Vice President Joe Biden says White House hell bent on new gun regulation...even using executive order

Vice President Joe Biden met with a group of gun rights activists yesterday to discuss how the country can do something about gun violence.  As the meeting was going on another shooting occurred in a high school in California but fortunately ended with no deaths but at least two were wounded.  The shooter is in custody and is believed to be a student and they think he was armed with a shotgun.  One of the victims was a student.

Hopefully they interrupted the meeting to update the Vice President with this latest news of yet another shooting at a school that could have turned into a disaster.  And from what I can gather so far, James R. Baker, the NRA’s top lobbyist will represent that organization.  So where is the loud mouth wacky Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s top gun nut?  As usual he is afraid of any type of confrontation where he doesn’t have complete control.

CNN reports, “President Barack Obama is exploring executive orders to help prevent mass shootings in America, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.”  Biden is also looking into shortfalls in the mental health system that lead to some gun violence.  Also involved in these meetings is a somewhat reluctant Wal-Mart, who just happens to be the nation’s largest seller of guns and ammunition.  The results of the meeting should be available later Thursday or early Friday.



FDR signs executive order for
Japanese interment camps



The keywords so far are “executive order.”  Executive orders have been issued by Presidents since the late 1700s and are often attached to legislation already in effect.  Actually, there is no Constitutional provision allowing executive orders but there is a “vague” grant of “executive power” given to the President.  That gives an executive order the full force of the law.  This action does not come without criticism but to date U.S. courts have only overturned 2 executive orders.

According to Wikipedia, “a Congressional override of an executive order is a nearly impossible event due to the supermajority vote required and the fact that such a vote leaves individual lawmakers very vulnerable to political criticism.”  Since we do not yet know what the White House has in mind re. this move, there is no way to predict what it will do.  There is also the possibility that the president, through Joe Biden’s announcement, is a challenge to get Congress off its duff.   

In researching executive order, I came across an interesting “vesting” clause in the Constitution that is different from the regular one giving executive order.  This vesting clause is different in that it is plenary, implying the power of the executive may fall in line with what other "executives" around the world at the time could do, whereas the other clause is subject to limits.  Not sure how this might apply to the current situation but maybe some legal eagles can provide insight.

First, the outcome of Thursday’s meeting between Biden and gun rights advocates.  It will be interesting if the NRA performs as many have predicted with the same tired clichés that the public is completely fed up with.  If so, it shouldn’t be hard to convince the American people to jump on the gun control bandwagon, and if the Republican Congress, and some Democrats, don’t fall in line, fire the bums!

On the good ship Emma Maersk/Wal-Mart deadheading to China

It’s another one of those misinformed emails forwarded around the world designed to inflame the population over an issue that really isn’t an issue at all.  The subject is the Danish built ship, the Emma Maersk, whose home port is Taarbaek, Denmark, and which is lauded as the largest container ship ever built.  The non-issue is that Wal-Mart fills this behemoth with goods in China that are eventually delivered in the U.S., and the ship deadheads back to China empty.

The inference of the email is that all we do is import from China and do no exporting at all.  This is not true.  Although there was a trade deficit with China in 2010 of $273 billion, we did export $92 billion in U.S. goods to China in that year, which was a 32.2 percent increase over the prior year.  The complaint of the email should have been that the U.S., both government and private business, aren’t doing enough to balance this deficit.  Nobody cares if the Emma Maersk deadheads back to its origination; that loss is borne by the shipping company.

The email I received said the message was the “ship” and was in no way meant to be a political statement.  The sender begged for recipients not to reply about this being “political.”  Then, after several beautiful color pictures with specifications on this monstrosity, the email ends with an “Editorial Comment” that drips with the political message we were promised in the beginning there wouldn’t be.  As usual, we are urged to forward the email, which I never do.

There is a tag line: BE AMERICAN ~ BUY AMERICAN.  I not only agree with this slogan; my wife and I also make a concerted effort to buy local from businesses in our area.  But I don’t feel un-American when I do buy foreign goods, like the Honda Odyssey we just purchased.  It was just what we wanted and had the best reputation of all the mini-vans on the market.  And it was probably built in this country using American laborers, and at least some parts manufactured in the U.S.

Now, more about that trade deficit of $273 billion.  There is one good reason, although it should not be a crutch not to insist on more exports to China.  The American public wants inexpensive merchandise, cheap if you will.  That’s why the most popular and profitable retail outlets are stores like Costco, Target, and, yes, Wal-Mart.  China can produce these products at a cost considerably less than U.S. business, and whatever you think about the overseas labor situation, there is an enormous market in the U.S. for cheap goods.

The editorial comment also blames the jobs crisis on “empty containers shipped back to China.”  This is absurd.  The current jobless situation was caused by the lack of regulation of the financial community by Geo. W. Bush’s administration, which laid the groundwork for the financial meltdown, and the decimation of the housing market.  You can also blame big business for its practice of outsourcing jobs overseas, which also took flight under GWB.  Not empty Wal-Mart containers headed for China.

The Internet created an uncalled-for monster when it developed email that allows misinformation like this to circulate freely.  Our forefathers might just groan a little in considering something like this 1^st Amendment worthy.