Constitution-Thrashing, Don't Bank on the Bomb and an Update on Bundling

Thrashing the Constitution
President Barack Obama issued an executive order on February 28, 2012, establishing the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center. The power to regulate commerce is exclusive to Congress. The president's power to see that the "Laws be faithfully executed" does not give him the power to regulate commerce. Creating a bureau to do so is a legislative function .

Frustration with getting desired legislation through a House of Representatives controlled by the Republicans and a grid-locked Senate has induced Obama to try to use executive orders in a "We Can't Wait" campaign to achieve his ends. Much as he has tried to emulate Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush is using signing statements to restrict legislation, the danger is that Obama will play fast and loose with executive orders.

Don't Bank on the Bomb
On March 5, 2012, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) identified more than 300 banks, pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers in 30 countries with substantial investments in nuclear arms producers. The 180-page study, Don't Bank on the Bomb: The Global Financing of Nuclear Weapons Producers, provides details of financial transactions with 20 companies that are heavily involved in the manufacture, maintenance and modernization of U.S., British, French and Indian nuclear forces.

Desmond Tutu has called for financial institutions to "do the right thing and assist, rather than impede efforts to eliminate the threat of radioactive incineration."

Nuclear-armed nations spend in excess of US $100 billion each year maintaining and modernizing their nuclear forces, according to the report. Of the 322 institutions identified in the report, roughly half are based in the United States.

Obama Administration Jobs for Bundlers
Barack Obama campaigned on "the most sweeping ethics reform in history" in his presidential campaign, yet, more than half of Obama's biggest fundraisers have been appointed to administration jobs. At least 24 of Obama's bundlers* have been given posts as foreign ambassadors, including such plum postings as Finland, Australia and Portugal. In a previous blog I noted that major fundraisers have been posted to Japan, France and Britain.

The Foreign Service Act of 1980 states that "contributions to political campaigns should not be a factor in the appointment of an individual as a chief of mission." Fifty-nine of Obama's ambassadorial appointees are not Foreign Service officers -- 40 percent are bundlers. ( Source is an article titled "The Influence Industry" in the March 7, 2012 Washington Post.)

* Bundlers are fundraisers who gather together large contributions from wealthy donors.