King Barry The Hopeful began his third full day as President of the United States, and we started to see him begin defining the trajectory of his Presidency by issuing a series of Executive orders. These executive orders don’t have to be approved by congress or voted on by citizens, they are simply orders from the top executive of the country. So what are King Barry’s first orders, and what, if anything, do indicate?
- New rules for lobbyists - Yahoo reports that the new rules “ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave… his staff”, that aides already hired ” will be banned from… matters they have previously lobbied… from giving gifts… to any member of his administration… “ and from “trying to influence former friends and colleagues,” for two years.”
- White House pay freeze – Any White House staff making more than $100,000 per year will have their salary frozen, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, National Security Adviser Jim Jones, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Obama stated, “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington…”
So far, so good. The pay freeze sounds reminiscent of McCain’s proposal to help the economy, although it would have to go much further than the top level of White House staff to make much difference. The lobbyist rules are a good thing, basically stipulating that special interest groups aren’t able to give money and gifts to White House staff, and those who are staffers, should they leave, can’t come back and give money to their replacements. It’s intended to give the sense that the W.H. is above the fray. It’s not, but it gives that appearance.
Today, however, the orders were more significant.
- Repeal on ban of federal funding for abortions - The AP reports, “ President Barack Obama has signed an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.” Basically, abortions are now eligible to welfare funds. I heard a lady on the radio, celebrating the fact that “even the poorest among us now have access to the best family planning.” So choosing to practice safe sex ahead of time doesn’t count as family planning?
- Repeal the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research - Obama’s order reverses President Bush’s order, “Put in place in August 2001, the policy prevents taxpayers from paying for new embryonic research that involves the destruction of human life.” The reality is, if embryonic stem cell research were more promising than adult stem cell, it wouldn’t need federal funding. Pfizer or some other private enterprise would have already worn it out and made a profit on it. The fact that no one out there thinks that it’s worth giving their money to says something. The reason this is such a big deal is because it goes hand in hand with the abortion proponents. If taking a life in a petri dish is ok, why not taking a life in utero? The correct answer, of course, is that it’s always wrong, in petri or in utero.
These two orders go to great lengths to ensure the degredation of the culture of life in the United States. Millions of American’s believe life begins at conception, and millions of Americans understand a woman’s right to choose but who simply wish they would exercise that right toward pre-sexual contraception. As one of those, I am now forced to pay (with my tax dollars) for millions of babies to be aborted.
These are significant orders. I balance the desire to respect and sympathize with millions of American women who have had abortions, and the desire to protect a culture that wants all life to matter. The far left cries out to “protect” those who planned the attacks on the World Trade center, and they denounce the War in Iraq as unconstitutional because of the needless deaths. They calling people who shoot at American soldiers “insurgents” rather than terrorists, because why would we ever have anything against insurgents? They would hamstring our military in the name of protecting life, yet they say nothing of the millions of abortions in America each year.
Let it be said that President Obama is being true to his word. He has never been anything but radically pro-abortion.
