Monday Brief: Obama's Double Legal Standard

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Patriot Headline Report The Right Opinion Brief · April 9, 2012 The Foundation "An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." --James Madison Political Futures "In 1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act by huge bipartisan votes -- 342 to 67 in the House and 85 to 14 in the Senate. President Bill Clinton signed the measure into law. Now, the Obama administration says DOMA, which permits states to refuse to recognize gay marriages from other states and also creates a federal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, is unconstitutional. ... 'I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,' Obama said Monday about the arguments over Obamacare before the nation's highest court. The danger presented in the health care case, the president continued, is that 'an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.' ... If the president was so concerned about a court overturning a duly constituted law passed by a democratically elected Congress, why was he urging a small group of unelected judges to strike down DOMA, a measure that won passage by a far greater margin than Obamacare? The answer is, of course, that the administration is making a political argument for its positions, not a legal one. ... [T]he timing of the arguments over Obamacare and DOMA has revealed the flexibility of the administration's arguments over constitutionality. And the flap over Obama's remarks is just a preview of what is coming when the court issues its decision on Obamacare this June." --columnist Byron York Post your opinion: What do you think of Obama's selective reasoning? Government "America's constitutional structure is built on checks and balances. The idea behind these checks and balances is simple: We want interest counteracting interest, ego counteracting ego. We don't want any one person to gain too much power -- or any one faction or any one way of thought. Gridlock, for lack of a better word, is good. President Barack Obama, however, has a different idea. He believes that America must be fundamentally transformed. That fundamental transformation cannot be effectuated without a fundamental transformation of the system of American government. The most important part of that transformation is the elevation of the presidency from a coequal branch of government to a pre-eminent branch of government. The president shouldn't be seen as just a player in the larger government struggle for power and policymaking; he should be seen as a larger-than-life figure, an almost godlike personage, the sort of fellow who can enact policy single-handedly. No wonder, then, that President Obama declared war on the Supreme Court. ... Getting things done is not so important as getting the right things done. And nobody has a monopoly on what the 'right thing' is -- no person and certainly no one branch of government." --columnist Ben Shapiro Re: The Left "One of the highly developed talents of President Barack Obama is the ability to say things that are demonstrably false, and make them sound not only plausible but inspiring. ... Now there are different kinds of liars. If we must have lying Presidents of the United States, I prefer that they be like Richard Nixon. You could just look at him and tell that he was lying. But Obama is much smoother. On this and on many other issues, you would have to know what the facts are to know that he is lying. He is obviously counting on the fact that, in this era of dumbed-down education, many people have no clue as to what the facts are. He is also counting on something else -- namely, that the pro-Obama media will not expose his lies. One of the many ways of lying smoothly is to simply redefine words. Barack Obama is a master at that as well. ... It would be hard to become nostalgic about Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign in disgrace. But at least you could tell when he was lying. Obama's lies are just as big but not as visible, and the media that exposed Nixon is covering for Obama." --economist Thomas Sowell Essential Liberty "[T]here are many activities we engage in that either cause harm to others or have the potential for doing so, but we don't ban all of these activities. One of the least-understood functions of private property rights is that of determining who may harm whom in what ways. In a free society, it is presumed that the air in a person's house, restaurant, hotel, car or place of business is his property. That means that if you own a restaurant and don't want your air polluted by tobacco smoke, it is your right. Most would deem it tyranny if a bunch of smokers had the political power to get the city council to pass an ordinance forcing you to permit smoking. You'd probably deem it more respectful of liberty if those who wanted to smoke sought a restaurant owner who permitted smoking. The identical argument can be made about a restaurant owner who permits smoking in a city where nonsmokers have the political power. The issue is not whether smoking harms others. The issue is the rights associated with property ownership. The emerging tragedy is our increased willingness to use the coercive powers of government, in the name of health or some other ruse, to forcibly impose our preferences upon others. In the whole scheme of things, the tobacco issue itself is trivial. Far more important is its template for massive government disrespect for private property." --economist Walter E. Williams Insight "To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them. He is proud of a common heritage and loyal to common traditions. But he regards government as a means, an instrumentality, neither a grantor of favors and gifts, nor a master or god to be blindly worshipped and served." --economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006) Faith & Family "There's a real war on women.... And it's been going on for decades. Our friend Steven Mosher first discovered this war on women in China three decades ago. Steven was a Stanford University Ph.D. student doing graduate research in rural China. ... What he discovered was that Chinese women got no choice. If they had a second child -- an 'illegal' child -- these women could be rounded up, thrown in the back of a two-ton truck, and carted off to the local infirmary. There, they could even be held down and forcibly aborted. ... With such brutal policies in effect limiting Chinese couples to only one child, the rural Chinese felt further pressure to make sure that child was a boy. That's because sons are the only social 'safety net' for hundreds of millions of Chinese. ... President Obama would have us believe that there is some kind of war on women, just in time for his re-election effort. But he is the one who made sure that China's monstrous population effort would be fully supported by the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). Two days after assuming power, President Obama revoked the Reagan-era Mexico City policy of the previous administration. He forces us to fund international Planned Barrenhood. That means that the world-wide war on baby girls will go forward, with U.S. taxpayers footing part of the bill." --columnists Ken Blackwell & Bob Morrison The Gipper "There is a hunger in this country today -- a hunger for spiritual guidance. People yearn once again to be proud of their country and proud of themselves, and to have confidence in themselves. And there's every reason why they should be proud. Some may have failed America, but America has never failed us, and there is so much to be proud of in this land." --Ronald Reagan Support The Patriot Post Today While much of Washington ignores its budget responsibilities, it's a good time to remind our readers that we have our own budget to fund. Unlike the government, however, we depend on the voluntary contributions of people like you to keep The Patriot Post coming each week. "I couldn't survive without your daily messages. You are also to the right point. Thanks for all you do. As a mother of a former Marine 2003-2011, you helped me through some very difficult times." --Dorette Help us reverse our nation's march toward insolvency and set the conservative agenda for years to come. Support our Patriots' Day campaign with a donation of any size today! Reader Comments "In regard to Mark Alexander's essay, 'Jesus was a Commie'?, Jesus preached that we should reject those who offend the word of God. As Alexander noted, given that atheism is a fundamental tenant of socialism, and the fact that millions of innocent men, women and children have been murdered in socialist purges, one may conclude with certainty that 'Jesus was not a Commie.' Further, the statist redistribution of wealth does not constitute charity. It is not charitable to give away that which is not yours and claim generosity." --Marie "Jesus advocated personal responsibility, as in Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents. Each was responsible for what he did and his attitude about it. The lazy one, who felt that Jesus was a hard man, found out his laziness did not pay off. Socialism is the refuge of the lazy one!" --Roger Culture "A man's life is forever changed by an event that can't be undone. Regardless of how his actions are labeled, [George Zimmerman] can't alter the fact that he fatally shot a 17-year-old. Even if he did so in self-defense, this was a defining event for Mr. Zimmerman, whose life has now been threatened by the New Black Panther Party and others, forcing him, along with his family, into hiding. If this case reminds us of anything, it is that the due-process clause of our Constitution serves a real and important purpose -- to require the prudent and thoughtful application of the law in every situation, no matter how 'obvious' a crime may appear. If due process should have been afforded to young Trayvon, it is no less warranted for Mr. Zimmerman in the aftermath of the shooting. This is what it means to be a nation of laws, and not men. In our age of instant (though often not accurate) communication and knee-jerk, emotional responses, it is unsurprising that the Revs. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others would ignore the right to due process for some and once again use a very real human tragedy to advance a political agenda, demonizing the people with whom they disagree." --columnist Marybeth Hicks The Last Word "For good measure, as radio talk show host Dennis Prager pointed out, for the first time in its history, the New York Times identified someone, in this case [George] Zimmerman, as 'a white Hispanic.' After all, it wouldn't be front page news if a Hispanic had shot a black or vice versa, or, as is more typical, a black had killed a white. Only by emphasizing that Zimmerman's father was white, while ignoring the fact that his mother was Peruvian, could the Times turn this unfortunate incident into the only kind of hate crime they really care about, one in which a white man can be portrayed as evil incarnate. ... Just in terms of public relations, wouldn't it have been a good idea for Obama to have spoken a few well-chosen words after the 13-year-old white kid, Allen Coon, in Kansas City, was recently doused in gasoline and set on fire while the two black teenagers hollered, 'You get what you deserve, white boy!'? ... In a related matter, people seem to be in a big rush to try, convict and execute, Sgt. Robert Bales for murdering 17 Afghans, while in the meantime, Major Hasan, who massacred 14 Americans at Fort Hood in 2009, continues to await trial nearly three years after his bloody rampage, committed in the name of Allah. In this country, it would appear, a hate crime is simply one for which a white heterosexual is responsible, never one in which he or she is the victim." --columnist Burt Prelutsky Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis! Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team (To submit reader comments click here.) ***** (Please pray for our Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world, and for their families -- especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.) Follow The Patriot Post:

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