Thursday, June 26, 2014
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
Obama Loses Supreme Double Header
The United States Supreme Court handed down decisions today in key cases involving abortion and First Amendment rights and limits on presidential power.
The abortion case arose from a Massachusetts law that prohibited sidewalk counselors and pro-life activists from getting within 35 feet of an abortion facility. The Obama Administration cared so much about maintaining unfettered access to abortion that it weighed in on behalf of the state of Massachusetts.
Buffer zones are just one more example of how the intolerant left does not hesitate to use the power of big government to shut down debate and silence speech it does not like. The Obama Administration argued that the so-called “buffer zones” were necessary to protect the safety of women. Thankfully, the justices rejected that argument 9-to-0, finding that they were in reality unconstitutional “censorship zones” on public sidewalks.
The second case was an even more direct rebuke of the administration. It concerned the president’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in January of 2012. The problem was that the Congress was not in recess; it was just out of town. Under Obama’s logic, he could have made recess appointments every weekend! Today the Supreme Court ruled, again by a vote of 9-to-0, that the appointments were unconstitutional.
Tonight’s news broadcasts should lead with stories about these UNANIMOUS rebukes delivered by the Supreme Court. But I am not counting on it.
Let me be clear about that: In today’s decisions, the administration was 0 for 18. Not even one of the court’s four liberals sided with Obama in either case.
Reacting to today’s rulings, Senator Ted Cruz noted that the NLRB decision “marks the twelfth time since January 2012 that the Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the Obama Administration’s calls for greater federal executive power.”
Lerner Targeted Republican Senator
The IRS scandal took an explosive turn yesterday evening. In 2012, Lois Lerner accidently received an invitation to a charity event meant for Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). Rather than politely return the invitation to its intended recipient or the charity, Lerner saw an opportunity.
The charity offered to pay for Senator Grassley’s wife to attend the event as well. That “gift” would have to be reported as taxable income by the Grassleys and Lerner pounced.
According to a December 2012 email released by the House Ways and Means Committee, Lerner wrote a co-worker suggesting the IRS launch an audit against Sen. Grassley: “Looked like they were inappropriately offering to pay for his wife. Perhaps we should refer to Exam,” Lerner wrote. Fortunately for Senator Grassley, her co-worker refused to go along with Lerner’s fishing expedition.
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, took the unusual step today of issuing a subpoena to the Federal Election Commission for 28 years of records. Why the FEC? Because that’s where Lois Lerner began her career in the federal government. As you may recall, she played a critical role in harassing the Christian Coalition during the Clinton Administration.
We know Lerner has a well-established pattern of profiling Tea Party groups and Christian ministries. Her hard drive mysteriously crashes and is destroyed. Now we find out she was trying to target a GOP senator too. No wonder she’s pleading the Fifth. And some politicians have the audacity to insist there isn’t even a “smidgen of corruption” at the IRS.
Our Open Borders Policy
Thousands of illegal immigrants are pouring across the U.S. southern border on the belief that once they get here they won’t be deported. The odds are in their favor.
ABC News reports that of the 26,000 illegal immigrant children caught in the U.S. last year only 1,800 — just 7% — were deported. That means more than 24,000 stayed and probably called family members in Latin America to let them know that they should come up too. Once you cross the border, you’re “home free.” Come on up!
The administration’s failure to enforce our immigration laws has resulted in a free-for-all at the southern border. More than 54,000 unaccompanied children have been caught so far this year alone. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Once illegal immigrants are caught and identified, they are let go and nothing is done. ABC reports that there are 300,000 unaccompanied children in the U.S. awaiting deportation hearings. But, “It takes approximately 3-5 years to adjudicate each case.”
President Obama has described the chaos at the southern border as a “humanitarian crisis.” It’s also another scandal. Our Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed taking care of kids when they should be keeping drugs, gang members and terrorists out of the country.
Kudos Wolf & Nicholson
Once again, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has risen to the occasion. As a member of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., Rep. Wolf was deeply offended by the church’s misguided endorsement of same-sex marriage and its ill-conceived decision to punish American companies that do business in Israel.
Tuesday, Rep. Wolf went to the House floor and expressed the frustration of millions. He defended marriage as “a God-ordained and created institution, the fundamental building block of any society and the nexus of procreation and child-rearing,” and he chastised the church for abandoning its historical role as “a bulwark against the cultural whims of the day.”
On Israel, Rep. Wolf blasted the PCUSA for targeting Israel while ignoring Christian persecution in the Middle East. You can watch his speech here.
By the way, the PCUSA also voted against a resolution condemning abortionist Kermit Gosnell and the practice of after-birth abortions.
My good friend Robert Nicholson has written a powerful response to the PCUSA’s divestment decision, calling it a sin. He is right. Please read it and share it with friends and family members, especially those who may be confused or misinformed.
Anti-Semitism is on the rise. Radical Islam is on the march. And as the Obama Administration pressures Israel to make more concessions for peace, a new poll finds that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians are not interested in peace with Israel or even a piece of Israel. According to the poll, 60% of Palestinians say their main national goal for the next five years is “to work toward reclaiming all of historic Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.” Only 27% favor working toward a two-state solution.
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