The Democrats’ Free-Speech Hypocrisy

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Photo Credit: The Daily Beast
Last week, the war on the First Amendment entered a new phase when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his support for S.J. Res. 19, a proposed constitutional amendment designed to “advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes.” The intent of the proposed amendment is to empower the Congress and the States to limit all categories of campaign-related spending and contributions and overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, which held independent political expenditures by businesses and unions alike to be protected by the First Amendment.

In plain English that’s called censorship. It’s also called hypocrisy, as many of the proposed amendment’s supporters—and most of its likely opponents—take a situational stance on the First Amendment.

More often than not, politicians think free speech is a fine thing so long as you agree with them. What do I mean? Well, in 2006 the then-Republican-controlled Senate failed by a single vote to move forward a proposed constitutional amendment that would have given Congress the legal authority to ban flag “desecration.” Fortunately, the Constitution mandates that a proposed amendment obtain the backing of two-thirds of both the House and Senate before it can be sent to the States for ratification, and the flag-burning amendment garnered only 66 of the 67 votes it needed.

But here’s the thing. Back then, many of the same folks who would stifle free speech if it comes in the form of money—but not in kind, as in the form of a favorable New York Times editorial—had no problem saying that it was constitutionally OK to put Old Glory to the test by putting it to the torch. The roster of Senate Democrats suffering from First Amendment schizophrenia includes former constitutional law professor and Senator Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and senior Senate Democrats Barbara Boxer, Tom Harkin, Barbara Mikulski, Patty Murray, Chuck Schumer, and Ron Wyden—who rightly took the position that free speech should not be diluted in the name of some greater good, hurt feelings, or offended sensibilities…

So when Democrats decry money in politics are they really being serious, or are they just posturing? One thing’s for certain, money isn’t leaving politics anytime soon. As long as government is around, and politicians need their palms greased, money will be there as well. Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans alike will drape themselves in the Constitution and the flag, except when it gets in their way.

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House GOP Bites Back: Bill Would Roll Back Michelle O’s School Lunch Rules

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Photo Credit: REUTERSHouse Republicans are taking on school nutritional standards championed by first lady Michelle Obama, proposing to let schools opt out of healthier lunch and breakfast programs if they’re losing money.

A GOP spending bill for agriculture and food programs — which included the provision — was released Monday.

The House Appropriations Committee said in a release that the waiver language is in response to requests from schools.

The new standards, touted by the first lady, have been phased in over the last two school years, with more changes coming in 2014. The rules set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond.

The first lady was holding a call to rally supporters of the healthier food rules Monday, as a House subcommittee is expected to consider the bill on Tuesday.

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GOP Congressman Pushes for Immigration Vote

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Photo Credit: David McNewDefying House Republican leaders, a GOP congressman on Monday moved toward forcing an election-year decision on his immigration legislation.

Rep. Jeff Denham of California filed his bill, known as the ENLIST Act, as an amendment to the sweeping defense policy measure that the House will consider this week. The measure would create a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children and serve in the military.

The bill “provides an avenue for those who want to perform the ultimate act of patriotism – serving their county – to earn legal status,” Denham said in a statement. “As a veteran, I can think of no better way to demonstrate your commitment to our nation.”

His move comes three days after House GOP leaders took steps to block a vote on the immigration legislation, dealing a significant blow to efforts to overhaul a system widely disparaged as dysfunctional.

The Rules Committee will decide on Tuesday what amendments the House will consider and vote on as part of its work on the National Defense Authorization Act.

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Patient Dies After Dentist Extracts 20 Teeth

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Photo Credit: myfoxnyThe state has suspended the license of an Enfield dentist after the death of a patient who was having 20 teeth extracted.

The Journal Inquirer reports that Dr. Rashmi Patel faces a June 18 hearing before the Connecticut State Dental Commission.

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Blind Football Player Gets Chance To Play (+video)

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Photo Credit: WBZ-TVAaron Golub of Newton South High School has pinpoint accuracy when it comes to long snapping the football.

The 17-year-old is legally blind, but that hasn’t stopped him from being the starting long snapper for the past two years for the football team. “I just love the sport, always have,” Golub said.

His coach says he is a great athlete. “In football long snapping is one of the most important positions on the field so he felt he could do it,” Coach Ted Dalicandro said.

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Mega Church Pastor: Obama Legacy Is That He Destroyed The Experiment Called America (+video)

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism San Diego evangelical minister, James L. Garlow, says if history books are not distorted by today’s revisionistic tendencies, President Obama’s legacy should be that he’s responsible for “morally and economically destroying a wonderful experiment called America.”

In this two part video interview with Daily Caller, Pastor Garlow also says that President Obama’s Attorney General has brought the nation “legal anarchy.”

Garlow says, “I do not recall in my lifetime anything remotely close to what we are seeing. For the law enforcer in Washington D.C., the chief in America, to tell the Attorneys General across the states that you don’t have to enforce the law if you don’t like it. That is beyond anything I was taught in school. Rule of law and consent of the governed has been lost.”

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Mark Levin ‘Renames’ the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (+video)

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Photo Credit: TPNNThis week U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue gave the Republican Party an ultimatum and threat, either pass amnesty or don’t even bother fielding a presidential candidate in 2016.

Popular conservative talk show host, constitutional scholar, and best selling author Mark Levin responded to Donohue in his usual sharp-tongued fashion (Listen Below), blasting Donohue and taking the liberty to “rename” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Crony Capitalism…

This group he heads, the Chamber of Commerce, it’s not the Chamber of Commerce, it’s the Chamber of Crony Capitalism. That’s why I’ve done us all a favor and changed their name. It’s not the Chamber of Free Market Capitalism. It’s not the Chamber of Individual Liberty. It’s not the Chamber of Private Property Rights. It’s not the Chamber of Pro-Private Sector.

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WATCH: Dianne Feinstein Calls GOP Push for More Benghazi Probes a ‘Lynch Mob’

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein has called the demand by Capitol Hill Republicans for more Benghazi investigations a “lynch mob,” saying the matter already has received sufficient congressional oversight.

“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s a hunting mission for a lynch mob,” said the California Democrat during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday.

Feinstein said several congressional committees, including her own, already have investigated the 2012 attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. And despite Republican accusations that the Obama administration has lied about its response to the attacks, she suggested those reports showed no maleficence by the White House.

When asked by show host Candy Crowley if those reports answered all pertinent questions regarding the attacks, Feinstein responded; “I believe they have.”

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Diabetic Pastor Sues After Being Arrested, Denied Food and Water for Holding Pro-Life Sign

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Photo Credit: LifeSiteNewsA pastor who says he was arrested and denied food and water for hours because he held a pro-life sign has sued, saying city laws violate his First Amendment right to free speech.

On March 30, 2011, Pastor Stephen Joiner was driving through the streets of Columbus, Mississippi, when he saw dozens of members of Pro-Life Mississippi peacefully holding signs supporting the unborn child’s right to life. He pulled over and learned they were trying to build support for the state’s Personhood Amendment, which failed to pass the following November.

Joiner, the pastor of the city’s Church of the Nazarene, supported the cause, so he picked up a sign and stood alongside them. Some were displaying photographs of victims of abortion, sometimes called “graphic images.” Others merely showed an unborn child in the womb.

Joiner says that Police Captain Frederick Shelton told him to move, because he was blocking traffic, although he was several feet from the road.


“Captain Shelton then told Pastor Joiner that he was ‘refusing to move when an officer tells him to move,’” according to a legal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Joiner’s behalf by Liberty Counsel. Captain Shelton charged him with violating the city’s Parade Ordinance and Handbill Ordinance.

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Obama “Madder than Hell” Over VA, But Who Actually Has The Scars?

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Photo Credit: WNDIt seems fair to suggest Barack Obama’s chief of staff Dennis McDonough could have made some better word choices when discussing Obama’s feelings regarding the ongoing Veteran’s Administration scandal with Major Garrett.

DENIS McDONOUGH: ..the President is madder than hell, and I’ve got the scars to prove it given, briefings that I’ve given the President and the conversations that he and Rick and I have had on these matters…but at the same time that we’re looking at accountability we want to continue to perform to provide our veterans the services that they have earned ….

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