Czar Wars

Posted 09/25/2009 07:16 PM ET




Politics: In yet another vote against transparency, the Senate killed an amendment imposing legislative oversight on unconfirmed White House officials. Shouldn't we know who they are and what they're doing?



Green czar Van Jones is gone, forced to leave the administration after Fox News and the conservative blogosphere revealed his past as a self-avowed communist. Jones had issues that some argue should have been discussed in confirmation hearings that never occurred before he assumed his position.



Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would have liked to have learned of Jones' communist links and more before this man, who believes that white America deliberately pours its pollution into minority communities and who seeks redistribution of wealth in the name of environmental justice, assumed a position of some power.



So Collins on Thursday submitted an amendment to an Interior Department bill that would withhold funding for the creation of any new, unconfirmed czar positions until the administration allows nominees to be questioned by Congress. Once confirmed, all czars would be required to produce every two years a detailed "public, written report" of their actions and involvement in the creation of policy, rules and regulations.



Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois was not amused by the threat of sunlight, calling it an attack by "czar watchers." He noted that George W. Bush and other presidents had czars, too, and used a legislative move to kill the measure in committee.



In unprecedented fashion, these unaccountable czars have been given enormous power to steer policy in directions that the American people did not vote for. They threaten our basic freedoms.



Case in point: Diversity czar Mark Lloyd admires Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez and his pursuit of a Marxist redistributive agenda. Lloyd has praised Chavez's "incredible revolution" and the way he has taken "very seriously the media in his country" by imposing limits on cable TV and revoking the licenses of more than 200 radio stations that insufficiently toed the party line.



Lloyd says that "unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays and other people in those positions, we will not change the problem. But we're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power."



Lloyd would impose the Fairness Doctrine by stealth, using concepts such as "ownership diversity" and "localism" to destroy talk radio and cable news, which he sees as obstructions to the radical agenda he supports.



Americans elect presidents and congressmen to represent them, not czars to run their lives. Presidential appointees should be required to come before the Senate. The people have a right to know.







I couldn't agree more. Why are we allowing people with no accountability have that much power. It seems like everyone Obama knows is some king of left wingnut wack job. One of them did go before the Senate, And was put through with flying colors. This is the wacko that thinks Bambi should be able to sue deer hunters. Look at Van Jones, avowed communist and criminal. Given a position of power until people found our what he was. Who started all of this car crap anyway. We need to demand that these people be accountable to We The People. Without that, more of our rights could dissapear.