Should we hold referendums more regularly?

Lord Winston gives his opinion HERE.

How powerful is the Presidency? Will Obama's healthcare reforms be struck down as unconstitutional by the Supremem Court?

Video HERE of Obama warning the Supreme Court agains Judicial Activism.
Video HERE outlining the main controversey over Obama's health reforms ahead of the decision. You will probably be reading this after the decision has been made!

I like the effort that's gone into this if not the sentiment

Mar 2012 -To what extent is Congress the 'Broke Branch': Olympia Snowe's resignation - another moderate steps down amid increasing partisanship

Obama and presidential power: Does Obama want to subvert the constitution and create an imperial presidency?

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/305330-6

Congressional Scrutiny VS Presidential Power: Executive Privilege and the Fast & Furious Scandal

Obama invoked 'executive privilege' in order to avoid handing over documents to congress relating to the 'fast and furious' scandal (see other posts on this for details). What are the roots of 'executive privilege'.

P.S. Yes...the chap is rather strange looking/sounding.
    

Vice-Presidency problems for Romney

Marco Rubio: ex-Mormon, hard drinker, Ted Kennedy fan and a new source of trouble for Mitt Romney – Telegraph Blogs:

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Executive power encroaching on legislative power? Obama and immigration

Executive discretion: Mini-DREAM and the rule of law | The Economist

2 Fast, 2 Furious? Obama's Watergate? Scrutiny of the executive by Congress

My outgoing Y13s will remember a video I showed them of a congressional hearing on the Fast & Furious operation that went wrong. Well, the scandal continues to grow, though UK coverage has been limited. The following will catch you up.

Obama's Attorney-general Holder in contempt of court!!! over Fast and Furious, House decides.

An excellent article from the ever-interesting Dr Tim Swanley (Kent boy and expert in US history and politics). Excerpt below is quick summary. Full article here.

Here’s what Fast and Furious is all about – and for the uninitiated, be prepared for a shock. In 2009, the US government instructed Arizona gun sellers illegally to sell arms to suspected criminals. Agents working for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were then ordered not to stop the sales but to allow the arms to “walk” across the border into the arms of Mexican drug-traffickers. According to the Oversight Committee’s report, “The purpose was to wait and watch, in hope that law enforcement could identify other members of a trafficking network and build a large, complex conspiracy case…. [The ATF] initially began using the new gun-walking tactics in one of its investigations to further the Department’s strategy. The case was soon renamed ‘Operation Fast and Furious.”
Tracing the arms became difficult, until they starting appearing at bloody crime scenes. Many Mexicans have died from being shot by ATF sanctioned guns, but the scandal only became public after a US federal agent, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was killed by one of them in a fire fight. ATF whistle blowers started to come forward and the Department of Justice was implicated. It’s estimated that the US government effectively supplied 1,608 weapons to criminals, at a total value of over $1 million. Aside from putting American citizens in danger, the AFT also supplied what now amounts to a civil war within Mexico.
It’s important to note that the Bush administration oversaw something similar to Fast and Furious. Called Operation Wide Receiver, it used the common tactic of “controlled delivery,” whereby agents would allow an illegal transaction to take place, closely follow the movements of the arms, and then descend on the culprits. But Fast and Furious is different because it was “uncontrolled delivery,” whereby the criminals were essentially allowed to drop off the map. Perhaps more importantly, Wide Receiver was conducted with the cooperation of the Mexican government. Fast and Furious was not.

Synopticity, foreign policy, scrutiny and drones

Drone strike: activists seek to lift lid on open secret of targeted killings http://gu.com/p/38e8j

Housing Benefit - which department handles it?

The Department of Work & Pensions:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/

Is the filibuster unconstitutional? - The Washington Post

Is the filibuster unconstitutional? - The Washington Post:

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Obama Presidential Power, Foreign Policy, EXOP (NSA)

Drone wars and state secrecy – how Barack Obama became a hardliner | World news | The Observer: ""Obama did not reverse what Bush did, he went beyond it. Obama is just able to wrap it up in a better looking package. He is more liberal, more eloquent. He does not look like a cowboy," said James Bamford, journalist and author of numerous books about the NSA including 2008's The Shadow Factory."

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