The Law

Constitution - Education - Founders - History - Patriotism - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Be Part of This Online ‘Reviving the Constitution’ Event

January 19, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is an interesting event being put on by that famous bastion of conservative thought Hillsdale College that you might find interesting to become a part of…

An Online Town Hall
January 30, 2010
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM – (online or in person)

The Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship of Hillsdale College cordially invites you to participate in an online town hall on Saturday, January 30, 2010.

There are two ways to participate in this event–in person or by viewing a live video stream (“webcast”). Advance registration is required for both forms of participation.

Please spread the word to friends and family about this day-long town hall, which will feature presentations and interactive Q&A sessions led by Kirby Center faculty and Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry P. Arnn. The event will run from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and will be broadcast from the offices of TVWorldwide.com in Chantilly , VA.

More info – http://www.hillsdale.edu/KirbyCenter/programs/townhall/default.asp
Registration – http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/hillsdale/100130/
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Be Part of This Online ‘Reviving the Constitution’ Event”

Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Illinois - Liberals - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Cook County Official Arrested for Misuse of County Funds

January 14, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is being reported that on Jan. 14 the superintendent of the Cook County Regional Office of Education, Charles Flowers, was arrested for giving “large cash advances” to his sister and girlfriend.

Apparently, Flowers has been a long-time troublemaker cloaking himself in the guise of an elected official. In 2006 Flowers somehow beat incumbent Robert Ingraffia (Republican) for the office yet even as he prepared to take his new office Flowers seemed to imagine that he was going to also keep his seat on the District 209 School Board.
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Cook County Official Arrested for Misuse of County Funds”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Chicago - Democracy - Economy/Finances - Illinois - Immigration/Immigrants - Liberals - Patriotism - Society/Culture - State Government - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Unpatriotic Illinois Business Owner Flies Mexican Flag

January 12, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

An owner of an apartment complex in Rolling Meadows, Illinois has decided to fly the Mexican national flag side-by-side with the U.S. flag, both on 30-foot flag poles and both at the same height. Apartment owner Mike Sparks says he’s doing it as an advertisement of sorts to entice Mexican immigrant tenants to come live in his apartments.

Local residents, however, are not as enticed by Sparks’ anti-American advertising campaign and say that he should follow flag codes which often state that the U.S. flag should always be higher than a flag of any other nation.

This flag argument comes up a lot. The problem here is that the so-called flag codes are not enforceable by authorities. In essence, they are customs and suggestions, not legal requirements. The simple fact is the U.S. flag codes are not laws and carry no penalty for violation. It may be a case of there-outta-be-a-law, but the fact is there are none.

The fact that the apartment owner didn’t really violate an actual laws, though, does not detract from his un-American attitude. It is patently obvious that Mr. Sparks does not see any reason to revere the U.S. flag enough to bow to tradition and place the foreign flag at a lower staff. And that isn’t the only problem with this situation.
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Unpatriotic Illinois Business Owner Flies Mexican Flag”

2nd Amendment - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Crime - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Federalism - Founders - Guns - Liberals - New Hampshire - Patriotism - Republicans - Society/Culture - State Government - States Rights - Supreme Court - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

New Hampshire Makes to Outlaw Federal Agents?

January 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Imagine a state law that says that any federal agent that comes into said state and runs afoul of a new state law should be considered a felon! Well, that is what New Hampshire is about to do if HB1285 passes during the coming 2010 legislative session.

HB1285 is another one of those laws that exempts all firearms and firearms accessories that are made in a state from certain federal restrictions if they remain in that state. Several states have made attempts to implement these 10th Amendment laws and New Hampshire intends to be one of the next to do so.

Thus far Montana and Tennessee have passed their own firearms freedom acts and thirteen or so other states have introduced or are introducing laws that exempts local firearms industries and accessories as well as in-state firearms owners from overweening federal gun banning laws.
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New Hampshire Makes to Outlaw Federal Agents?”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Family - Free Trade - Illinois - Liberals - Oregon - Rights - SEIU - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Tea Party - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

In Worst Economy In Decades Oregon Considers Massive Tax Hike

January 7, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you Tea Party goers in the western U.S. want a specific battle to fight there is none better than ballot measures 66 and 67 in the State of Oregon. The venerable Beaver State is preparing to chase out even more jobs and intends to tax its industry and small businesses to death with these badly timed measures but Oregonians have a chance to stop them by voting “no” on both 66 and 67.

During the worst national and state-wide economy since The Great Depression, with Oregon families losing jobs in every corner of the state, with businesses going out of business everywhere, the high-minded, left-wing state government has decided in its inestimable wisdom to launch the largest tax hike on the business community and the so-called rich in Oregon’s history. In 2009 over 1$ billion in permanent tax hikes was signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski, the drunken sailor that sits in the State House in Salem.
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In Worst Economy In Decades Oregon Considers Massive Tax Hike”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - GOP - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Rights - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Tea Party - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Tea Party Debate Continued: My Reply to Steve McQueen of BigGovernment.com

January 7, 2010 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In what I suppose is round three, I’d like to take a moment to reply to the criticism of my Tea Party article which was titled “Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We Could Make in 2010.” That criticism is penned by my fellow BG contributor, Steve McQueen whose piece titled “For Tea Parties, Bigger Is Not Better” I think missed my point. Worse I feel his piece helps the left to further splinter the right in a small way.

Certainly we on the right need an open and vigorous debate about what the Tea Parties are and how to make the best use of them, but we should have this discussion in the spirit of cooperative debate instead of the sort of isolated attacks employed by McQueen. What I mean is that if Mr. McQueen had some issues with my piece and questions about my meaning, the proper strategy would have been to email me and ask. We could then have had a debate, and perhaps joined together in a piece for BigGovernment.com that would clarify both our positions in the best effort toward harnessing the Tea Party energy to the best effect. Instead he rushed to print without a single attempt to contact me. This, I believe, only helps the left in that it gives the appearance of internal strife instead of a united front. After all, I would guess that Mr. McQueen and I are both after the same end goal of success of conservative principles in government and society alike.

In my piece I spoke of mistakes and this I think is another one of them. Too many of us Internet pundits are talking past each other and are too quick to look for that next “thing” that will get us noticed. Too often we are “Frumming” each other, in other words always attacking each other. Instead of seeking to find common ground so that we can build up our side we are sniping at each other.

Still, I think McQueen makes a few perfectly agreeable points despite that he so badly misconstrued my actual reason for writing my original piece. But like many out there that only read my provocative headline and didn’t bother to actually read the rest of the piece, McQueen assumed I was attacking the Tea Party movement itself. In fact, there is not one stitch of criticism of the actual Tea Parties in my piece. I have no complaints about them except in as much as questioning how we harness their energy going forward.
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Tea Party Debate Continued: My Reply to Steve McQueen of BigGovernment.com”

Business - California - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - GOP - Liberals - Republicans - SEIU - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Once Again Unions Find a Pliant Judge to do Their Bidding

January 5, 2010 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another example of why unions are antithetical to good government, a pliant, left-wing judge in California has ruled that the Schwarzenegger Administration cannot furlough state workers that belong to three powerful public employees unions.

Governor Schwarzenegger has been battling to cut his over spent state budget for several years now and one of the solutions to the problem that he lit upon was the idea that he might furlough his workforce. He would give these workers a few days a month off without pay and this would save the taxpayer’s millions. It is a good idea and one that real-world businesses are forced to employ all the time when things get tough.

But here come the state unions to prevent this simple cost saving measure even though it is common as dirt in the real-world sector.
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Once Again Unions Find a Pliant Judge to do Their Bidding”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - Liberals - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Vince Johnson

Disbursements by the Lower House will get Very Serious Attention in 2010

January 5, 2010 by

-By Vince Johnson

This scoop brought to you by G. R. Vince Johnson, Veteran WW II and Korea

On June 3, 2009 Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested the Statement of Disbursements for the House of Representatives be published online as part of her continued commitment to increase governmental transparency and accountability. You can use the surfing info appearing above the red line to review and evaluate these disbursements.

The report consists of 3,379 pages listing details of disbursement made by the House of Representatives during July, August and September 2009. (4th Quarter of Fiscal 2009)

Pages 2801, 2802 and 2803 list the names, titles and salaries for 87 professional staff members on the Committee on Financial Service Chaired by Barney Frank. Total salaries paid during the 4th quarter were $2,080,547 which means the average annual salary for each staff member on Barney Frank’s committee is $95,657. Example: Thomas G. Duncan, General Counsel received $42,674 in salary during July, August and September 2009. This amounts to a salary of $170,696 a year. (Barney’s annual salary as a Representative is $174,000.)
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Disbursements by the Lower House will get Very Serious Attention in 2010″

Abortion - ACLU - Anti-Americanism - Chicago - Constitution - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Freedom - Illinois - Judges - Liberals - Religion - Science - Society/Culture - State Government - Supreme Court - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Abortion Rates Rose in Illinois 2008

January 3, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

United Press International is reporting that abortion rates rose five percent in Illinois in 2008. Illinois doctors performed 47,717 abortions, the most in five years.

The state Department of Public Health reported 47,717 abortions in 2008, the latest year for which it has figures. In 1998, there were 49,403.

There is a law on the books that could bring this number down, of course, but extreme leftists and infanticide fans in the state have stalled its implementation over and over again. A Parental Notification Law for teens 17 and under was passed in 1995 and the left has been fighting it in court ever since. So far, every attempt they’ve made to have it declared unconstitutional has failed, yet each year they continue to find pliant, ant-constitutional judges to once again declare it “on hold” until its legal status can be “reviewed” and determined.
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Abortion Rates Rose in Illinois 2008″

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Chicago - Communism - Constitution - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Illinois - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Rights - Socialism - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Chgo Sun-Times Says Healthcare is a Right

December 30, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It has come to this. A newspaper in one of America’s biggest cities has so sold out to extremists, left-wing ideology that it has throw logic, facts, and reality to the four winds in order to sell Obama’s socialist healthcare policies. In a recent editorial the Chicago Sun-Times has absurdly determined that healthcare is a “right.” Unfortunately for truth and reality, the Sun-Times is simply wrong.

As we all know, the Senate has been engaging in a debate on Obamacare. But back on June 16 before the lesser light of the Kennedy clan passed away, Senator Edward Kennedy included a bit of foolishness in a statement issued in his role as the Chairman of the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or the HELP committee.

In that statement we saw the assumption that is popular on the left and one the Sun-Times just echoed, but it is one that should give pause to any liberty loving American. (See pdf file)
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Chgo Sun-Times Says Healthcare is a Right”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Supreme Court - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Where Are You Frum, Anyway?

December 29, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Canadian David Frum is like the cross-eyed marksman, he can see the target but just can’t ever hit it. The self-styled conservative has been the Old Media’s leading conservative in attacking, well, other conservatives. Naturally his Dec. 25 piece on theweek.com is no exception. Not only does he attack other conservatives, as is his wont, he so badly misreads the Constitution and certain other facts in the healthcare debate, it makes one wonder if he’s muffing it all on purpose? He does, however, get one salient fact right: the U.S. has already so ignored the U.S. Constitution that this socialist Obamacare plan will likely be declared wholly constitutional.

Frum’s latest frumble asks the question whether or not Obamacare is constitutional? He determines that it is constitutional mainly because Congress and multiple Supreme Courts have already ignored the Constitution so often as to make it likely they will all do so again to OK the illicit intrusion into our lives that is Obamacare.

OK, with his basic premise Frum is right. It is likely that our out-of-control federal establishment will again warp the Constitution to cover yet another socialist abomination. But how he gets to this conclusion is so filled with missteps that it is laughable and further this lapse of sense does not make it actually constitutional. It just makes it a done deal.
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Where Are You Frum, Anyway?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Founders - Freedom - GOP - House of Representatives - Jeff Lukens - Liberals - Republicans - Rights - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Western Civilization

The Choice Between Prosperity and Decline

December 29, 2009 by

– By Jeff Lukens

This land of a free people and a free-market economy has generated a great wave of innovation that has benefited all of humanity. The essence of freedom and prosperity that moved around the world in past 200 and some years has been driven primarily by the United States. With our economy now stagnating, it has become more important than ever to return to the basic Constitutional freedoms that have made prosperity possible.

My son came home from college to visit recently. After some time of catching up on things, the conversation turned to topics that interest him — and that means all things electronic. He explained to me why I needed the latest operating system update for the computer and how properly to configure the surround sound system for the HDTV. I could barely keep up with it. Somewhere in the conversation, it occurred to me that in the long view of human history, we have come a long way in a very short time.

Think about it. In the 1600s, the ships that brought the first settlers to our shores, and tools for tilling the soil they brought with them, were not much more advanced than those used by people thousands of years before. In the relatively short time since their arrival in the New World, there has been an explosion in technology and the standard of living for ordinary people.

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The Choice Between Prosperity and Decline”

Ann "Babe" Huggett - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - House of Representatives - Immigration/Immigrants - Liberals - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Welfare

Obama Administration Sets The Stage For Bogus Asylum Seekers To Take America By Storm

December 18, 2009 by

-By Ann “Babe” Huggett

It’s such a little AP notice; hardly more than a blip on the news ticker but, as of January 4, 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer detain asylum seekers to the US if they can prove a credible fear of persecution in their home countries. ICE Director, John Morton, under the orders of the Obama Administration, said that if asylum seekers can meet certain conditions then they can temporarily enter the US.

At time of entry, the asylum seeker must be able to prove their identities, not be a danger to America, not be a flight risk and must fear for their lives or physical safety if they return home. As it stands now, any asylum seeker without documentation is deported immediately while many of the documented are detained until processed.

As with any so-called “improvement” by socialist dominated regimes in once free Western countries, it is always important to go beyond what looks good on their paper to see what such programs look like in practice in other nations. In spite of President Obama’s best efforts to totally alienate them, one need not look any further than our still closest ally, Great Britain.
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Obama Administration Sets The Stage For Bogus Asylum Seekers To Take America By Storm”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - President - Rights - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Science, Smoking, Healthcare, All Prove Gov’t Can’t be Trusted

December 14, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just sit back and let big daddy government show you the way. The Democrat Party is assuring us that they know better because they have science, educated people, doctors, all that “expertise” in their control and further more they “care” about us all and they want us to know that they’d never do anything to lead us astray.

If you feel like the con is about to begin, you are right.

Of course, we don’t need mere suspicion to divine that the Democrats are liars. We can look at what government and Democrats have already done in several related areas — science, smoking and healthcare — to prove that this newest attempt to “help” us is based on lies, smoke and mirrors.

Let us begin with science. In two areas we see the failure that Democrats perpetuate even with science as their justification: global warming and healthcare.

We are all by now familiar with the lies that global warming is based upon as revealed by the scheming to hide failure of the science that went on behind the scenes with the email correspondence of the “scientists” at the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The science went from settled “consensus” to “ClimateGate” in only a matter of weeks. Yet governments all across the globe have based their policies on these lies. Total failure.
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Science, Smoking, Healthcare, All Prove Gov’t Can’t be Trusted”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Communism - Congress - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Family - Free Trade - Freedom - GOP - Health - House of Representatives - Illinois - Liberals - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

TAPROOT: Christmas Candidate Forum

December 14, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Tonight I attended the TAPROOT Christmas event and listened to 15 Republican state-wide and DuPage County candidates all of whom came to address those gathered at the Hilton in Lisle to hear them speak. From Gubernatorial candidates, Senate candidates, judges and local county folks to… is it right to say Lt. Gubernatorial candidates? If so, it sounds odd… anyway, it was a whirlwind session of candidates and a good time was had by all.

If it could be said that there was a theme of the day then it had to be jobs and the economy. Every candidate had something to say about the subject that weighs so heavily on all of us.

15 candidates is a lot of folks to hear from and each got about 5 or 10 minutes to lay out their case and then a few minutes for questions. We were pleased to hear from two candidates for governor and there were quite a lot of candidates for Lt. Governor, as well, three in all. Three Senate candidates appeared, two Comptroller candidates, one Sec. of State candidate, one Congressional candidate, two judges and a DuPage County commission candidate.

Appearing in order were:

I know, phew!
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TAPROOT: Christmas Candidate Forum”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - California - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Founders - Frank Salvato - Free Trade - Freedom - History - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Religion - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law

American Liberty v. Obama’s Social Engineering

December 13, 2009 by

-By Frank Salvato

After the General Election of 2008 I made a conscious effort to give President Obama a chance. I wanted to give him an opportunity to be true to his word; to prove that he was committed to governing from the center. I also wanted to demonstrate that I was not of the same ilk as the Bush-hating, “he stole the election,” fact-ignoring Progressive malcontents that served to divide the country over the eight years of the Bush Administration. But now, a year after the election, and as we approach a full year of the Obama Administration, it has become abundantly clear that Mr. Obama has abandoned almost all of his campaign promises (but for his commitments to the SEIU) and is governing from the far Left. He has instituted a campaign of social engineering that can only be described as a direct threat to liberty.

Liberty
Liberty is defined as, “freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.” It was the single most motivating factor in the American Revolution and war for independence. Our Founders and Framers risked their lives to free the people of what would become our nation from the elitist tyranny of King George and his court, a tyranny that choked liberty – personal and societal – dead.

In addition to the limitations placed on religious freedom and freedom of speech, taxation was excessive and exploitative and it was imposed without representation. Many of the colonists believed the denial of direct representation in the British Parliament was an illegal denial of their rights, as colonists were considered Englishmen subject to the king’s rule. Thus the credo, “no taxation without representation,” served as the rallying cry for Patriots in each of the thirteen colonies as they coalesced into a movement toward American independence.

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American Liberty v. Obama’s Social Engineering”

Barack Obama - Family - Freedom - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Race - Slavery - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Tiger Woods: Didn’t Join The Club?

December 8, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Now, I thought we wanted a world without color? I thought we wanted a world where “love” beat out misogyny, a world where people were “just people”? Yet we are still in an era where the Associated Press, with a serious tone and a straight face, reports the story of Tiger Woods daring to favor “white women” as paramours. And astonishingly it is Tiger that is portrayed as somehow in the wrong to like white women and the “black community” that somehow legitimately feels aggrieved? This after a presidential campaign where the Democrat’s lead candidate was often portrayed as “not black enough.”

I have been blogging since 2001 and in all that time you’ll find few stories about the adulterer du jour. Granted I am a politics blogger, but I didn’t even much care about the John Edwards debacle and I’ve but barely mentioned the Mark Sanford dust up. When it comes to this sort of stuff, I usually find myself bored with it all. On top of that, I have no interest in sports at all. I mean zilch.

So, why a piece about Tiger Woods of all people, you may ask? Because this racism racket has become the biggest hypocrisy of American culture, that’s way. It has become a fine-for-me-but-not-for-thee situation where the “black community” can advocate for separatism for themselves while excoriating everyone else for even daring to broach the subject. When the black community takes up the issue for itself everyone else is supposed to nod approvingly and say they are due the discussion because of “the past.”
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Tiger Woods: Didn’t Join The Club?”

Anti-Americanism - Chicago - Congress - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Health - Illinois - Immigration/Immigrants - Liberals - Republicans - Rights - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

The Illinois GOP Has Difficulty Talking Immigration

December 8, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent round of posts between Gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft and Chicago Examiner website columnist Robert Moon of Macon County, Illinois shows the difficulty of trying to discuss immigration in Illinois today. Passions are high and it is hard to get past all the suspicion imbued in it all.

It all began with a segment of a Chicago radio broadcast in which Dan Proft addressed some of the more demagogic treatments of the immigration problem and echoed the worry made by many Republicans that the more wild-eyed treatments of the immigration problem is bound to force the GOP into permanent minority status due to the rising number of voters with Hispanic background.

Unfortunately, this snippet seems to do Proft’s full stance on immigration a disservice because it does not explain his larger views, some of which might tend to belie the initial impression. Mr. Moon construed Proft’s stance to be one of the “open borders” variety simply because the excerpt of Proft’s radio commentary appeared on the La Raza website (La Raza is a racist organization dedicated to taking back parts of the American south and all the south west for Mexico).

Moon mentioned that Proft has had “several pro-amnesty rants” featured on the La Raza website. I have tried to find these “rants” but have not located any so I cannot speak to this claim. If anyone has any links to these “rants” I’d like to see them. But if there are none (other than the one example), this single fact would tend to make Moon’s claim problematic.
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The Illinois GOP Has Difficulty Talking Immigration”

Chicago - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Illinois - Liberals - State Government - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Indicted Gov. Blagojevich to be Re-Indicted

December 7, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I suppose I should report this story since this is an Illinois centric blog, but I have to say following the corruption of former Governor Rod Blagojevich is more like a chore than anything else.

Anyway, it seems like federal prosecutors are going to bring new indictments against Blago in order to “avoid issues connected to an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court on the scope of the federal ‘honest services’ statute under which Blagojevich has been charged.”

In a filing today, prosecutors said they would handle the honest services question in the new filing against the former governor. The high court is expected to hear arguments tomorrow related to the limits of the federal statute.

Honest services fraud criminalizes schemes that deprive the public or the government of the right to have public officials perform their duties honestly.

My eyes are glazing over already. One is tempted to wonder if there is any such thing as “honest services” from any Illinois pol?

It seems that this will push any trial dates even further out into 2010.

Just another wrinkle in the Blago saga. And the whole thing just makes me tired.

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Free Trade - Freedom - Liberals - Ohio - Rights - Society/Culture - State Government - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Ohio Election Fraud: Convicted Felons Illegally Worked for Anti-Smoking Initiative

December 7, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A just finished audit has shown that massive fraud and multiple violations of Ohio’s voting law has been uncovered in a recent ballot initiative effort. Among other violations, 47 felons were hired illegally by the advocacy group SmokeFree America to collect signatures for issue five, a ballot initiative to ban smoking in Ohio’s small businesses. Kidnappers, thieves and rapists were hired to collect signatures and addresses despite the fact that Ohio election law prohibits felons from working as petition workers. Additionally, the smoking ban was approved for being included on the Ohio ballot by state officials despite the fact that thousands of signatures were invalid and despite the fact that SmokeFree America did not meet lawful requirements. These violations were easily discovered and some of them were known by officials proving that complicit state officials quietly supported the ballot push and turned a blind eye to law breaking by the anti-smoking advocacy group.

Ohio election law prohibits convicted felons from working as petition workers, yet 47 felons have been discovered as employees of SmokeFree America in its Ohio effort. Of these felons several were convicted of rape, one accused of raping a child. Alarmingly, SmokeFree America exposed Ohio residents to rapists who were collecting their signatures and addresses! There were also forgers and thieves collecting signatures and addresses of Ohio residents. Other criminal actions by petition workers: arson, burglary, breaking and entering, weapons violations, kidnapping, drug violations, drug trafficking, grand theft, etc.

The petitions also had multiple violations of Ohio election law. Some petitions were signed by those paid to circulate the petitions — a violation of the law — and their addresses were given as hotels instead of the required permanent home addresses. Also some were out-of-state signatories instead of Ohio residents.
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Ohio Election Fraud: Convicted Felons Illegally Worked for Anti-Smoking Initiative”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - Freedom - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Unions a Danger to Good Government

December 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

What happens when a private sector union gets far too many benefits to the point where the business for which its membership works goes under or whose existence is threatened? Punishment. Unions either take a reduction of benefits or pay — or both — and cuts in time or jobs in order to right the ship and keep the business afloat occur. Just like punishment comes to businesses that make bad business decisions, private employee unions also realize punishment for overreach. At the risk of losing the whole enterprise both for unions and owners, the market serves to correct excess.

Unfortunately, there is no such corrective for union overreach for government employees. These unions rarely face any punishment for excess. And therein lies the reason that unions are antithetical to good government.

Of course, we’ve discussed this theme many times here at the blog over the past few years. But to buttress the discussion I’d like to relate some statistics. The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk recently took a look at the most current reports from labor and found that 12.4% of the American work force is made up of union members. But he notes that, while union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector jobs, it has risen to a never before seen 37.6% unionization of government employees — and this number is growing. Government workers now make up 51% of all unionized workers in the USA.
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Unions a Danger to Good Government”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - Military - President - Terrorism - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Another Obama Gitmo Official Resigns in Obama Smoke Screen Effort

November 27, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier this month President Obama fired Greg Craig, his main counsel on matters concerning the Guantanamo Bay Facility — unless, of course, you really believe the claim that Craig resigned. And this week Obama sheds another one of his GITMO team with the resignation of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for Detainee Policy Phillip Carter.

It appears that Obama’s GITMO team is being systematically eliminated. One has to ask, why? The only real answer has to be that Obama is setting up some plausible deniability by firing or forcing the resignation of officials involved with GITMO policy. Once enough of these people are gone, Obama can look wide-eyed to the public and claim that he was badly served by his GITMO advisers and, therefore, it isn’t his fault.

Unfortunately for Obama the failure is not with the henchman but with the chief hench, Obama himself. Obama has allowed Attny Gen. Holder to reveal his utter ignorance by pushing for civilian trials of some GITMO detainees while at the same time arbitrarily denying such a privilege to others. Obama has also backed this plan despite that there is no precedent in American history for such trials.
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Another Obama Gitmo Official Resigns in Obama Smoke Screen Effort”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Freedom - GOP - History - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nancy Salvato - Patriotism - President - Republicans - Rights - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Western Civilization

An Abridgement of Constitutional Rights

November 24, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

The objectives for the United States Constitution are outlined in its preamble. Read it putting emphasis on the action verbs.

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…”

All the objectives for the Constitution were chosen carefully and reflect the concerns which surfaced around The Articles of Confederation, this country’s first Constitution.

Read this again, but with a renewed emphasis on certain elements.
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An Abridgement of Constitutional Rights”

Chicago - Congress - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Illinois - Liberals - Republicans - Society/Culture - State Government - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

An Example of Electoral Foolishness in Illinois

November 23, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The petition challenge is a long-time, widely abused, wholly cynical method of destroying your opponent here in Illinois. The petition challenge has been known to eliminate candidates from ballots all across the state — but most often in the tough town of Chicago — preventing voters from having their choice on election day. In fact, a petition challenge is how Barack Obama beat his first major political opponent in Chicago.

Back in 1996 young candidate Barack Hussein Obama challenged the petition of long-time Chicago pol Alice Palmer and had her knocked off the ballot leaving Obama as the only one left for the voters to chose from come election day. The worst part of Obama’s cynical effort to ditch his opponent is that Alice Palmer was widely accepted as his political mentor at the time. With the disrespect Obama is now showing America’s allies we should find this as no surprise considering how he treated his own political mentor and friend back in ‘96.

There are legitimate reasons for a petition challenge, of course. Fake petition signatures, false filings, etc., these things should be challenged, certainly. We don’t want candidates to reach the ballot through fraud to be sure. But silly challenges abound in this state and it is nothing but a cynical gaming of the system.
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An Example of Electoral Foolishness in Illinois”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Liberals - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Vince Johnson - Welfare

Special for the High School Class of 2010

November 23, 2009 by

-By Vince Johnson

Sixty-two years ago I was a 19 year old in the Class of 1947. Our commencement speaker emphasized how fortunate we were to be preparing for career opportunities in a world focused upon peace and prosperity rather than grieving over the death and destruction of the most devastating war in history. I had a unique appreciation for his remarks because in 1945 I quit school on my 17th birthday to join the U.S. Navy. After a tour of active duty I was finally back home graduating from high school.

During the Great Depression years of the 1930’s and the war years of 40’s, thousands of people sacrificed life and limb so their kids could live in a land of abundant opportunities rather than a world filled with the miseries of war and poverty.

In those days it would have been unthinkable to borrow trillions of dollars from the future of our children without their knowledge or consent. You may believe this could never happen in America, but this has been happening to you since before you were born! Politicians have decided that your parents and grandparents needed things they could not afford, so they paid for them with several trillion dollars borrowed from your future.
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Special for the High School Class of 2010″

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Cable - Computers - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Google - House of Representatives - Inernet - Jobs - Liberals - Net Neutrality - Scott Cleland - Socialism - Taxes - Technology - The Law

Is FCC Declaring ‘Open Season’ on Internet Freedom?

November 22, 2009 by

-By Scott Cleland

The FCC, in proposing to change the definition of an “open Internet” from competition-driven to government-driven is setting a very dangerous precedent, that it is acceptable for countries to preemptively regulate the Internet for what might happen in the future, even if they lack the legitimacy of constitutional or legal authority to do so, or even if there is the thinnest of justification or evidence to support it.

How can we ever hope to influence China, Iran and other undemocratic regimes to provide more Internet access and freedom to their citizens and businesses when our FCC is proposing a radical take back of existing Internet freedoms without legitimate authority or justification?

The grave mistake the FCC is making in the broader international context is claiming that private companies are the primary threat to Internet freedom and free speech, and not governments. History and common sense tell us only Governments have the effective coercive power to dictate real censorship.

The FCC is effectively declaring “open season” on well-established Internet freedoms.
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Is FCC Declaring ‘Open Season’ on Internet Freedom?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Founders - Free Speech - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Marie Jon - President - Religion - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Western Civilization

Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong

November 20, 2009 by

-By Marie Jon

America is under siege from within. Our nation has undergone a bloodless coup that required no military action. It occurred one year ago this month, at the hands of liars, cheats, and thieves who — calling themselves “progressives” — deceived the electorate at the polls and defrauded the electoral process.

Our lives have been shaken and turned upside down and inside out as a result. “The Twilight Zone” has become a reality right here in the U.S.A. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet, blogosphere, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, the Utopian facade we’ve unwittingly accepted is being exposed for what it really is. It cannot stand the light of day, and it is crumbling as a result.

Facts and truths are being laid out before us regarding the current Marxist “coup.” Americans are growing more than just a tad concerned about President Barack Obama and his handpicked and unaccountable “Czars.” These elitists hold to un-American ideologies that are certainly not mainstream. One cannot reconcile the radical, leftist philosophies of Obama and his cohorts with the noble goals of our Founding Fathers. We who love the American ideal embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao. View: Does it Matter?

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Americans embrace George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, not Chairman Mao Zedong”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - GOP - Liberals - Patriotism - President - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Where is THIS Republican Party?

November 19, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

An excerpt of the 1924 Republican Party Platform:

The prosperity of the American nation rests on the vigor of private initiative which has bred a spirit of independence and self-reliance. The republican party stands now, as always, against all attempts to put the government into business.

American industry should not be compelled to struggle against government competition. The right of the government to regulate, supervise and control public utilities and public interests, we believe, should be strengthened, but we are firmly opposed to the nationalization or government ownership of public utilities.

In 1924 the GOP ran Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge for president. And he won on this platform.

Even then Democrats were trying to tun this country into a less powerful version of Europe by emulating its socialist systems. A proud Republican Party repudiated these socialist tendencies and reiterated its pride in the American way. These principles appealed to the true American spirit and also won elections.

Unfortunately, the very next president, himself a Republican, turned toward socialist, collectivist concepts and set the stage for what later became Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal destruction of the American economic system that compounded a market correction and turned it into “The Great Depression.” And save for a brief time under Ronald Reagan, it appears that the GOP has never recovered its principles as espoused in its 1924 platform.
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Where is THIS Republican Party?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Crime - Dan Scott - Islam - Islamofascism - Military - President - Religion - Society/Culture - Terrorism - The Law

The Rule Of Law

November 18, 2009 by

-By Dan Scott

The Obama Administration via Attorney General Holder has announced that they will try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) in the US, specifically New York. The location of the trial is rationalized as the so-called location of where the crime was committed. As with many things liberals foist upon the public it seems to make some shallow sense until we start digging beneath the surface. Why would President Obama and liberals in general insist on the location of the trial being in the jurisdiction of the crime? In general principle of US Law, the trial of any defendant should occur as a matter of practicality where the crime was committed in order to ensure witnesses are available to testify to the details of the crime. Sounds good so far, except 911 was not a criminal offense, but an act of War, specifically a war crime.

Terrorism it so happens, falls in a gray area of being between a criminal act and an act of War. When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building, his act of terrorism was a criminal act. Why? Timothy McVeigh was not allied or working at the behest of any foreign or transnational group such as al Qaeda. Timothy McVeigh was NOT an agent of a foreign power, whether that be a country or a group like al Qaeda. Timothy McVeigh was DOMESTIC TERRORIST; his crimes were of civil insurrection not war. KSM by his own admission was an agent of al Qaeda, a foreign entity who publicly declared war upon the US. The US Congress in granting President Bush powers to prosecute action against al Qaeda, formally DECLARED WAR against it. A state of war exists between al Qaeda, it’s allies (including self directed individuals) and the US government. Therefore any prisoners taken by the US in the prosecution of that war is by definition a prisoner of war. Since the legalities of uniformed combat as recognized by the Geneva Convention didn’t fully deal with non-uniformed or irregulars, they were called enemy combatants. KSM falls in this category but the US has for it’s stated purposes treated him as a prisoner of war.
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The Rule Of Law”

Britain - Christianity - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Liberals - Patriotism - President - Religion - Rights - Society/Culture - State Government - The Law - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

ISI Conference Part Three: More British Than the British!

November 16, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the final installment my three part report on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s one day conference on The Roots of American Order. So here is part two of mine titled Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant? (Click for parts one and two)

After a break for lunch, Mark C. Henrie took up America’s Britishness. Henrie wrote the ISI’s A Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum that explains the value of a traditional core of studies in Western civilization and his session reflected that study.

Capitalizing on Birzer’s citation of Edmund Burke who praised the colonist’s essential Britishness, Henrie made the point that America is best understood not as a break from tradition but as the culmination of a long series of continuous ideals that range back through Western history, specifically through England.

Henrie says that we get four essentials from England.

  • The English language and literature
  • The common law and a respect for the rule of law
  • A desire for self government
  • Manners and a social order

One of the questions that researchers have often wondered is why American English and British English are essentially the same? Why didn’t America reinvent English for its own purposes in the same way the Dutch altered German, for instance? Henrie says that the reason is that the focal point of language in the colonies was contained in the King James Bible and that pervasive reliance on a single source of language arrested any development of a widely diverging American version of English. We Americans inherited the English language through the Bible.
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ISI Conference Part Three: More British Than the British!”