Posts Tagged ‘First Amendment Rights’
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Friday, January 29th, 2010
During the State of the Union address, Barack Obama singled out the Supreme Court for ridicule on its recent campaign finance ruling, which Obama asserted could open the door for foreign campaign contributions:
With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. (Applause.) I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. (Applause.) They should be decided by the American people. And I’d urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems.
As I previously posted, Obama was wrong on the holding of the case at issue and engaged in unjustified demagogory by confronting the Justices on the issue at the State of the Union address. Justice Alito’s act of mouthing the truth to power in response has dominated the post-SOTU discussion.
Nonetheless, if Obama really is concerned about foreign campaign donations, then Obama should request that Attorney General Eric Holder (or an Acting Attorney General since Holder likely has a conflict) appoint a special counsel with the power to investigate, and if justified, prosecute violations of the laws, and conspiracies to violate the laws, forbidding foreign contributions.
And the place the special counsel can start is with Obama’s 2008 campaign, which disabled security features in its credit card web portal so as to allow donors to evade restrictions on numerous aspects of the federal campaign laws, including the prohibition on foreign contributions:
Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor’s identity, campaign officials confirmed….
The problem with such cards, campaign finance lawyers said, is that they make it impossible to tell whether foreign nationals, donors who have exceeded the limits, government contractors or others who are barred from giving to a federal campaign are making contributions.
That the Obama campaign received foreign donations as a result of this scheme may be the only thing agreed-upon by both Pamela Geller and Charles Johnson. Indeed, Obama for America has admitted receiving foreign contributions. The fact that the Federal Election Commission is not investigating the allegations necessitates a special counsel.
These laws barring foreign contributions remain untouched by the recent Supreme Court ruling, so Obama need not worry about the validity of the relevant laws on the books. (If Obama didn’t understand that prior to the SOTU, he surely understands that now.)
The federal conspiracy laws surely could be used to prosecute such a scheme, if the investigation bears out the necessary elements of a criminal conspiracy to violate the campaign laws. The fact that some or all of the contributions were returned after negative publicity does not negate any criminal conspiracy.
So President Obama, with all due respect, I call upon you to request that Attorney General Holder appoint a special counsel to investigate and prosecute any and all crimes committed in connection with foreign campaign contributions during the 2008 presidential election cycle.
Or was your attack on the Supreme Court just words?
Tags: Barack Obama, Election 2008, Election 2010, First Amendment Rights, Houston, Houston Voters, SOTU & Supreme Court
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
When his named is mentioned by commentators and analysts it is usually with a mocking tone. He was quiet and calm. They say he didn’t accomplish much if anything. But actually he did. He got the country to settle down and gave the country back to the people. Here’s one of his quotes.
“So that’s it. Three big issues, plus whatever comes over the transom each day and demands a response. On that, the wisdom of Calvin Coolidge: When 10 problems are walking toward you, don’t feel you have to do something right away. Some of the problems will fall to the side and not reach you, some will solve themselves. Face what remains. But focus, to the extent you can, on the big three.”
Here’s a Wikipedia link to Calvin Coolidge and then read Mona charen’s article. There are lessons in both that are appropriate for today.
Since the world appears to be self-correcting — Massachusetts voters have matters in hand, the Supreme Court has come to its senses on the First Amendment, each day brings new revelations that the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was a fraud, and President Obama acknowledges that his agenda has hit a “buzz saw” — it’s safe to detour into the personal.
We have a new puppy — an 8-week-old Golden Retriever who looks (I hope you won’t think me immodest) like the pups they pose in catalogues to make you buy down jackets and lawn furniture. She’s the kind of puppy pictured in saccharine wall calendars, toilet tissue commercials, and anywhere else that melting adorableness is required.
In keeping with our family tradition, we have named her after a U.S. president. Our first dog, who died last July, was called Gipper to honor Ronald Reagan. Teddy (Roosevelt) came next. We’ve named the pup Cali (my husband’s idea), for Calvin Coolidge.
The most remembered fact about our 30th president is a misquotation. He did not say “The business of America is business.” In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1925, Coolidge said, “After all, the chief business of the American people is business.” But this was prefatory to his main point, which was this: “Of course, the accumulation of wealth cannot be justified as the chief end of existence.” In fact, Coolidge prized “practical idealism,” a trait he believed U.S. newspapers represented very well. He closed with these words:
“We make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things that we want very much more. We want peace and honor, and that charity which is so strong an element of all civilization. The chief ideal of the American people is idealism. I cannot repeat too often that America is a nation of idealists. That is the only motive to which they ever give any strong and lasting reaction.”
Coolidge’s example is a timely one. As David Pietrusza helpfully outlines in “Silent Cal’s Almanack,” he cut taxes four times and produced a budget surplus each year of his presidency. He also shifted the burden of taxes, which had fallen heavily on low earners during the Wilson administration, to the rich. Per capita income increased by 30 percent between 1922 and 1928. Unemployment averaged 3.3 percent. Coolidge respected his fellow citizens, and believed in the government’s duty not to overburden them. “The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.” Continued…
Tags: Election 2010, First Amendment Rights, Houston, Houston Voters, Taxes, unemployment
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Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
The clamor over the Supreme Court decision this week to respect free speech is misleading. McCain-Feingold, the law limiting campaign donations (cash and ads paid for by others) didn’t become law until 2002. The phenomenon we call newspapers originated in the 1700’s by political parties to promote their candidates and views. After the elections were over the publishers started soliciting advertising as a financing source so they could stay in business. See this item http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_reform It seems to me that we are back where we started and where we should be. Over the last few years one party got away with exceeding the limits because they have a lot of judges, legislators and commission members willing to over look their violations.
Tags: Election 2010, First Amendment Rights, Houston, Houston Voters
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, economy, Election 2010, Energy Policy, Environmental Issues, fannie mae, First Amendment Rights, Foreign Policy, freddie mac, government control, Houston Voters, Illegal Immigration, national healthcare, National Security, Public Education, socialism, Taxes, Texas 18th Congressional District
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
When the government is in charge it is paranoid. No totalitarian ever wants to leave office, by election or by force.
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, First Amendment Rights, government control, socialism
Posted in National Issues, The U.S. Government | No Comments »
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Harris County Tax Office Vindicated, but TDP and Houston Chronicle Spin It Otherwise
In the settlement, representatives of the Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office admitted no wrongdoing, and fundamentally changed nothing about its operations. Nonetheless, the TDP claimed a victory, and the Houston Chronicle today praised the non-decision in an editorial.
Republican / Libertarian Alliance
“We’ll work with anybody that we feel is in agreement with our core beliefs,” said Pat Dixon, Libertarian Party of Texas chairman said of the growing alliance between the groups represented by the Tea Parties. “I think when there are ideas of economic freedom” the alliance makes sense.
Related Story: What Is a Republican and What Is A Libertarian?
Dallas Judge Throws Out Gay-Marriage Ban
A Dallas District Judge today ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. Ruling in a case of two gay men married outside of Texas seeking a divorce, state District Judge Tena Callahan ruled that the ban, enacted by the voters of Texas four years ago violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under law.
Lots more here
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, economy, Environmental Issues, First Amendment Rights, health insurance, Marriage, national healthcare, personal responsibility, Taxes
Posted in Houston, National Issues, News releases, The U.S. Government, Voices of the 18th Congressional District | No Comments »
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Please read this to the end.
How about an AMERICAN PARTY!
[This was sent to Glenn Beck by the author of the email I was copied on]
GLENN BECK: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona . She writes an open letter to our nation’s leadership:
“I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent.
There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now.
You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation:
One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I’m not a racist. This is not to be confused with legal immigration.
Two, the STIMULUS bill. I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you No, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.
Three: Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution, and honor it.
Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There are many conflicting opinions and it is too soon for this radical legislation. Quit throwing our nation into politically-correct quicksand.
Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden me, my children, and grandchildren. Don’t you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down! Fix only what is broken — we have the best health care system in the world — and test any new program in one or two states first.
Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereigntyfully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. More is not better! Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real [Constitutional] obligations. Why don’t you start there.
Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes — how did they pull that one off? Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census with our taxpayer money. I don’t trust them with any of our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.
Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs — and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person! Why do you want me to hate my employers? And what do you have against shareholders making a profit?
Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.
Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we’ll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. (Have you ever ripped off a Band-Aid?) We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.
Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let’s have it. Let’s say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.
Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Slow down and get some input from nonpoliticians and experts on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I’m busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.
I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not.
It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is needless urgency and recklessness in all of your recent spending of our tax dollars.
From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on bringing our concerns to Washington . Our president often knows all the right buzzwords like unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don’t want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we’re morons.
We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented.. You think we’re so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone… and we are now looking at you.
You have awakened us, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office.
We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn’t ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.
Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don’t care. Political parties are meaningless to us Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution, and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them.. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you.
If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.”
Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, economy, Energy Policy, Environmental Issues, First Amendment Rights, Foreign Policy, government control, Illegal Immigration, national healthcare, National Security, socialism
Posted in National Issues, The U.S. Government | No Comments »
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
CNSNews.com
Two groups of House Democrats that are not always on the same political page have joined forces to oppose federal regulation of Internet traffic currently under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The FCC is moving forward with plans to approve “net neutrality,” rules that essentially would prohibit Internet service providers from charging add-on fees to certain Web sites for accessing their networks. Advocates of net neutrality argue that without new rules, a duopoly of cable and telephone companies can “discriminate” against certain Web content.
But 72 House Democrats, all members of either the centrist Blue Dog Caucus or the more liberal Congressional Black Caucus, signed a letter to the FCC charging that “net neutrality” regulations would stifle competition.
“We remain suspicious of conclusions based on slogans rather than substance, and of policies that restrict and inhibit the very innovation and growth that we all seek to achieve,” the members of each caucus said in a joint letter to the FCC last Thursday.
Opponents of the regulations say the rules would likely slow down the Web, make it tougher to block spam, create the need for more government bureaucrats as new bureaucratic rules tend to require, and discourage investment in broadband technology.
Democrats such as Reps. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California have supported the regulation. Republicans have mostly led the opposition, with Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Charles Grassley of Iowa writing a letter to the FCC last week cautioning against the regulation.
But the letter from Democratic House members last week used some of the same arguments Republicans have advanced.
Signatories included prominent Democrats such as Reps. Health Shuler of North Carolina, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Bernie Thompson of Mississippi, Baron Hill of Indiana, Ed Towns of New York, Silvestre Reyes of Texas, and Alcee Hastings of Florida.
Supporters of net neutrality rules include the left-wing MoveOn.org and the media reform group Free Press. Opponents include the pro-free market group Freedom Works and the conservative Family Research Council.
Click here for full article
Tags: Barack Obama, economy, First Amendment Rights, Internet tax, Pay a fee for certain websites, socialism
Posted in John Faulk, National Issues, Sheila Jackson Lee, The U.S. Government, Voices of the 18th Congressional District | No Comments »
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Another Obama Maoist to go along with Party Central Communication Commissar Dunn
A couple days ago I posted about Anita Dunn, White House communications Director. She said her two favorite philosophers were Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa. In my post I linked to information about how Mao gained power by entering a Chinese village with his supporters and murdering someone to get the attention of the villagers and get their cooperation.
In case you thought I was being overly reactive, listen to this guy.
Former FBI Informant Reveals Truth About Bill Ayers & Weather Underground’s Campaign Of Political Murder
Several paragraphs down in this link you see the quote “in a revolution innocent people have to die”.
The YouTube below connects Obama to Bill Ayers for at least 5 years.
Tags: Barack Obama, First Amendment Rights, socialism
Posted in National Issues, News releases, The U.S. Government, Voices of the 18th Congressional District | No Comments »
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
By Debra Saunders
“When Obama picked Eric Shinseki to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, the left applauded because they liked the contrast with President George W. Bush. Shinseki was their hero because he had told Congress that the Bush administration should send “several hundred thousand” U.S. troops to Iraq in 2003. Bush, Democrats used to argue, should have listened to the generals — by which they meant Shinseki, not the other generals who suggested lower troop numbers — and put smart military strategy before politics.”
“At a press conference Thursday, a teary-eyed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she is worried that the language being used by the critics of Obama’s health care plan will lead to “violence.”
Here’s the quote: “I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was very frightening, and it created a climate in which violence took place.”
Her office explained that Pelosi was thinking of the 1978 murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, as well as the riots that followed.
But as every San Franciscan knows, Dan White shot Moscone and Milk because Moscone would not give him his supervisor’s post back and Milk supported Moscone.
Don’t take my word for it. Sen. Dianne Feinstein told The Chronicle’s Rachel Gordon last year: “This had nothing to do with anybody’s sexual orientation. It had to do with getting back his position. Dan White was a troubled man under a lot of pressure.”
So it is hysterical and disingenuous for Pelosi to equate tea-party protests with the murders of Moscone and Milk and the riots that followed. She knows better. She herself said Thursday that people should take “responsibility” for what they say and any “incitement” their words cause. She owes lawful protesters an apology.”
Click on title for full article.
Tags: First Amendment Rights, Nancy Pelosi
Posted in National Issues, The U.S. Government | No Comments »
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