Category Archives: Cabinet
Rule of Law
The president has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and ordered the Justice Department not to defend it.
What is the DOMA you ask? Well, according to the WSJ…
it was passed in 1996 by large majorities in both houses of Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.
The law says the federal government will only recognize marriages that are between a man and a woman. States can still allow same-sex marriages—and five states plus the District of Columbia have done so. But people married under those state laws aren’t accepted as married under federal law.
Same sex couples get unfavorable death tax treatment under the law…
For example, a woman inheriting money from her deceased same-sex partner doesn’t get the tax benefits that federal tax law allows for a person inheriting from a spouse.
A Washington Post editorial, however, points out the two edged swordiness of the president’s approach by asking if a future Republican president might refuse to defend Obamacare from constitutional challenges.
Teachers Union Goes Greek
States are broke and teachers think they want to break their unions. Wisconsin teachers took a sick-out from school to protest. A few took an additional sick-out from civility to compare Governor Scott Walker to Hitler.
Movin’ On Up
The census numbers are in and the population losers tend to be high tax and regulation states while winners are the opposite. New York and Ohio lost 2 House seats each. Texas gained 4. Doesn’t prove anything, but here’s what Michael Barone has to say about it.
Federal Power
A federal judge ruled that the federal government doesn’t have the power to make you go out and buy something you otherwise wouldn’t – health care in this case. The government claims its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce gives it the right to do just that.
Nat Hentoff doesn’t think any clause of the constitution gives the government the right to assassinate its own citizens who become jihadists.
