Guest Post from G.J. Merits…
FEDERAL (OBAMA) GOVERNMENT TRIES TO LIMIT CONSTITUTIONAL POWER OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA (See the 10th Amendment of the Constitituion)
August 19, 2009
Posted by G.J. Merits
Read Obama’s Imperial Decree: Target Oklahoma:
Remember the good old days, when one only had to watch out for the Federal Government’s twisted interpretation of the commerce clause to justify tyranny?
Well those days seem to be long gone. The Obama Administration has been employing an old tactic lately – what some might call an imperial threat – and they’re not doing it overseas, either.
STATES UNDER THREAT
The state of Oklahoma is now the target of a direct challenge from US Attorney General Eric Holder, who is using the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as justification to violate Oklahoma’s sovereignty as affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
In a letter written to the State Attorney General in April, the Federal government used aggressive language, bringing up the possibility of withholding Federal funds appropriated for Oklahoma. The reason? A proposed amendment to the State Constitution, which requires voter approval, that would make English the official language of the State.
“What it indicates is the Federal Government’s contempt for the states; in this case, Oklahoma, and for the idea of federal — as opposed to national — government. AG Holder believes that Oklahoma is an administrative subdivision of the USA, and that it is perfectly right for him to coerce Oklahomans to do his will. “Who cares whether he has ever been to Oklahoma, met an Oklahoman, or thought about Oklahoma?” said Kevin Gutzman, an American historian and New York Times bestselling author.
Oklahoma is not alone as a state challenged by central authority in recent months. Recently, federal firearms licensees in Tennessee and Montana received a letter from another Federal agency, the ATF, who had also issued a decree wrought with hubris – claims by the Federal government of their legal supremacy across the land.
DESTROYING LOCAL GOVERNMENT
“Both of these letters; particularly this letter to the Attorney General of Oklahoma, are very officious,” observed Rob Natelson, professor of law at the University of Montana. “It reminds one eerily of the kinds of communications that started to come out from the Emperor to the local cities of the Roman Empire, beginning the course of the ultimate destruction of local government.”
Professor Natelson is a widely-recognized expert on the framing and adoption of the United States Constitution, and on several occasions, he has been the first to uncover key background facts about the Constitution’s meaning. I knew this before our conversation. What I didn’t know; however, was that he’s also been studying Roman Law and history for the past 50 years, and is responsible for several works in that field.
“During the 2nd century AD, the Roman Emperors began increasingly to interfere with local government, and they did this with… letters… letters that look something like this,” continued Natelson, indicating the letter from Holder to Oklahoma. “They started out as almost advisory and they got increasingly peremptory. By the end of the 2nd century, there was very little local government left. You had very few people; therefore, willing to participate in local elections; very little patriotic spirit towards one’s own province or city. And this was the harbinger for the ultimate centralization of the Roman Empire.”
He continued with a strong, decisive tone, “Almost everyone who’s studied in that area agrees that the effect was to sap the life out of the empire, so that everything flowed to the center. All that counted was the Emperor and his bureaucrats… and his courtiers. I look at this and I see this letter which gets close to looking like an order from the central government down to a sovereign state legislature, and I say…WOW. This looks like something that Septimius Severus would have sent to the local officials.”
In Columbus, Ohio last weekend, a rally in support of State Sovereignty drew around 7,000 people. Judge Andrew Napolitano addressed the rally and made similar comments indicating the nature of our current point in US history.
“In the long history of the world, very few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its maximum hour of danger. This is that moment, and you are that generation.”
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Let me get this straight.
We’re going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose head says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it, signed by a president that also hasn’t read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s nearly broke.
What could possibly go wrong?
Betrayed…
DON’T FORGET THESE WHO BETRAYED AMERICAN TAXPAYERS… WHO IS UP FOR ELECTION? WHO CAN YOU HELP REMOVE BY HELPING THEIR MORE CONSERVATIVE OPPONENT? TURN THESE SOCIALIST SYMPATHIZERS OUT!
These are the 8 Republican Congressman / Congresswomen who voted for the global warming bill passed by the house on June 26th, 2009. Our goal is to make sure these 8 turn coats are not re-elected in 2010. They are the following:
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Bono Mack (CA) 202-225-5330
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Castle (DE) 202-225-4165
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Kirk (IL) 202-225-4835
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Lance (NJ) 202-225-5361
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Lobiondo (NJ) 202-225-6572
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McHugh (NY) 202-225-4611
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Reichart (WA) 202-225-7761
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Chris Smith (NJ) 202-225-3765
Firearms Refresher Course
1. “Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” ~Thomas Jefferson
2. Those who trade liberty for security have neither. ~John Adams
3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
4. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
6. Gun control is not about guns; it’s about control.
7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.
8. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
9. You don’t shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
10. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
11. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
14. What part of ‘shall not be infringed’ do you NOT understand?
15. When you remove the people’s right to bear arms, you create slaves.
16. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.
17. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.
Obama Care and Me… a Guest Post from Zane F. Pollard, M.D.
I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on health care. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table by explaining many of the problems from the perspective of a doctor.
First off, the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.
I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta, Georgia that accepts Medicaid. For example, in the past 6 months, I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list.
Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms, which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back to me which was sent in immediately via fax, and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course; by then, each child would have been blind in the eye.
Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point — rationing of care.
Over the past 35 years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns, we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve a contact lens post cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomical operation is wasted as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time.
Again, extreme rationing. Solution: I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported 100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again, waiting for the government would be disastrous.
Last week, I had a lady bring her child to me. They are Americans but live in Sweden, as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the onset of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden. Then, if the child needed surgery, they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me, and I saw her that day. It turned out that the child had accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes treated with glasses that correct for farsightedness) and responded to glasses within 4 days, so no surgery was needed. Again, rationing of care.
Last month, I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3 years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark. I have been told — but of course there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet — that these 2 people, because of their age, would have been denied surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously, cheaper than surgery.
I spent two year in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous rationing of care, and we were told specificially what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While I was in in Viet Nam, my wife Nancy got sick and got essentially no care at the Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. She went home and went to her family’s private internist in Beverly Hills. While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.
For those of you who are over 65, this bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in England over 59 cannot receive stents for their coronary arteries. The government wants to mimic the British plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care that you and your children receive.
While 99% of physicians went into medicine because of the love of medicine and the challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year, and the salaries of my employees go up 2% each year. Twenty years ago, ophthalmologists were paid $1,800 for a cataract surgery and today $500. This is a 73% decrease in our fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this sort of lowering of fees.
But there is more to the story than just the lower fees. When I came to Atlanta, there was a well known ophthalmologist that charged $2,500 for a cataract surgery, as he felt he was the best. He had a terrific reputation; and in fact, I had my mother’s bilateral cataracts operated on by him with a wonderful result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes. People would pay his $2,500 fee.
However, then the government came in and said that any doctor that does medicare work cannot accept more than the going rate (now $500), or he or she would be severely fined. This put an end to his charging $2,500. The government said it was illegal to accept more than the government-allowed rate. What I am driving at is that those of you who are well off will not be able to go to the head of the line under this new healthcare plan, just because you have money, as no physician will be willing to go against the law to treat you.
I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and trained for 10 years post-college to become a pediatric ophthalmologist (add two years of my service in the Navy and that comes to 12 years). A neurosurgeon spends 14 years post-college, and if he or she has to do the military that would be 16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes, but the new plan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery, and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons. Already, the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health, and only 52 years old, has just quit because he can’t stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent of children under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia are on Medicaid, so he felt he just could not stand working with the bureaucracy anymore.
We are being lied to about the uninsured. They are getting care. I operate on at least 2 illegal immigrants each month who pay me nothing, and the children’s hospital at which I operate charges them nothing also.This is true not only on Atlanta, but of every community in America.
The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own health.
Furthermore, how can you trust a physician that works under these conditions, knowing that he is controlled by the state? I certainly could not trust any doctor that would work under these draconian conditions.
One last thing: With this new healthcare plan, there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated that approximately 5% of the current physician work force will quit under this new system. Also, it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of the decreased number of men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time, the US government has mandated gender equity in admissions to medical schools. That means that for the past 15 years, that somewhere between 49% and 51% of each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also, because all private schools receive federal funding.
The average career of a woman in medicine now is only 8-10 years, and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35 fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down, the best was a female that I trained 4 years ago — she was head and heels above all others I have trained. She now practices only 3 days a week.
Honduras Teaches the United States About Democracy
Obama, Chavez, and Castro–The Marxist trio of leaders in the Americas all condemn the constitutional removal from office of Honduran leftist President Zelaya.
Is the future of the United States democratic system being played out in Central America today? I hope so.
You may or may not have heard what has happened in Honduras during the past couple of weeks. Here’s the story in a nut shell.
Honduran President Manual Zelaya has been at odds with the Honduran Congress and Courts for many months, seeking to increase his power and authority to levels similar to those wielded by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
But, according to the Honduran Constitution, its president can only serve a single four year term. With his Presidency January, Zelaya wasn’t happy with that situation, so he decided to try an end around play.
He decided to sponsor a constitutional referendum to allow him to continue to serve as president. The only problem is the Honduran Constitution doesn’t give him the right to do that. Any constitution referendum must be called by the Honduran Congress. Not bothered by that minor detail, Zelaya contacted his buddy, Hugo Chavez, and had ballots printed and ballot boxes prepared in Venezuela and flown to Honduras. The Honduran Supreme Court declared Zelaya’s actions unconstitutional, but again, he was not deterred.
A couple of weeks ago, when Zelaya directed the military to distribute the ballots and boxes, the top military commander refused, citing the orders of the Supreme Court. President Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Zelaya refused.
Still undeterred, last Thursday Zelaya led a group of his supporters to break into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his people distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court’s order. By the way, elections in Honduras are supposed to be managed and overseen by the Honduran Election Tribunal,
which was not involved in any of Zelaya’s efforts.
Sunday morning, acting under orders of the Supreme Court, the Honduran military dragged Zelaya out of bed at 6 AM, arrested him, put him on a plane in his pajamas, flew him to Costa Rica, and released him. They
literally threw him out of the country.
The Honduran Congress immediately met in emergency session and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward.
Honduras has one of the strongest democracies in the world. When Presidential elections are held, typically 80-90% of the eligible population votes (compared to only 50% in the U.S.). This situation clearly shows how democratic checks and balances are supposed to work.
When the President tried to overstep his bounds, the legislative and judicial branches stepped in and did not allow it. You might make a case that Zelaya should have been arrested and held in Honduras, but I understand he was exiled in order to minimize the probability of violence. Obviously, he will have an even better opportunity to state
his case while not in confinement. In fact, he has already been invited to address the U.N. General Assembly.
So where does the U.S. government stand on this situation? Well, Obama stands shoulder to shoulder with Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega in calling for Zelaya to be re-instated as President! President Obama said the U.S. government believed the takeover was “not legal” and that Zelaya remained the country’s leader! U.S. press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “We’re seeking to restore that democratic norm in Honduras,
and haven’t changed the recognition of who we believe is the president of that country!”
So much for the United States being the world’s biggest supporter of democracy! Even worse than the situation in Iran, where Obama remained silent while protesters were slaughtered in the streets by an oppressive
government, in Honduras Obama has gone on record as calling for the re-instatement of a leader who has been ousted by his country’s
legislative and judicial processes!
One might ask WHY?
Well, consider this; no where in the U.S. Constitution does it give the government the power to fire private company employees. But how many bank and automotive executives have been forced out by Obama’s administration since January 20th?
No where in the U.S. Constitution does it give the government the power to own private companies. So how did the government end up owning 70% of General Motors Corporation?
No where in the U.S. Constitution does it give the government the power to set salaries in the private sector, as Obama’s administration is
currently doing in banks that have takenTARP money.
No where in the U.S. Constitution does it give the executive branch the power to appoint Czars to make rules governing private industry, that role is reserved for the legislative branch of our government.
No where in the U.S. Constitution does it give the President the power to set aside contracts. So how did GM bond holders end up getting the shaft while the unions profited?
In fact, all of these things are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
Like Zelaya, Chavez, Castro, and Ortega, President Obama does not believe a country’s Constitution should limit his power.
Unfortunately, our Congress and our Courts have yet to show the courage and determination that the Honduran Legislators and Supreme Court have shown.
Isn’t it amazing that we have to look to a small country in Central America to see how democracy is supposed to work, while our President sides with the likes of Zelaya, Chavez, Castro, and Ortega!
WAKE UP AMERICA!
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