Who Decides Electability – “We The People” Or The Media?
By
The term ‘electability’ has become a catch word in this primary, but under scrutiny, it is easy to see that it is misused sometimes and generally overused at all times. With Gingrich falling to single digit results in the recent primaries and perennial candidate Ron Paul hanging on by a thread in most states, it is apparent that voters don’t care what the newsmen and commentators have to say – they plan to vote the way they want to. Isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?
In a time when we have a president whose particular religious beliefs are still in question after three years, the desire to know a candidate’s real beliefs has never been greater. Recent polls determined that 53 percent of Rick Santorum’s supporters believe that religious beliefs should influence a leader’s decision-making process, as opposed to only 28 percent of Romney’s followers.
There is no system of checks and balances to determine a candidate’s religious leanings and how they might affect his decision making, but there is plenty of information about each candidate’s particular religion.
To others, the Catholic Church’s dependence on Pontifical authority rather than scripture makes it another pseudo-Christian religion or a heresy in the eyes of many. The truth is that when Catholic patristic teachings and doctrine are compared to the scripture, much of Catholic dogma comes up short or is actually diametrically opposite the scriptural teaching.
The problem with both Catholicism and Mormonism is that they both have two authorities from which to guide their adherents. In a moment of crisis or decision, the followers of each must decide which authority they are going to be guided by. Will it be the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Pope? Protestants who hold the Scripture to be the final authority are never bothered with such problems.
It would seem that the differences between Catholicism, Mormonism, and the Scripture is nothing more than an endless debate than can be answered by anyone with the strongest opinion or most vociferous argument. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The truth of the argument is not found somewhere in between each faith’s doctrines or that grey area known as “your guess is as good as mine.” The argument is forever settled by authority, an authority that has been certified by God through the resurrection from the dead. Joseph Smith is still dead, as are all the Popes since Catholicism began; the one risen from the dead said these words about what we should accept as final or authoritative words:
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (Joh 12: 48)
We may give a certain level of respect to what all men say, but only the words of Christ will be the measure of our lives in the very end. Religions notwithstanding, why would anyone adopt an additional authority if it has no bearing on our final destiny?
While 73 percent of Evangelicals and protestants see Rick Santorum as representing Biblical teachings in his stand, it is harder to see where Romney stands on scripture. This is not because of the book of Mormon, but because he talks about his faith much less than Santorum. Since it is only in public discourse that anything can be known about what is generally held as a very private matter, who knows what Romney really believes about the Bible?
What is clear is that Santorum believes that abortion is evil and that the general decline into immorality (including every aspect of the gay agenda) is anti-biblical, anti-Christian, and anti-moral and is leading to the decline of the nation.
Hiding behind terms like “women’s rights”, “women’s health” and the “right to choose” doesn’t fool some people at all, including Rick Santorum. Excluding all male fetuses for the sake of argument, what rights, choices, or health is considered for the female fetuses that are ripped from mothers and thrown into a medical waste receptacle?
These potential ‘women’ (fetuses) are deprived of all the same benefits their mothers are demanding. The pro-abortion mantra that demands these rights gives new meaning to the word “hypocrisy.” Even without the Bible, it takes no great wisdom to see that abortion continues on the strength of a sorted, faltering, and absurd argument based on selfishness and raw stupidity.
The argument that if women are not allowed to abort that they will all resort to using coat hangers to remove their offspring is part of that stupidity. Let’s see: would 54,000,000 women have resorted to coat hangers since 1973 if Roe had failed? Were the same 54 mil subjected to the crime of rape and had no choice? Even as the immorality of the day deluges the American landscape, those ideas and arguments are at best juvenile and silly.
The tendency to put what is right on the back burner in place of what might produce more riches and security has never been more evident as it is today. This notion that the economy and jobs are the real issues has produced a term we now use to put the moral issues out of sight with called ‘hot button issues.’
It is time for America to grow up. We can’t go on calling the extermination of six million Jews a holocaust while referring to the murder and genocide of 54 million American unborn children as a “hot button issue.” If we continue to think the economy is a better issue to focus on, we will not see a full recovery until, as Jesus said, we have paid “uttermost farthing.” (Mt 5: 26) No juvenile language here; put simply, that means there will be no recovery.
To make a choice for president based on the false assumption that only the economy is the real or worthy issue to deal with may get Romney elected. What it will not do is save a nation that even with an economic rebound will not survive the coming worldwide changes.
No one can tell the American people who is the most electable candidate. That is, and always will be, for ‘we the people’ to decide.
http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight. Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.
Is The Health Care Law Constitutional? No, Strike It Down Now!
- Photo Credit: Fresh Conservative (Creative Commons)
By
This summer, the Supreme Court will decide whether Congress violated the Constitution when it enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which contains an “individual mandate” requiring virtually every American to purchase health insurance. Based on the Constitution’s text and structure, and judicial interpretations of the relevant provisions, the mandate should be struck down.
Pennsylvania is one of 26 states to have attacked the ACA’s constitutionality. They seek to uphold the Constitution’s basic division of power between the national government and state governments.
The framers and those who ratified the Constitution withheld from Congress a plenary police power to enact any law that it deems desirable. Instead, the powers granted to Congress in Article I of the Constitution are limited and enumerated. The 10th Amendment emphasizes this structure by affirming that all powers not given to Congress “are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
ACA’s defenders argue that Congress’ authority to impose the mandate is granted by any of three constitutional provisions: the Commerce Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, or the Taxing Clause. However, under the original understanding of those provisions and the more expansive interpretation given to them by the Supreme Court in recent decades, the mandate is an unprecedented assertion of federal control that violates the framers’ constitutional design.
Under the Commerce Clause, Congress may regulate interstate commerce. As originally understood, “interstate commerce” meant cross-border trade or exchange, as distinguished from other types of business activity such as manufacturing and agriculture. Subsequent Supreme Court decisions have expanded the term to include instances of intrastate “economic activity” if that activity, “viewed in the aggregate, substantially affects” interstate commerce.
ACA’s defenders argue that the law regulates economic activity with a substantial effect on interstate commerce, namely the manner in which individuals insure against their future purchase of healthcare services. But the individual mandate does not regulate anyone’s ongoing activity—those who are subject to it are strangers to the insurance market. Rather, the law compels inactive, nonparticipants in the health insurance market to purchase insurance so they can then be regulated.
As Congress itself said in the ACA, the mandate purports to regulate each individual’s “economic and financial decision” whether to purchase health insurance. But if that is a valid exercise of Commerce Clause power, then there is literally no end to Congress’ power over individuals.
Congress could require people to buy a car because refraining from doing so is an “economic decision” substantially affecting the automobile industry. Congress could require us to purchase a television or a computer because engaging in quiet reflection rather than watching TV or surfing the Internet is an “economic decision” that substantially affects national markets for entertainment and communication.
The possibilities are endless, and these examples are not mere hyperbole. In the case on appeal to the Supreme Court, the federal government could not identify any mandate to purchase a product or service that would be unconstitutional under this elastic interpretation of the Commerce Clause.
ACA’s defenders also argue that the mandate is supported by the Necessary and Proper Clause, which gives Congress wide latitude to determine what laws are necessary for the implementation of Congress’ enumerated powers. Specifically, the mandate is allegedly necessary to allow for other regulations and price controls (such as a ban on considering pre-existing conditions) that otherwise render the law unworkable and threaten to destroy the health insurance market.
The problem with this argument is that the individual mandate is neither “necessary” nor “proper.” A law is not “proper” if it depends on a constitutional theory that gives Congress unbounded discretion to legislate in areas traditionally reserved to the states. And a law is not “necessary” unless it carries into execution another enumerated power, such as the power to regulate interstate commerce.
The ACA flunks both of these tests. Rather than enabling the exercise of an enumerated power, the mandate compels individuals to buy insurance in an attempt to suppress the ruinous effects of ACA’s other provisions. Don’t expect the Supreme Court to ignore constitutional limitations just because Congress claims an unenumerated power to offset regulatory burdens created by its own statute.
Finally, ACA’s defenders argue that even if the individual mandate is not supported by the Commerce Clause or the Necessary and Proper Clause, it is nevertheless constitutional because it is a tax. For example, the penalty for noncompliance is calculated as a percentage of household income for income tax purposes, and it is self-declared on the taxpayer’s income tax return.
Congress foreclosed this argument by separating the individual mandate from the penalty. The mandate itself offends the constitutional separation of powers; it cannot be saved by pointing to a penalty for noncompliance.
In any event, the monetary fine was deliberately structured as a “penalty” and not as a “tax.” Congress could have provided health insurance for all Americans by invoking its Article I power “[t]o lay and collect Taxes,” but following President Barack Obama’s lead, it refused to do so for political reasons.
The federal government’s Taxing Clause argument has been rejected by every court that has reviewed the ACA, and the Supreme Court is not likely to adopt it, either. Nor should it.
Homosexual Lobby has been pumping the military full of their propaganda
Let me warn you right now, this story is disgusting.
Unfortunately, the worst stories are often the ones that need to be told the most.
As you know, since the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), the Homosexual Lobby has been pumping the military full of their propaganda and filth.
They’ve instructed homosexuals in uniform to flaunt their new found privileges.
And any member of the armed services who speaks out against it is publically condemned.
Last fall our nation saw one of the Navy’s most time-honored traditions, the first kiss of a ship’s homecoming, befouled when it was performed by two female Petty Officers.
And now this... the latest homosexual craze being promoted by the liberal media.
A U.S. Marine... just returning home... with his legs wrapped another homosexual in public.
My friend, this is what they have planned for our future.
This is what they want the military to look like.
And any soldier who doesn’t like it faces immediate punishment.
Well, it might not be that long before men and women who embrace morality are banned from service.
You and I have to remain vigilant for the Homosexual Lobby’s schemes to further corrupt our military.
The loss of Don't Ask Don't Tell has certainly done a lot of damage, but I will never stop fighting to restore it...
...and to restore the right’s of the men and women serving in uniform to be free from radical homosexualism.
The greatest dangers still lie before you and me...
Will you face this fight with me?
For the Family,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
P.S. Please prayerfully consider chipping in with a donation of $10 or more to help Public Advocate fight for traditional values.
This is what they want the military to look like.
And any soldier who doesn’t like it faces immediate punishment.
Well, it might not be that long before men and women who embrace morality are banned from service.
You and I have to remain vigilant for the Homosexual Lobby’s schemes to further corrupt our military.
The loss of Don't Ask Don't Tell has certainly done a lot of damage, but I will never stop fighting to restore it...
...and to restore the right’s of the men and women serving in uniform to be free from radical homosexualism.
The greatest dangers still lie before you and me...
Will you face this fight with me?
For the Family,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
P.S. Please prayerfully consider chipping in with a donation of $10 or more to help Public Advocate fight for traditional values.
The Ronulans are among us: How Ron Paul’s delegate strategy is actually working
by Doug Wead
On they come, marginalized by the media and ridiculed by the Republican establishment. Their votes are often rejected at precinct caucuses, their voices ignored by temporary chairmen who flout their own rules and pretend that they have the votes for their prearranged delegate slates.
On one occasion a crowd of onlookers shouts objections at this fraud, only to be subjected to prearranged organized arrests for “disturbing the peace.” Some participants openly weep, in shame for the obscenity of such blatant corruption. Others become angry. In Missouri, a weary delegate is seen vomiting by the side of a building, sick over what she has just experienced.
In Kentucky they show up to find that their name is on a list prohibited from participation by the County Chairman. He claims he did a drive-by the day before and they had a Libertarian sign in their yard and therefore cannot participate in a GOP caucus.
In Nevada the microphones are only allowed for favored candidates and are turned off when a young Hispanic tries to speak. There are lots of Hispanics among this crowd. Parliamentary rules are ignored. Prospective delegates are intimidated.
In Virginia, they are tricked into leaving the building, told that if there is no quorum the vote can be delayed until the rest of their people show up. But once out of the building the County Chairman, herself, locks the door so they can’t get back in.
In Alaska, election times are changed and their names are excluded from robo calls announcing those changes. Participants from all of the other campaigns are invited. Insiders are reportedly allowed to vote in caucuses by telephone conference calls, meanwhile, young people who show up are turned away in droves, saying they are too late or not registered, in spite of showing registration documents.
In Maine, a county chairman cancels the caucus, knowing that they will have a strong showing. A GOP official transfers false data and her phony numbers are caught by a local newspaper.
In an Oklahoma county convention a corrupt chairman adds new delegates who didn’t attend precinct caucuses and eliminates those who actually did. Another establishes a credentials committee which eliminates anyone under the age of thirty.
And yet, on they come, in spite of the pain, the inconvenience, the open hostility of the Party bosses. They are like a tide of the ocean. And for every precinct or county where they are violated or cheated, there is another where their sheer numbers prevail. These are the Ronulans, the Ron Paul supporters, trying to take back the Mothership from the corrupt Empire. And unseen, unheralded by the national media, they are showing signs of success.
In Seattle they overwhelm the 46th and 36th legislative district delegate elections, electing their own chairman, and winning every single one of the 21 delegates to the state convention. The rejected former GOP chairman, pouting over his loss, walks off the stage with all of the Party ballots and scanners, perhaps believing that they cannot have a meeting without the Republican Party’s technology.
They out-organized us says a Romney man. The same thing happens in the 36th District, where the Paul’s supporters vote down a Romney contrived “unity slate” that claimed to represent all of the other candidates. Weeks ago the Associated Press claimed that Romney would win 30 of the Washington State delegates to the national convention, Ron Paul, they reported would win 5. But it is turning out to be very different.
In Minnesota, where the AP projects 37 delegates for Santorum, 1 for Gingrich and 0 for Ron Paul the difference between media and reality is even more stark. In Carver County, Minnesota (suburban Minneapolis) Ron Paul supporters show up in force securing 30 out of the 52 delegate slots that will go onto the State Convention. Reports across the state are similar, especially in the suburbs. In most of them Ron Paul supporters account for at least a third of the delegates that will go to State. Theoretically, if they could unite, a Santorum-Paul deal could split the whole delegation to Tampa and deny Romney all but a few.
It is the same story in Missouri. Here too, Senator Rick Santorum won the statewide beauty contest but is seeing the delegates being swept away by the Ronulan tide. Ron Paul sweeps the St. Louis City Caucus and doubles the nearest delegate winner, Mitt Romney, in Jackson County (Kansas City.) It is a dramatic showing. In the Sixth Congressional District, Dr. Paul bags the whole lot, winning every single delegate to the State Convention.
Santorum wins Christian County but it is a bittersweet victory. The County Chairmen himself openly declares “voter fraud.” Videos and written eye witness reports abound on what really happened.
Perhaps the most dramatic contest centers on Greene County. (Springfield, Missouri.) This is the home to the national headquarters for the Assemblies of God and the Baptist Bible Fellowship, of Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Falwell fame, respectively. The Ronulans extend a hand of cooperation to the Santorum people but it is rejected. And who can blame them? Santorum had carried the County by 54% in the statewide, non binding, contest. The Romney people quickly step into the breach, make peace with the Ronulans. The end result is a delegation to the State Convention that is 59% Ron Paul, 36% Mitt Romney and 5% Rick Santorum.
Again in Boone County, (Columbia, Missouri,) Ron Paul organizer, Bruce Summers tries to strike a deal with Santorum supporters and is flatly rejected. The Ronulans promptly elect a new chairman of the caucus and the Romney supporters, seeing the math, fall into line, offering to join with the Ron Paul forces just to be able to get a piece of the delegation that will go onto State.
Santorum forces become so defensive over the invasion of young Ronulans in Cass County that they make a deal with Romney they didn’t have to make. Just to be certain of keeping out the Ron Paul supporters, they give up five delegates to Romney, their main rival for the GOP nomination. Like the Ron Paul deals with Romney, it is a tactical decision of strategic incompetence.
In Iowa, where it all began last January, where the Romney State Chairman delayed reports that Santorum had really won after all, they have announced a new State Chairman. He is A.J. Spiker, the State co-chairman for Ron Paul for president. And still, the AP delegate tracker suggests that split of delegates from Iowa will be Santorum 14, Romney 12, and Ron Paul 1. Clearly, if the Ronulans can replace the Romney State Chair with their own man, they will get much more than one delegate to Tampa.
So who are these Ron Paul supporters? They are young. He carried 48% of the youth vote in Iowa, 47% in New Hampshire, while six other candidates split the rest. They are Hispanic. He carried 52% of the Hispanic vote in Clark County, Nevada ( Las Vegas) while all of the others split the rest. And they are Independents. In a recent CBS poll he did better among Independents than all other candidates including Barack Obama.
And that means that they are the future. It means they are going to keep coming. They cannot be stopped, only delayed. And not for long. They are coming. They are coming.
On they come, marginalized by the media and ridiculed by the Republican establishment. Their votes are often rejected at precinct caucuses, their voices ignored by temporary chairmen who flout their own rules and pretend that they have the votes for their prearranged delegate slates.
On one occasion a crowd of onlookers shouts objections at this fraud, only to be subjected to prearranged organized arrests for “disturbing the peace.” Some participants openly weep, in shame for the obscenity of such blatant corruption. Others become angry. In Missouri, a weary delegate is seen vomiting by the side of a building, sick over what she has just experienced.
In Kentucky they show up to find that their name is on a list prohibited from participation by the County Chairman. He claims he did a drive-by the day before and they had a Libertarian sign in their yard and therefore cannot participate in a GOP caucus.
In Nevada the microphones are only allowed for favored candidates and are turned off when a young Hispanic tries to speak. There are lots of Hispanics among this crowd. Parliamentary rules are ignored. Prospective delegates are intimidated.
In Virginia, they are tricked into leaving the building, told that if there is no quorum the vote can be delayed until the rest of their people show up. But once out of the building the County Chairman, herself, locks the door so they can’t get back in.
In Alaska, election times are changed and their names are excluded from robo calls announcing those changes. Participants from all of the other campaigns are invited. Insiders are reportedly allowed to vote in caucuses by telephone conference calls, meanwhile, young people who show up are turned away in droves, saying they are too late or not registered, in spite of showing registration documents.
In Maine, a county chairman cancels the caucus, knowing that they will have a strong showing. A GOP official transfers false data and her phony numbers are caught by a local newspaper.
In an Oklahoma county convention a corrupt chairman adds new delegates who didn’t attend precinct caucuses and eliminates those who actually did. Another establishes a credentials committee which eliminates anyone under the age of thirty.
And yet, on they come, in spite of the pain, the inconvenience, the open hostility of the Party bosses. They are like a tide of the ocean. And for every precinct or county where they are violated or cheated, there is another where their sheer numbers prevail. These are the Ronulans, the Ron Paul supporters, trying to take back the Mothership from the corrupt Empire. And unseen, unheralded by the national media, they are showing signs of success.
In Seattle they overwhelm the 46th and 36th legislative district delegate elections, electing their own chairman, and winning every single one of the 21 delegates to the state convention. The rejected former GOP chairman, pouting over his loss, walks off the stage with all of the Party ballots and scanners, perhaps believing that they cannot have a meeting without the Republican Party’s technology.
They out-organized us says a Romney man. The same thing happens in the 36th District, where the Paul’s supporters vote down a Romney contrived “unity slate” that claimed to represent all of the other candidates. Weeks ago the Associated Press claimed that Romney would win 30 of the Washington State delegates to the national convention, Ron Paul, they reported would win 5. But it is turning out to be very different.
In Minnesota, where the AP projects 37 delegates for Santorum, 1 for Gingrich and 0 for Ron Paul the difference between media and reality is even more stark. In Carver County, Minnesota (suburban Minneapolis) Ron Paul supporters show up in force securing 30 out of the 52 delegate slots that will go onto the State Convention. Reports across the state are similar, especially in the suburbs. In most of them Ron Paul supporters account for at least a third of the delegates that will go to State. Theoretically, if they could unite, a Santorum-Paul deal could split the whole delegation to Tampa and deny Romney all but a few.
It is the same story in Missouri. Here too, Senator Rick Santorum won the statewide beauty contest but is seeing the delegates being swept away by the Ronulan tide. Ron Paul sweeps the St. Louis City Caucus and doubles the nearest delegate winner, Mitt Romney, in Jackson County (Kansas City.) It is a dramatic showing. In the Sixth Congressional District, Dr. Paul bags the whole lot, winning every single delegate to the State Convention.
Santorum wins Christian County but it is a bittersweet victory. The County Chairmen himself openly declares “voter fraud.” Videos and written eye witness reports abound on what really happened.
Perhaps the most dramatic contest centers on Greene County. (Springfield, Missouri.) This is the home to the national headquarters for the Assemblies of God and the Baptist Bible Fellowship, of Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Falwell fame, respectively. The Ronulans extend a hand of cooperation to the Santorum people but it is rejected. And who can blame them? Santorum had carried the County by 54% in the statewide, non binding, contest. The Romney people quickly step into the breach, make peace with the Ronulans. The end result is a delegation to the State Convention that is 59% Ron Paul, 36% Mitt Romney and 5% Rick Santorum.
Again in Boone County, (Columbia, Missouri,) Ron Paul organizer, Bruce Summers tries to strike a deal with Santorum supporters and is flatly rejected. The Ronulans promptly elect a new chairman of the caucus and the Romney supporters, seeing the math, fall into line, offering to join with the Ron Paul forces just to be able to get a piece of the delegation that will go onto State.
Santorum forces become so defensive over the invasion of young Ronulans in Cass County that they make a deal with Romney they didn’t have to make. Just to be certain of keeping out the Ron Paul supporters, they give up five delegates to Romney, their main rival for the GOP nomination. Like the Ron Paul deals with Romney, it is a tactical decision of strategic incompetence.
In Iowa, where it all began last January, where the Romney State Chairman delayed reports that Santorum had really won after all, they have announced a new State Chairman. He is A.J. Spiker, the State co-chairman for Ron Paul for president. And still, the AP delegate tracker suggests that split of delegates from Iowa will be Santorum 14, Romney 12, and Ron Paul 1. Clearly, if the Ronulans can replace the Romney State Chair with their own man, they will get much more than one delegate to Tampa.
So who are these Ron Paul supporters? They are young. He carried 48% of the youth vote in Iowa, 47% in New Hampshire, while six other candidates split the rest. They are Hispanic. He carried 52% of the Hispanic vote in Clark County, Nevada ( Las Vegas) while all of the others split the rest. And they are Independents. In a recent CBS poll he did better among Independents than all other candidates including Barack Obama.
And that means that they are the future. It means they are going to keep coming. They cannot be stopped, only delayed. And not for long. They are coming. They are coming.
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