Aug

26

Justice Department Approves Georgia Voter I.D. Law

Category: Opinions, Society | Comments Off | 419 words | Print

Back in 2007, I wrote several posts about Georgia’s new Voter I.D. Law on my other blog, Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff.

Today, I am happy to say that the U.S. Department of Justice has approved the voter I.D. system.

The Justice Department has given Georgia approval to again verify voters’ identity and citizenship, Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced Monday.

Federal officials have pre-cleared a modified new program designed to confirm that prospective voters are U.S. citizens. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division had repeatedly rejected similar versions of the Georgia program.

It has been mired in legal challenges since 2008…

It’s about time. There is nothing wrong with requiring a voter to show proof of their identity and their citizenship, unless you’re a Democrat.

State Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) said, “We should be doing things to encourage them to vote instead of making them jump through hoops”. What hoops? Carrying the same identification they are required to carry if they walk down the street, drive a car, or open an account at a bank? Hello? What hoops are Rep. Bruce referring to?

Oh wait. I remember. The only person jumping through hoops will be Roy Barnes, former Governor (and current candidate for Governor) who was spearheading an effort to overturn the law…

Former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes had sought the action in a state court, arguing Thursday before Judge Melvin K. Westmoreland that requiring voters to show government-issued photo ID violated the state Constitution.

That’s right. Good ol’ boy Roy, who is the Democratic nominee for Governor was really looking forward to all of those votes from people who thought carrying a photo i.d. would take too much effort or would require them to act like every other member of society.

I think we should light those hoops on fire and watch King Roy sweat a little bit.

If you want to read all my previous posts about the Georgia Voter I.D. Law, here are the links to those posts.

Georgia Voter I.D. Law Upheld
Georgia Voter I.D. Law Not Unconstitutional
State Supreme Court Hears Voter ID Case
The Georgia Voter Yo-Yo Act
Georgia Supreme Court Rejects States Appeal
Georgia Voter ID Law On Hold… Again…
Georgia Voter I.D. Cards Aren’t Quite Ready
Justice Dept. Approves Georgia Voter I.D. Law
Governor Signs Georgia Voter I.D. Law… Again.
Georgia State Senate Debates Voter ID Law. Again.
U.S. Court Denies Appeal On Voter I.D.
Boortz On Yesterday’s Voter I.D. Decision
Georgia Voter I.D. Law On Hold
Got I.D.? No Problem
Nothing More Than A Poll Tax?
The NY Times Is Full Of It
The Georgia Voter ID Bus

Apr

9

Totals, Truths, & Treaties

Category: Our Nation | Comments Off | 556 words | Print

Thank God it’s Friday. I’m going to relax tomorrow, that’s for sure. I need it.

Thought #1

Thirty-three states are out of money to fund unemployment and are must resort to borrowing money from the fed to keep benefits flowing.

With unemployment still at a severe high, a majority of states have drained their jobless benefit funds, forcing them to borrow billions from the federal government to help out-of-work Americans.

A total of 33 states and the Virgin Islands have depleted their funds and borrowed more than $38.7 billion to provide a safety net, according to a report released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project. Four others are at the brink of insolvency.

The U.S. Constitution provides for States rights, but what happens when those states owe billions to the federal government? Something tells me the line between right and wrong is going to be blurred for a very long time.

Thought #2

Bart Stupak, the alleged “pro-life” Democrat who sold his soul in the fight against the health-care bill is calling it quits.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who played a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, announced Friday afternoon that he will not run for reelection, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. Without Stupak on the ballot, the seat becomes an immediate pickup opportunity for Republicans.

At a press conference in his home district this afternoon, Stupak attributed the exertion of traveling back and forth from Washington to his sprawling Upper Peninsula district as a primary reason for his retirement but also said that he had completed much of what he aimed to do in Congress.

The truth is, he sold out, and his constituents know it. Pro-Life voters sent him to Washington and those same Pro-Life voters would have made sure he wasn’t going back regardless of his decision. He quit in the fight against the health-care bill, so it’s no wonder that he’s quitting again now.

Thought #3

The new START Treaty, which is supposed to curtail nuclear weapon proliferation, contains limits on conventional weapons.

Section 1251 of the fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization Bill Congress warned President Barack Obama not to include any “limitations” on U.S. advanced conventional weapons in New START. Now that New START has been signed, the State Department is putting out fact sheets on the agreement. An April 8th fact sheet from the State Department is entitled: “Key Point: The New START Treaty does not contain any constraints on current or planned U.S. conventional prompt global strike capability.”

So it would appear that President Obama listened to Congress’s concern regarding limitations on conventional weapons system. Unfortunately, appearances deceive. Later in the same release, the following is stated: “Long-range conventional ballistic missiles would count under the Treaty’s limit [emphasis added] of 700 delivery vehicles, and their conventional warheads would count against the limit of 1550 warheads, because the treaty does not make a distinction between missiles that are armed with conventional weapons and those that are armed with nuclear weapons.”

There is no limit to the audacity of the current administration. President Obama announced just days ago that we would not retaliate for certain acts against our county, and now we know why. It’s because he’s going to make sure we don’t have any defenses left to retaliate with.

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Apr

2

They Just Don’t Get It, Do They?

Category: Our Nation, Politics | Comments Off | 209 words | Print

“For me… These are people’s lives… These are people’s children… I don’t worry about the Consitution on this to be honest… I care more about the people who are dying every day that don’t have health care…”

Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) does not worry about the Constitution. He does not care what the Constitution says because he cares more about the people who are dying every day that don’t have health care.

 

The Constitution is the law of the land, and the thought that people are dying every day “that don’t have health care” is a myth. I have never, in my entire life, heard of one person being turned away at an emergency room because they didn’t have insurance. My own brother-in-law had a heart attack, and once he recovered (in a hospital, without any health insurance) they worked with him to pay towards his bill. The cost of health insurance can be astronomical, but people don’t die in the United States because they “don’t have health care”.People die because of the cost of health care, not because they “don’t have it”.

Many more people will die, however, if politicians like Phil Hare keep ignoring the U.S. Constitution in the name of health-care.

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Mar

26

Lies, Lies, And More Lies

Category: Our Nation, Politics | Comments Off | 388 words | Print

Obama says if we want to repeal ObamaCare, we should go for it. He better be careful. He may just get what he asked for.

During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama made a pledge not to increase taxes on any households earning less than $250,000.

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increases,” the Illinois senator told a crowd in Dover, N.H. on Sept. 12, 2008. “Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”

He lied.

During his address to the joint session of Congress in February of 2009, he repeated his pledge.

“If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not a single dime,” the president said.

He lied again. How many times has he lied? Let’s count the ways (just with the health care bill).

All legal U.S. residents will be required to purchase health care beginning in 2014. The plan will require a single person to pay 2.5% of their income or $695 if they don’t purchase health care. If you make more than $30,000 you pay the 2.5%, if you make less, you pay $695. Either way, it’s an additional “health care” tax you were not paying before.

Businesses will be required to provide health care to all employees (even part-time) even if their revenues are below $250,000 per year. If the business does not provide the insurance, they will pay a tax of $750 per employee.

My wife runs her own business. I run my own business, together we will be paying much more than we were before this crap from ObamaCare hit the proverbial fan.

The old rules for HSA (health savings accounts) and FSA (flexible spending accounts) will no longer apply. Americans could use pre-tax dollars from those accounts for over the counter medicines. They will not be allowed any longer, which adds additional taxes to their income.

I could go on all day with each of the new taxes. It turns out there are more than a dozen of them, but then again, if you read the bill you already knew that.

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Mar

25

Unsustainable Change. Don’t Buy It

Category: Our Nation, Politics | Comments Off | 407 words | Print

It’s about time someone told this guy to take a hike.

Dozens of TEA Party organizations have denounced his candidacy as a fraud. He is not associated with any of those organizations in the state of Nevada, yet he is running as the “tea party candidate”.

My only guess is he’s into sipping tea from dainty little cups. If not, then he’s nothing more than a big fat liar.

Speaking of liars, did you know that the new health care bill will cost businesses billions of dollars in additional health care costs and result in the layoffs of more and more people as their employers become aware of the costs they will incur.

While 40 different states have some sort of legislation in the works to overturn ObamaCare, some people are still trying to convince us that the health care bill was passed for “good reasons”.

The mandate’s defenders say Congress is exercising its power to “regulate commerce…among the several states.” Yet a law that compels people to engage in an intrastate transaction plainly does not fit within the original understanding of the Commerce Clause, which was aimed at facilitating the interstate exchange of goods by removing internal trade barriers.

Of course, not everyone is drinking the kool-aid. In fact, roughly 70% of the American people are refusing to drink the kool-aid.

Yet this is the logic of the health insurance mandate, an unprecedented attempt to punish people for the offense of living in the United States without buying something the federal government thinks they should have. Don’t buy it.

Then again, if you are one of the 30% or so that is happy with the health-care bill, take a moment to bask in the knowledge that you are one with Fidel Castro.

We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama’s) government…

But even Fidel Castro doesn’t get it.

Cuba provides free health care and education to all its citizens, and heavily subsidizes food, housing, utilities and transportation, policies that have earned it global praise. The government has warned that some of those benefits are no longer sustainable given Cuba’s ever-struggling economy, though it has so far not made major changes.

In recent speeches, Raul Castro has singled out medicine as an area where the government needs to be spending less, but he has not elaborated.

Universal health care. Unsustainable costs. Imagine that. You wanted change, America. You got it.

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Mar

21

Bart Stupak Is A “Pro-Lie” Democrat

Category: Politics | 2 Comments | 136 words | Print

In the end, it doesn’t matter what Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) says. When he said he would not vote for the health care bill if it contained any provision that would allow for taxpayer funded abortions, he lied.

Surprise. Bart Stupak is not a “pro-life” Democrat. He’s a “pro-lie” Democrat.

In October, he claimed on this video, that he would vote for the health care bill irregardless of any pro-death clauses within the bill.

 

The Executive Order didn’t matter. Any deal with Nanny State Nancy didn’t matter. He was voting for the bill either way. He was just playing a game with his constituents and the American people.

Bart Stupak gets an “F” for honesty and integrity, thereby making him the new face of “pro-lie” Democrats all across this country.

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Mar

21

Selling Out At The Last Minute

Category: Politics | Comments Off | 995 words | Print

Here is the text of the Executive Order which will be signed by President Obama AFTER the health care bill passes the House. Self-proclaimed “pro-life” Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) held a press conference just minutes ago stating that he would support the health care bill on “principle” because of this executive order.

Please remember, no Executive Order can trump law. The current laws make abortion legal. The health care bill provides for federal funding of abortions. The bill, if passed, will become law. No Executive Order can trump law. The Executive Order becomes null and void the moment President Barack Obama signs the bill into law.

Bart Stupak sold out for a useless piece of paper. If he wanted a piece of paper worth something, I have a whole roll of it he could have.

ENSURING ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (approved March ¬¬__, 2010), I hereby order as follows:

Section 1. Policy.

Following the recent passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“the Act”), it is necessary to establish an adequate enforcement mechanism to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), consistent with a longstanding Federal statutory restriction that is commonly known as the Hyde Amendment. The purpose of this Executive Order is to establish a comprehensive, government-wide set of policies and procedures to achieve this goal and to make certain that all relevant actors—Federal officials, state officials (including insurance regulators) and health care providers—are aware of their responsibilities, new and old.

The Act maintains current Hyde Amendment restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to the newly-created health insurance exchanges. Under the Act, longstanding Federal laws to protect conscience (such as the Church Amendment, 42 U.S.C. §300a-7, and the Weldon Amendment, Pub. L. No. 111-8, §508(d)(1) (2009)) remain intact and new protections prohibit discrimination against health care facilities and health care providers because of an unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.

Numerous executive agencies have a role in ensuring that these restrictions are enforced, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Section 2. Strict Compliance with Prohibitions on Abortion Funding in Health Insurance Exchanges.

The Act specifically prohibits the use of tax credits and cost-sharing reduction payments to pay for abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) in the health insurance exchanges that will be operational in 2014. The Act also imposes strict payment and accounting requirements to ensure that Federal funds are not used for abortion services in exchange plans (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered) and requires state health insurance commissioners to ensure that exchange plan funds are segregated by insurance companies in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, OMB funds management circulars, and accounting guidance provided by the Government Accountability Office.

I hereby direct the Director of OMB and the Secretary of HHS to develop, within 180 days of the date of this Executive Order, a model set of segregation guidelines for state health insurance commissioners to use when determining whether exchange plans are complying with the Act’s segregation requirements, established in Section 1303 of the Act, for enrollees receiving Federal financial assistance. The guidelines shall also offer technical information that states should follow to conduct independent regular audits of insurance companies that participate in the health insurance exchanges. In developing these model guidelines, the Director of OMB and the Secretary of HHS shall consult with executive agencies and offices that have relevant expertise in accounting principles, including, but not limited to, the Department of the Treasury, and with the Government Accountability Office. Upon completion of those model guidelines, the Secretary of HHS should promptly initiate a rulemaking to issue regulations, which will have the force of law, to interpret the Act’s segregation requirements, and shall provide guidance to state health insurance commissioners on how to comply with the model guidelines.

Section 3. Community Health Center Program.

The Act establishes a new Community Health Center (CHC) Fund within HHS, which provides additional Federal funds for the community health center program. Existing law prohibits these centers from using federal funds to provide abortion services (except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered), as a result of both the Hyde Amendment and longstanding regulations containing the Hyde language. Under the Act, the Hyde language shall apply to the authorization and appropriations of funds for Community Health Centers under section 10503 and all other relevant provisions. I hereby direct the Secretary of HHS to ensure that program administrators and recipients of Federal funds are aware of and comply with the limitations on abortion services imposed on CHCs by existing law. Such actions should include, but are not limited to, updating Grant Policy Statements that accompany CHC grants and issuing new interpretive rules.

Section 4. General Provisions.

(a) Nothing in this Executive Order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) authority granted by law or presidential directive to an agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This Executive Order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This Executive Order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

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Mar

21

Law Trumps Order Everytime

Category: Politics | Comments Off | 195 words | Print

There’s word today that there may be an “Executive Order” being offered in an exchange for votes on the House bill.

The possible deal would focus on an executive order that would specify there would be no public funding for abortions in the healthcare bill.

Apparently, in an effort to persuade lawmakers to support this bill, the President of the United States is offering this executive order which will have no affect on the healthcare bill. An executive order cannot override or negate an existing law.

Abortion is legal and the health care bill, as written in the Senate version, will allow funding for abortions. If the House passes the bill today, it will become law with the President’s signature. The President of the United States cannot issue any executive order which overrides that current law.

No deal, with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) or anyone else, is worth the paper it is written on, if it includes an Executive Order.

On a side note, the President can reverse or alter any executive order by simply signing another executive order. There is no guarantee that the President will not do that.

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Mar

21

It’s Not Too Late To Kill The Bill!

Category: Politics | Comments Off | 130 words | Print

I will be doing a series of small posts today, leading up to the vote on the health care bill in the House of Representatives.

The House will be debating the resolution which includes the Senate version of the bill. If the House passes the bill, as it is introduced today, the measure will go to the President for his signature.

The House Rules committee released a list of proposed amendments to the bill, but those amendments will only apply if they are passed by both the House and the Senate, as the final bill will already be ready for the President’s signature.

A vote today in the House is a vote for the Senate version, plain and simple. Here’s a video to get you started today.

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Mar

18

A Vote For An Unconstitutional Rule

Category: Our Nation, Politics | Comments Off | 417 words | Print

House Republicans introduced a resolution to force a vote on Louise Slaughter’s “rule”.

H. RES. __
RESOLUTION
Ensuring an up or down vote on certain health care legislation.
Resolved, That the Committee on Rules may not report a rule or order that provides for disposition of the Senate amendments to H.R. 3590, an Act entitled The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, unless such rule or order provides for—
(1) at least one hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader, or their designees; and
(2) a requirement that the Speaker put the question on disposition of the Senate amendments and that the yeas and nays be considered as ordered thereon.

The vote on that resolution was held today. The resolution failed by a vote of 222-203.

That’s right. Two-Hundred and Twenty-Two Democrats feel that Article I, Section VII, Clause II of the U.S. Constitution is null and void. I know I keep re-hashing this same “argument” but the Constitution states,

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively…

The item is not up for debate. The U.S. Constitution states that every bill that passes the House and the Senate must pass with Yeas and Nays being called. The Slaughter “rule” will deem the Senate version passed in the House, which is unconstitutional. Period.

The fact that 222 House Democrats don’t respect, let alone even know, what is written in our Constitution does not surprise me. The next couple days are going to be quite interesting, but when it comes to the Slaughter “rule”, there is nothing more to discuss.

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