Sheldon H. Laskin, in an article on CounterCurrents.org, questions whether Congress has the constitutional authority to require Americans to purchase a commodity from a private, for-profit corporation.

Again, the gulf between Candidate Obama and President Obama is striking. As a candidate, Obama ran promising a new era of government transparency and accountability, an end to the Bush DOJ’s radical theories of executive power, and reform of the PATRIOT Act. But, this week, Obama’s own Department Of Justice has argued that, under the PATRIOT Act, the government shall be entirely unaccountable for surveilling Americans in violation of its own laws.

For the complete story, visit:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush

Barack Obama Appoints Bill Clinton President
By Bob Maschi

President-Elect Barack Obama continued his absorption of the former Clinton administration today by appointing Bill Clinton President of the United States. This development comes after Obama named a majority of former Clinton administration people to his transition team including Rahm Emanuel, Jacob Lew and Carol Browner. Fully 2/3 of his appointees, so far, have past connections to the Clinton administration including Hillary Clinton (recently named his Secretary of State).