Current Events – Page 62

Obama Administration Poised to Silence Political Opponents

Jan 24, 2014JerryCurrent EventsFree Speech, Liberty

The IRS is proposing new regulations giving themselves more authority to restrict nonprofit groups.

For the first time, the IRS wants to define “candidate-related political activity” to include projects such as voter guides, legislative scorecards or reporting voting records of elected officials, get-out-the-vote campaigns, promotion of voter registration, or even mentioning the names of candidates who are running for office. Any “candidate-related political activity” could jeopardize a group’s nonprofit status.

These new proposed rules are significant, because they affect organizations’ ability to engage in issue advocacy and basic political speech.

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Colorado Violating Federal Law

Jan 2, 2014JerryCurrent Events, MarijuanaMarijuana

The State of Colorado is blatantly violating federal law.

As you may have seen this week, Colorado has begun authorizing people to sell “retail” (or “recreational”) marijuana. They claim they are regulating, taxing, and selling it the same way as alcohol. But there’s a problem.

Marijuana is still 100% illegal under federal law.

States don’t have the luxury of legalizing something the federal government has declared illegal. If Colorado passed a law requiring public school teachers to pray in Jesus’ name at the beginning of every school day, the federal government would intervene to stop them, because the U.S. Supreme Court has said that is illegal; disagree with the government if you want, but that’s what they would do.

Federal laws ares supposed to be constitutionally-grounded statutes passed to govern all states; from a legal standpoint, they are part of what unifies the United States of America. In Colorado, however, enough people disagree with the federal government’s laws against marijuana that they have simply opted to ignore those laws. That’s dangerous.

What if a state suddenly decided, for whatever reason, that laws against cruel and unusual punishment weren’t worth following? Or what if a state unilaterally decided federal laws governing pollution or labor and employment simply weren’t important? Our founding fathers were wise enough to give us multiple ways through which we could change federal laws that are disagreeable or unconstitutional. That’s part of what makes us a free people. Free people do not choose to ignore the laws of the land simply because they are inconvenient; that’s what tyrants do.

Some people claim the federal government doesn’t have the constitutional authority to outlaw marijuana. If that’s the case, then they should take that argument to Congress or to the courts to have the law adjusted. Some people say marijuana is harmless; that’s a myth that has long been debunked–but even if it were true, it would not excuse an entire state from following the law.

The only thing more troubling than Colorado’s decision to buck federal law is the federal government’s apathy over the issue. So far, the federal Justice Department is letting Colorado get away with violating the law. If the federal government can simply choose not to enforce a law Congress has passed, and if a state can blatantly violate it without repercussions, then our nation has crossed over into some very dangerous waters.

If states can violate this federal law, just how many others can they violate?

From FRC: The Fallout of a “Post-Nuclear” U.S. Senate

Dec 12, 2013JerryCurrent Events, Judicial ConfirmationsCurrent Events, Judicial Activism

You may recall last month when the United States Senate invoked “the nuclear option” changing the Senate’s rules, making it possible for a simple majority of senators to confirm President Obama’s executive and judicial nominees.

As you know, these nominations are for lifetime appointments to some of our nation’s most powerful courts. So it stands to reason we would want them filled by people a large consensus of our lawmakers agree are qualified for the job, right? Not under the new system.

Family Research Council has articulated very succinctly what the fallout is proving to be in this “post-nuclear” United States Senate:

Senator Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) party got a bench for Christmas — a federal one. That’s the unfortunate effect of the Left’s latest power grab, which yesterday yielded its first prize: a radical appointment to the D.C. Circuit Court. Two months ago, the nomination of Patricia Millett, an anti-Christian, anti-marriage ideologue, was a nonstarter under the chamber’s historic 60-vote threshold. That all changed before Thanksgiving when the Left steamrolled the Senate’s rules and unleashed the majority on a confirmation system that, until recently, gave both parties a say in the process. Now, in this “post-nuclear” world, the Senate that most Americans complained was moving too slowly is suddenly shifting into high gear to give the President’s picks lifetime jobs.

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