Liberals and Conservatives, Unite!

Written by Matt Barber

More often than not, when someone says, “I hate to say I told you so,” they love to say they told you so. Prepare to have a bucket of gloat dumped on your head.

Still, there are those rare occasions when people both say it and mean it. A few possible examples come to mind: Aboard the Titanic. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Standing before the pearly gates (after your stupid bomb squad partner goes ahead and cuts the blue wire). And right now.

Liberals, we conservatives hate to say we told you so.

But we told you so.

In the wake of CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s earthshaking revelation that the Obama NSA has been spying on tens of millions of Americans – conservatives, liberals and moderates alike – by illegally searching and seizing telephone calls and other private data, I tweeted the following: “So can liberals and conservatives all come together now and agree that Obama is a Marxist tyrant?”

Ian Murphy, a liberal freelance writer with Salon.com, AlterNet.org and similar such “progressive” publications, tweeted back: “He’s not a Marxist.”

“We’ll split the difference,” I replied.

The implication behind Murphy’s brief comment is both clear and profound. While he, a proud leftist, inexplicably remains in denial of Obama’s patently evident Neo-Marxist socio-political worldview, he has, nonetheless – and along with a fast-growing number of his “progressive” counterparts – finally come to acknowledge that Barack Hussein Obama, 44th president of these Divided States of America, is, indeed, a grade-A tyrant.

In recent months, as this administration has been rocked by self-inflicted scandal after self-inflicted scandal, a vibrant, three-dimensional picture of Mr. Obama has begun to emerge. So obvious and outrageous are his abuses of power that many of his sycophantic holdouts are finally taking a second, less-jaundiced look at their Dear Leader.

For example, after it was learned that the Obama IRS was intentionally targeting conservative, Christian and Jewish organizations and individuals for harassment and political intimidation, Jon Stewart, liberal comedian and host of “The Daily Show,” did a scathing spot in which he told the president, “You’ve vindicated conspiracy theorists.”

More recently, in response to the IRS and NSA scandals, “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno joked of “Snoop Obama”: “We wanted a president that listens to all Americans,” he said. “Now we have one.”

Both the liberal New York Times and hard-left filmmaker Michael Moore have similarly opined that the Obama administration has “lost all credibility,” while left-leaning Politico observed that, “Nothing brings the left and the right together quite like government snooping.”

This is the tip of the iceberg. Liberals are running from Obama like Occupy Wall Streeters from Irish Spring. Each of these scandals (Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS-gate, spying on the media, NSA spying on the American people, et al.) are, ostensibly, grievous enough, when taken alone, to rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

When taken together, however, they are manifestly impeachable.

Unfortunately, I doubt Congress has the courage to do it. It would take a bipartisan, consensus effort. We’re still not there yet. Even so, we’ve come a long way. No reasonable person, liberal or conservative, can, in good faith, still deny that Barack Obama is the most lawless president in American history.

Oh what a difference a couple centuries make. While Benjamin Franklin famously warned, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” President Obama – with his hand caught in your information cookie jar – now assures us that Franklin had it all wrong: “[O]ne of the things that we’re going to have to discuss and debate is how are we striking this balance between the need to keep the American people safe and our concerns about privacy,” he said, “because there are some tradeoffs involved.”

Yikes.

“The president is conducting an all-out assault on the constitutionally protected rights of American citizens,” responded Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, one of the fastest-growing civil rights legal organizations in America.

“Electronic data collection on this massive scale clearly violates the Fourth Amendment. It is tantamount to having a government official sneak into your home or business and copy all of your papers, records and personal effects. The fact the government may not immediately use copied material except when it needs it is irrelevant. The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit searches and seizures without probable cause only if the government uses the information,” he said.

“We cannot justify such massive collection of American citizens’ data by any government agency under the guise of preventing crime or even terrorism. This government overreach is an indictment on both political parties, as both have been involved in authorizing these unconstitutional acts. Our government leaders and bureaucrats have forgotten the price of liberty and are too willing to give up liberty for a little security,” concluded Staver.

This isn’t a left or right issue. This is about freedom. This is about the rule of law. Barack Obama has exposed himself as an enemy of the Constitution, an enemy of the American people – all of the American people – whether liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.

Liberals, let’s agree to disagree where we disagree. Likewise, let’s agree to agree where we agree.

Let’s come together and do something about America’s Barack Obama problem.


Matt Barber (@jmattbarber on Twitter) is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action . (This information is provided for identification purposes only.)

Stantis: Democrat Governor Candidates

from the Chicago Tribune:

One Step Forward Two (or More) Steps Back for Illinois Politics

Written by Laurie Higgins

The day after courageous Illinois Representatives fended off another assault on marriage, the IL GOP State Central Committee in a secretive, closed door session elected Jack Dorgan to replace Pat Brady to lead the party.

Dorgan, who was Mark Kirk’s pick (yikes), has long ties to Democrats, including eternal Speaker of the House, Mike Madigan. So much attention is paid to the corruption among Illinois Democrats that the corruption among Republicans slithers unnoticed.

Remember what led to Pat Brady being forced to resign? It was his behind-the-scenes efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. Well, here’s a quote from a news report about Dorgan’s election:

Dorgan would not specify Saturday if he backs gay marriage, only that he wants the Republican Party to be more of a “big tent” organization.

One wag wrote: “IL GOP finally gives up, picks Democrat as new Party Chair.”

Another wrote: “The Illinois GOP slogan for 2012 was ‘Fire Mike Madigan.’ Apparently the slogan for 2014 will be ‘Donate to Mike Madigan.’

Someone should pay for this ethical and strategic blunder, and let’s hope it’s not natural marriage supporters. Is it too soon to call for Dorgan to resign?

And then we must change the process by which people like Dorgan get elected to head the IL GOP.

African American Clergy Warn Gov. Quinn

Leaders of the African American Clergy Coalition (AACC) today are appealing to Governor Pat Quinn to refrain from offering pork projects to legislators in return for a “yes” vote on SB 10 — the homosexual “marriage” bill. This comes after unnamed legislators informed the AACC of legislative bribery tactics being used by staff members of Governor Quinn’s office to lobby legislators. Specifically according to one legislator, a bridge and an extension of an expressway was assured in exchange for a “yes” vote on SB 10.

“This particular vote on SB 10 is too important to many African Americans throughout the state of Illinois who want to protect and defend traditional marriage. We are the same African Americans who Governor Quinn leaned on heavily for his election victory in 2010. And we will be the same community that will now take a closer look at him in 2014.  Governor, we appeal to you to not interfere or compromise the integrity of the legislative process,” says Bishop Lance L. Davis, Co- Chairman of the African American Clergy Coalition.

Yesterday, the AACC responded to recent statements by the sponsor of same-sex marriage (SB10), State Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago). The AACC viewed Harris’s claim of having already secured 60 votes for passage as both fraudulent and an attempt to mislead black legislators regarding the present support for this highly controversial measure. A measure in which has been clearly opposed by the vast majority of African American constituents in their districts.

On Tuesday, May 28th, Representative Harris stated that he picked up the vote of African American legislator, Lashawn Ford (D-Oak Park), to support same-sex marriage. However, Representative Ford has been considered a “yes” vote all along by every lobbyist dating back three months!

Representative Harris also failed to mention that according to a left-wing blog, one of the three Republicans supporting the bill has actually changed his position and will now vote ”no.” So instead of gaining a vote yesterday, Harris actually lost a vote for same-sex marriage.

Since December, legislators have been told by LGBT forces that there was tremendous momentum to pass this bill, but that has proven to be incorrect. For five weeks now, legislators were told that “we have the votes to pass the bill and we are calling it this week.” However that also has proven to be incorrect.

With just one day away from the end of the Legislative Session and Representative Harris still lacks the 60 votes necessary to pass SB 10. It is important that black legislators not be duped into thinking this bill is going to pass anyway. But it is very clear that it will not pass unless black legislators go against the wishes of the majority of their constituents, and support it.

Ronald Reagan on Marriage

Cartoon Says It All…

The media, culture and the homosexual political agenda . . .a cartoon can sometimes say it like an entire 1200 word essay.

Defending Marriage

Illinois AG Madigan Favors Redefining Marriage

Written by Fran Eaton of IllinoisReview.com

Being the daughter of the Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan, Illinois’ Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s opinion in support of same sex marriage made public Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune surprised no one. Indeed, AG Madigan’s agrees with her and her father’s political party platform. Although AG Madigan identifies herself as a Roman Catholic, she separated herself from her religious affiliation by supporting the redefinition of marriage to include same sex couples. The measure waits before the Illinois House.

I believe that passing the marriage equality bill is the only way to fulfill the promise of equal protection under the Illinois Constitution. While I have supported marriage equality since my days as a state senator over a decade ago, I have since conducted an extensive legal analysis that has only emboldened my support as attorney general.

A ban on same-sex marriage violates the state Constitution’s equal protection clause. The law does not allow the state or federal government to create a separate class of marriage based on a person’s sexual orientation. There is no other way to describe this than to call it discrimination. That is why, in state court, I have intervened in a lawsuit challenging Illinois’ current marriage law, and at the federal level, my office has filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court that support overturning California’s same-sex marriage ban and finding the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

Legal arguments aside, this issue at its heart is about one of the most fundamental decisions we can make — with whom to share our lives. In every community in Illinois, same-sex couples have chosen to join together and, in many instances, to raise families of their own. These couples are our relatives and friends, our neighbors, co-workers and parents of our children’s classmates. They deserve the same rights and responsibilities that civil marriage offers straight couples.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan conducted an investigation into private religious adoption agencies in Illinois after a complaint was filed by a homosexual couple seeking to place a 14 year old boy in their home. Their complaint led to the attorney general’s office to accuse another group – Catholic Charities – of discriminating against same sex couples by referring children in their care to husband and wife couples. The Department of Children and Family Services cut ties with Catholic Charities and the church-related adoption agency was forced to shut down in Illinois.

Madigan is expected to run for governor in 2014, although she has yet to make a formal announcement.

Pat Brady and the Illinois GOP

Written by David E. Smith and Laurie Higgins

This Saturday, the Republican State Central Committee (RSCC) will meet in Chicago for a regular meeting.

A few months ago, it was revealed that Pat Brady, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, was lobbying Republican state lawmakers in favor of same-sex “marriage.”  By doing this, Pat Brady betrayed conservative family values and the Republican Platform that states:

Our laws should strongly support and celebrate the loving commitment a man and a woman make to each other in marriage. Our laws should strongly support and celebrate a loving, married couple bringing new life into the world and rearing their children in a secure and nurturing environment from conception to adulthood. No law should undermine the importance of that union, divide that union nor unduly burden the efforts of parents to rear a family in a safe and nurturing environment.  (Section V of the 2012 Platform of the Illinois Republican Party.)

Pat Brady violated the trust of Republican voters by actively promoting same-sex marriage, which is diametrically opposed to Republican core principles. When Brady’s betrayal was exposed, he added insult to injury by trying to claim that he was not acting in his professional role as leader of the Illinois GOP.

Now that Brady has embraced the radical political mission to redefine marriage, why should we believe that he will not abandon the Republican platform on the right to life?

The task of the Republican Party is to strengthen the party by recommitting with conviction, courage, and passion to truth, which we cannot do with leaders like Pat Brady.

Leaders like Brady continually promote the falsehood that the “social issues”—a term increasingly used to disparage and dismiss those who believe marriage and protection of the unborn are of greater importance than the tax rate—are trivial.

The immoderate “moderate” wing of the Republican Party does not seek a bigger tent. They seek a smaller, rainbow-colored tent that will become complicit with the destruction of the single most important social institution: marriage.

And they don’t seek to silence true conservatives because these immoderates have deep, substantive philosophical commitments to genderless marriage. Leaders like Brady seek to undermine both the Republican Party and marriage for personal power and political expediency.  A man of conscience and wisdom would be ashamed. Brady’s neither.

The RSCC must remove and replace Pat Brady as soon as possible.

Take ACTION: Contact the following key members of the RSCC to encourage them to remove Pat Brady as GOP Chairman this Saturday:

District Name Cell Work Email
5 Angelo Skip Saviano 708-453-7598 708-453-7547 skip@skipsaviano.com
7 Carol Smith Donovan 312-643-0730 708-771-2345 carol.smith.donovan@gmail.com
12 Deb Detmers 618-910-2994 ddetmers@charter.net
13 Roger C. Claar 630-212-2200 630-226-8412 bbmayor@aol.com
16 Dave Syverson 815-985-7135 815-987-7555 sen1@aol.com
17 Judy Dudek 309-224-8379 309-647-1544 jdudek1955@sbcglobal.net
18 Michael S. Bigger 309-695-6338 309-695-6266 m.bigger@mchsi.com

NOM Pledges to Spend $250K to Defeat Illinois GOP Traitors in Next Primary

With the Illinois General Assembly returning this week from recess, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) reiterated its pledge to spend $250,000 defeating Republican legislators who vote in support of marriage redefinition legislation in Illinois, just like NOM successfully did in New York.

“Any Republican in Illinois who betrays the cause of marriage will be casting a career-ending vote and will be held accountable to their constituents,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “We will spend whatever it takes—hundreds of thousands of dollars if necessary—to remove them from office, just as we did three of the four turncoat Republican state Senators in New York who were responsible for gay ‘marriage’ passing there. We will not hesitate to support pro-family Democrats to replace them, as our record in New York proves.”

In New York state, same-sex “marriage: narrowly passed the state senate after four Republicans and two Democrats changed their votes in response to promises of campaign cash from gay marriage activists. NOM targeted all seven for defeat, and was successful in removing five of them, replacing them in 2012 with pro-family Senators. As numerous media have reported, including the New York Times, three of the four Republicans were removed from office despite promises by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and gay-rights advocates to do everything in their power to protect them against political retribution. (“Costly Toll for Republicans Who Voted for Gay Marriage“).

In addition to supporting challengers to the four Republicans, NOM also supported pro-family Democrats, helping to re-elect Senator Ruben Diaz and electing a pro-marriage Democrat to unseat Senator Shirley Huntley in the Democratic primary. “Marriage is not a partisan issue,” Brown said. “We will stand with pro-family legislators regardless of party affiliation when they stand up for true marriage.”

Modified by Matthew Medlen.com