Citizen Cartwright

House votes to sue Obama

The vote was 225-201 Wednesday, with every Democrat voting against the lawsuit. Five conservative Republicans who felt the suit didn’t go far enough and preferred impeachment also voted "no."

It's the first time either the House or the Senate has sought to challenge a president’s authority in the courts, says the Los Angeles Times.

The GOP says the president exceeded his authority in delaying a provision in the health care overhaul that requires most employers to provide insurance to their workers.

During the "impassioned" hour-long debate, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said:

“Are you willing to let any president choose what laws to execute and what laws to change? Are you willing to let anyone tear apart what our founders have built?”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., noted how she, after being elected speaker in 2007, faced enormous pressure to launch impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush over the Iraq war.

Pelosi accused Boehner of caving in to “impeachment-hungry extremists.”

“Tell them impeachment is off the table," she said. "That’s what I had to do.”

Faster Arctic melt?

Sixteen-foot swells have been reported in a once-frozen region of the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea, just north of Alaska, scientists have reported in Geophysical Research Letters.

Swells of that size have the potential to break up Arctic ice even faster than the melt already under way, the researchers say.

Pets as people

As corporations become people with expanding rights, certainly the people-ization of pets should be no surprise.

And the Washington area probably is late to the party with the opening of its first sports club for dogs.

But amid all the sad news from around the world, I want to share with you this vignette from the new Frolick Dogs Canine Sports Club that made me laugh out loud:

"Some of the leggier breeds pant along the rubber belt just for the joy of running, the owners say. But others, like many a new gym member, need motivation.

"For Ruby [a beagle], Kim [the gym owner] offered the occasional morsel of kibble. It would drop, Ruby would stop to scarf it up and thus zoom backward, resuming her trot just a heel pad away from being shot backward like a little beagle bullet."

Also in the news

Western powers suspend efforts to bolster Libya's foundering democracy

Argentina teeters on edge of second default in 13 years

Powell perhaps not told early about CIA interrogation techniques

GOP senators block tax hike to curb corporate inversions

Bouncing back from a harsh winter, economy grows 4 percent in second quarter

Bank of America ordered to pay $1.27 billion for fraud over Countrywide mortgages

GAO report exposes flaws behind HealthCare.gov rollout

Johnson & Johnson withdraws hysterectomy device linked to cancer spread

Malaysia Airlines considers changing its name

When in trouble, rebrand.

I guess it's no surprise that, with one plane missing for months and another shot down, Malaysia Airlines is pursuing an image makeover.

It wouldn't be the first carrier to rebrand after a fatal crash, says CBS News.

After "enduring a maelstrom of negative publicity" for allegedly skimping on its maintenance, ValuJet's Flight 592 crashed in the Florida Everglades in 1997, killing all 110 people on board, CBS says.

A year later, ValuJet merged with the corporate parent of AirTran Airways and took that company's name. (Southwest Airlines bought AirTran in 2010.)

Sometimes I think I should make a list of these rebrandings so I don't forget who was who.

Let's see.

As of last year, we taxpayers still owned 74 percent of bailed out General Motors Acceptance Corp. — once the auto financing subsidiary of GM — which rebranded as Ally Financial.

And remember Blackwater, the security company whose guards in were involved in a shooting in September 2007 that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead? Blackwater rebranded as Xe.

Labor ruling has major implications for fast-food industry

The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday that McDonald’s could be held jointly liable for labor and wage violations by its franchise operators.

"This legal opinion would upend years of federal and state legal precedent and threaten the sanctity of hundreds of thousands of contracts between franchisees and franchisors," says Steve Caldeira, chief executive of the International Franchise Association, who says the decision is "wrong and unjustified."

Some restaurant companies have increased their reliance on franchising in recent years, in part to reduce the labor costs and complexities that come with direct ownership of their outlets, says The Wall Street Journal.

If the ruling is upheld, "It could make it possible for franchise workers to overcome the obstacle that the bargaining unit is limited to workers in single stores, making it much easier to unionize," says labor attorney Paul Millus, who wasn't involved with the McDonald's cases.

European ransoms seen as a big money maker for al Qaeda

Even though European governments deny paying ransoms, al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have received at least $125 million from kidnappings since 2008 — $66 million of it in just the last year, according to a New York Times investigation.

In its early years, al Qaeda got most of its money from donors, but the group now finances most of its recruitment, training and arms purchases from ransoms paid to free Europeans, the Times says, citing counterterrorism officials.

To minimize the risk to their fighters, the terrorists have outsourced seizing hostages to criminal groups that work on commission, says the Times.

Just a handful of countries have resisted paying, led by the United States and Britain, the Times says.

Also in the news

U.S. and EU widen sanctions on Russia, targeting energy, arms, finance

Delays in cutting greenhouse gas emissions may cost billions, White House report says

Senate passes bill to keep highway funding flowing to the states

House passes bill to change reporting requirements for Endangered Species Act

Senate unanimously confirms Robert McDonald to be VA secretary

What it's like for Eric Cantor — and his staff — during his final days in Congress

Is Chris Christie a dead man walking or a comeback kid?

Mississippi's only abortion clinic to stay open after appeals court ruling

Tanners beware: Report cites 200 percent rise in melanoma cases since 1973

Theodore Van Kirk, last surviving member of Enola Gay crew, dies at 93

Effects of NSA surveillance, government secrecy on our democracy

Government surveillance and restriction of government information are undermining freedom of the press and attorney-client privilege, according to a joint report by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch that was released Monday.

The report, titled "With Liberty to Monitor All," documents ways national security journalists and lawyers are "adopting elaborate steps or otherwise modifying their practices to keep communications, sources, and other confidential information secure in light of revelations of unprecedented U.S. government surveillance of electronic communications and transactions," according to the groups.

Spending more money to combat big money in politics

The recently formed Mayday super PAC on Monday began a $12 million ad campaign to help elect lawmakers of both parties who support proposals to diminish the influence of big donors.

"We are a crowdfunded Super PAC to end all Super PACs, yes, including ourselves," the group of liberal intellectuals, big donors and Republican strategists says.

The ultimate goal is to reverse a series of defeats that advocates of tighter restrictions on campaign money have suffered since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision freed corporations and unions to engage in unlimited independent political spending on behalf of candidates, says The New York Times.

But instead of pushing for new restrictions on contributions, Mayday and allied groups like Every Voice are advocating proposals to increase giving by small donors, in the hope of diluting the influence of big givers.