executive was never intended to wield such power… etc. Second, they should use that to call the Democrats and media on their hypocrisy.

Peter writes: Nice suggestions, but the most probable answer when you confront a Demo-rat with this arguement would probably be, “So what?” What was their typical response to any critisizm about ‘The One’ during the whole campaign.

Feb 9, 2009 - 11:53 am 44. goy:

@38. Ralphie

Scary. I think we just had a long distance mind-meld.

Feb 9, 2009 - 12:05 pm 45. Cybergeezer:

The number of “blind” voters is going to triple.

Feb 9, 2009 - 12:17 pm 46. Войска ПВО:

After reading posts here and related articles on how Obama is a failure and riding rough-shod over the Constitution, I am becoming dismayed. I mean there is a lot of credible angst here but what is largely missing is the formulation of an effective plan to oppose this onslaught.

It’s as if Paul revere is riding through our township shouting that the British are coming and we all stare at each other aghast and exclaim, “My goodness! This is terrible! It is the end of our peaceful life here in the Colonies!”

It would be nice to see some calls to action and suggestions as to how we can pour sand in the gear-box of these slime-bags’ machines.

..and I guess that goes for me as well. So I am going to go out looking for some “militia” to sign up with and start hording powder and shot for the time when we will be called to the common to face down the Red Coats. This is a figurative metaphor, of course, not a literal one. Although my son and I *are* buying a few more guns before His Emptiness turns his attention to that venue.

Feb 9, 2009 - 12:24 pm 47. celebrim:

Back in college I worked as a census taker walking the backwoods of Apalacia to see if anyone was living back there, and if so, trying to convince them to a) not shoot me, b) not sic the dogs on me, and c) please fill out their census form. The job was greatly complicated by the fact that supposedly only 1:6 people had to fill out the long form, but what they didn’t tell people is that those 1:6 people aren’t randomly selected. The lower the population density of an area, the more heavily they sample. The result is that 1:2 homes had been sent the long form in some rural communities and there had been mass rebellion against the whole intrusive process by a population little disposed to tolerate federal interference in the first place. Virtually everyone had simply thrown the form in the trash.

I was so good at my job (compared to the guys doing the same thing that were getting shot at or chased by dogs), that they wanted to send me to take census on the crack houses in New Jersey. I declined. Mountain folk I could handle safely. Rats, stoners, and naked crack whores I didn’t think I could.

Anyway, when I trained for this position I was told that there was a wall of separation between the census bureau and the rest of the federal government. The census bureau was supposed to operate completely free of any interference from anyone, and that our number one job was protecting the privacy of the citizens.

As others have already pointed out, BHO’s grab for power is illegal and is a slap in the face to everyone whose ever gone door to door to fill out those forms. When I did it, I staked my integrity on the integrity of the organization. I got people to trust the Commerce Department by getting them to trust me.

To me, I can’t imagine why anyone would ever take the job of Commerce Secretary when the President has so openly promised to undermine their authority. Why would you take a Cabinet Position as a sitting Senator, when its already been openly disclosed that the actual business of the Commerce Department will be run by a shadow cabinet and you’ll be a powerless figurehead with no responcibilities?

Feb 9, 2009 - 12:29 pm 48. Cybergeezer:

The regulars at Pajamas Media, Hot Air, and Michelle Malkin, need to come up with a secret tattoo that identifies us as such, so we’ll recognize each other when this administration starts incarcerating, or eliminating us.
What do you think, Michelle?

Feb 9, 2009 - 12:55 pm 49. PA Cat:

39 tim m

The usual suspects are all over on Rick Moran’s thread.

Feb 9, 2009 - 1:44 pm 50. Joef:

You know that famous poster of Obama where underneath in big letters it says HOPE?
Just scratch out the P and write in an S.

Feb 9, 2009 - 1:53 pm 51. Bilgeman:

#46 Войска ПВО:

“..and I guess that goes for me as well. So I am going to go out looking for some “militia” to sign up with and start hording powder and shot for the time when we will be called to the common to face down the Red Coats. This is a figurative metaphor, of course, not a literal one. Although my son and I *are* buying a few more guns before His Emptiness turns his attention to that venue.”

As Chuck Pelto can attest, this ain’t MY first rodeo vis-a-vis the militia thing, so take to heart some well-meant and well-intentioned advice:

Do NOT say…DO, but do circumspectly! And by all means, avoid any goober who runs around in camouflage.

You are a militia of one.

Feb 9, 2009 - 2:27 pm 52. Cliff:

I would like to point out that the above quote from John Boehner is not attributed correctly as it occurred on the Fox News channel and the anchor happened to be Chris Wallace.

Boehner was not a guest on Fox News Sunday this weekend.

Feb 9, 2009 - 2:39 pm 53. Войска ПВО:

“..You are a militia of one..”

Honorable Bilgeman,

Thank you. I was, of course, speaking metaphorically. But I will take your (and Chuck’s) advice to heart. There are so many on this site who express their thoughts cogently; my wish is that we could unite and start somehting that would eventually result in the blinders being pulled away form the great unwashed’s eyes so that Obama and the Democrats can be seen for what they are.

Again, with a metaphor: I’m off to the nursery for some Turf Builder ™.

Persevere comrade.

~Boyska PVO

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:00 pm 54. phd:

This is a naked unadorned soviet permanent power grab. It might take nothing short of a revolution to undo what is being done in the name of “hope”. We are soooooo screwed.

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:08 pm 55. JackT:

I love this. Now it’s the Dems turn to push people around and do whatever the hell they want. Bush and Darth Vader did it for 8 years. Go Obama, stick it to those mother****ers.

Feb 9, 2009 - 3:50 pm 56. SukieTawdry:

I don’t know if Obama believes the Constitution is meaningless, but he certainly finds it inadequate.

Feb 9, 2009 - 4:07 pm 57. Aureliano:

Bush and Darth Vader did it for 8 years.

Bush put Karl Rove in charge of the census?

Please provide a cite.

Feb 9, 2009 - 4:41 pm 58. glenn:

“Have they no shame” Why should they? What they are doing is working, the Democrats are on their way to one party government. Like California, and with the same result. And I still blame the Republicans, abandoning their principles in the late 90s’ and under Bush cost them Congress in 2006. And getting it back anytime soon is a pipe dream.

Feb 9, 2009 - 4:49 pm 59. Cybergeezer:

55. JackT:
Say it proud, turd.

Feb 9, 2009 - 5:42 pm 60. Bilgeman:

53. Войска ПВО:

“…my wish is that we could unite and start somehting that would eventually result in the blinders being pulled away form the great unwashed’s eyes so that Obama and the Democrats can be seen for what they are.”

Don’t worry, we are.

And it’s in a nice non-linearly-networked
“leaderless resistance” format, (which is very effective at avoiding defeat, since you literally cannot arrest and harass EVERYONE).

Plus, in it’s quiet but inexorable way, it worked the last time.

We saw the back of Bill Clinton AND his Assault Weapons Bill AND his “burning black churches” AND his “Voices of Hate” grandstanding from the smoking rubble-pile of the Alfred Murrah Building.

Even saw him impeached into the bargain.

He made war upon the citizenry for his political benefit, and today he’d be a “non-person” if he didn’t have an “extra’s non-speaking role” as that gangly doofus off to the side who carries around the new Secretary of State’s handbag for her.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:21 pm 61. thegre8_1:

JackT I mean Jack@ss you will be paying taxes up the wazoo like the rest of us. Enjoy watching your paycheck shrink. You getting that tingly feeling up your leg?

Yes this is Chicago gone national. Chicago is structured weird. There is the city proper, O’Hare airport is 10 miles northwest of the city, the expressway from the city to the airport is in Chicago, if you leave the expressway you are in a suburb.

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:24 pm 62. American:

#19. As you know, “the people get the government they deserve”. So, I’m afraid it’s too late.
# 54. You are right. I grew up there

Feb 9, 2009 - 7:31 pm 63. mshatto:

JackT – “mot1her****ers.” Are you talking to me? Are you referring to the other posters on this site? Are you referring to the 48 million people who did not vote for the con artist now occupying the White House? Or are you referring to Pres. Bush and VP Cheney? If you are referring to them, how is this naked grab for power going to hurth them? They’re done. They have their millions, they have their compounds, and they have a one way ticket out of here when this whole thing collapses. Actually it doesn’t matter who you were speaking to because you and all of those who refuse to acknowledge the threats this nation now faces are idiots, the useful idiots Lenin referred to as he placed a stranglehold over the Russian people. Do a little research and find out what happened to the useful idiots of the Bolshevik Revolution. Most ended up with a bullet in the back of the head or along term reservation in the Gulag Archipelago. And no you idiot, the Gualg Archipelago was not a Club Med destination. Lenin/Stalin threw them under the proverbial bus as soon as it became expedient. Sound familiar?

Feb 9, 2009 - 8:21 pm 64. Marc Malone:

This is just so easy to fix. The Republican Party can just file suit to block it. They are looking for a way to raise cash, and this is it. Ask for money for the lawsuit. File suit on this and every other transgression. Simply challenge the constitutionality of these things. Oh, and don’t give me the details about campaign limits, et al. Merest details. Figure out how.

I can think of all kinds of great lawsuits to take up.

Block funding of ACORN, as they are strictly partisan.

Fight the restriction on churches and their right to talk politics. Everyone else can speak up about politics, but the churches. Are they really trying to tell a religion how they may or may not preach?

Take up the lawsuit to force Obama to produce his birth certificate, if for no other reason than to harass him and make an issue.

File suit against the constitutionality of the original Fairness Doctrine. It doesn’t matter that it’s defunct. Make a case out of it. Pre-emptive lawsuit. Make an issue out of it.

Challenge the constitutionality of the bailout under illegal seizure. Taking the assets of private individuals (taxpayers) to give to a private company is similar to the Kelo nonsense. Might even find a way to re-open Kelo with this kind of case.

I could go on, but the thing is to actually use the courts to counter Congress and the Prez.

Feb 10, 2009 - 4:08 am 65. Peter the Bubblehead:

50. Joef wrote:
You know that famous poster of Obama where underneath in big letters it says HOPE?
Just scratch out the P and write in an S.

Peter writes: Or replace the H with a D?

Feb 10, 2009 - 4:58 am 66. Peter the Bubblehead:

55. JackT wrote:
I love this. Now it’s the Dems turn to push people around and do whatever the hell they want. Bush and Darth Vader did it for 8 years. Go Obama, stick it to those mother****ers.

Peter challenges: JackT, cite one instance, using verafiable, objective facts, where Bush and his administration passed a law or executive order in their entire 8 year administration that comes ANYWHERE near the naked power grab Obama has displayed in less than a month in office!

Feb 10, 2009 - 5:00 am 67. Peter the Bubblehead:

As this article points out, can you imagine the uproar if the Republicans had even SUGGESTED doing this during the Bush administration?

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/02/09/newmark_obama_census/

Feb 10, 2009 - 5:49 am 68. Ted:

Now, here’s an example of chutzpah: The Republicans didn’t get their act together enough to challenge Obama for not being constitutionally qualified to be President as an Article 2 “natural born citizen” so Obama’s White House steals the census from the Commerce Department against the specific instructions of the constitution itself — “actual enumeration” under Article 1.

Feb 10, 2009 - 8:10 am 69. goy:

@68. Ted: Yep.

Usurping the authority of Commerce is really no different from what FDR did when things didn’t go his way: he tried to stack the Supreme Court with sympathetic justices in order to offset the opinions of those who found The New Deal largely unconstitutional. Gerrymandering the legislature by stacking the Census will have the same effect. Or at least it will if he gets away with it.

Feb 10, 2009 - 1:17 pm 70. myth buster:

There’s another reason why he wants to load the census: the Democrats are poised to suffer heavy losses in 2012 based on demographics alone. We may see California wind up with fewer representatives than Texas. This will affect not only the House, but also Obama’s reelection bid. Obama won what, 360 electoral votes? Figure Huckabee can flip Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida, giving Obama something like 290 electoral votes based on last year’s rules. A major demographic shift that takes away representatives from Michigan, California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania can easily cost him the election.

Feb 11, 2009 - 7:32 pm 71. David S:

Don’t worry folks. Undoubtedly the law will be amended in time for the census.

Peace.

DS

Feb 11, 2009 - 11:10 pm 72. zimmy:

This is no surprise as Obama is a product of Chicago politics. The general media is so ‘in love’ with him that they ignore his blunders. They never asked how this guy got thru the rigged Chicago system and somehow came up virginous. Amazing.

Feb 12, 2009 - 5:35 am 73. goy:

@71. David S: - Undoubtedly the law will be amended in time for the census.

Standard leftist adolescence. If the rules get in your way, just make up your own. The end justifies the means. And it’s always so much fun to gloat about it later.

FDR tried the same thing when his unconstitutional policies were being overturned – he attempted to stack the Supreme Court with his own justices. Eventually BHO will take a similar step too far, and fail just like FDR did.

Feb 12, 2009 - 7:33 am 74. atlargeinohio:

mshatto (#63)

You go brother! I think we have more trouble on our hands than we know- people are angry out there about these phantoms and bogeymen that never existed. There is an angry segment of the population that wants blood for crimes never committed. It comes down in some cases to just being angry in a childish way about losing the 2000 and 2004 elections. So we manufacture all sorts of poppycock propaganda to “fire up the base” because we’re mad as hell about losing the last two elections and our power base. Dem strategy. It doen’t matter to them that the majority of people voted AGAINST Gore and Kerry. Oh, sure, when they are in the minority, the “minority must be heard”, but when they are in the majoriy, everyone else better shut up and sit down. Bully mentality.

Feb 12, 2009 - 8:54 am 75. goy:

@74. atlargeinohio:

Strictly speaking, the majority of the Electorate voted against Gore. The majority of citizens voted for him.

To that I’d add – serious, thinking folks with a modicum of historical perspective and mature moral sensibilities will see this as a prime example of why we desperately need the Electoral College.

Feb 12, 2009 - 9:42 am 76. deguello:

Bilgeman:Militias are the ultimate antidote to coups;however, nothing can stop americans from forming their own anti-acorn grouops,and begin to use mob tactics including civil disobedience and underpayment of taxes, traffic disruption, etc, to stop the coming Fidel Castro express train in its tracks.

Feb 12, 2009 - 10:29 am 77. deguello:

JackT and David S: The two faces of the stalinist fraud that is the democrat party. JackT (Thug) will stuff the ballot boxes, and intimidate voters,and David S(Shyster) will get a lib judge to legalize his criminality,and presto! Just like that we have Cuba in the USA!

Feb 12, 2009 - 10:34 am 78. goy:

It would appear that Gregg has no interest in being anyone’s lapdog.

… it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns.

Translation: “Barry sprung this unconstitutional Census crap on me AFTER I accepted his offer. I’m not interested in playing his stooge.”

Feb 12, 2009 - 3:26 pm 79. Peter the Bubblehead:

76. deguello:
nothing can stop americans from forming their own anti-acorn grouops,and begin to use mob tactics including civil disobedience and underpayment of taxes,..

Peter writes: My fear is I would be held mnore accountable for my taxes than the average Cabinet appointee, mainly because I don’t have a D following my name.

Feb 13, 2009 - 6:21 am 80. deguello:

Coservatives need to lose their respect for laws that are little more than disguised dictatorship by liberal judges, and bureaucrats.Better an outlaw than a gulag inmate!

Feb 13, 2009 - 10:31 am 81. Navas de Tolosa:

BigO’s naked power-grab must be challenged. More than that, it must be defeated. At first, BigO just seemed lost and confused. Well, he still appears confused, but he is not lost. BigO and his minions are moving in a definite direction–total and permanent control of our government. Unless something is done to prevent it, we will start having those 99% to 0 elections that were so popular in the old USSR.

We do have one weapon on our side: the Constitution. A number of great thinkers generations ago foresaw the coming of BigO (note that this is the first coming, not the second). BigO can be defeated. We have to move quickly, however, before FDR’s court-packing plan can be duplicated.

As an aside, I read a number of conservative websites every day. This is one of the best threads I have run across–thanks to the quality of thinking and the (unusual) deficit of hate-mongering static.

Note that I cribbed my nom de plume from another website. My nom is worth looking up.

Feb 13, 2009 - 1:34 pm 82. deguello:

Navas de Tolosa: Magnifico nom de plume pero todavia mejor como nom de guerre,en eta epoca de agresion islamista. Te indagare! Saludos! Santiago y Cierra Espana!

Feb 13, 2009 - 2:14 pm 83. El Buho:

Let’s see…..hmmm. A power grab? Really???? The Dept. of Commerce is part of the Executive branch of the government and the President picks the Secretary of Commerce that he wants……uhhhh….. I guess that would make the President the boss of whoever ends up becoming the Secretary of Commerce…….uhhh…..I guess it would seem unreasonable for the boss to keep an eye on what his Secretary of Commerce is doing, wouldn’t it? Oh well. We can’t afford to let all them hispanics, colored people, and other minorities become a voting block for Democrats can we??? Gee after all they are not like us good old boys are they? Damn this is America since when did these minorities think that just because they were born here or got themselves “naturalized citizenship” that they have any right to vote or be counted in any way?? And one more comment. You know that Rep. Issa can we trust him to lead the fight? After all he cried like a baby in public when the RNC told him to step down from running for Governor of California so that steroid infused RINO named Schwarzenegger could step in. Any man who cries in public has got to be light in the loafers if you know what I mean. Hey Boehner I have my suspicions about you too!

Feb 15, 2009 - 1:14 am 84. deguello:

Buho (buitre):The president is also commander in chief;that doesn’t give him the right to arrest the opposition;though no doubt, that causes totalitarian thugs like you to salivate.No wonder you are so obsessed by crying men;your father must have cried his eyes out at seeing what a demented retard he had whelped!

Feb 15, 2009 - 11:35 am 85. trod:

The Constitution gives CONGRESS the right to do a census, not the friggin White HOuse. Impeach the liar.

Feb 16, 2009 - 4:41 am