Monday, June 28, 2010

Kagan: Markets and Morals

There’s an old joke about a Transylvanian cookbook. The recipe for an omelet starts off with this: “First, steal two eggs.” If that note really appeared in some country’s cookbook, don’t look for constitutional government or a free market system to arise there anytime soon. That’s because democracy is not something you can just plant, like shaking seeds out of an envelope.

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Americans were blessed to have extensive experience of self-government when we made our bid for independence in the 1770s. And Americans at that time–all the most thoughtful ones at least–recognized the profound contradiction that human bondage represented. It was difficult to assert on the one hand that all government “derives its just powers from the consent of the governed” while holding millions of human beings as slaves. Amid many blessings, slavery was held to be a curse. It took another eighty years and fratricidal Civil War before those contradictions were resolved.

A free market can do many things efficiently and justly, but the free market is perverted when it treats humans as objects. Thus, almost all people recognize that slavery and international sex trafficking are wrong. Our laws protect artistic expression, but we demand strict enforcement of laws against child pornography. Such illicit trade cannot be honored as a part of legitimate commerce.

We already know something of the unusual ideas of human rights and commerce held by U.S. Solicitor General, Elena Kagan. Kagan has been nominated by President Obama to succeed the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan also served in the Clinton White House, where she left an extensive paper trail of documented opinions.

Most interesting, perhaps, is Kagan’s support for cloning human beings. Clinton Library documents show that she opposed any effort by Congress to prevent human beings from being cloned specifically to create embryos that would be experimented upon, then killed. Gallup recently reported that 88% of Americans oppose cloning human beings. Kagan does not.

We also know, from her record as Solicitor General in the Obama administration, that there are circumstances in which Elena Kagan would vote to ban political books. President Obama famously attacked the Supreme Court–while its members sat robed before him–during his first State of the Union Address last January. He attacked the Court for its ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The President said, incorrectly, that that ruling permitted corporations to contribute directly to political campaigns and would allow foreigners to come in and influence our elections.

What the Citizens United case did say was that unions and companies, and non-profit associations, do not lose their First Amendment rights to speak on public issues just because an election is less than sixty days away. In fact, the Supreme Court found, during election campaigns was the very time when political communication among citizens was most important.

At issue was a film produced by Citizens United that attacked the public record of Hillary Clinton. The McCain-Feingold law says that such communications are unlawful contributions.

Kagan was asked if, instead of making a movie, Citizens United had published a book criticizing Hillary Clinton and it hit the stands less than sixty days before an election? Could the government ban that book? Yes, she said, representing the Obama administration. Ed Whelan, writing for National Review Online, pointed to the bizarre consequences of Kagan’s reasoning:

As Chief Justice Roberts pointed out, the theory of the First Amendment advocated by Kagan on behalf of the Obama administration “would empower the Government to prohibit newspapers from running editorials or opinion pieces supporting or opposing candidates for office, so long as the newspapers were owned by corporations—as the major ones are.”

Here we can clearly see that the kind of disregard for human rights Kagan denied in her advocacy of cloning human beings extends to property rights and to suppression of free speech. All our Bill of Rights guarantees–including freedom of speech and assembly–can only be safe in a constitutional order that respects human life. We must stand for free markets, but those free markets themselves are supported by respect for those inalienable rights with which we are endowed by our Creator. When those rights are denied by government, destructive forces are unleashed against free markets as well.

Ken Blackwell

Markets and Morals

by Ken Blackwell

 

What a Sack of Sacrosanct

In The New York Times' profile on the family of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, her aunt was quoted as saying: "There was thinking, always thinking" at the family's dinner table. "Nothing was sacrosanct."

Really? Nothing was sacrosanct? Because in my experience, on a scale of 1-to-infinity, the range of acceptable opinion among New York liberals goes from 1-to-1.001.

How would the following remarks fare at a dinner table on the Upper West Side where "nothing was sacrosanct": Hey, maybe that Joe McCarthy was onto something. What would prayer in the schools really hurt? How do we know gays are born that way? Is it possible that union demands have gone too far? Does it make sense to have three recycling bins in these microscopic Manhattan apartments? Say, has anyone read Charles Murray's latest book? READ MORE…

by  Ann Coulter

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Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel

On the brink of her Senate hearings, we now have

a substantial body of evidence that Elena Kagan's

political activism has caused her to cross the

boundaries of good judgment on several occasions.

It would be a great mistake to allow her a seat

on the Supreme Court. Please see my urgent

message below. - Mat

Critical new information has been released by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the senior Republican on the Senate's Judiciary Committee, exposing yet another example of the truly radical nature of Elena Kagan's political views.

As Dean of the Harvard Law School, Kagan made

no protest concerning very large donations to

Harvard from Islamic sources interested in

promoting Shariah Law - while at the same

time denying the U.S. military access to the

campus!

Kagan prohibited military recruiting on the law school campus, saying that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy was "a profound wrong, a moral injustice of the first order."

Kagan's position was later unanimously rejected by the U.S.

Supreme Court. But the story gets much worse...

At the same time she was banning military recruiters from campus, Harvard University accepted $20 million from a member of the Saudi Royal family to establish a center for 'Islamic Studies' and Shariah law.

Kagan banned the military and distorted the law because she views the world through the lens of her own ideological activism and promotion of homosexuality, but then welcomed Islamic studies to promote Shariah law at Harvard!

++Kagan's bias for international law is very dangerous.

According to Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, Dean Kagan "personally officiated in 2003 over the establishment of an 'Islamic Finance Project' at the law school. The project's purpose was to promote what is better known as 'Shariah-Compliant Finance'

(SCF) by enlisting in its service some of the nation's most promising law students."

Why is this significant? Because SCF has its roots in something called "The Muslim Brotherhood," whose stated General Strategic Goal in North America is...

"...a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying

the Western civilization from within and

'sabotaging' its miserable house by their

hands and the hands of the believers so that

it is eliminated and God's religion is made

victorious over all other religions."

Elena Kagan must be held accountable for acquiescing to (if not outright supporting) the goals of radical Muslims while denying our military recruiters access to students.

Kagan has shown that she cannot be objective.

++Countdown to Kagan's Senate confirmation hearings.

Next Monday, the full Senate begins the confirmation hearings on Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court. I want to release an unprecedented barrage of faxes to stop her on the Senate BEGINNING MONDAY!

Our urgent message: "OPPOSE THE CONFIRMATION OF ELENA KAGAN!"

I'm asking every member of the Liberty Counsel team to press hard on targeted Senators with this call to action.

Your faxes will be scheduled to be delivered with thousands of other citizens' faxes as part of this massive FAX BARRAGE.

Go here to schedule your targeted faxes:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29103&CID=312&RID=23710767

If you prefer, we always encourage you to send your own faxes. We have provided all the information you need to reach Senators here:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29104&CID=312&RID=23710767

Elena Kagan could potentially serve on the

Court for 30 to 40 years. And her "blank slate"

of judicial qualifications and "stealth"

record compel us to resist her confirmation

to avoid dangerous surprises after she is seated.

Along the same line, several Senators are complaining because it appears that 1,600 pieces of vital information from Kagan's time in the Clinton Administration are being withheld for "confidentiality" reasons! Like Barack Obama before her, large parts of her past are being hidden from view.

Senator Sessions has even warned that many Senators may boycott the hearings over this "stealth" treatment. We must not give Elena Kagan a free pass to the High Court!

Go here to schedule your faxes:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29105&CID=312&RID=23710767

++Kagan's opinions are outside those of mainstream America.

The United States Supreme Court overturned Ms. Kagan's misguided resistance of military recruitment by a 9-0 vote, clearly demonstrating that her views are well outside the mainstream of American legal thinking.

Kagan's expressed bias toward homosexuality will affect her legal positions on the entire range of family, marriage, and homosexual "rights" issues she is likely to rule upon if confirmed.

The Senate confirmation hearings begin next Monday, yet more and more troubling information about Elena Kagan seems to surface on a daily basis. Last month, shortly after President Obama announced Kagan as his nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, we informed the Liberty Counsel team of her unacceptable views on abortion, judicial activism, socialism, and many other key topics.

Those concerns, of course, come in addition to her utter lack of judicial experience. Americans just don't know enough about how this "stealth" nominee would perform on the High Court.

++Free "White Paper" exposing Kagan's activist philosophy.

To help you see the full scope of Kagan's activist beliefs, Liberty Counsel has produced a White Paper exposing her writings, her policies and ideologies. Go here to download your free copy of this insightful analysis:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29106&CID=312&RID=23710767

It is vitally important for every concerned citizen to have this resource because Kagan and the Obama team are hard at work obscuring her true record and persuading so-called "moderates" in the Senate to support her.

++Schedule your faxes now!

I believe the next SEVEN DAYS could be absolutely crucial in this battle to have Elena Kagan's real record and beliefs brought forth before Senators begin voting.

I want to flood the Senate with an unprecedented barrage of faxes every day next week - beginning Monday morning.

Please go here right now to take part in our

FAX BARRAGE that will begin as soon as Senators

open their offices Monday morning:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29107&CID=312&RID=23710767

Timothy, please join Liberty Counsel and many thousands of your fellow concerned citizens in preventing Elena Kagan from being seated on the Supreme Court of the United States!

Please, increase your personal impact on this vital issue by taking advantage of our FAX BARRAGE and tell your Senators and other key Senators to oppose the Elena Kagan nomination!

We have provided sample letters for you - all you have to do is click on this link to get your faxes into our FAX BARRAGE of the United States Senate. Also click here for your FREE seven-page White Paper on Elena Kagan:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29108&CID=312&RID=23710767

Thank you and God bless you!

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman

Liberty Counsel

P.S. Elena Kagan's radical ideologies are finally being exposed.

The Supreme Court bench requires Justices who have a keen understanding of the law and an ability to interpret the law without invoking their personal political viewpoints and prejudices.

Together, we must stop the confirmation of Elena Kagan before her candidacy gains momentum! Go here to access the free White Paper and to schedule your targeted faxes to the Senate:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=29109&CID=312&RID=23710767

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Liberty Counsel, with offices in Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.

Liberty Counsel . PO Box 540774 . Orlando, FL 32854 .800-671-1776

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Bork: Kagan Not Qualified for Supreme Court

"For some reason, the President is always excited about having a 'first,' and this would be the first court with three women judges on it," Bork said... Read More

Elisabeth Meinecke

Opening statements were made by Senators today at Kagan’s confirmation hearing, which included several comments about the importance of a Supreme Court Justice’s defense of the US Constitution (not their ideological opinions) and that need for Justices to rule in favor of the letter and intent of the Constitution and thereby winning the support of the ‘large majority’ of the American People… two important items that virtually never happen with liberal judges.  Kagan interned for   two of the most liberal judges… ever to sit on the bench and wrote their arguments.  There are too many questions about many of Kagans’ opinions both on the job and personally to appoint another liberal judge to the US Supreme Court who will be there for what could seem forever.  Sotomayor is showing us her liberal leanings in her votes and Kagan will be no different… yet the Senate, including the GOP seem to have convinced themselves that short of a major scandal, a president should get his choice.  Really??  Funny how that isn’t the case when the left skewered Bork and Thomas… who was finally appointed.

Video:  Kagan said she loved the Bork Hearings.  Let’s make sure she get the same

Video:  Clarence Thomas Hearings: Biden Questions Thomas 1

Videos for Videos of Bork hearings

Videos for Thomas hearings

Today’s headlines:  Little Drama Expected at Kagan Hearings‎.  Really?  Shame on the Senate!  Shame on the GOP and shame on us!  Contact your Senator today to vote no on Kagan!  She is not U.S. Constitution user friendly!!

Senators from your State.

U.S. Government on Twitter

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