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Pete Visclosky under Ethics Probe – Trading Campaign Money for Earmark Favors

Well, surprise, surprise, surprise, Pete Visclosky is under investigation and it has reached a new level.

The Times is known to be a democratic paper, swaying their reporting to reflect a socialist agenda, but they do at times, when the story is too large to ignore, make mention of democratic corruption.

Anyone who went to a Town Hall this month ( I went to three, it sucked, was torture, but I forced myself in the name of accurate reporting).

So here is Pete Visclosky finally being investigated.  Mind you, congress critters are not poked and prodded for wrongdoing at this level every day.  Pete is right up there with John Murtha , Charlie Rangle and some others on the ranking of the top corrupt officials.  You only needed to look into his eyes at a meeting and you could see he was lying.

It is time folks to elect a person who will honestly take charge of your interests, and represent YOU.  No more Petey.   He can take a hike along with his bag boy Mark.

Here is The Times article, written by : Christine Kraly

The U.S. House ethics committee announced for the first time Friday that it has been probing since early last month whether U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky traded campaign cash for multimillion-dollar federal earmarks.

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct confirmed it is extending its review of the Merrillville Democrat, whose ties to a powerful lobbying firm are under federal criminal investigation.

The ethics committee will announce its “course of action” on or before March 2, the panel said.

In a statement Friday, Visclosky said he “intends to cooperate fully and believes the committee will conclude that he engaged in no wrongdoing whatsoever.”

He said he “looks forward to getting this matter behind him and continuing to work hard to serve all of his constituents in the First Congressional District.”

The announcement reveals what some congressional experts say can be a confusing check on some of Washington’s balances.

The panel began its look into Visclosky’s ties with PMA Group on Dec. 2 based on a recommendation from the Office of Congressional Ethics.

The OCE is a nonpartisan, independent body created in 2008 to review allegations of ethics abuse from the public. Prior to the group, only the House ethics committee could initiate such a probe, said Melanie Sloan, executive director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

If an allegation makes it to the second stage of the OCE’s two-prong investigation, it means there is “probable cause to believe a violation has occurred,” according to the OCE.

After the second phase, it must recommend either dismissal of the probe to the ethics committee or an extended review, as it did for Visclosky.

Sloan called the OCE recommendation likely “the least of (Visclosky’s) problems.”

For nearly a year, the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Visclosky’s ties to PMA, a now-defunct lobbying firm suspected of making “straw” donations to lawmakers, concealing the true source of the money.

PMA had for years been Visclosky’s top fundraising source, sending millions to the congressman, who helped award PMA clients with federal earmarks. Visclosky’s congressional office, campaign committees and some employees, including former Chief of Staff Chuck Brimmer, were subpoenaed in May.

Come on District 1, don’t let Gary, Indiana,  send this POS back to DC again.  Step up and stand up.

One Nerve Left 16 January 2010 Indiana, Pete Visclosky , , , No Comments

Senator Evan Bayh in Trouble in Indiana – Fundraisers Try to Save His Seat

While reading over at Hillbuzz I came across this article which tells of their associations in Chicago and the word is that the Dems are doing some serious fundraising knowing that Evan Bayh’s numbers in the polls have tanked. Evan Bayh is in some deep trouble in Indiana and the Dems are worried he may lose his seat.  You see, Chicago plays a role in Indiana politics, especially northwest Indiana, Lake County in particular with that deep money pit of a city called Gary being the recipient of a lot of Chicago/Democratic payola.

Mind you that Evan Bayh represents the entire state of Indiana, but the Chicago connection seeps into Indiana from the northern border. So for the thugs in Chicago to be campaigning and fundraising for an Indiana Senator is no big news.

According to Hillbuzz:

More on this later when we have time to tell you the whole story, but here in Chicago there’s a push going out from big donors we know from Hillary Clinton’s campaign.  Evan Bayh seems to be in a lot of trouble in Indiana.

All it took was one Democrat — JUST ONE — to tell Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the White House that more time was needed for the public, let alone the Senators voting, to understand what was really in the Healthcare Rationing Bill before voting on it.

Evan Bayh had the chance to stand up, courageously, and tell Democrats they were operating in the dead of night, in secret, contrary to all their promises they would handle healthcare in the open following  the wishes of the people.

Bayh could have ground everything to a halt and FORCED Democrats to behave responsibly, sensibly, and in the manner they promised in 2008.

He didn’t.

That was his choice.

Though it pains us to side against Evan Bayh, we feel Evan Bayh sided against us in the Nightmare Before Christmas.

How much trouble do you think he’s really in in Indiana?  The talk we hear is that, as of the latest internal polls this week, he’s going to lose his seat.

Read the entire article here.

One Nerve Left 9 January 2010 Evan Bayh, Healthcare, Indiana, Northwest Indiana Politics , , , 2 Comments

In Memoriam – Bonnie Kuzminski 1949 – 2009 A loving wife, mother and patriot.

(This post will be pinned at the top for a while. Please scroll down for recent posts)

It is with great sadness that I send this message. A dear friend and fellow Northwest Indiana Patriot has passed away. Bonnie Kuzminski was a dedicated mother, wife and patriot who was tireless in her pursuit of freedoms for all of America. She would spend days and nights researching bills, writing news briefs, traveling to protest locations days before an event so as to give the best directions for the rest of us, she donated her time, her resources so that as many people as possible could stay informed on the issues affecting our lives. Although she worked from the background, she was the driving force moving all things forward.

Bonnie was a brilliant writer with a quiet nature combined with a dry sense of humor. Much of this wonderful woman could be seen just below the surface.

Bonnie, my dear friend, we will miss you so very much. I know you are never far, for your new position will guide us from above.

In Memoriam

(From the NWIP website:  http://nwipatriots.com/blog/2009/12/27/in-memoriam/)

The Northwest Indiana Patriots have lost a loved and valuable member of our family.

Bonnie Kuzminski


Read more…

One Nerve Left 28 December 2009 Indiana, Women , , No Comments

Lugar, Donnelly, Visclosky vote in favor of Socialized Medicine against the People’s Wishes

The American people did not want the Health Care reform bill weeks ago when it was being voted on in Pelosi’s House and they did not want it in Reid’s Senate but the rat basturds voted it through regardless of the people’s wishes.

What does this say for our non-representatives? It says that special interest groups, lobbyists, big business have more clout than the people the representatives are supposed to serve.

Oh You Democrats, Don't Be an Ass

Oh You Democrats, Don't Be an Ass


Pete Visclosky and Joe Donnelly voted yes in the House, Bayh voted yes in the Senate. When Lugar’s office was asked, directly, in person if the NO stack was larger than the YES stack, according to the letters, calls and emails that he received, his minion refused to answer. They do not want us to know that more people in Indiana told him to vote NO and that the majority of people were against this healthcare boondoggle. He has and had no intentions of voting according to the wishes of the people he serves. His vote, along with Vislocky and Donnnelly were based upon calculations of how to swing votes for re-election. They need the unions, ACORN and SEIU, the AFL-CIO to pull votes for them, so it doesn’t matter what the people of Indiana want.

Here are the polls indicating, for all intents and purposes, the way they should have voted and that vote should have been a big fat NO.

Poll: Support for health care plan plummets, Senate Democrats push ahead

A day after the Senate begins debate on health care legislation a new survey from Rasmussen Reports shows the highest level of opposition yet recorded. In a staggering reversal from last week the poll suggests just 38% of American voters now favor the Democratic health care plan against 56% who are opposed. The previous poll taken on November 13-14 showed support had grown to its highest level since mid-September with 47% of voters in favor against 49% in opposition. (Read the rest of the article here.)


Got that? 49% of the people told them to vote NO. Only 47% wanted them to vote yes, as of Nov. 14th.
As of Nov. 22 56% told them to vote NO and only 38% wanted them to vote yes.

Read the Rasmussen Reports here and see for yourself that the American people do not want this push by Obama to control 1/6 of our economy and bring a government employee into our doctor’s office and our homes. There is something very wrong with what they are trying to do in Congress and people are beginning to wake up. Something is very wrong when so many people are telling our hired help (Lugar, Donnelly and Visclosky) to shove this thing where the sun don’t shine and they adopt a cavalier, pompous and condescending attitude and vote Yes anyway. Plus there is something wrong with a Louisiana Senator being paid off to the tune of 300 million dollars to place a ‘yes’ vote for this legislation. What other kind of deals were cut? How much did Lugar, Donnelly, Visclosky and Bayh get to vote yes?

How many more examples does a person require before they realize that politics, as we have it toady, is dirty and that our non-representatives do NOT act upon the best interests of the people, but act upon their own best interest.

Vote them OUT. Contact a Tea Party, a Patriot group, ANY group that places principle before party. We must act in whatever way we can be that calling, writing, emailing, visiting their local offices, protesting,  whatever we are able to do in order to get them to pay attention and let them know that we are watching them, we are taking notes and come 2010 they will face an election period like none other.

Do not expect the Republicans to help you as they are not much different than the Democrats in placing Party before Principle. Find a candidate that resonates with your goals and desires, find a person who place Principle before Party and believes in the Constitution.

One Nerve Left 24 November 2009 DICK Lugar, Evan Bayh, Healthcare, Joe Donnelly, Pete Visclosky , , , , , No Comments

Continental Congress 2009 – Stop the violations of The Consitution

Not long ago a call was sent out for nominations for representatives from all 50 States to convene for the 2009 Continental Congress. The nominees, two from each State are in Illinois as we speak for approximately two weeks.

As We The People are gathering at town halls, on the streets, in front of the offices of our non-representatives in the House and Senate, as we write, call, fax and build coalitions, as we do all of that and more we still have much work to do. Many times I have heard people talk about how the Constitution is being destroyed. Congress has over-stepped it’s limits many times and in the wake of their actions we have legislation, limits and laws in place that only serve to give more power and control into the hands of the Feds while ignoring the original premise of The Constitution.  The Constitution was written so that the Federal Government has LESS power than the States, LESS power than The People and now we have the States begging for ‘grant’ money, federal funds and in turn operating the State under a weighty burden of Federal mandates.

It is all upside-down. The People have the most power, then the State and last is the Federal government. Look around you and who has the power now? Are you afraid of the Federal government? The IRS? If the Federal Government send out a mandate, say for how to school your children, does your State tell them to buzz off of do you receive a notice that your taxes are increasing because there is an added cost to comply with the Federal mandate? Why is you State NOT telling the Feds to buzz off? The States, according to the Constitution have MORE power than the Feds? When did all of this get reversed and The People ended up with the least power? How did that happen?  How do we fix that?

So, the Continental Congress has this purpose, as stated on their website:

PURPOSE OF CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

The purpose of Continental Congress 2009 is to determine a legal and peaceful means to stop the violations of The Constitution of The United States of America and to restore Constitutional governance.

Visit the sites below, Dr. Kate, The Dame Truth and get the lowdown from folks just like me and you. They are there and are writing about the CC2009 as it happens. We need and rely on people such as those that are taking two weeks out of their lives to work toward righting America.

Dr. Kate is a representative attending the convention and she is writing about it here.
Visit her site and scroll down to read the entries covering the events. The Dame Truth is another great blogger who is a representative and she blogs here.
She also has a radio program and is a great resource for information.

The convention is being streamed over the Internet at This Link. Take a listen and watch the Continental Congress 2009 in action. You can also click on the map shown on that link and see who is representing your state. While you are there drop a dollar in the donation bucket. These are real people, not a corporation, lobbying firm or a political party. They need your help.

One Nerve Left 16 November 2009 Constitution, Indiana, Politics , No Comments

Coming to a Home near you, SEIU unionizing parents of disabled persons.

Guess what, the State of Illinois is acting and then reacting to SEIU’s (read ACORN’s) push to come into the living rooms of people who provide home health care to disabled loved ones.

Don’t think this is just an Illinois problem. Northwest Indiana suffers from chronic Illinois/Chicago corruption especially in Lake County. (Yeah, Pete Visclosky is deep into northwest Indiana as his dad started his political career here and handed it down to Petey.) Whatever ACORN/SEIU and the union thugs get away with from political corruption in Illinois is not far behind from effecting District 1 of Indiana. The NWI area is just a stone’s throw away from Chicago. In fact, northwest Indiana has a large population that rivals Indianapolis in numbers yet is treated like a red-headed stepchild of Indy. Unfortunately, that means that our capitol, Indianapolis, often sees NWI as not having any real issues because all things germane to the state of Indiana naturally emanate from Indy.

Michelle Malkin details the takeover by SEIU, how the home care providers were steamrolled by the union and by their own State government who were working with SEIU, ( The Illinois government stepped in and tried to distance their ties to SEIU when exposed for being in collusion, but the facts remain steady and unchangeable.) Instead of fighting for the freedoms of the Illinois people, the freedoms of the home care providers, the State of Illinois played a dirty game and allowed SEIU to deceive the public and in the end, capture union members who never, ever thought they were being herded into the railroad car for the SEIU/Illinois State Government trip to unionization.

THE STATE of ILLINOIS GAVE SEIU the names and contact info for the home health care workers. Then the State claims to have no dog in this fight? Oh for friggin sake.  The State thinks it can lie and get away with it?  Of course they do, no one is reporting to the entire population. No one seems to get a whiff of the stink, so they think everything is just A-Okay.

And then there is this:

Special report: A parental revolt against the SEIU’s home invasion robbery.

Read her article here: http://michellemalkin.com/2009/10/05/special-report-a-parental-revolt-against-the-seius-home-invasion-robbery/

Last month, I noted the appalling story about the SEIU’s power grab in Illinois to unionize home health care workers.

Roughly 3,500 people in Illinois receive state funding to assist someone, usually a family member, at home with a developmental disability. In June, Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn signed an executive order approving collective bargaining by “individual providers of home-based support services” — effectively busting open the doors of private homes for the Purple Shirts of the SEIU and other union competitors hungry for new dues-paying members.

The home-based workers weren’t seeking a collective bargaining agent.

But unions were targeting them.

Yes, Illinois provided both the SEIU and AFSCME with the names and home addresses of all 3,500 in-home care providers for the purposes of increasing their membership rolls and political clout. [The State provided union thugs with homes addresses and names!  There goes your privacy when any government, be it State or Federal has the info.]

Indiana has it’s version of Acorn via SEIU extending it’s criminal tangs into Home health care via unionizing and then making claims of benefits via http://www.seiuhealthcareilin.org/SEIU__Addus_renew_national_home_care_agreement.aspx

Home care aides from across Illinois & Indiana gathered in Chicago on Tues., Feb. 10th to celebrate the renewed national agreement between SEIU and Addus HealthCare, Inc. The agreement covers 10,000 home care workers in 11 states, protects workers and will raise standards for quality care for seniors and people with disabilities.

I have worked with several organizations serving the disabled with many of the participants coming from a family where a mother (typically) or a father (seldom) serves as the person who stays at the house with the disabled child/adult. I can bet you a dime to a dollar, from personally experiencing how overwhelmed these parents are, that they never saw ACORN/SEIU coming.  These folks don’t have a solid information network, as home health providers, they do not have as much as a simple phone tree in most situations, let alone, an organization that allows them the information and understanding of what was being done TO them via SEIU/Obama.

Understand, this is not something that the parents and providers for disabled persons sought out, this was something that was injected into their lives. As if their loads are not enough, they now have to deal with the likes of ACORN/SEIU coming into their homes and demanding actions or performances because the are now SEIU UNION employees.

What a shame. You have to read the entire article. I only provided a few snippets.  Basically, the State of Illinois is working with the Marxist ACORN/SEIU and brownshirting the home health care providers with underlying threats if they do not comply. Yep, that’s a Union for ya.

What a shame that Obama is directly connected with this takeover although he shields his intentions through third parties such as acorn and seiu. What a shame that he has facilitated a takeover of a group of Americans who never saw this coming.

How did this happen?

WHERE WAS THE STATE OF INDIANA, PROTECTING THE DISABLED?

Votes and power.  SEIU wants to claim to be the largest union organization in the USA and they work underhandedly to acquire as many faceless bodies as possible. We see that the Illinois Government facilitated the SEIU takeover of the disabled and their home care, although doing a dance later to try and deny their actions. What a fine piece of work that crew is. (not)

Stopping SEIU is important, exposing them is paramount to ending this rush to harm the defenseless. Look at the ranks of SEIU. See the ranks of hotel workers who cannot speak English let alone know what a union is, yet they are now required to sign up to and PAY a union/SEIU to ‘protect’ them.

Top this off with SEIU taking over the care providers of Indiana’s most vulnerable and no one was there to help these families withstand SEIU’s jaws of assimilation into Obama’s army of voiceless Americans.

Where is Mitch Daniels and his crew in protecting the disabled and their care providers from a Union takeover by SEIU?

Listen, SEIU uses union dues to promote Marxism and socialism. The people they use, the union members, have no say in any of this.  SEIU is one of the 300+ arms of ACORN. They give Obama money as if it is going out of style.

To put it simply, the home care providers now ‘unionized’ in the dark of night by SEIU will have their money paid as ‘dues’ given to an administration that will in turn facilitate rules and regulations that work AGAINST home care providers. The SEIU union is now in your home and will make demands of you and SEIU does not do much of anything that isn’t in Obama’s big plan book  that outlines the control and takeover of the American citizen.

It is the same as being demanded to dig your own grave. That is SEIU.

One Nerve Left 17 October 2009 Indiana , , No Comments

Pete Visclosky funded by big business and special interest, but Indiana shouldn’t give that no mind. (head pat)

Anyone notice this little gem in the Times? Read it here “Indiana District 1 does not support Visclosky, but he keeps getting wagon loads of cash from out of state. The people of Indiana won’t throw a penny in his pot, but Visclosky could care less, big business and special interest groups grease his wheels.”

Okay, so I took liberty with the title in the link to the news article. The actual title of the article is “Hoosiers not filling Visclosky, Bayh campaign coffers”.

Read the article and hear gems from Visclosky’s bag boy, Mr. St. John, (and I use the term bag boy in so many ways that you would be totally distracted if I explained them to you.) such as:

Having served 25 years in Congress,

“It is not surprising that he would attract campaign donations from people here in the district and elsewhere who like the job he is doing and want to see him continue his leadership,” St. John said of Visclosky.

Psst, it gets better.

* A little more than 2 percent of Visclosky’s contributions came from within his constituency, Indiana’s 1st Congressional District.

* 96 percent of Visclosky’s donations came from donors in other states.

Visclosky is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, serves on the defense subcommittee and is chairman of the energy and water subcommittee.

According to FEC records, the same industries regulated by those committees help fuel Visclosky’s campaign, with at least $192,575 coming from the energy industry and $278,700 coming from labor and defense combined from January 2008 through June 30.

Okay, so is it any wonder, for those of you who missed the Visclosky Town Hall in Chesterton where he and his office collaborated with the local Democratic Party to publicly call the people of northwest Indiana ‘Tea Baggers’, that he really could care less about what you and I think.  Politics is about money, it is all about getting the fringe vote. He doesn’t care about the 40% that will vote for him out of what is normally named blissful ignorance, blind party loyalty or just plain low-information stupidity. He cares about the 10% fringe vote, the ‘poor’, the labor unions, the special interest groups. He wants those 10 percenters to push him over the 50% mark and into another term in office.

So, at the Chesterton Town Hall, Petey exited the rally, cruising through the hall’s doors at what I would call a brisk clip. He did NOT express any interest in addressing the over 100 people standing just to his right.

Now, call me silly, but if I am a politician and I had over 100 people (actually 250 people at its height) come out to a meeting, I would stop, glad-hand the crowd, kiss babies, pet dogs and otherwise do what politicians do which is smile at you and laugh at your jokes even if they don’t understand that the joke is on them.

Not Petey. Maybe it was the shouts of ‘Vote Him Out’ that set him on edge, but he showed no interest in the people that are fondly called his ‘constituents’.  Instead, he focused on maybe 10 people standing to his left.

Hmm, 10 people vs. 100? Yep and Petey shook THEIR 10 hands, smiled at THEM and if there had been a baby or dog in the crowd he would have kissed it.  Guess who those 10 people were?  They were the paid protesters who came out to support him from Acorn, SEIU, AFL-CIO and MoveOn. We have the photos to back this up.

Get it?  This is why Pete Visclosky could care less about what you think or want. He does not vote or perform his job with Indiana in mind.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, he throws a bone to Indiana making a big deal that he porked the government and got Indiana some grant money. Never mind that that WAS OUR MONEY to begin with and the programs he gives it to are frigging union, Acorn and special interest projects.

But hey, all Hail Petey and his pork.

So, what are you going to do about changing the line-up come November of 2010?  Pete Visclosky will not be hurt if you withhold funds. He gets his money from special interest and big business from around the USA. He doesn’t need your money and he doesn’t have your interests in mind when he votes.

If you think otherwise consider this.  You get a paycheck for doing a job. Now, your responsibility is to build a job performance that you can drag out come review time where you can wag on about what you did for the community.  But, the money you really need in order to keep your job comes from a group of dudes who need you to vote a certain way so that their corporations can profit. Those dudes give you millions of dollars so that you can convince the community that you are doing a good job for them and for them only.

When it comes time to vote on issues, do you vote in favor of what is in the best interest of the constitution and the citizens or do you vote to make sure you keep getting those millions that grease the election wheel?

You and I know what you would do, if you were Petey and we all know what Pete does.

Enough. It is just time to say ‘Knock it OFF’ Pete. We are not stupid and, guess what, “WE WILL VOTE YOU OUT”

No more lies.

Take that and the big business grease and shove it.

One Nerve Left 5 October 2009 Corruption, Pete Visclosky , , , , No Comments

Article IV of the Constitution, the “Guarantee Clause”

I recommended that people read Dr.Kate as she walks through an interpretation of the constitution. She writes in a very readable manner and again I urge people to bookmark her site and stroll through her previous posts regarding the constitution.

It seems to me that the constitution was written to protect the people from the federal government , but today it is being used against the people by the federal government. Politicians wield their legislation as a weapon against the people. The constitution has become so twisted, while we slept, that now the very document we desire to preserve, is being used by politicians to hold onto the power that the constitution sought to never allow them to have.  Only a tattered document allows them to punish and batter the people. They are the ones who placed the constitution in tatters and now sit in power, lording over the people in lieu of defending the constitution and being servants to the people.

The people are awakening and there is much work to do. Our Congress is corrupt and we are fighting to preserve America and we never thought that those sworn to defend the constitution would be the ones fighting against us. We must arm ourselves with knowledge.

Dr Kate outlines:

The Assault Revealed

Utilizing both the ‘political question’ and the ’standing’  issue,
the Courts seem to be, at their discretion, dismissing key
Constitutional questions, including the WTP’s  petitions to the
government under the First Amendment and legal proceedings under
Articles II  and IV of the Constitution.

It has been implemented over history under the guise of ‘checks and
balances’, but appears to be a convenient tool for ’stacked’ courts to
avoid key questions or upsetting the true balance of power
right now.  It certainly seems a potential avenue to influence judges.
At the very least it creates a power vacuum into which nefarious
politicos readily enter.”

Clear Signs

Like Paul Revere, we are looking for signs of which way they are coming, ‘one if by land, two if by sea’.  If you begin to see more and more Constitutional issues being thrown out by Courts using the ‘political question’, or even suspicious uses of ’standing’, understand that the Courts are infected too. Yes, as if we didn’t already know that.

But also, these signs just require us to be vigilant in thinking everything all the way through.  Legal preparation, cases, and tactics must be impeccable.  And, our strategies must be coordinated, effective, and aimed at outmaneuvering them on the avenue by which they come.

Read the entire article with comments here http://drkatesview.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/the-political-question/

Titled:

The ‘Political Question’

©2009 drkate

In my earlier article on the First Amendment, 912, and the Continental Congress 2009,
I suggested that Article IV, or the “Guarantee Clause”, was an
important underlying principle of protecting our ‘republican form of
government’, and could prevent the assault on our current
Constitutional Republic by fiat or decree by Congress or the
Executive.  Specifically, Article IV Section 4 states:

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to
every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall
protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the
Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be
convened) against domestic Violence.

I initially read this to mean that the Federal government cannot move this country to a socialist form of government, because it was required to ensure to each state a government that was a republic.

More Questions

In reading further,
however, another layer of assault on our Constitutional Republic is
revealed, as the Courts employ the ‘judicial invention’ of the
‘political question’ to avoid court review of the exercise of governmental power:

As with other judicial doctrines created by the Court, the rule is interpretive and self-imposed.
It is neither a result of legislation nor a part of the U.S.
Constitution, although it appears to emanate from the Constitution’s Separation of Powers.
The Court created the political question doctrine as part of the
broader concept of justiciability—the issue of whether a matter is
appropriate for court review.

The doctrine was first articulated in 1803 by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney:

“federal courts should leave certain constitutional
questions to the legislative and executive branches in any matter that
is “a political question to be settled by the political power.“

Otherwise known as, ‘political process’.  When the We the People Foundation’s
petitions for redress under the First Amendment were dismissed by a
federal court under the ‘political question’ doctrine, founder Bob
Shultz rightly critiqued that the First Amendment rights of American
citizens under the U.S. Constitution were not guaranteed, but were
instead up for a vote by the very government it was petitioning.

While the Court has not ducked all publicly sensitive issues (see rulings on Abortion and Affirmative Action),
the blatant dismissal of  WTP’s First Amendment right is troubling. The
Courts would appear to have the discretion to dismiss important public
questions, and Constitutional cases,  under the guise of the ‘political
question’.  This sounds similar to the use of the judicially invented
doctrine of  ’standing’ to avoid the Constitutional question presented by the eligibility cases.

In the important case  New York v. United States
[112 S.Ct. 2408, 2432–2433 (1992)], Justice Sandra Day O’Connor cited
Section 4 of Amendment IV as limiting the federal government’s ability
to commandeer state officers to implement federal law.  In addition to Gregory v. Ashcroft[ 501 U.S. 452, 463 (1991),

The opinions draw support from a powerful argument
for utilizing the guarantee clause as a judicially enforceable limit on
federal power (Source:
Merritt, The Guarantee Clause and State Autonomy: Federalism for a
Third Century, 88 Colum. L. Rev. 1 (1988)).


Read more…

One Nerve Left 25 September 2009 Constitution , No Comments

1,982,760 – Can you say Two Million? Can you hear us Now? 912dc March on Washington.

Cspan has a tape of the event. It is almost 3 hours of live coverage.  I have included a link at the end of this post. Take a look at The MOB, the angry, irrational, scary protesters who gathered. Can we just say that 2 million people who knocked on Congresses’ door on Saturday, Sept. 12th, 2009 can’t all be confused, uninformed, right wing, paid protesters, racists, bigoted, ignorant fringes of the population? From my personal experiences, for every one person who was able to make the trip, one hundred others wanted to be there.

This event is a piece of the United States history.  The current administration has control of most media outlets. We are able to view the lack of coverage from, for example, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN as indicators that we can no longer see the truth or hear the news from those agencies. The current administration has swallowed them up and they are now the mouthpiece for government controlled information. Can anyone say North Korea, Venezuela? State controlled media is here in the USA. Obama recently added a FCC czar. Do the math folks. The intent and purpose of this FCC czar is to control the information given to the American People and ‘redistribute’ the media airwaves to state controlled left wing organizations. They have already begun the process and that is another post to be aired down the road.

So much BS, so little time.

Here is another video I took of the march. There were waves and waves of people.  During the march, as we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, we heard a rumble, sounding like a low roar, with the sound getting louder as it neared. We couldn’t make out what was being said until the wave of the chant neared us. It became clear that the crowd was saying, “You Lie. You Lie.” and we joined in as the wave became us and those in front of us caught the wave and picked it up. It was a very surreal experience, very moving and powerful.

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We can easily say that 2 million patriots attend this historic event. Zac Moilanen calculates the number to be

Zac Moilanen – Indiana University (Leave it up to a Hoosierite) has a PDF HERE outlining the calculations for The Real Number of Protesters at the 9/12 Washington, D.C. March. Considering that the government and the State run media refuse to report accurately, Zac took up the project.

1,982,760

That is the number from Zac’s analysis.

Click here for Cspan’s live coverage of 912dc March on Washington.

“I got One Nerve Left and you’re on it.”

One Nerve Left 19 September 2009 9-12 March on Washington, Constitution, Indiana, Obama, Politics , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Visclosky & Donnelly voted yes to approve H R 3221 Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.

Rep. Peter Visclosky [D, IN-1] and Rep. Joe Donnelly [D, IN-2] voted yes to approve H R 3221 Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009.

In summary, this bill slid under the radar while Healthcare was being battled. In effect, what this bill does is remove private lending options for students seeking to get loans for college. The government will be in control of educational lending, adding layers and layers of bureaucracy and providing the government with a reserve of indentured servants.  See, these college kids can get out of repaying their loans if they agree to work for the government for ten years.

Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-6) has a post on her blog that can be found HERE. It is well worth the time to read her take on this bill including the Increased Cost of the program.

Summary: This bill eliminates the Federal Family Education Loan program and shifts all student loans to a government-run and taxpayer financed system under the Direct Loan program, as well as creates nine new programs and increases the federal government takeover of early education, higher education, school construction, and more.

Concerns: As proposed in President Obama’s FY 2010 budget, H.R. 3221 eliminates the FFEL student loan program that has been the overwhelming choice of students and families for more than 40 years, replacing it with a government-run program.  While Democrats continue to use government takeovers as a panacea to all economic problems, converting all student loans to government subsidized loans is just another way that Democrats are killing jobs, increasing government intrusion, and eroding the rights of the consumer.

This bill greatly increases the role of Federal Government in higher education. H.R. 3221 will federalize all student financial aid. The U.S. Department of Education will be tasked with administering and supporting all student loans, which will greatly increase the federal government’s role and power in education.

While we were fighting nationalized healthcare and Cap & Trade they moved quickly to nationalize education and you didn’t even see it coming.  Pete Visclosky and Joe Donnelly did this to us and never even bothered to tell us.

Additionally, H.R. 3221 includes Title IV (Section 401) which creates an “early learning challenge fund.” This early learning challenge fund would allow the federal government to provide grants to the states to support state efforts to increase early education programs from birth to age 5.

What is the Federal Government doing controlling access to college and universities? What is the Federal Government doing ‘granting’ States funds for educational programs for that state’s children from birth to 5 years of age.  Does anyone think that grants come without strings and mandates? Why is our state of Indiana not pushing back, demanding a reduction or elimination of the Federal tax, keeping the money in the state so that they are not begging for some of it back from the Feds? The current administration will be further dictating what must be taught in schools, what your child must learn and can anyone just take a trip down fantasy lane and envision how the most malleable of brains will be receiving this administration’s messages.

There is no language in the bill to clarify that the state’s early education programs funded through the federal grants must be voluntary. As a result, there is the danger that states may try to pass legislation which would create mandatory early education programs, using the grants from the federal government to help fund the program.

You may have thought Obama’s ‘original’ plan to address the schoold children with the message of servitude to Obama was bad, before he changed it due to public outcry, but now this bill gives him and his ilk full access to not only control a child’s learning from birth, but to control access to funds for higher education, determine what is taught in all levels of education and attach Federal government strings to every educational institution in the USA.

Our next step has to be addressing our representatives in the Senate. Call, write, email and fax them and let them know where you stand on H.R. 3221. We have to get on this before Obama can get his hands on it.

One Nerve Left 18 September 2009 Big Brother, Education, Indiana, Joe Donnelly, Obama, Pete Visclosky, Politics, Socialism , , , , , , , No Comments
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