As we approach the CHRISTmas season things begin to slow down, this last week has been no exception. 

This week a District Court judge cited homosexual marriage to rule Utah's anti-polygamy law Unconstitutional. This law has been ruled Constitutional at the Supreme Court, so this ruling will not change Utah law, but it does indicate a major shift in the thinking of Amerca. In Reynolds vs. United States and others the Supreme Court ruled laws against Polygamy constitutional. In one instance the Court stated; 
"Bigamy and polygamy are crimes by the laws of all civilized and Christian countries. They are crimes by the laws of the United States, and they are crimes by the laws of Idaho. They tend to destroy the purity of the marriage relation, to disturb the peace of families, to degrade woman, and to debase man. Few crimes are more pernicious to the best interests of society, and receive more general or more deserved punishment." -Davis vs. Beason
The decision this week of a judge to defy the rulings of the Supreme Court signals a dangerous shift for the American Family and our Republic.

The State of Michigan officially passed the Abortion Insurance opt out. This made Michigan the 24th state to enact this law, opting out of the abortion funding in Obamacare. After Governor Snyder vetoed the bill last year, Right to Life of Michigan used a process in the States Constitution to basically override the veto of the Governor. In order to do this Right to Life gathered over 300,000 signatures, and then set the bills to the state Congress, where they passed with an almost party line vote. Opponents of the bill are seeking a ballot referendum in November 2014.

This last week two major things happened in relation to the Court. A Catholic hospital was sued for refusing to discuss abortion and Liberty University was denied an appeal of their lawsuit to the 4th Circuit. 

The ACLU filed charges on behalf of a Michigan women against the Catholic church, because one of their hospitals complied with Catholic standards, by refusing to discuss abortion as an option for a pregnancy. Mercy Hospital was fully in their legal right to deny abortions, since Mercy being part of the Catholic church believes that abortion results in the death of an unborn child.

As ObamaCare continues to roll out Americans continue to be shocked. People, who relied on their insurance, have lost their coverage. The family of a 6 year old cancer patient was shocked to learn that their plan was among the ones that did not comply with the HHS standards. This family is not the only ones who have lost coverage, thousands of Americans have recieved such notices. Many of these Americans find that purchasing new care would increase costs, or that they cannot get plans that cover the care that they need. Many who we perfectly happy with their care are angry to see it lost.

A Catholic Hospital is being challenged for not performing an abortion, or referring a women to an abortion clinic.  Tamesha Means of Muskegon, Michigan went to Mercy Hospital because of complications with her pregnancy.  Mercy Hospital, seeing that there was little hope for the child, told her that there was nothing they could do.  Means is suing for their refusal to discuss abortion as an option.  Mercy Hospital is not the only hospital in Muskegon, and Means could have gone to others seeking assistance.  Mercy lived up to its values and is now being sued.  Religious Liberty is under attack.

 Liberty University filed suit against Obamacare directly, challenging the 2012 Supreme Court decision. They also challenged the HHS mandate, which requires plans to cover abortifacias. Liberty's petition was denied in the 4th Circuit on December 2.

Hobby Lobby's case will proceed to the Supreme Court, with decision will be expected in June. Hobby Lobby is run by Christian businessman, David Green, who has refused to comply with the Health and Human Services Department's order that all health insurance plans cover four types of abortifaciants, including Ella and Plan B.  Hobby Lobby sued saying that they have a constitutional right not to pay for something that goes against their religious beliefs.

"Nuclear Family: a family group that consists only of father, mother, and children." 
- Webster's Dictionary. 

This week the New York Times released an article changing the definition of the "nuclear family". They claimed that other types of "families" provide kids with the same opportunities and care, something that is disputed by statistics. 

"Social science confirms the importance of marriage for children. According to the best available sociological evidence, children fare best on virtually every examined indicator when reared by their wedded biological parents. Studies that control for other factors, including poverty and even genetics, suggest that children reared in intact homes do best on educational achievement, emotional health, familial and sexual development, and delinquency and incarceration." - Heritage Foundation.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns released an error-ridden "fact"-sheet over the Thanksgiving holiday. The NRA quickly responded with their own fact-sheet noting the fiction in MAIG's statements.


MUST-READ ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
Freedom - Obama's distain for the Constitution threatens our freedom
Family - Thank You Hobby Lobby
Faith - What Did C.S. Lewis think about Abortion?

The Green family has been fighting for their right to operate their family company, Hobby Lobby, according to their religious beliefs.  After the healthcare takeover became law, the Health and Human Services Department used their new-found power to order all companies to purchase insurance plans that would cover abortion inducing drugs.  The Green family, as Christians, objected, citing the fact that abortion ends the life of a developing child and is therefore murder.  They sued the Health and Human Services Department for their right to operate their business in accordance with their religious beliefs.  If Hobby Lobby loses this case, they will be forced to either violate their religious beliefs or pay 1.2 million dollars in fines per day. 

On November 1st the 10th Circuit Court ruled that Hobby Lobby has a right to run their business in accordance with their religious beliefs.  The Obama Administration appealed, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities was once again heard before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Secretary of State John Kerry testified, along with others.  Many in the committee favored the treaty, while some worked hard in opposition. The danger of this treaty cannot be stressed enough.  This treaty would have the power to fundamentally change American law. It could enshrine abortion into our law, and destroy the rights of parents. To learn more about CRPD visit freedomsdefenders.com/crpd and facebook.com/RejectCRPD.

The Senate has gone Nuclear! This past week the Senate changed the 200 year old rules, that forced the majority party to reach a 60 vote threashold to close debate on a bill, now debate can be closed with a simple majority- 50 votes plus the Vice President. This move does not endanger the Republican Legislative position, since they hold the House of Repersentatives and so they can still block bills. This will endanger our ability to block the radical canidates that Obama may nominate, both in important judical positions and on the newly created medical board. Cornelia Pillard, whose nomination Freedom's Defenders strongly opposes, will likely be approved under these conditions. This move takes away the rights of the minority party to temper the demands of their opponents. 

A deal has been struck with Iran to lift sanctions.  This dangerous move gives Iran more power to seek nuclear weapons.  Although Iran has promised to not attempt to become a nuclear threat, history teaches us that we should be concerned.  Various other regimes have promised similar things and yet secretly broke their promises.  Iran has been a constant threat to both the United States and Israel, and should therefore not be allowed to pursue any nuclear technology that could foster a nuclear weapons program.  This deal has been is an "abject surrender by the United States," according to former ambassador John Bolton.  It leaves Israel, America's closest ally, angry. 

As the United States pursued a deal with Iran, American Pastor languished in an Iranian prision, for his religious beliefs. Despite calls to release him and to pursue his release by Congress the Obama Administration failed to even ask during the negotiations with his captors. Pastor Saeed is an American Citizen, who was travelling to Iran to help establish an secular orphanage. While there he was arrested and thrown into prision. He has a wife and two children in the United States. To learn more about Pastor Saeed. visit ACLJ.org.

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
Faith
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

"It is an isolated incident" at least that is what we heard from the Obama administration, but it is no longer believable. Today yet another story broke about the labeling of Christians as terrorists by the military. Soldiers attending a briefing were informed that Christains and Conservatives are terrorists and that the soilders would be prosecuted if they donated to such groups. Horrified a soilder reported it to the news media. 

Two weeks before soilders were told that the American Family Association was a hate group, because of its determination that homosexual marriage is wrong. A letter by an advisor to the Pentagon labled Christains as monsters. Christians will be court-martialed for sharing their faith, and the list continues. Religious liberty is under attack, and the first place they are stricking is among out military; among those who are willing to give all to defend America.

Sign the ACLJ petition and tell the President that Christians are not extremists -- sign now!