News Roundup for 12/15/09

The criminal flaunts his crime

-Headline of the day-
"Obama's 'Unconstitutional' Nobel Prize."

Whether or not you think President Obama deserved a Nobel Peace Prize, you've got to admit it was totally illegal for him to accept it. So says some fella named "Jim Brown" who writes for the Christian wingnut site OneNewsNow. See, it's in the Constitution and everything.

"A clause in Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution states: 'No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office or Trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign state,'" he writes. "That raises a question: Is the Nobel Peace Prize an 'Emolument' -- a gift arising from one's office which includes some sort of monetary award with it?"

No, it's not an emolument. I can see Brown's confusion though, since this towering intellect of journalism and constitutional scholarship has the definition wrong. An emolument isn't "a gift arising from one's office which includes some sort of monetary award with it," as Encyclopedia Brown thinks it is. It's "salary, wages and benefits paid for employment or an office held." Unless Brown is willing to argue that being a Nobel Laureate is a job, he's got everything all balled up. You might also consider that Obama's not going to keep the monetary prize anyway, so the whole damned question is moot.

But hey, why let a little thing like the facts get in the way? If they did that, OneNewsNow would go out of business. (Right Wing Watch)


-Who wants bipartisanship?-
Turns out not most people. A new Research2000 poll finds that when asked, "Which do you think should be a higher priority for Barack Obama right now — working in a bipartisan way with Republicans in Congress or sticking to the policies he promised he would during the campaign?" 49% said Obama should stick to his guns, while 33% say they want bipartisanship above all.

"The conclusion seems clear," writes Greg Sargent, "When questions about bipartisanship are put in a policy context, people care more about the actual policy contents of legislation than whether it has the bipartisan seal of approval."

In other words, people want results. Let's face it, Republicans and Democrats holding hands doesn't exactly put food on the table.

Now someone tell Obama we're behind him. Because I don't think he knows. (Plum Line)


-Bonus HotD-
"Oral Roberts, 1918-2009."

God finally called him home. Or maybe the devil strangled him in his bed. Whichever...

Early reports say the remains of his televangelist empire will now go to his son, Anal. (Talking Points Memo)