The Idea of the ‘Fair Share’

-By Frank Salvato

We’re hearing an awful lot about the “wealthy” paying “their fair share” where taxes are concerned. Pres. Obama and his Progressive and liberal Democrat brethren have perfectly coordinated their talking points to affect a campaign of undefined and reckless class warfare against the productive class, doing so for the sole purpose of political gain. Expectedly, Mr. Obama presents a Janus face: denying out of one mouth that he is utilizing class warfare; demonizing the producers out of the other.

In announcing his new, but all too familiar, deficit reduction plan on September 19th, Mr. Obama said:

“This is not class warfare, it is math…All I’m saying is that those who have done well, including me, should pay their fair share in taxes…We can’t just cut our way out of this hole… It is only right we ask everyone to pay their fair share…We can’t afford these special lower rates for the wealthy. We can’t afford them when we are running these big deficits… Middle class taxpayers shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires. That’s pretty straightforward. It’s hard to argue against that…”

Of course, an honest man would admit that the federal government is spending way, way, way beyond its means. An honest man would admit that the federal government has gone far, far, far beyond its constitutional mandate in providing special interest programs that would be better suited for private sector benevolence organizations. An honest man would acknowledge the fact – the fact – that the federal government, now hijacked by the political correctness of Progressivism, has ventured into social engineering via its “social justice” campaign and departed, to a great degree, from the vision of federal government established by our Founders and Framers.

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The Idea of the ‘Fair Share’”


George Washington Said to Avoid ‘Entangling Alliances’… Or Did He?

-By Warner Todd Huston

I have been interested these days to hear the left citing George Washington, the father of our country, to support their ideas against the GOP and their hope that Obama will pull out of the Middle East. Specifically they have been citing Washington’s farewell address where he supposedly warned Americans against getting involved with foreign nations and getting caught up in those evil “foreign entanglements.”

It is quite amusing to see lefties in love with a founding father or American history and principles for the first time in their lives, certainly, but it isn’t just the left revealing a sudden respect for a founding father with citation of Washington’s address. Ron Paulites and those of an isolationist bent on foreign policy have also been bandying about Washington’s farewell address as some sort of “proof” that one of our “first principles” was to stay away from foreign nations.

What was Washington really saying, though? Did he warn us against “foreign entanglements”? Did he think the U.S. should steer clear of all outside political situations and relegate ourselves only to trade with foreigners?
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George Washington Said to Avoid ‘Entangling Alliances’… Or Did He?”


What Guns Were Made For: Homeowner in Philly Attacked By Mob

-By Warner Todd Huston

A homeowner in Philly was attacked by a mob of racist black “youths” that broke into his home apparently looking to kill white people. This is exactly the situation that the Second Amendment was made for.

The Philly Inquirer reports that “dozens of youths” marauded into a sleepy Philly neighborhood to find white teens to beat up or kill reportedly because an African-American was attacked on a playground nearby.

Don’t you love how the newspaper reports the makeup of the crowd? It’s just “dozens of youths” instead of what it really was, an army of black criminals intent on mayhem and murder. Police even said that it wasn’t just “youths,” either, but people into the thirties at least.

Mark LaVelle was standing outside near his home when two 13 or 14-year-old white boys ran up to him fearful that the mob would come after them. Once the crowd saw LaVelle with the two boys, they did, indeed, turn their attention to the three.
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What Guns Were Made For: Homeowner in Philly Attacked By Mob”


Video: Speak Out And Support A Balanced Budget Amendment‏

From the office of Rep. Randy Hultgren (Ill., 14th District)…

A balanced budget amendment (BBA) to our Constitution is a permanent solution to our nation’s fiscal crisis to legally force future Congresses and Presidents to stop spending money they don’t have. Earlier this week I sat down to share my thoughts about a BBA and why it’s so important for the future of our country.

America Speaking Out (ASO), www.americaspeakingout.com, is an online community aimed at giving you a voice and the power to set the agenda in Congress. Through ASO, you can express your opinion about the BBA, which will be voted on in the House this fall.

I encourage you to visit www.americaspeakingout.com now to express your opinion about a BBA. It is through the support of the citizens like you that a BBA will become a reality – bringing much-needed certainty to the small business community, putting an end to the out-of-control spending, and restoring accountability to Congress.
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Video: Speak Out And Support A Balanced Budget Amendment‏”


Victory for Bloggers: Illinois Blog Wins Lawsuit

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a good sign for blogger free speech, a lawsuit against a high profile conservative blog in Illinois has just been tossed out. A political contributor brought the lawsuit over a story about property tax reassessments and political contributions. This is a victory for free political speech as well as a victory for the status of blogs in the world of “journalism.”

I’ve been aware of this story for some time but the folks at Illinois Review, the blog in question, asked me to sort of keep it all quiet. There were all sorts of legal questions being thrown about and since the folks that run the blog don’t have deep pockets and the whole thing was being born at their own expense, they wanted to be sure this whole mess didn’t escalate and hurt them too bad financially.

The lawsuit meant to silence the blog was a convoluted one, to be sure. Illinois Review had posted a story that revealed that former Ill. State Rep. Paul Froehlich (R, Schaumburg) had sought campaign contributions from property owners who had won property tax relief claims that the Representative had assisted in getting settled. But after the story went live, due to the notoriety the county assessors office reversed those tax relief decisions.
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Victory for Bloggers: Illinois Blog Wins Lawsuit”


Cook Commissioners Refuse to Take Furlough Days?

-By Warner Todd Huston

News today had it that two Cook County Commissioners have refused to take the agreed upon furlough days as required by the 2011 budget, days meant to save the county money. Both William Beavers and Earlene Collins have both refused to take the 10 days off.

Collins claimed on Chicago’s WLS AM 89 radio that she shouldn’t have to suffer the indignities of the cut in salary that the days off would mean. She says her base pay has never risen since she was first elected to office and that she has already cut out much of her office allowances and other staffing funds so she should not have to take a cut in pay, too.

In fact, claims Collins, she’s already made cuts that amount to more than the some $9,000 that her 10 day furlough would add up to.
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Cook Commissioners Refuse to Take Furlough Days?”


Health Care Compacts Would Save $3 Trillion

From the effort to create the Health Care Compact to replace Obamacare…

Alexandria, VA – Today, the Health Care Compact Alliance released its analysis of the financial impact of the Health Care Compact on the national deficit. The Alliance found that, if implemented in all 50 states, the compact would cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion by 2021.

“The Health Care Compact is more than just health care reform,” said Leo Linbeck III, Vice Chairman of the Health Care Compact Alliance. “It is governance reform that will make a difference in not only the way Americans choose their health care system but will save our federal government trillions. In the coming weeks, members of the Congressional super-committee will continue meeting to determine ways to reduce our nation’s deficit and reigning in health care spending must be their priority. The Health Care Compact offers real reform while reducing the deficit.”
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Health Care Compacts Would Save $3 Trillion”


New Worry: RFID Tracking Chips in Firearms?

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Italians have caused an outrage among American firearms customers. A Italian company named Chiappa Firearms sent out a press release (in Italian) last week announcing that it will soon be putting inside each firearm it manufactures an RFID chip (Radio Frequency Identification) meant to track quality control, inventory, and shipping. American gun owners and consumers were whipped into a frenzy of suspicion and fear that government agents will be able to use these RFID chips to track their firearms. But what are the facts and will these RFID tags become common with all firearms manufacturers in the near future?

First of all there is a lot of fear about the capabilities of governments to use RFID chips for nefarious purposes. These are devices that can radio information to someone with a device as inexpensive as $250 and without any “approval” needed for the reading. These chips can relay all sorts of information from location, to detailed records of all sorts.

There are several different kinds of chips but most uses require non-powered chips that can only be read at short distances. In other words we are told that a satellite orbiting in space cannot read a non-powered RFID chip from that distance. Some chips can only be read for a few feet others a few meters.

Despite all the poo pooing that advocates of RFID chips release to ease people’s minds, this identification technology is far easier to misuse than any other ID technology ever invented. But that does not make RFID chips all bad, either.
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New Worry: RFID Tracking Chips in Firearms?”


USA Today Hit Piece on Christian Defense Attorney, Jay Sekulow

-By Warner Todd Huston

USA Today published a story recently by Bob Smietana of the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean attacking the integrity and work of well-known Christian First Amendment defense attorney Jay Sekulow that is shocking for what is left out.

Sekulow is the head man of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a Washington D.C.-based organization that takes on attackers of Christian’s First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion, a tempting target in some corners of America’s political establishment.

In fact, writer Smietana didn’t just write one piece attacking Sekulow and the ACLJ but in the space of only a few days wrote two. In one piece Smietana accuses Sekulow and his family of making too much money from the charities they represent and in the second he claims that the ACLJ might be improperly pursuing cases not in its tax exempt charter.

In both cases Smietana employs the “some say” style of indictment by writing innuendoes backed up by little actual evidence, but the piece in USA Today is by far the worst example of the tactic.
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USA Today Hit Piece on Christian Defense Attorney, Jay Sekulow”


My Solution: How to Restore Freedom of Association and End Government Tyranny

-By Selwyn Duke

Unfortunately, many Americans have become inured to the trampling of freedom of association. You can work your fingers to the bone starting a business, and the government becomes a partner that contributes nothing but extracts much. It not only shares your profits and regulates you to death, but, more to the point here, dictates whom you must serve and the bases on which you may hire and fire people. And woe betide he who doesn’t bow before Leviathan.

A recent example of this is the Wildflower Inn, a Vermont B&B. After devout Catholic owners Jim and Mary O’Reilly refused to host a “wedding” reception for two lesbians, they were sued by the ACLU. As a result, they have had to expend resources retaining a lawyer for a case that they will no doubt lose and that will likely end with their having to pay monetary damages. Of course, the O’Reilly case is just one of many. In fact, today, Leviathan’s tyranny has reach a point at which you can be put through its meat grinder if you refuse to hire a cross-dresser or a Muslim woman who insists on wearing an eighth-century drape to work.

And tyranny is the word for it. After all, no one would deny that you have a right to include in or exclude from your home whomever you please. So why should you lose that right simply because you decide to erect a few more tables and sell food or to rent rooms to travelers? It’s still your private property, paid for with your money, created by the sweat of your own brow. Oh, yeah, that’s right. At one time a lawyer in a black robe declared such places “public accommodations” – and, as we all know, legal decrees alter reality.
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My Solution: How to Restore Freedom of Association and End Government Tyranny”


Finally: Gov’t Official Resigns Over Obama’s Arming of Mexican Narco-Terrorists

-By Warner Todd Huston

There is more on the story of Obama’s woefully murderous program of selling guns to Mexican narco-terrorists, the operation called Fast and Furious (also called Gun Walker). We’ve been reporting on this widening scandal for months, now and the latest is that two officials are either removed from their high place of influence or have resigned over the disastrous policy.

We already saw BATF agent Vince Cefalu was fired after he blew the whistle on Obama’s gun running program. But now U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke has offered his resignation

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.


Hultgren, Illinois Representatives, Call On Illinois Legislature To Enact Concealed-Carry Legislation

From the office of Rep. Randy Hultgren (Ill. 14th)…

Geneva, IL – U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (IL-14) today released the following statement regarding a letter he recently sent to Illinois leaders, including Governor Quinn, Attorney General Madigan, and legislative leaders from both parties, calling on them to join every other state in the nation and enact concealed-carry legislation.

“I was dismayed to learn that Illinois is now the only state in the nation that does not recognize its citizens’ Second Amendment right to concealed carry,” said Rep. Hultgren. “The Supreme Court has twice affirmed self-defense as a fundamental right in recent years, and it past time that Illinoisans enjoy that right as every other American does. I hope Governor Quinn and the legislature will pass concealed carry legislation in a timely manner so that Illinoisans can enjoy the legal right to protect themselves.”

In the letter, Hultgren detailed recent Supreme Court decisions from The District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010). In the case from 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to possess a firearm. In the second case, from 2010, they ruled that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self defense in one’s home is fully applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
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Hultgren, Illinois Representatives, Call On Illinois Legislature To Enact Concealed-Carry Legislation”


Idiot Ohio Congressman Bans, Confiscates Devices at Townhall

-By Warner Todd Huston

I go after the left all the time for opposing free speech and for doing its best to shut down citizens, especially at townhall events. Well here is an example of a Republican doing the same thing. His actions are those I’d instantly condemn were it a left-wing Democrat (but I repeat myself) perpetrating it. And so, I similarly condemn Rep. Steve Chabot (R, OH 1st District) for acting the jackbooted authoritarian at his recent townhall.

In fact, it’s such an outrage that I am going to reference a ThinkProgress.org report on the matter and, shock of shocks, agree with their basic point! Chabot was wrong to do this.

Fearing pushback on issues like ending Medicare and corporate tax dodging, Chabot took an extraordinary step in order to prevent a possible “Youtube moment”: he banned constituents from filming the town hall. Outside the town hall were multiple signs reading, “For Security Purposes, Cameras Are NOT Permitted.” In fact, on at least two separate occasions, middle-aged constituents who tried to record the public event had their cameras confiscated and were asked to leave.

Even worse, it was members of the Cincinnati Police that Chabot impressed to do the confiscating. Shades of jackboots, eh?

Chabot had “reasons,” though.
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Idiot Ohio Congressman Bans, Confiscates Devices at Townhall”


Union Astroturf Pretends Like Tea Partiers to Attack GOP

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill has an interesting, if not a bit slanted, report about the faux grassroots efforts of unions and left-wing advocates to pretend they are somehow just like the Tea Party by attacking the town hall meetings of various GOP congressman across the country this Summer.

The Hill dutifully reports without complaint the union’s claims that they are organizing just like the Tea Partiers and forcing GOP congressmen to face “angry protests at home” this month in a “replication” of the Tea Party backlash that “bit” Democrats in 2009.

“Liberal groups have been planning these protests for months,” trumpets The Hill, “One organizer told The Hill in February that the campaign would ‘build to a crescendo’ in August.”

These protests have been organized by Obama’s supporters in government unions like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO as well as far left NGOs such as MoveOn.org, Campaign for America’s Future and others.
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Union Astroturf Pretends Like Tea Partiers to Attack GOP”


Honoring the Constitution with a Day of Training

From the Chicago Tea Party…

When Benjamin Franklin left the Pennsylvania State House after signing the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787, the wife of the mayor of Philadelphia approached him to ask what the new American government would be. Franklin replied, “A republic, madam. If you can keep it.” On Constitution Day 2011, we will continue the fight to keep it with the largest one-day training of conservative activists ever. American Majority will hold training in 13 states across the country, and we’ve been honored to have Chicago chosen as one of the locations. Join the Chicago Tea Party and American Majority for a day of training on Saturday, September 17, the 224th anniversary of the day the framers signed our nation’s founding document.

The principles of limited government and individual freedom are being challenged by an all too powerful federal government in Washington.. Understanding there is a problem is not enough. Protesting is not enough. For us to turn this country around, informed and engaged citizens must be equipped with the tools to bring about real change. There’s no better day than Constitution Day to bring thousands of Americans together to learn how they can ensure we continue to live in a free society.
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Honoring the Constitution with a Day of Training”


Gun Walker Guns Linked to 11 US Crime Scenes, BATF Officers PROMOTED!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Another update on the ever worsening scandal of Obama’s program to arm Mexican narco-terrorists is at hand. I know, it seems to be all I am writing about lately, but so much is happening with this deepening scandal. Now we’ve found out that not only have these gun walker guns ended up at 11 U.S. crime scenes, but the BATF officials responsible for the program have been given raises and promotions, not fired or even jailed as they should be!

First of all, the guns. The L.A. Times reports that at least 11 guns linked to the Obama program to arm Mexican narco-terrorists have been found at violent crime scenes right here in our own country. This is in addition to the murder of a U.S. border agent as previously reported…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.


Want Proof of How Democrats Would Shut You Up, Tea Partiers?

-By Warner Todd Huston

On MSNBC, John Kerry told us that Tea Party ideas are not “real” ideas, not “factual,” and thinks that the media should stop reporting on anything that smacks of ideas or news coming from Tea Partiers. If this isn’t proof of how Democrats and leftists would use the power of government to quash free political speech, what is?

Not long ago, several Democrats tried to once again raise the ugly head of the defunct Fairness Doctrine that was killed during the Reagan administration in order to limit the free political speech of conservatives. In those dark days when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House of Representatives, several Republicans talked about forever outlawing the anti-free speech rule. Democrats at the time spoke up in favor of the Fairness Doctrine and countered that they wanted to bring it back.

Fortunately, the Fairness Doctrine has not come back. But this un-American policy idea has been talked about by leftists every few years since it was torpedoed by Reagan in 1987. They would love to bring it back. And despite what they claim, the left would use a new Fairness Doctrine to squelch the free political speech of those on the right.
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Want Proof of How Democrats Would Shut You Up, Tea Partiers?”


Freedom of Speech Wins: Baltimore Politician Drops Lawsuit Against Blogger

-By Warner Todd Huston

Examiner blogger Adam Meister was doing what bloggers do, namely posting the info that “journalists” refuse to write about. In this case, back in March, Meister found that a Baltimore Councilwoman was living in a different district than she claimed she was living in. As a result, the politician tried to sue the blogger for his posts.

City Councilwoman Belinda Conaway filed a lawsuit demanding an idiotic $21 million in damages for Meister’s expose of her true primary residence. But this week Conaway abruptly dropped her suit against the blogger.

Through public records, blogger Meister discovered that Conaway lives in Randallstown and not Baltimore, the city she was elected to represent. Conaway has, though, claimed she lives in an extended-family household in Baltimore.

Meister disputed Councilwoman Conaway’s claim and he posted tax information where Conaway claimed for tax purposes that Randallstown, not Baltimore, was her primary residence.
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Freedom of Speech Wins: Baltimore Politician Drops Lawsuit Against Blogger”


Another Tale of Our Anti-Parent DCFS Establishment

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is a sad truth that from coast to coast our departments of children and family service (DCFS) agencies are in disarray. All too often they ill serve the children they are supposed to be helping and they almost always step on the rights of parents without much bothering to give a good reading of the situation before action is taken. The travails of 13-year-old Chloe Faulkner is another such story. Taken from her parents, isolated in a world of faceless bureaucrats, used as a cash cow for state aide, abused, repeatedly raped, and eventually impregnated without her loving parents being given a chance to be heard, this tale is another DCFS/State intervention horror story.

In 2009 Chloe was a 13-year-old, home schooled, bright-eyed girl who had been diagnosed with the serious medical condition of Type 1 diabetes. Like many 13-year-olds she was in a rebellious stage, pushing back at a world of parental rules and the constrictions that her medical condition unfairly imposed upon her. And, like many rebelling teens, Chloe ran away one day, refusing to return home.

Her worried, loving parents involved the police because they feared that young Chloe’s medical condition would make her running away far more dangerous than it might for the average teen. The police found Chloe and brought her home with no incident.
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Another Tale of Our Anti-Parent DCFS Establishment”


Temporary Limit on Lightbulb Ban Passes House

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a small step in the right direction, the House of Representatives passed a provision to defund the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, denying the government the funds to enforce the new lightbulb standards that would have levied a defacto ban on incandescent bulbs.

Of course, the problem is that this is a temporary, stopgap measure not a full solution. This defunding process will have to be repeated every year or the lightbulb standards will slip into effect anyway. This amendment does not eliminate the new EPA standards, but it does give manufacturers of the bulbs and retailers of the same another year to sell their product without the weight of Big Brother coming down upon their heads.

The amendment to the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act was put forward by Rep. Michael Burgess (R, Texas) and passed on a voice vote on Friday morning, July 15.
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Temporary Limit on Lightbulb Ban Passes House”


Nanny State Wins: Light Bulb Ban Repeal Fails in House

-By Warner Todd Huston

If the House Republicans can’t even get rid of one of the most odious examples of nanny statism in the age of Obama, what exactly are they worth? On Tuesday, Rep. Joe Barton (R, Texas) failed in his effort to repeal the incandescent light bulb ban idiotically signed into law by Nanny G.W. Bush.

Barton failed with his The Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act (HR 2417)on a 233-193 vote. A two-thirds majority was needed for passage.

Only five Democrats crossed ideological lines to vote in favor of the bill to repeal the idiotic light bulb ban. Worse, ten Republicans joined the Democrats.
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Nanny State Wins: Light Bulb Ban Repeal Fails in House”


Noam Chomsky Gets Half a Clue

-By Selwyn Duke

Of all idiots, none is so useful as he who can masquerade as a genius.

MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky recently denounced Hugo Chavez, accusing the Venezuelan strongman of making an “assault” on his nation’s democracy and of cruelty with respect to a female judge he imprisoned for issuing an unwelcome ruling. The criticism made headlines, as the “renowned scholar” had long given aid and comfort to Ego-and-Mouth Chavez. In fact, when the leader denounced President Bush in an infamous 2006 U.N. address, it was Chomsky’s book Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance that he waved and used as a prop. And Chomsky often praises Venezuela’s socialist revolution, most recently saying, “It’s hard to judge how successful they [the Venezuelan socialists] are, but if they are successful they would be seeds of a better world.”

Well, socialism has only failed every time it’s been tried, but I guess Chomsky’s renowned intellect has finally figured out a way to do the same thing over and over again and achieve different results.
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Noam Chomsky Gets Half a Clue”


There is No First Amendment Without a Second Amendment

-By Alan Caruba

When we celebrate the Fourth of July, let’s keep in mind that the first Americans won their independence from England with the force of arms. It was, in fact, a British effort in 1775 to confiscate military arms they believed were stored in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts that sparked the war.

The Founding Fathers were so aware of the need for an armed citizenry that, after ensuring freedom of religion, speech, press and the right to peacefully assemble in the First Amendment, the Second guaranteed their right to bear arms.

Wherever authoritarian regimes were established in the last century, they took away this right and then proceeded to kill those deemed enemies of the state.

At this point in American history, the Obama administration constitutes a threat to the Constitution in general and the Second Amendment in particular.
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There is No First Amendment Without a Second Amendment”


Conservatives, Tea Partiers Still Not Warming to Mitt Romney

-By Warner Todd Huston

CNN is reporting that the “Christian right” and the Tea Partiers are still nowhere near supporting Mitt Romney’s bid for the GOP nomination for president. Romney’s flip flopping on abortion, his full-on and continued support for his disastrous Romneycare health plan in Massachusetts prompting fear that he will end up supporting Obamacare if he wins, and other flip flops in his record have kept conservatives of many stripes away from supporting him.

Rightfully so, I should hasten to add.

Of course, Romney is leading far and away in most of the polls with Michele Bachmann currently coming in a distant second, so it is interesting to see the base still leery of a Romney candidacy. One has to wonder how the polls can show Romney so far ahead if CNNs report is correct on the base and it’s feelings against Romney. Perhaps these polls are really only based on name recognition even still and the real race has yet to begin…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.


No, John Adams Did Not Pass the First Obamacare Law

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every few weeks for months now leftist bloggers have been happily touting the “fact” that our second president, John Adams, passed the first “national healthcare law” one that supposedly forced Americans to buy a form of healthcare. Unfortunately for them, this is simply untrue and comparing John Adams’ sailor’s relief act to Obamacare is misleading at worst and an apples to oranges comparison at best.

But even as today’s leftists want to use this old sailor’s act as poof that nationalized healthcare has precedent, and even as they are wrong, the history does serve us well as an example of the follies of nationalized healthcare. Curiously enough, it’s a lesson that the leftists don’t seem to mention in their laudatory pieces on John Adams’ law.

The law in question is the “act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen,” passed in 1798.

This law mandated owners of sailing vessels to pay a per-sailor tax to the federal government so that members of the merchant marine could find temporary healthcare when they got sick. The act informed the nation that the president is “hereby authorized, out of the same, to provide for the temporary relief and maintenance of sick, or disabled seamen, in the hospitals or other proper institutions…”

Now, the modern American left points to this and, squealing with glee, claims that this was the first “healthcare mandate.” They imagine that this law was the first version of Obamacare and that this is somehow precedent for Obama’s modern, socialist power grab.

Unfortunately for our friends on the left, a closer look at this ancient law fails the test as support for Obamacare.
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No, John Adams Did Not Pass the First Obamacare Law”


How Destructively Disingenuous Can They Get?

-By Frank Salvato

As if the American public’s tolerance for political chicanery hasn’t been tested beyond the breaking point, now comes news that several shyster Progressives and Democrats are floating the notion that the debt ceiling is – get this – unconstitutional. Far be it from me to ask, but why is it the only time Progressives and Democrats concern themselves with the constitutionality of issues is when its concern their ability to spend money?

US Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) – you remember him, he’s the candidate that Delawareans deemed better suited to represent them than Christine O’Donnell; the one who wrote an article for his college newspaper, entitled “Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist” – is quoted as saying:

“This is an issue that’s been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default…I don’t think, as of a couple weeks ago, when this was first raised, it was seen as a pressing option. But I’ll tell you that it’s going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, ‘Is there some way to save us from ourselves?’”

Great choice, Delawareans…you should be proud.
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How Destructively Disingenuous Can They Get?”


A New Declaration of Independence for a New Revolution

-By Warner Todd Huston

America is fast coming to a crossroads from which there will be no return if we take the wrong path. Do we take the road that leads away from America and toward a Euro-esque way of governing? Do we cast aside our American character and bury our great nation in a grave of socialist-styled authority? Do we damn our progeny to a failed superstate that violate every tenet of our original ideals?

I say we do not. I say we reject the Democrat’s Euro-esque ideas and refocus ourselves on American exceptionalism. Our federal system has strayed far from our founding ideals and we may soon find that its time for a new Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical government that has usurped power from proper authority.

Since it was just Independence Day over weekend (and I waited until it was over on purpose so as not to obviate from that celebration), I offer this new Declaration as a rallying cry to all those willing to return to our true American character…
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A New Declaration of Independence for a New Revolution”


Happy Independence Day, 2011

Click Here >>236 Independence Days and Counting, But What Does it all Mean?, is my 2012 Independence Day post. Thanks for stopping by.

We are taking this grand holiday off from blogging to celebrate the birth of our wonderful country and the freedoms from which we’ve all benefited. And around here it’s Independence Day NOT “July 4th.” We don’t celebrate a number we celebrate an event, one of the most glorious events in human history: the birth of our nation.

Have a wonderful holiday, thanks for being a loyal Publius Forum reader and God Bless America.

The Publius management


Harvard Study: Patriotism Doesn’t Appeal to Democrats

-By Warner Todd Huston

The L.A. Times recently reported something that has been conventional wisdom with conservatives for close to 30 years, now. Democrats hate patriotism. It’s been a matter of faith for quite a while but now comes Harvard to help substantiate that little factoid.

For the L.A. Times, Andrew Malcolm sarcastically makes his way through the Harvard study pointing out that it seems that only conservatives, Republicans, or people that lean toward those views find the celebration of Independence Day a joyous occasion. Democrats and leftists, on the other hand, are not too fired up about all that “July Fourth red-white-and-blue stuff.”

Apparently the study finds…

If you’re into the national holiday by age 18, you are 2% more likely to identify as a Republican, 4% more likely to vote that way and 3% more likely to make political donations.

The study found a lot of other things, of course, but the upshot is that if you are a Democrat or you lean left of center then you aren’t too likely to attend patriotic celebrations. It also finds that people that do attend patriotic events will be more likely to vote against left-wingism.
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Harvard Study: Patriotism Doesn’t Appeal to Democrats”


Obama Happily Putting Guns in the Hands of Mexican Drug Dealers, Now Ending Up in Phoenix

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you haven’t heard about the Gun Walker case, it’s time you learned. This was an Obama administration Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (BATF) program where guns were sneaked across our southern border by Mexican drug dealers. It turns out that these guns were given them by the Obama administration. The idea was that the BATF could trace how guns get disseminated in Mexico. Officials also hoped that the program would help them find where the drug dealers are and if a few people got killed in the process… well, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right?

The BATF program was code named “Fast and Furious.” Naturally it has become quite controversial and has led to much talk that BATF chief Kenneth Melson will be eliminated from that agency – this has yet to occur, though. This scandal is just in the early stages of becoming a major mess to be hung around Obama’s neck so there is no telling where it will end up. Big scandal? Swept under the rug? Could go either way even though it is a major scandal that should sink several members of the Obama admin, if not Obama himself….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.