Despite a promised Veto, the House of Repersentatives passed a bill to amend ObamaCare which would allow people to keep their plan. Michigan Repersentative Fred Upton introduced the HR 3350. Thirty-six Democrats joined the Republicans to pass the legislation. 

A St. Louis Abortion Clinic has 14 pages of violations. This Planned Parenthood Clinic has been found in violation for failing to properly clean medical equipment among other things. 

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) was taken up in the Senate Foriegn Relations Committee. Out of eight witnesses two opposed, five supported, and one was neutral. 

Threatens America's Sovergnity, and Parental Rights, and could enshrine abortion into American law. Micheal Farris Ph.D, J.D., L.A.A. spoke in opposition to the treaty on these grounds. During the question and answer part of the hearing proponants of the treaty attacked him personally and misrepersented his arguments, but he perservered, offering sound legal reasoning, and showing the end result of the logic of his opponants. See his full testamony here. Watch the hearing here, and read the treaty here.

Dr. Farris is a Constitutional Lawyer who has argued Cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. He has both a degree in American Law and a degree in international law. He is the chancellor of Patrick Henry College where he teaches Government, and Law. He has also coached 7 national championship moot court teams.

Alliance Defending Freedom petitons the Supreme Court to hear Elane Photography v. Willock.
Elane Photography is a business in New Mexico that refused be the photographer at a same-sex ceremony. The same-sex couple took the case before the New Mexico Human Rights Commission that which ordered the photography shop to pay a fine for opperating according to the belief that marriage is between one man and one women. The owners promptly sued. Several months latter the Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, "There is a price to pay" in order to believe Christianity. Read More Here.

Oral Arguments regarding Prayer were heard this week at the Supreme Court. In Greece vs. Galloway a city in upstate New York was sued for opening their coucil meetings with prayer. Read the arguments here. Read More about the Case here.

Freedom


The Supreme Court heard a case this week involving the question, 'How far does a United Nations treaty go?' Read more about that here.

VA: Conservative Cuccinelli lost, although with much slimmer margins than excpected as the ObamaCare website continues to be a disaster. McAffliee took 46%, Cuccinelli took 43.5% and the Libertaritan canidate took 6.6%

MUST READ ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
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Will the Court Strike a Blow for Religious Liberty?
Family
Successful Pro-Life Conversations
Freedom
Supreme Court can Stop Federal Overreach

Liberty is an interesting thing. It often can be sacrificed on the alter of security and human rights. Even the founding fathers noted this, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Noted Benjamin Franklin.

In the recent months we have seen liberty sacrificed to provide safety. We learned that the National Security Agency is spying on every American, through telephone calls and emails. No longer do we have the liberty to have a completely private conversation, using modern devises, someone somewhere will know. Our founders warned us against such measures, they warned us that we might give up liberty in order to maintain our safety, as has been done today.

Liberty is also often sacrificed on the alter of human rights. We find this today as well. One of the major political parties has decided that people deserve a certain amount of Health Care Insurance, therefore they took away the liberty of people to select certain Health Care plans. On the surface it seems good that everyone would have a certain level of coverage, but to achieve this we took away the liberty of people.

In the recent months we have seen an attack on two ideas. The first is that people can use the capitalistic system to choose health insurance that they believe best fits their need. Secondly, we have seen an attack on the idea that religious people can use the capitalistic system to buy health insurance that fits with their moral beliefs. I have heard people say that individuals and employers should not have this liberty. This argument is counter intuitive.

Economically speaking taking away this liberty could have detrimental effects on the economy. ObamaCare requires that each company that employs over fifty full time workers must buy insurance. This takes away the liberty for an employer to look at their budget and decide what they can afford; suddenly they are forced to buy a certain amount of insurance for each employee. This breach of liberty means that if a company cannot afford insurance they will either cut back employees hours or lay off workers. Business must cover their costs. Destroying the liberty of business owners can have a detrimental impact on their employees.

There is no indication that health insurance is a right that supersedes the right to liberty. Indeed is there even a right to health insurance? Health Insurance is a human invention, invented in a Capitalistic market, it does not naturally exist. Health insurance comes about when people decided to join together in order to spread the risk of accident or a major medical problem. It seems counter intuitive to say that people must be forced to join such a group. After all people have a right to take risks. It may be a good idea to purchase health insurance, but there cannot be a legitimate law forbidding stupidity or requiring things that are good for you. As Justice Scalia aptly noted, under this logic eating broccoli should be mandatory. The right to health insurance does not exist.

Before rushing out and demanding a law that requires people to do something, we must ask ourselves if it is a legitimate infringement on freedom. All laws will in some way infringe on freedom, which in some instances is good, for example laws against murder, but not all infringements are good. There must be a right that others by taking that freedom could destroy. Since health insurance is not a right, taking that liberty away from people is an illegitimate use of the Government’s power. It is not a good idea to give up our liberty for security, but it is a much more sinister idea to give up our liberty for rights that do not exist.


First appeared on Amber D's blog at aconstitutionalconservative.blogspot.com

Not only does the Obamacare website not work, but now the Obamacare exchanges and websites are now hiding which plans pay for abortion.

Add your voice on Twitter tomorrow: join the Tweetfest to tell Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to #BeTransparent and make it clear which Obamacare plans pay for abortion and which don't.

Many Conservative Organizations are pointing our the fact that Senate Majority leader Harry Reid stated; "Why would we want to [help a child with cancer]?" but they missed the larger part of the statement. Before he made this statement a member of the media asked him if he would accept the bill going through Congress to fund the National Institute of Health. He avoided a direct answer to the question and instead said,"What right does the House have to pick and choose what parts of the government to fund?" In this statement he not only plays on emotions, but also shows his contempt for the Constitution. 

The United States Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power of the purse, giving them enough power to hold back an out of control executive. The House therefore was given the right to select what to fund and what not to fund. As for funding the Government as has been pointed out previously, and as Harry Reid failed to point out; the House has compromised on the Continuing Resolution, it has been the Senate that has failed to compromise. The House went from a full defund of ObamaCare to only delaying one part of the Law, but still the Senate refused. Also, although the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives ask for negotiations with the Senate Democrats, the Senate refused. The House may not be totally willing to concede defeat, but at least they are willing to come to some middle ground.

Despite a meeting today the President and Democrats are still refusing to negotiate.

Watch Senator Reid's remarks here;

Last night after the second rejection by the Democrat led Senate, the Republican led House pulled another all-nighter attempting to avoid a government shutdown. The bill would have delayed the individual mandate of Obamacare and would have also block the Congressional exemption from Obamacare.  The bill was passed with 53% of the vote.  Nine Democrats joined the Republicans in supporting the measure: Representatives Barber, Barrow, Horsford, Maffei, Maloney, Matheson, McIntyre, Ruiz, and Sinema. Twelve Republicans joined the Democrats, either annoyed by the late nighter and continuous votes, or irritated at the watering down of the bill.  The Republicans were; Bachmann, Barton, Broun, Dent, Diaz-Balart, Gingrey, Gohmert, Granger, King, King (NY), and Massie. 

The bill was dead on arrival in the Senate, despite Republicans only scaling back the most unpopular parts of the law.  Senate Democrats, particular those in red states who are up for reelection next year, are caught supporting such things as the individual mandate and the exemption of Congressman. The Senate tabled the bill with a fully party line vote.  Every vulnerable Democrat went on record fully supporting Obamacare.

Harry Reid, President Obama and the Senate Democrats are forcing a government shutdown on the American people.  President Obama would rather negotiate with the leader of Iran than with the United States House of Representatives. 

Senator Reid said, "This is an unnecessary blow to America."  Despite his fancy language the first government shut down in 17 years is entirely his fault.

Welcome to Obamacare, America.  Today, despite the best attempts of Congressional Republicans and a government shutdown, Obamacare kicks into full gear.

The House Leadership attempted to negotiate with the Democrats earlier this week but Democrats refused, showing their indifference to whether or not the government shuts down. 

The Continuing Resolution (CR) passed by the House would have only delayed Obamacare and the HHS Mandate, while fully funding the rest of the government, but Democrats would have none of it.  The Senate voted 54 to 46 to defeat the CR.

As Congresswoman Blackburn said;
"A majority of Americans agree that Obamacare is having a devastating impact on businesses and families. The President has already delayed the employer mandate for his friends in big business and our proposal simply extends that relief to all hard-working taxpayers by delaying the individual mandate. It also ensures that all Members of Congress, the White House, and federal employees have to live under the same laws as the rest of the country. The Obamacare double standard that treats politicians in Washington better than the way it treats everyone else is a slap in the face of millions of hard-working people across our country. Obamacare treats some better than others and that's just simply not fair."

Also watch Senator Cruz speak before the United States Senate on September 27, 2013.

The conservatives in the United States House of Representatives are not giving up. With a few days left to stop Obamacare from being implemented, the House is not budging. They have finally taken a stand against Obamacare. Earlier this week the House defunded Obamacare in the Continuing Resolution with almost all of the Republicans voting to defund the unpopular bill. Without the Continuing Resolution, the Government will all but shut down this Tuesday. 

At 2:41pm on Tuesday, September 24, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas began a 21-hour speaking marathon on the Senate floor, declaring that he intended to speak until he could no longer stand.  His goal?  Make DC listen - to you.

Senator Cruz spoke all through the night, but was forced to end at noon on Wednesday for the beginning of a new legislative day.  He received help from Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Rand Paul (R-KY), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), David Vitter (R-LA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and most notably from Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah.  Cruz and Lee have led the fight to defund Obamacare in the Senate, and you can sign their petition calling on their colleagues to join them at www.DontFundObamacare.com.

During those 21 hours, Senator Cruz and the others who stood with him read story after story of people who will be - and have been - affected by Obamacare.  Cruz repeatedly noted how the hashtag #MakeDCListen was trending higher and higher throughout the day and on into the night, emphasizing why he was speaking - to make D.C. listen to the American people.

We fully support Ted Cruz's move, and call on all Republican Senators to join him and Senator Mike Lee in fighting to Defund Obamacare.  You can call your Senators and tell them to join the fight by scrolling down and viewing the list at www.DontFundObamacare.com.

NOTE: This was not technically a filibuster because Senator Cruz was not delaying a vote.  However it had many of the same features as a filibuster, and was the fourth longest time that anyone has ever held the Senate floor.

During the debate yesterday on the continuing resolution Tea Party superstar Ted Cruz was attacked by Harry Reid, who stated, "we’re not going to bow to tea party anarchists who deny the mere fact that Obamacare is the law. We will not bow to tea party anarchists who refuse to accept that the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare is Constitutional." 

Ted Cruz also had a difficult time getting the floor.

Today, Cruz had no problem getting the floor, but Reid will have a problem getting it back.  At 2:40pm Ted Cruz began speaking in defense of defunding Obamacare, and Senator Cruz has been speaking for an hour, joined at one point by Senator Mike Lee.  It seems strange but Cruz is speaking on a bill he fully supports, asking the Senate to not cloture it.  This bill is the Continuing Resolution passed by the United States House of Representatives, that takes the funding away from Obamacare.  The fear that Cruz has is that Reid will, using his position as Senate Majority Leader, will take that portion out of the bill.  This would likely happen if the bill is clotured.  Although some in the Conservative Movement have stated that this may not be the best way to fight Obamacare, Ted Cruz has the full support of the Republican Party.

This is not yet a technical filibuster since the voting time is scheduled for tomorrow.