RAG Perspective: An American Pro-Liberty Conservative: Miscellany: 10/19/14

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Miscellany: 10/19/14

Quote of the Day
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

Rant of the Day: Marc Breslin on Patriot Post

Barack "Taqiyya" Obama's crimes against the American people from 2009-preset. Barack H. Obama is an admitted serial killer of American citizens and acting terrorist sympathizer; releasing and giving arms to known terrorist's is a treasonous breach of America's Constitutional Republic, Sovereignty and National Security. {III}.. We all should know what "TAQIYYA" means.
Article 1, Sect. 1
1. Used Executive Privilege in regards to Fast & Furious gun running scandal. When Government misconduct is the concern Executive privilege is negated.
2. Issued 23 Executive Orders on gun control – infringement of the 2nd Amendment.
3. Executive Order bypassing Congress on immigration
Violation Article 1 Section 1
4. NDAA – Section 1021. Due process Rights negated.
Violation of 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Amendments.
5. Executive Order 13603 NDRP – Government can seize anything.
6. Executive Order 13524 – Gives INTERPOL jurisdiction on American soil beyond law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
7. Executive Order 13636 Infrastructure Cyber security – Bypassing Congress
Violations: Article 1 Section 1, Art. 4 sect. 4,
8. Signed into law the establishment of “NO Free Speech Zones” – noncompliance is a felony.
9. Attempt to tax political contributions
Violations: 1st Amendment, Art.1 sect. 7
10. Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) Law – Obama directed DOJ ( Dept. of Justice ) to ignore the Constitution and separation of powers and not enforce the law.
Violations : Art. 2 sect.2 , 5th amendment, 18 USC 241 – Sec. 241
11. Drone strikes on American Citizens – 5th Amendment Due process Rights negated.
Violations: Art. 1 Sect. 1
12. Bypassed Congress and gave EPA power to advance Cap-n-Trade
13. Attempt for Graphic tobacco warnings (under appeal)
Violations: 1st Amendment. Art. 1 sect. 8
14. Four Executive appointments – Senate was NOT in recess (Court has ruled unconstitutional yet the appointees still remain)
Violations: Art. 1 sect 2 &5 ,
15. Obama took Chairmanship of UN Security Council –
Violation : Art 1 Sect. 9.
16.Obamacare( A.C.A. ) mandate – SCOTUS (U.S. SupremeCourt ) had to make it a tax because there is no Constitutional authority.
Violations : Art. 2 sect. 1 , Amendments 1, 2, 9, 10, & 14, Art. 1 sect. 7
18. Healthcare waivers – No president has dispensing powers.
Violations: 1st, 2, 9,10, & 14th Amendment, Art 1: Sect. 7
19. Refuses to acknowledge state’s 10th Amendment rights to nullify Obamacare( Affordable Care Act).
Violation: Art. 1 sect. 1 , Art. 2. sect. 1 , 10th Amendment
20. Congress did not approve Obama’s war in Libya. Article I, Section 8, First illegal war U.S. has engaged in. Impeachable under Article II, Section 4. Obama falsely claims UN can usurp Congressional war powers.
Violations: Article I, Section 8, Art.2 sect. 1
21. Obama has acted outside the constitutional power given him – this in itself is unconstitutional.
Violations: Art. 2 sect 1
22. With the approval of Obama, the NSA and the FBI are tapping directly into the servers of 9 internet companies to gain access to emails, video/audio, photos, documents, etc. This program is code named PRISM. NSA also collecting data on all phone calls in U.S. Violation of 4th Amendment.
Violations: 4th Amendment.
23. Plans to sign U.N. Firearms treaty – 2nd Amendment.
Violation: 2nd ,4th, 9th, 10th , & 14TH Amendment, Art.1 Sect. 4 , Art. 2 sect. 1
24. The Senate/Obama immigration bill (approved by both) raises revenue – Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives;
Violations: Art. 1 sect 4th, 7 ,& 8th, Art. 2 sect. 1, Art.4 sect. 4,
25. Obama refuses to uphold the Business Mandate Law (ACA) for a year. President does not have that authority

I do not agree with all these criticisms, and I have zero tolerance for this talking point about Obama being a closet Muslim. (re: Wikipedia) "In Islam, taqiyya (alternative spellings taqiyeh, taqiya, taqiyah, tuqyah) is a form of religious dissimulation, or a legal dispensation whereby a believing individual can deny his faith or commit otherwise illegal or blasphemous acts while they are in fear or at risk of significant persecution." (And let's put it this way: Obama is entitled to his religious liberty, including any conversion to Islam.) However, I've mostly heard about his attending Baptist services as President. For further discussion on the religion conspiracy theories, see here.

I will say that he is quite detailed and specific and does raise some of the same issues about Obama's lawless administration, but I have issues with some of them. For example, SCOTUS did gut DOMA, but I agree that the Obama Administration was not supporting DOMA (before the Court ruled) in court in the copy-and-pasted precedent of California's unethical and possibly illegal refusal by state leadership to support Proposition 8 in court. And even if he has supported or signed possibly unconstitutional legislation, that's not necessarily an impeachable action. I do believe there are legitimate political issues, and the American people have a right to express their judgment in next month's election.

Chart of the Day

Via Adam Smith Institute

Image of the Day

Via Vox

The Glory of Crop Breeding

Courtesy of James Kennedy Monash

Francis I's Synod Defeat: Is the Church Headed For Schism?

Make no mistake: the failure of the handpicked synod to meet the necessary threshold for inclusion of progressive sympathetic paragraphs on gays and divorced/remarried Catholics was a defeat, and Francis' decision to include the rejected paragraphs was an abuse of papal authority:

Francis, on the other hand, played with fire and brought the Church to the brink of the precipice, her most serious division in five centuries, in order to implement what even his nominee Cardinal Pell called "the secular agenda"; not even in a Synod whose members were chosen by him and steered by Cardinal Baldisseri under his command was he able to achieve even 2/3 of the votes on the issues close to his heart, even after they had been considerably watered down. Compare and contrast this to both Vatican I and Vatican II where not even the most controversial issues reached this level of disagreement from the clear will of the Pope -- and even when there was a much smaller proportion of "non placet" votes (even fewer than 10%), the texts were changed to achieve agreements as close to unanimity as possible. And instead of gracefully accepting the blocking of the rejected paragraphs, he proceeded to include the rejected passages in the text, which makes the whole synodal process lose meaning... Despite all this, as Vallet says, he is "cunning" enough to move forward in his attempt, regardless of the serious and extremely high risks to the unity of the Church involved in it. May Our Lord and Our Lady protect the Church.

Let us not forget the rank-and-file are generally more conservative, and the Pope's huge popularity is mostly with the mainstream media and nominal, progressive Catholics:

From what we received from readers in more mainstream parishes, and from every single African reader, the provisional report set a fire of indignation in many spirits in parishes and dioceses as well. If anything, the laity in African nations (and certainly in every single Asian nation) is even more conservative in moral matters than their bishops. Second, that [**] the pope's undeniably immense "popularity" in secular contexts is much less noticeable at the parish level, where the "Francis effect" is negligible, if existent -- and the more dedicated and thoroughly catechized a particular group is, the less popular the pope is. Therefore, the risk, if not of an outright schism, of a strong and enduring division between pope and priests and laity is immense. Francis has lots of support to change Catholic doctrine... but mostly among people who rarely go to Church, if they are Catholics at all.

There were a couple of other significant notes: the first was the demotion of Cardinal Burke. Professor Vallet, hardly a conservative, notes: "Worse still [beyond the two lost issues], an American Cardinal [editor note: Raymond Leo Burke, of the conservative opposition] even declared that the Pope had done "great harm by not saying openly what his position was...It is the first time in 50 years, at least, that a cardinal opposes the Pope openly. It is the first time as well, in several centuries, that bishops and cardinals don't have confidence in him." The blog responds, "An additional point concerns Cardinal Burke, this exemplary servant of the Church. He has been nothing if not humble, accepting all humiliations patiently. The way he has been treated by Francis is embarrassing for the pope, not for him. Consider how different John Paul II and Benedict XVI were with outright dissenters, such as the anti-African German cardinal Walter Kasper, and many others of a similar vein, who were never humiliated and threatened of demotion and exile, despite their position -- quite the opposite. This was not because these popes were "soft", but because they fought for the unity of the Church."

The second point was a reference to a controversy involving Kasper, the lead progressive and a prominent backer for Francis' election. There was a somewhat off-the-cuff interview of Kasper by a National Catholic Reporter Edwin Pentin. Pentin published a piece with ZENIT, which was later withdrawn when the cardinal disavowed the interview. Here is a relevant transcript excerpt:

It has been said that [Pope Francis] added five special rapporteurs on Friday to help the general rapporteur, Cardinal Peter Erdo. Is that because he’s trying to push things through according to his wishes?
I do not see this going on in the Pope’s head. But I think the majority of these five people are open people who want to go on with this. The problem, as well, is that there are different problems of different continents and different cultures. Africa is totally different from the West. Also Asian and Muslim countries, they’re very different, especially about gays. You can’t speak about this with Africans and people of Muslim countries. It’s not possible. It’s a taboo. For us, we say we ought not to discriminate, we don’t want to discriminate in certain respects.
But are African participants listened to in this regard?
No, the majority of them [who hold these views won’t speak about them].
They’re not listened to?
In Africa of course [their views are listened to], where it’s a taboo.
What has changed for you, regarding the methodology of this synod? [question from French journalist]
I think in the end there must be a general line in the Church, general criteria, but then the questions of Africa we cannot solve. There must be space also for the local bishops’ conferences to solve their problems but I’d say with Africa it’s impossible [for us to solve]. But they should not tell us too much what we have to do.

I think Francis I is causing great confusion and scandal by ambiguous soundbites or suggesting the Church's moral teachings on the gay lifestyle or divorce are flexible. Any accommodation of morally corrupt secularism or political correctness is anathema. If this Pope abandons us, the true Church, it's a schism of his making, not ours. I will not forsake the Church's consistent moral teachings for some leftist authoritarian prelate eager to appease spiritually vacuous progressives.

Facebook Corner

(Libertarian Republic). Gov't Demands Ministers Marry Homosexuals Or Be Jailed | The Libertarian Republic http://bit.ly/1upspf5
Unconstitutional. The fascist state does not have authority over religious practices. I doubt this will ever get to court because of public outcry, but it'll never get past the Idaho Supreme Court because Idaho is one of 19 states to pass their own version of RFRA. If gays have an option of getting "married", e.g., by an Idaho judge or other accommodating licensed ministers, forcing ministers to conduct the State's warped redefinition of marriage would be a type of slavery.

Proposals

Political Cartoon