The Right Lane update 5.26.13

The pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual liberty

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington

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Nobel Committee Asks Obama for Peace Prize Back
Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, said today that President Obama “really ought to consider” returning his Nobel Peace Prize Medal immediately, including the “really nice” case it came in. 
The party that marched American troops into Meuse-Argonne, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Inchon and Khe Sanh is back with a vengeance under President Barack Obama, who has taken to overseas war-making like a duck to water. This must have the Nobel Prize committee scratching its collective head.
Obama, who less than nine months after his inauguration won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” while fostering “a new climate” in international relations, especially in reaching out to the Islamic world, has the U.S. engaged in conflicts in six Muslim nations. Today Mr. Obama has more troops in Afghanistan than when he took office. He has widened the use of drones. (The U.S. now has 8,000 of the unmanned remote control planes.) He involved the U.S. military in an undeclared war in Libya, and waged covert wars in Yemen and Somalia. Perhaps most alarming, he is the first U.S. president to authorize the assassination of an American abroad (the New Mexican born Anwar al-Awlaki).

Overseas belligerency is one thing, but Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder has stated that the president has “under extraordinary circumstances” authority to use drone strikes to kill Americans on U.S. soil. I think the Committee has a legitimate right to undo a wrong.

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‘Common Core’ Nationalizes and Dumbs Down Public School Curriculum by Ron Paul
In addition to shredding civil liberties, launching a utopian global war for democracy, and going on a spending spree that would make LBJ blush, the so-called “conservative” Bush administration dramatically increased federal control over education via the “No Child Left Behind” act. During my time in Congress I heard nothing but complaints about this law from teachers, administrators, and, most importantly, students and parents. Most of the complaints concerned No Child Left Behind’s testing requirements, which encouraged educators to “teach to the test.”
Sadly, but not surprisingly, instead of improving education by repealing No Child Left Behind’s testing and other mandates, the Obama administration is increasing national control over schools via the “Common Core” initiative. Common Core is a new curriculum developed by a panel of so-called education experts. The administration is trying to turn Common Core into a national curriculum by offering states increased federal education funding if they impose Common Core’s curriculum on their public schools. This is yet another example of the government using money stolen from the people to bribe states into obeying federal dictates.
Critics of Common Core say it “dumbs down” education by replacing traditional English literature with “informational texts”. So students will read such inspiring materials as studies by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the EPA’s “Recommended Levels of Insulation,” and “Invasive Plant Inventory” by California’s Invasive Plant Council. It is doubtful that reading federal reports will teach students the habits of critical thinking and skepticism of government that the Founders considered essential to maintaining a free republic.
Like Obamacare, Common Core (now dubbed “ObamaCore” by some) has sparked a backlash in the states, leading some to propose legislation forbidding state participation in the scheme. I hope these efforts lead to states not just opting out of Common Core, but out of No Child Left Behind and all other federal education programs as well.
Parents can also effectively “opt out” of programs like Common Core by seeking alternatives to government education. It is no coincidence that, as federal control over education increases, the quality of public education has declined and more parents have chosen to homeschool.
I believe it is important for those of us concerned with education and liberty to fight our battles locally. We must oppose further encroachment on the autonomy of local public schools and work to roll-back existing interference, while encouraging and supporting the growth of homeschooling and other alternative education movements. The key to restoring quality education is to replace the bureaucratic control of education with a free-market in education. Parents should have the freedom to select the type of education that best suits their child’s unique needs.

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Obama: Our Veterans Sacrificed To Make America ‘More Fair’

This president will not miss any opportunity to twist events and history to fit his ideology.  Freedom is not free.  That word is "FREEDOM".  Obama and his ilk leverage the fact that sleepy headed people here this from a person of authority and simply nod their heads in agreement.   To Obama fair is some lazy person sitting at home getting a check and not doing anything to contribute other than voting liberal. To conservatives fair is personal responsibility, a small government that doesn’t control our lives, and the chance to make it by your own blood, sweat, and tears. Taking care of the poor and lazy should be the job of charities and not some wasteful bureaucracy. This idiot has no clue what freedom or sacrifice is.

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Leopards Can’t Change Their Spots: Pattern of IRS Bullying Goes Back to Obama’s 2008 Campaign

Kimberly Strassel has a must-read column at the Wall Street Journal today that explains the context in which the IRS scandal emerged–not just during the Obama administration’s attempt to quash the Tea Party, but in Obama’s efforts to shut down all opposition, both Republican and Democratic, in the 2008 campaign.  Strassel notes that Bob Bauer, the Obama campaign (and later White House) general counsel, wrote letters to the Department of Justice in August 2008 attacking a conservative 501(c)4 called the American Issues Project for running an ad that highlighted Obama’s connection to former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. Bauer did not stop there; he also contacted the Federal Election Commission. That same month, a left-wing activist created a 501(c)4 called Accountable America that was designed to intimidate GOP donors. Earlier that year, Strassel notes, during the Democratic Party primary, Bauer had used the same tactics against a left-wing 501(c)4 that supported Hillary Clinton, and another against one supporting John Edwards. As even Ben Smith, then of Politico and a noted defender of the Obama campaign, noted:

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Bauer has called for criminal investigations and prosecutions into the donors to independent groups critical of Obama, including one supporting John Edwards and another supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton. His words did have the effect of scaring their donors and consultants, but haven’t yet appeared to result in any prosecution.

There are many other examples that one can add to Strassel’s analysis. One that I remember with particular bitterness is from September 2008, when the Democratic National Committee and several Obama-aligned organizations pressured the Jewish community to un-invite Sarah Palin from a rally against Iran at the UN.

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Obama Losing More Union Support

One of the primary groups that helped to get Barack Obama elected to a second term were labor unions.  In fact, some unions even ordered union members to attend and disrupt Romney and Ryan campaign rallies.  A number of union members were bussed into some GOP rallies and even paid to protest. Now a growing number of unions are becoming discontent and angry about some of Obama’s policies that they initially supported. Currently, nearly 20 million union members that work in the construction, retail, transportation and several other industries on a seasonal or part time basis have health benefits provided by the Taft-Hartley plans.  The unions and smaller employers share their resources to provide for continuous coverage even when the union members are between jobs.  These plans often are more expensive than those offered by most employers, however the workers are guaranteed non-stop coverage during times of unemployment. Once Obamacare is fully implemented, these plans will become even more costly to the unions.  Under Obamacare, dependents will be covered up to age 26, the limits on annual and lifetime coverage will be eliminated and people with pre-existing conditions will also be covered.  All of these factors will drive the union costs higher. David Treanor, Director of Health Care Initiatives at Operating Engineers Union commented on the added costs saying:

“We’re concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges.”

Bob Laszewski, a consultant for the health care industry, explained that union contracts are expensive enough. The new provisions mandated by Obamacare will drive the cost of union contracts even higher.

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Homosexual Marriage: Following in the Footsteps of Roman Emperor Nero  by Gary DeMar

Who would have ever imagined that the Supreme Court would rule on whether homosexual marriage is a human right and a constitutional guarantee? It’s neither, but that won’t stop the nation’s highest court from saying that it is. Look what seven justices did in 1973 on the abortion issue and what five justices did in 2012 on Obamacare. They found constitutional rights where none exist. And why shouldn’t they since there is no longer a “law above the law” that governs our lives. The law is what five unelected justices say it is. Frightening. If homosexual marriage is legitimized by the Supreme Court, the homosexual genie will be let loose. Most Americans have never seen homosexual behavior. Homosexual characters on TV and in the movies are strategically placed and their characters are sympathetically written.

Probably 95 percent of Americans have never seen a ‘Gay Pride’ parade, a homosexual website, or seedy advertisements for all things homosexual. But once homosexual marriage is declared the law of the land, it won’t matter anymore. The true character of the homosexual lifestyle will be in our faces, and there won’t be a thing we’ll be able to do about it. This isn’t the first time homosexual marriage has been embraced by civil officials and the general population. The book of Ecclesiastes declares:

That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us (1:9–11)

It’s what we do about these things that make all the difference. The Greeks and Romans promoted and practiced homosexuality and the general population initially accepted it. Craig Turner offers a summary of the history:

“The practice of homosexuality in the Roman Empire had increased during the early years until the Romans accepted and adopted the pederasty [love of boys] of the Greeks (fornication with boys ages 12 to 18). Though at first the acts were considered acceptable only if the boy was a slave, the Romans eventually extended their tolerance of homosexual acts to adult men, both free and slave. Same-sex marriage, once unthinkable, was not far behind. “Early Roman poets and critics wrote about the practice, from Juvenal’s satire that mentions Gracchus, who ‘arrayed himself in the flounces and train and veil of a bride,’ to Martial, a first-century poet who observed that homosexual marriage was not uncommon in the empire during the first century. Both Juvenal and Martial gave us accounts of men who ‘played the bride’ in wedding ceremonies, wearing bridal veils like women.  “But our most detailed images of homosexual marriages come from the descriptions of Roman emperors. Nero, a depraved first-century emperor, married at least two men. He wed Pythagoras in a formal same-sex wedding by first putting on a bridal veil that made Nero the ‘bride’ and Pythagoras the ‘groom.’ Every symbol of a classical marriage was present at this ceremony: a dowry, marriage bed, torches, and witnesses. Tacitus, the great Roman historian who records the event, even alludes to the fact that Nero engaged in coitus with the man in front of all the guests, stating that ‘everything was public which even in a natural union is veiled by night.’”

There’s more to this sordid sexual history that few Americans know anything about. What many Americans do know is the history of the fall of Greece and Rome. Can America be far behind?

What stopped the moral disintegration was the spread of Christianity. It’s frightening to think that today many Christians have sided with Nero.

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Gingrich: Obama Terror Speech 'Breathtakingly Naive'   By Greg Richter

President Barack Obama's counterterrorism speech last was "stunningly, breathtakingly naive," former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich says. "He says at one point, wars have to end," Gingrich said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union. "Well, (Leon) Trotsky said, 'You may not care about war, but war cares about you.'" Gingrich said both Obama's and President George W. Bush's administrations have refused to admit radical Islam is on the offense across the planet. "It is what killed people in Boston. It is what just killed a soldier in London," he said.

"The president announces cheerfully, 'The war's going to end because I'm not happy being a war president,'" Gingrich said. Pointing to problems in northern Nigeria, the Chinese volunteering to send troops to Mali, and problems in Libya, Gingrich said the United States will never again see the pre-1941 sense of peace that it isn't being threatened.  "No one wants to talk honestly about how big the threat is, how widespread it is, how fanatic it is, and how in its own mind, it's totally legitimate," he said.

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Barack Brain-child Obama Demands Justice! Tells Holder To Investigate Holder

Stupid is as stupid does.  President Barack Obama has asked his friend Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Holder’s unprecedented investigation of a Fox News reporter.  Holder approved the Justice Department’s extraordinary 2010 investigation of contacts between a Fox News reporter and a State Department official who has since been charged with leaking classified information, according to NBC. The Justice Department searched the reporter’s e-mails and phone calls under the legal claim that he may have contributed to a crime. The Fox News revelation followed the news that the Justice Department had investigated the phone records of reporters working for The Associated Press.

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Cameron to Launch Task Force to Stop Islamic Radicalization

Maybe Cameron needs to see Steven Crowder’s new video to understand that Islam is not the religion of peace it claims. British Prime Minister David Cameron has reportedly decided on a new task force to stamp out Islamic extremism across the country. According to the UK Daily Mail:

The Prime Minister wants to stop extremist clerics using schools, colleges, prisons and mosques to spread their ‘poison’ and is to head a new Tackling Extremism and Radicalisation Task Force (TERFOR) made up of senior Ministers, MI5, police and moderate religious leaders.

The high-powered group will study a number of measures, including banning extremist clerics from being given public platforms to incite students, prisoners and other followers – and forcing mosque leaders to answer for ‘hate preachers’.  According to a senior source at Whitehall, Cameron “is determined to challenge the poisonous narrative of extremist clerics and confront religious leaders who promote violence.”

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Gallup: Majority Says Federal Government Too Powerful

A majority of Americans believe that the federal government is too powerful, according to the latest Gallup poll. The 54 percent who say the government has "too much power" has not changed much—the figure is slightly higher than in 2012 and marginally lower than in 2010 and 2011—in the wake of the latest scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department.

The IRS has been embroiled in allegations that the agency targeted conservative groups applying for tax exempt nonprofit status, while reports have emerged that the DOJ seized phone and e-mail records of journalists at the Associate Press and Fox News. Still, the poll found that the number of people who think the government has too much power is about the same as it has been since 2005. Thirty-six percent say the government has about the right amount of power, while 8 percent of Americans say it has "too little" power. Not surprisingly, though, there is a dramatic difference in opinion when it comes to party affiliation. More than twice as many Republicans, 76 percent, as Democrats, 32 percent, believe the government has too much power, while a majority of independents side with the GOP.

Republicans are also much more likely than Democrats to agree with the assertion that the federal government "poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens," the poll found, although a quarter of Democrats say they agree.  Overall, just under half of Americans, 46 percent, agree with that contention, while 53 percent disagree.

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"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, 1775

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