[guest post by Dana]

Whether you are in the diplomatic breach of protocol camp or the Speaker grew a pair camp, it is safe to say that House Speaker John Boehner’s invite to Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress next month about the Iranian nuclear program has angered the White House. Boehner was prompted to make the offer after the president made it clear that he would veto legislation that would increase sanctions against Iran.

Boehner justified his actions:

“The Congress can make its decision on its own” — but he also insisted, “I don’t believe I’m poking anyone in the eye.”

“There is a serious threat that exists in the world, and the president last night kind of papered over it,” Boehner said. “And the fact is is that there needs to be a more serious conversation in America about how serious the threat is from radical Islamic jihadists and the threat posed by Iran.”

He told GOP lawmakers this morning:

“[Obama] expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran. Two words: ‘Hell no!’ We’re going to do no such thing,” Boehner said Wednesday in a meeting of House Republicans. “Let’s send a clear message to the White House, and the world, about our commitment to Israel and our allies.”

Further:

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is a great friend of our country, and this invitation carries with it our unwavering commitment to the security and well-being of his people,” Boehner said in a statement on Wednesday. “In this time of challenge, I am asking the prime minister to address Congress on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life. Americans and Israelis have always stood together in shared cause and common ideals, and now we must rise to the moment again.”

Josh Earnest responded to the news :

“The typical protocol would suggest that the leader of a country would contact the leader of another country when he’s traveling there,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. “That certainly is how President Obama’s trips are planned when he travels overseas. This particular event seems to be a departure from that protocol.”

Earnest said the White House was made aware of the invitation before Boehner’s office released a letter dated Jan. 21 inviting Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 11.

Earnest claims the White House was not angry because Boehner did not reach out to them first. Riiight… He also found the invite “interesting.”

Netanyahu has accepted Boehner’s invitation.

Let the games begin.

–Dana

This one is serious:

The essential error of the Obama presidency is an unfounded belief that greater government power—in our pocketbooks, in our private lives—will make America more prosperous and free. President Obama’s faith in concentrated power was on full display in tonight’s State of the Union address.

Working families feel squeezed by higher health care costs and tuition bills. Those fortunate enough to hold steady jobs haven’t seen a raise in years. They worry about their children’s future and their country’s.

The president seems to have only one answer for them: enlarge the size and scope of the federal government. To help middle-class Americans, the president demands more than $300 billion of tax hikes and a new round of stimulus spending. To rein in education costs, the president creates a federal education entitlement, the type of which led to skyrocketing tuition in the first place. To fix our health care system, the president touts the same law that has caused prices to rise and stripped families of access to their doctors. To make the financial system more stable, the president threatens to veto reforms to Dodd-Frank, his law that made banks bigger than ever. And to protect Americans’ privacy, he offers yet another report instead of reining in his own spies.

Higher federal taxes, more federal spending, and greater federal control of our lives haven’t worked over the past six years. Our country is beginning to turn the corner not because of government but in spite of it. Instead of faith in Washington, let’s put faith in Americans to determine their own lives. Let’s give liberty a chance.

Here’s what I want from a GOP Presidential nominee: the ability to imagine them delivering that message consistently, and meaning it.

That scratches Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Huckster off the list.

To me, it puts Ted Cruz squarely at the top of the list.

I understand he may be serious about running. Please, let it be true.

Well said, Rep. Amash.

The GOP has entrusted me with the solemn responsibility of responding to the remarks of the President of the United States in his State of the Union address. My video response is below.

[guest post by Dana]

In a bit of a twist, instead of law enforcement being accused of harassment or excessive behavior, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is being sued for failing to arrest a drunk driver. Filing suit is the driver:

Daniel Ray Fernandez has filed a complaint for damages because he claims a CHP officer stopped him for driving in excess of 100 mph on Interstate 5 near Disneyland, impounded his motorcycle, gave him a traffic ticket, and left him on the side of the highway heavily intoxicated, moneyless and without a cell phone.

According to a police report obtained by the Weekly, a home-bound Fernandez–whose blood-alcohol level was an alarming .204–was struck, wounded and knocked unconscious about 30 minutes later by 60 mph traffic while walking on a 22 Freeway ramp near Grand Avenue.

His injuries included a broken left arm, broken left elbow, broken left wrist, broken right ankle as well as lacerations to his head and body.

Jonathan A. Falcioni, the plaintiff’s Riverside-based lawyer, wrote in the lawsuit that the CHP officer knew Fernandez was heavily intoxicated, owed a duty to make an arrest but forced him to try to walk several miles home.

Fernandez’s lawyer holds the officer fully responsible for his client’s damages:

“With knowledge that [Fernandez] was a danger to himself and others, officer D. Howard abandoned him on the side of the road,” Falcioni wrote. “Howard knowingly created this dangerous condition by [sic] subjected him to it.”

–Dana