President Obama has outraged Republicans by directly appointing six officials this week without the consent of Congress

◼ GOP Fuming Over Recess Appointment of Lawyer Who Compared 9/11 to Drug Trade
◼ Obama bypasses Senate, appoints envoy to Syria
◼ The Administration's Administrative Tyranny Marches On
...When Congress denied Obama authority to transfer money to the International Monetary Fund, he did so anyway, issuing an executive order promising to give that body $140 billion for redistribution to Third World countries.

Now he's made another mockery of bipartisanship and the Constitution in making six recess appointments, including two people so objectionable that a near supermajority of Democratic senators wouldn't confirm them: James Cole as deputy attorney general, whose lax position in the war on terror is disturbing, and Francis J. Ricciardone Jr. as ambassador to Turkey.

Meanwhile, Obama's Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to engage in a defiant end run around Congress by attempting to impose cap-and-trade-type regulations by administrative fiat after Obama's failed attempt to shove this nightmarish disaster through Congress....

The Five Best Arguments Against Sharia in the United States

◼ The Five Best Arguments Against Sharia in the United States at zombietime
1. U.S. law is the “supreme law of the land,” no exceptions.
2. Sharia, as “divine revelation,” is inherently undemocratic.
3. Many aspects of Sharia are flagrantly unconstitutional.
4. Sharia is fundamentally religious law, and should be inapplicable to U.S. criminal or civil law.
5. Subjectively, Sharia is a discriminatory and cruel legal system.
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Reid schemes to change Senate rules

◼ The Democrats are trying to change the Senate rules so that they can ram through their agenda when their majority shrinks next week from 59 to 53 seats...

"Changing the rules in this extraordinary process has the effect of election nullification," said Gold. "It allows a smaller majority to write for itself new rules, which permit it to govern the way it wishes, even though the voters said something contrary last November."

The Senate GOP leadership is counting on outraged Americans voicing their opposition to Reid’s power-grab in the wake of the Midterm Elections.

"Public pressure will be a big part of any effort to stop this. People need to speak out and demand that Democrats don't act as if the election never happened," said a GOP aide. "They need to call their Democrat Senators and tell them not to vote to make the Senate some sort of rubber stamp for the Obama administration."

Did you know?

The symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. During the mid term elections in 1874, Democrats tried to scare voters into thinking President Ulysses S. Grant would seek to run for an unprecedented third term. Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper's Weekly, depicted a Democratic donkey trying to scare a Republican elephant - and both symbols stuck.

◼ Who we are gop.com

Immigration laws - Arizona and Missouri

◼ Missouri Ahead of the Game in Dealing with Illegal Immigrants ozarkssentinel.com h/t: TR
you’ve seen the headlines about Arizona’s new law aimed at dealing with those who enter our country illegally. It has been called the strictest immigration law in generations. While Missouri hasn’t gone to the same lengths as Arizona, our state has made significant policy changes that effectively deal with illegal immigrants who enter our state. Because of those changes, Missouri is ahead of the game when compared to many other states that are now dealing with this issue.

Frank Jager to recommend Melinda Ciarabellini

◼ Eureka mayor to recommend Melinda Ciarabellini to Ward 4 seat
...Ciarabellini recently retired from her 33-year career in law enforcement and corrections -- working as a correctional captain and jail commander for the Humboldt County jail and also working for the California Corrections Standards Authority. The big ticket items for the city are the budget, education and encouraging economic development, she said...
Update:
◼ Eureka Council to consider Ward 4 appointment: Melinda Ciarabellini likely to be sworn in Tuesday (1/4/10)