“You Picked a Fine Time to Lead Us, Barack”

Since President Chuckles has been in such a comedic mood lately…

UPDATE: Oh, and this one too!

We Need Jan Brewer

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are joining forces and telling President Barack Obama to do his job and secure our borders. Check out their new ad:

See also the statement on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. Money quote: “We’re all Arizonans now and we say with clear unity: ‘Mr. President, do your job. Secure our border.'”

Jan Brewer succeeded Janet Napolitano to become the 22nd governor of Arizona when Napolitano was appointed Secretary of Homeland Security in 2009. Prior to her service as governor, Brewer served a term and a half as Arizona Secretary of State. She served for thirteen years in the Arizona State Legislature, three years as a state representative and ten years as a state senator. She served as chairwoman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for six years, steering Maricopa County through a serious fiscal crisis and earning the county the reputation of being “one of the two best managed large counties in the nation,” according to Governing Magazine.

Gov. Brewer already has more experience in government than Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Sarah Palin had in 2008. She has more executive experience than any of the candidates on either of the 2008 presidential tickets. Gov. Brewer will have recently turned 68 years old on November 6, 2012. I think you know where I’m going with this.

Senate Republicans Should Not Filibuster Next SCOTUS Nominee

It has been reported recently that Justice John Paul Stevens will likely retire from the Supreme Court this year, paving the way for a second Obama appointment. This has prompted the question: Will Republicans filibuster Obama’s next nominee? The answer should be an emphatic no, no matter how liberal the nominee may turn out to be.

Sure, it may be tempting to fight a highly publicized Supreme Court battle over an ultraliberal nominee during an election year. But we need to think bigger picture: Justice Stevens is the leader of the liberal faction on the Supreme Court. Replacing him with another liberal, which Obama will most certainly manage to do, will not change the status quo — just as replacing the liberal Souter with the similarly liberal Sotomayor did not change the status quo.

We cannot waste our energy on fighting a liberal replacement for the liberal Stevens because it is within the realm of possibility that we will have to fight an important battle over a Supreme Court nominee who will change the status quo. Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative, is 74 years old. Justice Clarence Thomas, another conservative, will turn 62 in a couple of months. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is moderate to conservative, will turn 74 this summer.

If any of these three justices retire during Obama’s presidency, it will give President Obama the opportunity to decisively alter the Supreme Court’s direction. Don’t think he won’t try to take that opportunity. Souter’s retirement did not give him that opportunity because Souter was basically liberal. Stevens’ impending retirement is similar. Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy — those are the battles we have to be prepared to fight. Those are the battles that, if lost, will allow President Obama to reshape the Supreme Court in his leftist image.

No matter how hard we fight, we will not deter President Obama and Senate Democrats from eventually securing a liberal appointment to replace the liberal John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. If we knock out one liberal nominee, he will just nominate another, and another after that. We must save our energy and the patience of the American public for the Supreme Court battles that will actually matter.

Catholic Social Teaching and the 10th Amendment vs. ObamaCare

From the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of the lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.”

God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence.

The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies. It tends toward the establishment of true international order.

This is an unusual topic for me to blog about; I don’t normally cover religious topics for a variety of reasons. Still, as I have watched the debate over ObamaCare unfold, I have noted with interest that the Catholic bishops in the United States have opposed socialized medicine only insofar as it would expand federal funding to abortion coverage. Their single issue opposition to ObamaCare has led to the perception that its funding of abortion is the only way it contradicts Catholic social teaching.

But that’s not the case. Tea Party activists have opposed ObamaCare on the grounds that it violates the Tenth Amendment, which plainly says that the powers not reserved to the federal government or prohibited to the states should be reserved to the states or to the people. Catholic social teaching is similar in that it invokes the principle of subsidiarity, explained by the Catechism in the quote above. In essence, both the Tenth Amendment and the Catholic principle of subsidiarity are identical. Both make the case that a massive collectivist takeover of health care is not only unnecessary, but improper insofar as it “can threaten personal freedom and initiative.”

You’re reading that right: Both the United States Constitution and the Catechism of the Catholic Church repudiate collectivism and demand subsidiarity to preserve human freedom. On this issue, our founding fathers who wrote of our God-given liberty would be in lockstep with every pope since at least Pope Leo XIII.

Why point this out? It’s not just a “fun fact.” The bishops have opposed ObamaCare because it does, in fact, expand federal funding of abortion. But what if it hadn’t? Had the Stupak amendment been preserved, the U.S. bishops were prepared to support the bill — despite its clear violation of the principle of subsidiarity. Certainly the right to life and the preservation of human dignity are the paramount concerns, the very foundation, of Catholic social teaching. But the principle of subsidiarity has again and again been expounded upon by the papal teaching authority. It is no small matter.

The U.S. bishops were in a unique position, as both Americans and Catholic bishops, to connect the Catholic principle of subsidiarity to our constitutional principles. They had an opportunity to tell American Catholics that opposing ObamaCare is both a patriotic and religious duty. They utterly failed to do so. They missed an opportunity to boldly reaffirm a mostly forgotten principle of Catholic social teaching, to affirm the link between the Catholic and American commitments to human freedom, and to once again take up the Catholic Church’s historic leadership in the fight against global socialism.

Only the bishops can know why they have chosen not to take this opportunity. All we can do, as ordinary Catholics, is encourage them to elucidate this principle and its connection to American constitutional principles. In the meantime, as ordinary Catholics we can tell our fellow American Catholics, and all of our fellow Americans, what the Church teaches about God’s model of governance versus the collectivist model proposed by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid.

If You’re Reading This, You Are the Resistance

ObamaCare has passed, to the sound of thunderous applause from the socialists who are trampling upon the principles that have been the foundation of our country since its inception. This monstrosity, deemed “health care reform” by its statist champions, is the largest government takeover of the American economy in our history and the first time that government has ever tried to unconstitutionally force Americans to buy goods and services.

Our next step must be to rally in support of the courageous state attorneys general throughout this country who will challenge the constitutionality of the individual mandate. We everyday Americans must also fight, through the Republican Party, to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with constitutional, market-based solutions to Americans’ health care problems. If we hope to roll back this blow to our constitutional republic, it is imperative that we elect Republicans to the House and Senate this November, and that we start working now to defeat Barack Obama in 2012.

It is also imperative that we recognize that this fight for our country is far from over. They will not stop at ObamaCare. They will fight for their so-called “climate change” legislation, which is really an ecosocialist plot to pass the biggest tax increase in American history and plunge our economy into the worst crisis it has ever faced. They will fight for amnesty for illegal aliens, so that their dreams of a permanent majority — now jeopardized by their overt radicalism — can finally be realized in the only way possible, through theft and fraud. They will fight for countless changes, great and small, that will undermine the liberal democratic principles upon which our republic was built.

We must fight them every step of the way. And the only way we can fight them is to elect common sense conservative Republicans to the House and Senate this year, and to work to find the right candidate to make Barack Obama a one term president.

In pursuit of these goals, in the coming days From the Rust Belt will welcome new contributors. These contributors are individuals who believe in the mission of this blog, to advance conservative principles — that is, constitutional principles — and to promote political leaders within the Republican Party who adhere to those principles. They will work with me, and with you, to fight to take back the Republican Party, to take back Ohio, and to take back America for the people of this country and the fundamental principles of our republic. We know that we are the resistance. We also know that we cannot win this fight alone.

If you’re reading this, you are the resistance. Every single man, woman, and child in this country must wake up and recognize what Barack Obama and his socialists in Congress are doing and fight them every step of the way. Every American must engage in a second Velvet Revolution to halt the forward march of Karl Marx’s ghost. You, and I, and every other American must take to the streets in peaceful protest. You, and I, and every other American must pound the pavement for candidates who will restore our republic. You, and I, and every other American must vote in primary and general elections at every level of government for candidates who will fight this fight with us every step of the way.

You are the resistance. America is depending on you. Look at everything she has done for you. Do what you can now for her, so that your children and grandchildren don’t wake up in an America in which the American Dream is nothing more than a dream, buried deep in the minds of enslaved and asleep citizens lulled into their slumber by the empty promises of big government.

We’re Here, We’re Queer… We’re Conservative

I have had to come out twice in my life. The first time I came out, I told friends and family that I’m gay — that I’m attracted to other men, and that eventually I want to find the right man and spend the rest of my life with him. My second coming out has been more recent, as I have told the very friends and family who were supportive and accepting of my sexual orientation that I am a conservative Republican. Some have been just as supportive and accepting as they were before; others, less so.

The new challenge facing me is to be a conservative and a member of the Republican Party as an openly gay American. So far, the handful of College Republicans I’ve come out to, the faces of conservatism for me on a day to day basis, have been accepting. But events at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) demonstrate that there is, unfortunately, another side to the story. There are those who think gay conservatives should be excluded from the effort to take back America. Enter the now infamous Ryan Sorba:

It should be noted, although it rarely has been by the mainstream media, that Sorba’s anti-gay rant was preceded by a very different speech by Alexander McCobin, co-founder and president of Students for Liberty:

I prefer to believe that McCobin speaks for the majority of today’s young conservatives. Ryan Sorba’s ignorant hatred aside, last weekend was a good weekend to be a gay conservative. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney, came out in favor of repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy banning gays and lesbians from serving in the military. GOProud had a booth at CPAC. Alexander McCobin spoke in favor of gay participation at CPAC, and when Ryan Sorba stood up to have his Kanye West moment he was booed off stage. All good news.

I think for me, though, the best news was maybe a little less significant. It was seeing several of my fellow College Republicans who attended CPAC speaking out against Sorba through Facebook and other social networking and new media. It was seeing, for example, fellow Ohio University College Republican and blogging colleague Jesse Hathaway (Athens Runaway) take on Sorba’s idiocy via his blog. The Cheneys opposing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Great. But the people I’ll be working with at the grassroots level to get conservatives elected this November speaking out to say there’s a place for me in this movement? Far better.

Now that we’ve got the touchy-feely fluffy goodness out of the way, a message to Ryan Sorba and all who think like him:

We’re here. We’re queer. We’re conservative. Get used to it.

I believe in a government that respects the limitations upon its power set by our Constitution. I believe that men like George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and the rest of our founding fathers knew better how government should work than a leftist law professor and community organizer who lied, manipulated, and intimidated his way into the presidency. I believe in a liberal democracy in which people live freely to pursue their own happiness, not the brave new world being foisted on us by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid.

I believe that the best way to grow our economy is to shrink our government. Those taxes they want to collect to dole out pork projects to their benefactors certainly haven’t done the job. Taking even more of the American worker’s money to take over health care and energy certainly aren’t good answers to our problems either. If we want to stimulate our economy, the best way to do that is to put our citizens’ own money back in their own hands. Cut taxes. Cut spending. Reduce the deficit. Let the market reward the responsible and punish the irresponsible.

I also believe that we are at war with an enemy that hates us because we love liberty, an enemy that knows no borders and has from time to time infiltrated our own. As a gay American, I know the very real threat posed by Islamic terrorists. Just look at the terrorism perpetrated against gays and lesbians by the Islamic “Republic” of Iran. I believe we need leadership that recognizes this war as a war, rather than a president who wants to bury his head in the sand and pretend we can go back to those heady times when the last Democrat president treated terrorists as common criminals.

My message to Ryan Sorba and his ilk? Like it or not, I’m here — and so are other gay conservatives just like me. We’re here because, frankly, where else would we go? Over to the Democrats, who give gays and lesbians a wink and a nod during campaign season and forget all about us — or actively work against us — when it comes time to actually govern? Should we go to the Democrats, even though we believe their policies are destroying the fabric of our constitutional government, wrecking our economy, and endangering our national security?

Maybe Ryan Sorba would like us to head over to the Democrat Party. I believe most conservatives, especially most younger conservatives, would strongly disagree with him. But more importantly, I believe that the path to freedom, prosperity, and security for gays and lesbians lies within the conservative movement and the Republican Party. How could I go anywhere else? So, Mr. Sorba, I’m sticking around. Should we cross paths at any point in the future, I guess there’s only one thing left for me to say to you: Bring it. I love it.

Live Tweeting SOTU and Response

Taking a break from studying to live tweet the State of the Union address and the Republican response on Twitter. Stay tuned!

Tim Tebow Targeted By Vast Left Wing Conspiracy

BizzyBlog (cross-posted to NewsBusters) is blogging about attempts by feminazi brown shirts sorry, women’s groups to prevent a Focus on the Family ad that will feature Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother from airing during the Super Bowl. The controversy? The ad will apparently focus on the decision that Pam Tebow made in 1987 not to abort her fifth child against the recommendation of doctors in the Philippines after she became ill while there on a mission trip. Obviously pro-choice feminists view this ad as a threat. It might make women contemplating abortion think twice when they think about Tim Tebow, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy. He couldn’t have done that if he had never been born, and maybe women contemplating abortion will wonder what future their own children will miss out on.

This is, of course, an unacceptable message for pro-choice feminists. God forbid women make a thoughtful and well-informed decision about abortion. Better to scare the hell out of them and urge them ever forward toward the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic.

BizzyBlog notes that while the Associated Press described Focus on the Family as “conservative,” it made use of no such ideological descriptor for the so-called “women’s groups.” But — surprise! — they’re all part of the liberal/progressive/socialist machine. Take Jehmu Greene, for example, the president of the Women’s Media Center. She’s quoted by the AP: “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year — an event designed to bring Americans together.”

When I read the AP article, I thought to myself: Jehmu Greene? Jehmu Greene. Oh, Jehmu Greene? That Jehmu Greene? It was sort of like a mental Christmas in January, when my brain happily connected the dots that brings these women’s groups together with the Democrat establishment and supposedly non-partisan youth get out the vote organizations and reveals a giant left wing conspiracy. Turns out this particular left wing conspiracy has some rather radical views about our children and how they should view their sexuality. And the fact that these radicals are stupid enough to target one of the most popular college football quarterbacks in America and his mother? Well, that’s just a bonus!

Much more about Jehmu Greene, her radical ties, her connection to the Democrat establishment, and — another bonus — a reminder about the Connecticut Senate Republican primary all beneath the fold…

Searching for 60: How Voinovich Could Screw the Nation [UPDATE: Voinovich Still a NO on ObamaCare; Call His Office to Thank Him]

Sen. Susan Collins, left, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, right (R-ME)

I was never worried that either of Maine’s Republican senators, Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, would turn out to be the 60th vote for ObamaCare. Sure, Snowe and Collins are more liberal than your average Republican senator and the Pine Tree State is more liberal than most states that send Republicans to Capitol Hill. But at the end of the day one simple fact remains: ObamaCare isn’t popular much of anywhere, and both Snowe and Collins will eventually be seeking reelection. Neither wants to be branded “the senator who brought you ObamaCare” when she comes up for reelection.

Sen. George "Crybaby" Voinovich (R?-OH)

Enter the Buckeye State’s senior Republican (?) senator, George “Crybaby” Voinovich — now infamous for choking up on the Senate floor while opposing John Bolton’s nomination for United Nations ambassador. And that’s just one of the many times that Voinovich has screwed over his constituents (not to mention his base).

Voinovich isn’t seeking reelection to the Senate this year, which makes him perhaps the most dangerous Republican in the Senate given his proclivity for stabbing his party in the back sorry, crossing the aisle. RedState’s Erick Erickson tweeted yesterday that Voinovich is reportedly meeting with President Obama today, and Weapons of Mass Discussion also reports that Democrats are going to target Voinovich to become their 60th vote for ObamaCare should Scott Brown be elected in Massachusetts.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a drill. Because Voinovich isn’t seeking reelection, he is — unlike Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — exceedingly likely to turn traitor on ObamaCare. He is vulnerable to the politics of legacy, to being persuaded that an act of bipartisanship would let him go down in history as the man who made history. Would it really be that surprising to see Voinovich hit the Senate floor, fight back those crocodile tears, and say that he is voting for ObamaCare because he’s “worried about [his] kids and [his] grandchildren” — just like he did when he opposed Bolton’s nomination?

Voinovich isn’t in the strict sense accountable to his constituents anymore. The only way to prevent him from turning traitor and becoming the only Republican senator to vote for ObamaCare is to make him fear that such a vote will, in fact, destroy his legacy. We have to convince him that ObamaCare will be a disastrous failure and that if he votes for it, that failure will be his only legacy.

How do we do that? First of all, prominent Ohio Republicans need to get out there early and often to condemn ObamaCare and to demand that both of Ohio’s senators vote against the final reconciled bill.

I want to see Rob Portman, John Kasich, and Mary Taylor on the news talking about what a disaster ObamaCare would be for Ohioans and how they’re certain, just absolutely positive, that a good man like Voinovich would never betray his constituents so grievously. Mike DeWine wants conservative votes for Ohio Attorney General? Then he needs to haul his happy RINO ass out in front of those cameras and publicly urge his longtime Senate colleague to vote against this unconstitutional monstrosity. If he won’t, I’m sure Dave Yost would be happy to do it for him.

The second component to stopping Voinovich from becoming Obama’s 60th vote is to pick up your phone or open up a new e-mail. Obviously the White House doesn’t think it’s too early to lobby Voinovich for his vote; we shouldn’t either. And here, for starters, is a great talking point:

Dear Sen. Voinovich, I just wanted to call and let you know that I don’t think fifteen Ohio University College Republicans drove all the way to Massachusetts over the weekend to fight to elect Scott Brown the 41st vote against ObamaCare just to see their Republican senator become the 60th vote for ObamaCare. K thanks bye.

That’s what I’ll be saying when I call Voinovich’s office today. What you say is up to you, but do give the man a ring or drop him an e-mail. If you’re near one of his offices, drop on in and tell his staffers that he better stand up for Ohio and vote against ObamaCare.

Washington, D.C. Office:
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Main: (202) 224-3353

Cleveland, OH Office:
1240 East 9th Street
Room 3061
Cleveland, OH 44199
Main: (216) 522-7095
Fax: (216) 522-7097

Southeast, OH Office:
78 West Washington Street
P.O. Box 57
Nelsonville, OH 45764
Main: (740) 441-6410
Fax: (740) 753-3551

Cincinnati, OH Office:
36 East 7th Street
Room 2615
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Main: (513) 684-3265
Fax: (513) 684-3269

Northeast, OH Office:
1240 East 9th Street
Room 3061
Cleveland, OH 44199
Main: (216) 522-7095
Fax: (216) 522-7097

Toledo, OH Office:
420 Madison Avenue
Room 1210
Toledo, OH 43604
Main: (419) 259-3895
Fax: (419) 259-3899

Dayton, OH Office:
(Based out of Cincinnati)
36 East 7th Street, Room 2615
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Main: (513) 684-3265
Fax: (513) 684-3269

Central, OH Office:
37 West Broad Street
Room 310
Columbus, OH 43215
Main: (614) 469-6697
Fax: (614) 469-7733

We are on the verge of killing ObamaCare when it looked very likely that it would pass. If Scott Brown wins today, he is the 41st vote for an ObamaCare filibuster — but only if another Republican doesn’t turn traitor and vote to make history. President Obama clearly believes George Voinovich might be that traitor, and given his record you should believe it, too. It’s up to us, especially those of us who live in Ohio, to make sure Voinovich sticks with his party and filibusters this bill.

State Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), soon to be the 41st vote against ObamaCare

Let’s get to work.

UPDATE: Back at my computer for the first time today, and I see that Sen. Voinovich is stating in no uncertain terms that he will NOT vote for ObamaCare. Voinovich Press Secretary Garrette Silverman has said that Voinovich’s “stance has not changed,” and Third Base Politics (among others) reports that Voinovich’s meeting with Obama was apparently not about ObamaCare.

Given Voinovich’s record, I don’t think it was a bad idea for me to send up a red flag into the conservative blogosphere. I also don’t think it’s a bad idea for Ohioans to continue reminding the senator by phone, e-mail, and office visits exactly how we feel about ObamaCare. What could it hurt?

UPDATE II: Welcome Michelle Malkin, Memeorandum, Weapons of Mass Discussion, A Small Corner of Sanity, and Underground Conservative readers.

UPDATE III: Liberally Conservative, too!

UPDATE IV: On second thought, let’s take Sen. Voinovich at his word. He voted against ObamaCare the first time around and he says he’ll do it again. So instead of calling his office and beating a dead horse, why not call in and thank him for standing with us? Sends the same message without punishing good behavior.

59-41-0: The Only Numbers That Matter

Fifteen of my fellow Ohio University College Republicans (OUCR) are headed to Boston, Massachusetts to go door to door for Scott Brown today. They’re arriving at about 5 a.m., and then getting right to work about four hours later.

Who would have imagined when Scott Brown announced his candidacy that so much could happen so quickly? The fact that true, blue Massachusetts is so close to electing a Republican senator to fill the seat last held by Ted Kennedy, the fact that it’s close enough to bring college students from Ohio to hit the pavement to get out the vote — that just shows how truly dissatisfied Americans are with President Obama’s socialist agenda. Scott Brown will be the vote to halt that agenda in its tracks.

Sure, there are naysayers. I’ve already seen one prominent Republican blogger predict a narrow 51%-48% victory for Martha Coakley. I don’t care much for those numbers. The only numbers that matter to me and to the fifteen OUCRs headed to Boston are 59-41-0 — that is, 59 Democrats, 41 Republicans, ZERO ObamaCare. We can make that happen and we have to make it happen. If you can, head to Massachusetts. If you’re like me and you can’t make it, get on the phone for Scott Brown.

Scott Brown can be the next senator from Massachusetts, and the one vote who will make sure that we never see ObamaCare become law. But it’s up to us to make that happen.