After Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts voted to uphold the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “ObamaCare,” many wondered if there could be a yet-unknown reason why the Republican-nominated justice made the unexpected decision.
On the Glenn Beck radio program Tuesday, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) explained why he believes Roberts was intimidated into changing his vote late in the process, as laid out in his new book Why John Roberts Was Wrong About Healthcare.
Lee’s argument is not based on the NSA or its monitoring of the nation’s communication. Rather, Lee said, there are indications that Roberts originally intended to vote against the act, but that a public “campaign of intimidation” made him change his mind…
Kathy Schiffer
Seasons of Grace
Patheos.com
6/17/2013
Just two days after Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Vatican Prefect, speaking in Glasgow, Scotland, touted Catholic education as “a critical component of the Church”, President Barack Obama stood before a crowd of 2,000 young people this morning and called for an end to Catholic education in Northern Ireland.
“If towns remain divided,” said the U.S. President,“if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another and fear or resentment are allowed to harden—that too encourages division and discourages cooperation.”
Obama, who arrived in Northern Ireland this morning to attend the two-day G-8 Summit at the Lough Erne resort in Enneskillen, made the disproved claim on Monday, speaking before an audience which included many Catholics…
CAJ note: No word yet on when President Obama will instruct the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on the impact of their madrasas upon the Coptic Christian communities.
ABC News covers for the rude teenagers. Isn’t it cute when Obama’s girls are not impressed and they show it? How cute that they display a lack of class.
US President undermines Catholic schools after Vatican Prefect praised them Obama: religious schools block lasting peace in Northern Ireland
…”Another example of what this man wants: total isolation of any religious values in the private sphere alone. Pres. Obama is working either to intimidate or legislate or even TAX religious freedom out of the public square.
“Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a foreign visit to a Islamic nation where he told people on his arrival that they shouldn’t have madrasas. Can you?
“Did he when visiting, say, Israel, say “You Jews shouldn’t have synagogue schools and you muslims shouldn’t have mosque schools.” I can’t remember. Did he?”…
Matthew Boyle
Breitbart.com
Big Government
18 Jun 2013
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), the four “Gang of Eight” GOP senators, joined Senate Democrats on Tuesday to kill an amendment to their immigration bill that would have required a double-layered fence to be built along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was the only other Republican to join the four Gang of Eight members who voted against the border security fence. Even Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), who have indicated some support for the Gang of Eight bill, bucked Rubio, McCain, Flake, Graham, and Murkowski in favor of the border security fence. Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Mark Pryor of Arkansas also supported the border security fence.
The amendment, offered by Sen. John Thune (R-SD), would require that current law from several years ago actually be enforced and that a border fence be built. The previous law which passed on a bipartisan basis with 80 votes out of the U.S. Senate in 2006 had the support of then Sens. Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and other Democrat stalwarts…
…Rubio, when pressed by Rush Limbaugh on the fact that most Latinos vote Democratic, made noises that suggest he thinks he’s going to do something similar in convincing Latinos to adopt small-government conservatism. Obama was wrong, Rubio will be wrong too. Although Rubio, at least, recognizes that having a legislative achievement to tout instead of just his own charm and personal awesomeness would be helpful in making the case.
Beyond that, if Rubio’s so concerned about politicians alienating key constituencies through jerky, off-putting rhetoric, how come he hasn’t canned any aides yet over yesterday’s moronic “we need amnesty because some American workers can’t cut it” quote? He prides himself on effective messaging, right? Well, here’s a chance to send a message. Fire the guys who told Ryan Lizza that because some American workers aren’t “stars,” we need more foreign workers — even though some of them aren’t stars either. …
Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down one of its first major decisions of this term, striking down Arizona’s measure requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. Media reports are already off base in interpreting this decision, says Heritage legal expert Hans von Spakovsky. Here are three things to know about the decision.
1. This is not a voter ID decision.
This decision has to do with voter registration, not the act of voting. Von Spakovsky explains:
In 2004, Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum that had two major components: voter ID for in-person voting and a requirement that anyone registering to vote provide proof of citizenship. The voter ID provision was not before the Supreme Court and is alive and well in Arizona. (emphasis added)
Although it did not strike down the provision that requires a photo ID for in-person voting, von Spakovsky said “the Supreme Court came down on the wrong side of election integrity” with this ruling…
Support falling in polls, Harry Reid announces rush to pass immigration bill
Byron York The Washington Examiner
6/18/2013
With a new poll showing falling support for the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced an accelerated schedule in which the Senate would take a final, up-or-down vote on passing the bill by the end of next week.
“I’m just telling everybody that we’re going to either file cloture on this on Friday or Saturday or Sunday or Monday,” Reid said as the Senate opened its morning session. Filing for cloture means that a final vote would be held three days later. So if Reid filed for cloture on Monday, June 24, a final vote on the bill would be held on Thursday, June 27. The Senate’s July Fourth break starts the week after.
Reid warned his fellow lawmakers that if they want to consider amendments to the Gang of Eight bill, they need to be prepared to work virtually nonstop between now and then. “This may not be one of our normal weekends,” Reid said. “We’ve got to move forward on this legislation.”
Why? Debate in the full Senate only started last week. Why is Reid rushing to pass such a sprawling, multifaceted piece of legislation in such a short period of time? Is there an emergency?…
…While the IRS was hassling any nonprofit group with the word “patriot” in its name, it was rubberstamping exemptions for “Islamic” groups, even organizations that violate disclosure laws.
Worse, it was even finding favor with nonprofits tied to terrorism — namely, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, which not coincidentally is yoked to the Democratic Party.
Despite being blackballed by the FBI, which still suspects it’s fronting for Hamas, and despite failing to file annual tax reports as required by federal law, CAIR apparently has found friends in high places at the nation’s powerful taxing authority.
Last year, in the middle of the national election season, the IRS quietly agreed to reinstate CAIR’s tax-exempt status, allowing it to resume raising tax-free donations just in time for Ramadan, a key time for Muslim charitable giving…
…Holly Paz, a supervisor in the IRS’s Washington, DC office that issued rulings on tax-exempt groups, made a $2,000 contribution directly to the Obama for America war chest, and another $2,000 to the separate Obama Victory Fund, both in 2008, according to Federal Election Commission documents. She has also been named as the attorney who monitored interviews conducted with IRS employees by Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George, as he investigated what would explode in May 2013 as a major crisis for the White House…
