Capitol Notebook

So much for Obama's campaign promise on abortion

Jim Backlin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:34:23 +0000

A "Washington Post" reporter, E.J. Dionne on November 14, 2008, reminded Americans -- right after Barack Obama was elected president -- of one of Obama's "most important promises." That "was to end the cultural and religious wars that have disfigured politics for four decades." Obama's campaign promise was much like Bill Clinton's campaign promise in 1992 to keep abortion "safe, legal and rare."

E.J. Dionne goes on in his column: "Obama added: 'Nobody's pro-abortion.' Once he assumes office, Obama might be tempted to forget that moment, issue pro-choice executive orders that the abortion rights movement expects, and move back to the sagging economy."

Well, guess what? Obama during his first day in office signed an executive order which will greatly increase abortions. Yesterday, because of the Obama Democrat-controlled Congress, all federal abstinence funding ceased in America which of course will greatly increase abortions.

Last week, the Obama Democrats in the House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee in the United States House of Representatives approved their annual appropriations bill with language which will gut the longstanding ban on funding in the District of Columbia for abortions paid for by American taxpayers which former Congressman Robert Dornan introduced many years ago. read more »

Hollywood's relentless abortion drive

Jim Backlin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:53:45 +0000

The president of the Christian Coalition of America, Roberta Combs, last Friday wrote a commentary entitled "Parents' Rights Constitutional Amendment vs. U.N.'s Convention of "Rights" of the Child." Mrs. Combs rightfully supported the bill -- Parents' Rights Constitutional Amendment (H. J. Res. 42) -- authored by Michigan Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra and co-sponsored by the Republican leader, John Boehner from Ohio, and some 100 other Members of the House of Representatives.

This past weekend, Hollywood came out with another political movie which undermines parental rights entitled "My Sister's Keeper" starring Camerson Diaz which, although interesting, advocates the rights of children over parental rights and of course managed to insert one of Hollywood's favorite motifs of the abortion movement: "It's my body. It's my choice."

In the movie, Cameron Diaz and her husband conceived a baby to produce parts, including stem cells, a kidney, etc, for their older daughter dying of cancer. The "designer baby," now a young girl of around ten years old, brings a lawsuit to court to supposedly gain medical emancipation from her parents with the help of her attorney, a member of the ACLU, played by Alec Baldwin. read more »

Take our American Values Survey - then pass it on

Drew McKissick — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:54:13 +0000

Given the changes in Washington, it is urgent that political leaders understand that America's Christian voters expect strong moral leadership in government. Leadership that respects and reflects our values - not attacks them at every opportunity.

That's why we're conducting a massive survey of America's politically active Christians - so we can show the politicians and the media exactly where we stand.

We're surveying hundreds of thousands of conservative Christians nationwide, and we want to make sure your voice is included.

This is your chance to send a strong message to America's political leaders as well as members of the media. Urge them not to ignore the issues and concerns of America's Christians. Don't let them claim that they never heard from you.

Click here to take the survey and have your voice heard!

(Individual answers will be kept confidential. Only the overall total results from all respondents will be released.)

Apathy is the liberal's friend

Drew McKissick — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:20:10 +0000

Mark Steyn has a great column out entitled "Retreat into Apathy" in which his primary point is that it's apathy, specifically apathetic citizenship, that allows the type of big government bailouts and takeovers that we've seen (and are seeing) possible.

And each little area of our lives that we're apathetic enough to let the government take over creates another area of life we're conditioned not to worry about, since it's now Big Brother's job.

The issue at hand is health care. Steyn writes:

Big government depends, in large part, on going around the country stirring up apathy - creating the sense that problems are so big, so complex, so intractable that even attempting to think about them for yourself gives you such a splitting headache it's easier to shrug and accept as given the proposition that only government can deal with them.

Take health care. Have you read any of these health-care plans? Of course not. They're huge and turgid and unreadable. Unless you're a health-care lobbyist, a health-care think-tanker, a health-care correspondent, or some other fellow who's paid directly or indirectly to plough through this stuff, why bother? None of the senators whose names are on the bills have read 'em; why should you? ... read more »

Koh will undermine American sovereignty

Jim Backlin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:47:02 +0000

Many of the cast of characters selected by Barack Obama to be members of his administration come from the extreme left-wing fringe of the Democrat Party. Obama's selection of Harold Koh to be his State Department's Legal Advisor best exemplifies this fact. Koh is a disciple of a radical belief called "transnationalism."

Transnationalists, such as Harold Koh, believe that Americans should be governed by foreign laws and the viewpoints of international organizations such as the United Nations. Indeed, former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor actually referred to international law when making some of her decisions on cases before the Supreme Court. Others on the court believe likewise and so does Obama's first nominee to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.

Harold Koh is so radical that he referred to America as being a part of the "axis of disobedience" because we do not kow-tow to foreign laws which he and his fellow left-wing ideologues advocate for this country. Obama's nominee to the State Department actually put us in this category with the likes of North Korea, Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

In yesterday's "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), an an article entitled "Koh Nomination Threatens to Tie Up Senate's Work Schedule Before Recess," it was reported that the United States Senate will vote on "President Obama's controversial choice of Harold Hongju Koh" to be the top lawyer at the State Department" this week. read more »

Obama changes federal regulations on gay benefits

Drew McKissick — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:41:04 +0000

This week, Obama announced that he is changing government regulations to begin extending federal benefits to the partners of gay federal employees - which will essentially treats them like married couples. According to the details, gay and lesbian partners of federal employees will be given access to health care benefits, financial benefits and relocation fees. And of course this comes after Obama declared June to be "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month".

Obama's actions come after he received letters from prominent gay-rights groups, complaining that he had not done enough for them.

Then there was the decision this week by the Washington DC Board of Elections to reject the request of a coalition of black ministers to allow voters in the nation's capital to vote on overturning the City Council's recent decision to begin giving official recognition to gay marriages performed in other states. They claimed the vote could lead to "discrimination".

This comes the same week that a new CBS News poll found that support for gay marriage has dropped by nine points in the last two months to only 33%.

Clearly the majority of the American people are opposed to gay marriage. But the politicians in Washington have to hear from you.

Speak out by clicking here and joining the campaign to defend traditional marriage today!

Democrat leaders' disrespect for U.S. military

Jim Backlin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:35:40 +0000

Just what is it in the DNA of many of the leaders of the Democrat Party which cause them to have such a distain for the United States military and for us combat war veterans?

The most recent example of this was yesterday during a hearing being conducted by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, left-wing Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat from California. She had testifying before her committee, Brigadier General Michael Walsh, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

General Walsh began his answer to one of Barbara Boxer's questions by saying: "Ma'am." She immediately cut him off saying: "You know, do me a favor. Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?' It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, yes, thank you."

What makes Boxer's contemptible remarks and her dressing down the Army general so disgusting is that every military person from the private, sailor and airman to the highest general and admiral treats everyone with respect by addressing them as either "sir" or "ma'am" (as in madam.)

Indeed, during the very same day as Barbara Boxer's committee hearing, two Navy officials, including 3-star admiral Bernard McCullough, frequently referred to Senator Roger Wicker, Republican from Mississippi as "sir" and Senator Wicker did not get bent all out of shape as Boxer did. read more »

Sotomayor's problems on gun rights and abortion

Drew McKissick — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:49:57 +0000

It seems that the more information that becomes public on Sonia Sotomayor, the more cause for concern Americans would seem to have about the possibility of her sitting on the highest court in the land for a lifetime appointment.

During the past few weeks, she's made the rounds in the Senate, paying courtesy calls to various senators so they can "get to know her". Of course, this is part of the usual PR plan for pretty much every Supreme Court nominee, regardless of party. But as she's made these visits, she appears to be raising some eyebrows on some pretty important issues.

When it comes to gun rights, she seems to have some hostility to the Second Amendment, or at least the way in which the vast majority of Americans interpret it.

After her meeting with Senator Jim DeMint, he stated that she was "unwilling to say the Second Amendment protects a fundamental right that applies to all Americans, which raises serious questions about her view of the Bill of Rights".

Indeed, in the case of "Maloney v. Cuomo", she and her fellow appellate court judges ruled that the Second Amendment doesn't apply to state or local governments - an opinion that's in direct contrast with the view of the current Supreme Court in last year's "Heller" case, where it ruled that the Second Amendment provided all Americans with an individual right to keep and bear arms. Given that the case was decided by a one vote margin, her thinking on this issue is very, very important. read more »

Obama's trillions keep adding up

Jim Backlin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:11:19 +0000

As if Barack Obama's trillion stimulus legislation (which includes interest on the $787 billion final bill) was not enough, Americans found out today that the Democrats' health care legislation -- which greatly increases government intrusion into Americans' health care -- will cost American taxpayers another trillion dollars during the next 10 years if it is passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress this year. This is what the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the Kennedy/Obama health reform bill will cost in a letter to Senator Ted Kennedy today.

These two one-trillion dollar Obama programs are on top of the nearly 1/2 trillion onnibus bill passed to fund Obama's government until the end of this fiscal year. Obama's first deficit is estimated by his administration to be $1.8 trillion, but many economists believe it will actually be a gigantic $2 trillion by the end of this fiscal year. Obama has quadrupled the deficit and quadrupled the debt according to Sean Hannity on his show tonight on the Fox News channel. read more »

Conservative victories in Europe threaten America's Democrat Party

Jim Backlin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:09:49 +0000

The world conservative movement won a huge victory in Europe this past weekend because European voters rejected left-wing take-overs of businesses and huge government spending to combat the severe world-wide recession. They are rejecting the Nanny state said Glenn Beck on his show on Monday.

Considering that those socialist policies are exactly what the Obama administration is forcing upon America -- with the help of an extreme left-wing United States Congress -- the European election results portend disastrous consequences for the Democrat Party in next year's congressional elections -- unless the "Blue Dog Democrats" and others with commonsense stop their party's rabidly partisan and ideological leadership.

The center-right elected candidates picked up 267 seats in the European Parliament. On the other hand, the center-left politicians won only 159 seats. Daniel Hannan, conservative British Member of the European Parliament, said on the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News this past Monday that people make a mistake when they assume that liberal democracies are a permanent fixture in Europe.

Likewise, the Democrat leadership in the White House and in Congress -- as well as pessimistic Republicans -- are making a mistake if they believe Barack Obama's, Nancy Pelosi's and Harry Reid's pell-mell rush to socialism will be a permanent fixture in this country. read more »