United Liberty

In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, several Democrats on Capitol Hill are advocating a Constitutional Amendment:

Democrats in Congress want to amend the U.S. Constitution to say free speech does not extend to corporations in response to the Supreme Court’s decision allowing freer corporate spending in political campaigns.

On Tuesday, Rep. John Conyers, Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Donna F. Edwards, Maryland Democrat, introduced an amendment to combat “the flawed ruling by the Supreme Court allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.”

The amendment will undo the Supreme Court decision and allow the government to regulate the expenditure of funds by corporations for political speech, according to a release.

“It is time we remove corporate influence from our policies and our politics. We cannot allow corporations to dominate our elections, to do so would be both undemocratic and unfair to ordinary citizens,” Edwards said.

Conyers said the “idea that corporate political speech is no different than an individual citizen’s political speech was not the law when the Constitution was written.”

The proposed amendment, introduced in the House, says that the government “may regulate the expenditure of funds for political speech by any corporation, limited liability company, or other corporate entity.” The proposal adds: “Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.’’

David Boaz takes issue with the Washington Post profile of Bernie Sanders. He is the only self-described socialist in the United States Senate. If that’s the case what do you call the 11 Senators that are rated to the left of him by the American Conservative Union?:

In a profile of the poetry-reading chief of staff to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the Washington Post calls Sanders not only “the only socialist in the U.S. Congress,” but also “surely [the Senate’s] most liberal [member].” Surely. I mean, he’s a socialist, right? (And by the way, that isn’t a label that Sanders rejects.)

Who could believe that this is the same guy who was “reporting for duty” back in 2004? Kerry is in his element here and absolutely schools Dick Cheney.

From the floor debate in the Senate on February 7 regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

Incidentally, let me share with a few of my colleagues why this is sort of this old ideology versus new. The Senator talked about the tired ideology of the past. What is it? Well, I think today Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, made a statement on behalf of the Republican Party. He said:

For the last 2 weeks, we have been trying to force a massive spending bill through Congress under the guise of economic relief.

Well, we are having votes. This is a democracy. We are not forcing anything. We are trying to get the job done because there is an urgency to getting it done.

But then he says:

According to The Raw Story, Democrats have ending the ban on federal funding of stem cell research (it’s worth noting that independently funded research is perfectly legal) at the top of their agenda:

Democrats in Congress are debating whether to push for an end to the ban on stem cell research once President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

Both Obama and the Democratic leadership have said stem cell research is a top priority, but some worry the fight will get the Democrats’ first year off to a rocky start, even if a win is certain in both the House and Senate.

“It is a very divisive issue, and it is a tough way to start,” said Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat. “You don’t want to stumbleout of the box.”

Isn’t it amazing how interconnected we are? I recall something similiar back in 2004 that stated that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and George W. Bush are distant cousins.

The son of William F. Buckley supports Obama.

During an interview on the San Francisco NPR station KQED’s program “Forum,” author Christopher Buckley, the son of National Review founder William F. Buckley, said he is likely to vote for Obama. Pointing out that Obama is “left wing,” while he is a conservative, he stated that with the current economic turmoil President Bush is looking like “Herbert Hoover 2” and that McCain would be a continuation of Bush Administration policies.

Understanding Senator John McCain is no easy task. Senator McCain was elected to the US House of Representatives and four years later moved up to the US Senate. When McCain was first elected, I dealt with some active conservatives from Arizona who knew McCain. These people were enamored with the Senator and told me to watch for him, further stating that John McCain was a conservative leader who would follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan.

Note with me the three phases in the career of Senator John McCain.