Is Obama Circumventing Congress to Restrict Political Speech?

Is President Barack Obama trying to perform an end-run around Congress in order to implement restrictions on political speech?

It’s a question that 27 senators put to President Obama in a letter this week in which they urged him to reconsider a draft executive order (EO) that would require government contractors to disclose political contributions.

In the letter, the senators cite to Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, who raised concerns over the underlying purpose of the executive order:

"Given similarities between the draft EO and some provisions of the DISCLOSE Act, which was rejected by the Senate in its current form, we are also concerned that the EO may be an effort to circumvent Congress. At least one commentator, former Federal Election Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky, has already criticized the draft EO as an attempt by your Administration “to implement–by executive fiat–portions of the DISCLOSE Act.”

Earlier this week, von Spakovsky explained in The Washington Examiner the effect — and intent — of the president’s EO.

"It would require any company bidding on a government contract to disclose all political contributions made in the two years before the bid by the company, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and any of its directors or officers …

It would require government contractors to disclose any contributions they make to third-party organizations “with the intention or reasonable expectation” that the funds will be used to make “independent expenditures or electioneering communications.”

In other words, bidders will have to disclose all of their charitable and noncharitable donations to third parties if those outside organizations engage in any grassroots lobbying or political speech. This is obviously intended to curtail (and censor) political speech by government contractors."

The order wouldn’t apply to federal employee unions or many nonprofits that receive federal grants and, as von Spakovsky writes:

"What is really going on here is a transparent attempt to introduce political gamesmanship into the government contracting business by the Obama administration. It is a cynical attempt to use the guise of reform to achieve political goals at the cost of the liberty that all Americans have to participate in the political process, and to voice their political opinions, without fear of retribution to themselves and their businesses."

The Heritage Foundation

If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie, Lie Again.

Truth be told, even though the hurry-up-and-raise-the-debt-ceiling

lie has been exposed, the Obama Regime, like a broken record,

continues to advance the fable that the United States will immediately

default on its debt. They continue to claim that "catastrophe" will ensue

if Republicans in Congress don't give in to Obama's demands and give

him what his spin doctors in the Obama Ministry of Truth are calling a

"clean debt ceiling increase."

And just what is a "clean debt ceiling increase?"

Senator Toomey exposes the canard in plain English:

"[T]he administration has ratcheted up its demands for an

unconditional increase in the debt limit, while offering to

consider spending cuts and reforms detached from the

debt limit vote. In a nod to public pressure,

they have called for 'parallel tracks' in which we would

raise the debt limit now, and continue negotiating

spending and deficit reductions in the future." [Emphasis ours]

Are the doom-and-gloom prognostications really lies?

Will Republicans lose the will to fight and give Obama a

blank check to continue the reckless spending?

Toomey goes on to say:

"On last Sunday morning's talk shows, Treasury Secretary

Timothy Geithner once again implied that, if the debt limit

is not promptly raised, the United States will default on its

debt and the resulting catastrophe will be the fault of

congressional Republicans." [Emphasis ours]

"But Secretary Geithner knows that congressional delay

in raising the debt limit will in no way cause a default on

our national debt. If Congress refuses to raise the debt

ceiling, the federal government will still have more than

enough money to fully service our debt.

Next year, about 7 percent of all projected federal government

expenditures will go to interest on our debt.

Tax revenue is projected to cover at least 70 percent of all

government expenditures. So, under any circumstances,

there will be plenty of money to pay our creditors."

So why is the Obama Regime still trying to play you for fools?

Why not? They think you're too stupid to catch on to their

let's-hurry-up-and-raise-the-debt-ceiling-before-they-figure-

out-what-we're-doing chicanery.

But the American people aren't stupid... far from it.

And it's time to let our elected officials in Congress know,

in no uncertain terms, that grassroots Americans are sick

and tired of their political games, their mendacity and lies,

and most of all... their idiotic and outrageous demagoguery

that our nation will face imminent financial collapse and

utter ruin if they do not rush into raising the limit on Barack

Obama's credit card without any commitment to getting our

nation’s fiscal house in order.

Let's face facts, when it comes to squandering your hard-

earned money, Washington politicians are no better than addicts,

desperate to score their next fix. They have been working

overtime to convince you that you should continue to enable

their destructive habit through scare tactics and insulting

demagoguery, even though doing so will ultimately lead

to the bankruptcy of our great nation.

It's time to draw a line in the sand and tell them,

"No way, no how.

The American people demand

REAL SPENDING CUTS."

Fool Me Once, Shame On You. Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me. Fool Me Thrice, Suffer The Political Wrath Of The American People.

We already know what happens when our elected officials

in Washington talk about "making deals" and "pursuing concessions."

The American people get a "raw deal."

As the young folks say these days, "been there, done that,

got the tee-shirt." The politicians told you they were serious about

curbing their out-of-control spending, but they could only promise

to cut a meager 100 billion in wasteful spending. "It's a start," they said.

Then they "amended" the promise and said they would cut 74 billion...

then 61 billion. We're simply "pro-rating" the 100 billion figure, they said.

And then, when it was all said and done, they told you that they had

succeeded in cutting 38.5 billion in wasteful spending, and they thought

you'd accept that pittance and shut-up.

But even that final figure was a lie. In the end, according to the

Congressional Budget Office, they cut as little as 352 million from

the 2011 budget. That's 99.648 BILLION DOLLARS LESS than

the originally promised 100 BILLION. That's less than 0.5%.

In essence, they cut approximately TWO HOURS of deficit spending.

And it's not the first time that our elected officials have hoodwinked

the American people into rushing legislation through Congress in order

to feed their nasty addiction to spending your hard-earned money.

Not too long ago, they told you that unless they passed the so-called

"stimulus" bill, the United States would face an immediate economic

catastrophe... and gullible Americans fell for it.

It was a lie. They knew it was a lie.

Gasoline is over four dollars a gallon in cities across the country,

and prognosticators are already telling us that the price of a gallon

of gasoline will rise to five, or even six, dollars a gallon in the

coming months. The "real" unemployment rate is hovering around

20%; one out of five Americans are "underemployed." And those

of us who are mere mortals and actually do our own grocery shopping

know that food prices have skyrocketed over the past year.

But our elected officials, like the Energizer Bunny, just keep going

and going and going.

Damn the consequences, damn the American people.

Their insatiable thirst, that can't be quenched, must be quenched.

The beast must be fed.

Can we really afford the consequences of another lie?

Patriotic Americans have no choice.

We must draw a line in the sand right here and right now.

Simply put, our elected officials must be made to understand,

here and now, that IF they betray the American people one more time,

like so many other Americans, THEY will be walking the unemployment

line. And the power that they so cherish will be gone in the blink of an eye.

In short, let them know that the American people

will not be hoodwinked.

CELEBRATE THE PROMISE OF EASTER

CELEBRATE THE PROMISE OF EASTER

On the morning of Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene,

Mary the mother of James, and a few other women

went to Jesus’ tomb taking burial spices with them.

They found that the stone that covered the entrance

of the tomb had been rolled away. They went in,

but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

An angel of the Lord appeared and said to the women:

“Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?

He is not here; he has been raised.” (Lk 24:5-6)

The Eternal Promise of Easter

"Promises are made to be broken," so goes the saying.

Ask someone who's been hurt--it's heavy stuff--and

it happens all the time. But I know a Promise-Maker

who kept good His promise yesterday, will be true to

it today, and will fulfill it tomorrow.

He's the One who said,

"Because I live, you shall live also."

Come to the Well on this glorious Easter and

celebrate with me the Resurrection of our Lord!

No one can bring you light for your darkness,

love for your hatred, peace for your pain--

like Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord.

He came to change the world--

one heart at a time--

and He's doing it everywhere.

He promises to redeem you--

to bring you into right relationship with Him...

and His Word is true.

Watch the tomb, saints of God...

for your Lord is about to declare His Name

to all the world--and to you--

and because HE lives, you shall live also!

It's His Word...and He always keeps His Word!

The promise of Easter lives today.

Go to His Word and find help, strength, power and peace.

Go to His Word and find forgiveness, acceptance and love.

Go to His Word and find HIM, the risen Lord,

alive forevermore, to meet your need.

May the eternal promise of Easter

live in your heart this day--and every day.

He lives for me, for you, for a whole world.

Go tell them--He's alive! He's alive!

HE'S ALIVE!!

"...I am the resurrection, and the life;

he that believeth in me, though he were dead,

yet shall he live.

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me

shall never die. Believest thou this?

(John 11:25,26 KJV)."

All four Gospels vividly refer to Jesus’ resurrection:

Matthew 28: 1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-10

Obama Spares Arrested Illegal Immigrant Protesters

Obama Spares Arrested Illegal Immigrant Protesters
Judicial Watch Blog

Obama Spares Arrested Illegal Immigrant Protesters

In the Obama Administration’s latest move to protect

illegal immigrants while an amnesty plan gets worked out,

Homeland Security officials said they won’t take action

against a group of outlaws arrested in Georgia last week.

The illegal immigrants participated in a disruptive Atlanta

demonstration to protest a state measure that bans

undocumented students from attending some public colleges.

The seven self-described activists, who proudly boasted

about their illegal status, were arrested by local police for

blocking traffic in bustling downtown Atlanta for about an hour.

Local media followed up this week by inquiring about the

arrested demonstrators and the Homeland Security agency

responsible for removing illegal aliens,

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),

confirmed that it was not taking any

“enforcement actions against the student demonstrators.”

One ICE official pointed to Homeland Security Secretary

Janet Napolitano’s well-documented stance on not deporting

illegal immigrant students.

Last summer the Obama Administration ordered authorities

to stop removing illegal immigrants who are students while

lawmakers craft legislation to officially shield them from expulsion.

The move, which has spared an estimated 700,000 illegal aliens,

came in response to nationwide rallies by defiant illegal immigrants

protesting their eminent removal or that of their undocumented parents.

The directive is part of Obama’s secret backdoor amnesty plan

in case Congress doesn’t pass legislation to legalize the nation’s

12 million illegal immigrants. Devised by political appointees at

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the plan aims

to enact “meaningful immigration reform absent legislative action.”

This includes “deferred action” delaying deportation indefinitely,

granting green cards, allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the

U.S. indefinitely while they seek legal status (known as “parole in place”)

and expanding the definition of “extreme hardships” so any illegal

alien could meet the criteria and remain in the country.

Judicial Watch has sued the Department of Homeland Security to

obtain records detailing the stealth amnesty plan because the agency

has ignored a federal public records request that dates back to July 2010.

Rep. West: US Needs Leadership in 'Critical Time'

Allen West

Congressman Allen West speaks at

the 3rd Annual Tax Day Tea Party /

Palm Beach County

Donald Trump on NBC

Exactly How Does This Turn Out?

"It's hard to know exactly how this turns out," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this past Sunday, in answer to a question about the US-French-British-et al. aerial assault on Libya. Oh, really? The admiral made his statement after US and British ships opened fire and put 114 million-dollar Tomahawk cruise missiles downrange at Libyan targets over the weekend. Another 25 or so US and British Tomahawks have left the launch boxes in the past couple of days. Meanwhile, over the weekend, French jets bombed the tar out of Libyan armored and troop columns near Benghazi. While a flight of B-2 bombers soared from Missouri, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and dropped precision weapons on other Libyan targets - according to Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. So let me see if I've got this straight. The US armed forces, and allies, are waging intercontinental, techno-war against Libya - a desert-dictatorship that is, at root, a failing, North African petro- state with mostly third-rate military capabilities. But according to the top honcho of the JCS, "we don't know how it's going to turn out"? We don't know? That's quite an admission by Adm. Mullen. If nothing else, whatever happened to sounding confident for the TV cameras and saying, "We win, they lose"? Then again, what else doesn't Adm. Mullen know? Let's get down to basics. What's the alliance? Who's fighting whom? Who's with us? Who or what are we targeting? Is this Libyan air show a NATO thing? If so, why does NATO member Turkey oppose it? Why is a core NATO member, Germany, pulling out? More broadly, what's the strategy? What's the operational concept? What's the order of battle? What are the military goals? When the shooting stops (and it will stop, right?), with whom do we make peace? So maybe we won't have a signing ceremony on the deck of a battleship, but what's the theory of victory? Um...by the way, who's in charge? Sure, there's an adrenalin rush from picking up the morning newspaper and seeing front-page photos of bombs bursting, airplanes falling and tanks smoking. Then again, you could get your heart rate up by going to see the recently released movie Battle: Los Angeles. Wow, what a campy ordnance flick! It's a Marine Corps recruiting infomercial from start to end. And at least in Battle: Los Angeles, you can set aside your moral qualms. Battle: Los Angeles is a sci-fi bug hunt, in which space aliens have invaded Santa Monica and are, in turn, getting what they asked for. But I digress. Space aliens aside, it's not as if Libya's Generalissimo Gaddafi doesn't have serious pain coming to him. He's never paid for his role in the gratuitous 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. On that point of history, the US should maintain a very long memory - and be open and honest about it when the right time comes along. In case you can't tell, Pan Am 103 brings out my inner Roman Legionnaire. I think that Pan Am 103 supports the ancient concept of a purely punitive expedition. Blow up one of our airliners? We'll pulverize you, out of raw vengeance. Under most circumstances, I'm OK with bombing Gaddafi under the doctrine of payback and specific deterrence. That is, he'll never blow up another airliner because he'll be toast. But something troubles me about the current military display. The air raids are occurring absent anything like a formal US declaration of war against Libya, let alone a mere congressional authorization to employ arms. Indeed, before the Romans destroyed Carthage, they debated the purpose of their effort in their Senate. The outcome? Well, they set a clear policy. "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed.) Now, however, the US is waging war under a rather novel form of legal reasoning, if not presidential war powers. Shoot first, and notify Congress later. Or are we saying, perhaps, that the legal authority to attack Libya is embodied in the "Marines' Hymn"? You know, "From the Halls of Montezuma/to the Shores of Tripoli," and all that. In which case, does Mexico have to worry? Let's get past the military fact that it's raining steel in Libya. Something else troubles me. The US government doesn't have a 2011 budget for its Department of Defense - and we're six months into the fiscal year. This is, at root, courtesy of the last Congress, which failed to pass a defense budget in the waning days of 2010. No defense budget? Last year, there was political capital for Congress to pass "don't ask, don't tell" legislation. But for some strange reason, Congress could not pass anything as mundane as a law to fund procurement and operations, let alone to pay the troops. Not to put too fine a point on it, Congress has authorized no money to fight wars - at least not this one. Thus, right now, the US is shooting missiles, dropping bombs and engaged in its third, simultaneous "hot" war (actually, the fourth, if you include bombing Pakistan), and there's no budget. Not to be legalistic, but isn't every fire-breathing Tomahawk missile a violation of the Antideficiency Act? Let me refine this last point. There's a recently passed congressional "Continuing Resolution" (CR), valid until April 8 that appropriates funds to the DOD. But the nature of the CR is that it restricts the DOD to fighting this year's wars on last year's budgeting structure. I don't believe there's a line item for "bombing Libya." The whole thing is very strange. And no, I am NOT making any of this up. What should you do? Easy. Buy gold and silver. Buy shares in mineral developers with assets in the ground. Buy oil- and energy-related shares, as well as oil service players. See? Easy. Why buy gold and silver? Because the US government is fighting wars without really knowing what it's doing (Adm. Mullen, call your office), let alone how it's paying for the bullets (see above). And this is just a mini-version of all the other things the US government is doing without having the resources to pay for them. Using the above-noted DOD budget mess as an example, the US is not just spending money it doesn't have fighting an unauthorized war. No, the US is spending money when Congress has not even passed a real budget. Of course, this is just a small step removed from the usual routine of Congress spending money that's not there. The bottom fiscal and monetary line is that the federal budget is out of control. Federal spending is out of control. The federal deficit is out of control. The national debt is out of control. Interest on the national debt is out of control. Neither the president nor Congress is in control. To quote Adm. Mullen, "It's hard to know exactly how this turns out." Regards, Byron King,