Mr Ellis's List: Politics

• Hutchinson said the NRA's position was a "very reasonable approach" that he compared to the federal air marshal program that places armed guards on flights.

   

  "Are our children less important to protect than our air transportation? I don't think so,"

• LaPierre cited Israel as a model for the type of school security system the NRA envisions.

   

  ""Israel had a whole lot of school shootings until they did one thing: They said 'we're going to stop it,' and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since then," he said.

• Despite the lack of proof that voter impersonation is a problem in South Carolina, and despite evidence that African-Americans are less likely than whites to possess the forms of ID that the law requires, state officials have chosen to defend this unnecessary and unfair law,” said Victoria Middleton, executive director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “Our elected officials should make it easier for South Carolinians to exercise their right to vote, not put more barriers in their way.
• Despite the lack of proof that voter impersonation is a problem in South Carolina

• A more difficult issue in pursuing a case involving members of Congress and their staff concerned whether they owed a fiduciary duty to not benefit personally from confidential information. An insider trading violation requires proving the defendant breached a duty of “trust and confidence” by misusing the information for personal gain or tipping others. Whether such a duty applied to those working on Capitol Hill was unclear, according to testimony by Robert Khuzami, the director of the S.E.C.’s enforcement division.
• A more difficult issue in pursuing a case involving members of Congress and their staff concerned whether they owed a fiduciary duty to not benefit personally from confidential information.
• Whether such a duty applied to those working on Capitol Hill was unclear, according to testimony by Robert Khuzami, the director of the S.E.C.’s enforcement division.
• The bills passed by each house address this issue by explicitly establishing a “duty of trust and confidence” to not trade on “material, nonpublic information derived from such person’s position as a member of Congress or employee of Congress or gained from the performance of such person’s official responsibilities.” Another provision in both bills extends the fiduciary duty to all employees of the executive and judicial branches.
• but the bills require that all “financial transactions” be reported within 30 days, and the forms must be made available online. Prompt disclosure along with easy access to information can have a salutary effect by allowing the S.E.C. and the media to monitor trading by government employees to see whether there are any links to market-moving news.
• The Senate bill would require firms and consultants that engage in political intelligence gathering to disclose their activities in the same way lobbying firms must.
• It provides that senior federal officials “may not purchase securities that are the subject of an initial public offering in any manner other than is available to members of the public generally.”
• One issue the STOCK Act does not address is the application of the constitutional protection afforded by the Speech or Debate Clause, which prohibits questioning a member of Congress about legislative activities. As I noted in an earlier post on the legislation [link below], the new law would do little good if the S.E.C. and the Justice Department were stymied by the Speech or Debate Clause.

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• The 1^st Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Any legislation establishing Catholicism’s ban on contraception is a violation of the Constitution and it applies to Republican attempts to deny access to birth control to employees of religious-run organizations.
• the USCCB sent out letters to be read in parishes around the country informing Catholics of the Obama Administration’s alleged “war on religious liberty.” When parish priests read the letter to their congregations, they politicized the pulpit and violated their tax-exempt status as a religious organization. Senator Rubio is complicit in not reporting the violation to the IRS, and for following the bishops’ orders and drafting legislation imposing the Vatican’s ban on contraception. It is time to revoke tax-exempt status from all Catholic churches and end their taxpayer-funded entitlements once and for all.
• There is no doubt the USCCB violated their agreement with the IRS and Rubio’s statement that he directed his staff to draft legislation after an officiant read a letter from the Catholic archdiocese opposing the administration’s decision proves it. Rubio claims he was ignorant of the issue prior to hearing the archdiocese’s letter and his willingness to obey the USCCB precludes him from serving as a U.S. Senator. Either Rubio follows Vatican law, or he follows U.S. law and the Constitution; he cannot do both.
• Santorum knows President Obama is not conducting a war on religion and has no intention of beheading Christians, but his religious superiority influences him to make absurd statements to incite evangelicals to action in lieu of any real threat.
• The Catholic Church’s exaggerated sense of superiority goes back centuries, and as their influence over other countries wanes, they enlisted Republicans to legislate and impose their rules on America’s women.

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• "Those who think the Tea Party is on the wane are in for a gigantic surprise in 2012," says Debbie Dooley, co-organizer of the Atlanta Tea Party. "We have built a grassroots army and we will be a fine-tuned machine next year."