An Extremely Regulatory Christmas

What has the administration of the "Comeback Kid" been working on the past few weeks? Maybe working on meeting Republicans and the American people somewhere in the middle. or perhaps adjusting itself to the realities set forth by the 2010 elections?

Nah. That would be so...democratic, in the "small d" sense. What they've been working on - nay, accomplishing - while the media was re-anointing Obama as a godhead arisen from the ashes is nothing less than a complete takeover of the economic engine of the nation via regulatory fiat.

First, the Obama administration has asserted control over the Internet via the uncalled for and unnecessary Net Neutrality bill.

Coming next, on January 2nd, the EPA will release new guidelines that will impose limits on carbon dioxide - you know, the stuff you breathe out of your mouth. Of course, that will destroy the economy, but hey - liberals would rather rule an impoverished nation that be ruled in a wealthy one. What will the results of the EPA's diktat be? Try this:

A study released Dec. 8 by the Brattle Group, an economic consultancy, found that the new EPA rules could force the retirement of older power plants that produce 50,000 to 67,000 megawatts of electricity, or roughly 20 percent of the nation’s coal-fired power plants. As many as 70 million homes could be subject to blackouts, according to American Solutions, an advocacy group for conventional energy. Equipping remaining plants to comply with the mandates would cost $100 billion to $180 billion, the Brattle report warned. Those expenses would be passed along to consumers in the form of higher electric bills.

Look no further than the White House to find the source of this assault on America’s energy supply. The Obama administration’s energy policy is driven by global-warming true believers.

And to complete the Obama administration's Holy Trinity of Power Grabs, the thirsty beast of Obamacare raises its carbuncular head on Christmas Eve eve, and roars with unmistakable hatred at the American people and their capitalistic system:

Not satisfied with the colossal amounts of power that she would acquire under Obamacare if it isn't repealed, Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius has issued a 136-page "rule" that will now give her (and her subordinates) largely unchecked power to pass judgment on the prices of health insurance throughout the United States.

It's staggering that one person would think that she should ultimately get to decide what a product, which Obamacare would soon require all Americans to purchase, should cost. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal writes that Sebelius's "rule" marks "an effort to end-run Congress, which by some miracle declined to give HHS the formal legal authority to explicitly block premium increases, despite a direct appeal from President Obama." Not having been granted that formal power, "Ms. Sebelius is creating by regulatory fiat larger de facto powers to achieve the same end."

...It would also lead to results of even greater importance: the politicizing of health care, the compromising of liberty, and the debilitating consolidation of power in the hands of the unelected few.

I feel like a soldier in a bunker on Christmas, enjoying a few moments of peace while steeling myself for the long and ugly battles that lay ahead....


UPDATE: Professor Jacobson: "Defund the bitch" (OK, that's a paraphrase, not a quotation, but it just sounds so good...)