RUTHFULLY YOURS

So we finally have the Beltway GOP plan to confront Obama administration lawlessness. Make that, to have someone else confront Obama administration lawlessness. Is there a contest to name the Republican strategy? I’d call it: “Please Don’t Make Me Use My Powers … The Obamedia Might Say Mean Things About Me.”

Mr. Obama’s sweeping lawlessness, a comprehensive assault on the separation of powers, is the subject of my new book, Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment. The administration’s goal is to centralize governmental power in the executive branch. That is exactly what the separation of powers is designed to avoid, the Framers having grasped that the accumulation of all power in one set of hands had always been, and will always be, the road to tyranny.

Roll Call reports that House Speaker John Boehner (R., OH) will respond to this challenge to our constitutional framework by … wait for it … filing a lawsuit. The apparent aim of this theater is to persuade a judge to pronounce what is already patent: the president is flouting congressional statutes.

Speaker Boehner’s proposed suit is nearly as wayward as President Obama’s violation of his solemn oath to execute the laws faithfully. Under our system, in order to avoid having major public policy questions decided by the governmental branch that is not politically accountable to voters, the judiciary is limited to resolving concrete controversies — cases in which the party bringing the suit has actually been injured by a violation of law. Courts are thus prohibited from issuing advisory opinions: pronouncements that some course of conduct is or would be illegal.

Yet, that appears to be exactly what the speaker will ask them to do. Indeed Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, reminded Roll Call that the House has already passed a bill that would expedite court consideration of House resolutions enabling lawsuits that challenge executive overreach. “The House has passed legislation to address this, but it has gone nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate,” Mr. Steel explained, “so we are examining other options.”

Obviously, Republican leadership does not see its “other options” as including the exercise of powers the Constitution gives Congress to stop executive lawlessness in its tracks, namely, cutting off the executive branch’s funding and impeaching executive branch officials who violate the law, carry out lawless policy, mislead lawmakers, stonewall investigations, and frustrate Congress’s constitutional oversight function. In essence, Boehner & Co. are fecklessly asking the courts to do their heavy lifting for them — a classic case of assuming the pose of meaningful action while in reality doing nothing. And tune in next week when Republicans get back to complaining about how activist judges are making the law rather than interpreting it.

In this time of partisan politics and societal narcissism, we, as a people – both individually and as a society – often forget the underlying idea behind e pluribus unum, “out of many, one,” our national motto. It is based in a notion that many individuals can come together to form a society – a free, civilized society, where each individual not only executes self-reliance and individual responsibility, but a level of benevolence and compassion that produces the feeling of a unique identity; of national “family.” But these modern times betray our roots, in action, thought and deed, making us (or many of us anyway) unworthy of the motto itself.

From the Baby Boomer “Me Generation” to the “Gen X-ers,” “Millenials” and “New Silent Generation,” each has been instilled with not only a unearned and falsely elevated sense of self-worth, but an entitled and self-centered sense of being that has led us away from e pluribus unum; away from the benevolence of brotherhood; away from the compassion that creates a truly civilized society. This has come to pass through the manipulation of our people by political opportunists and the elitism of the Progressive Movement.

I could delve into the minutia of the groups that have foisted this malady upon our nation, but that is not the focus of this article. Identifying these culprits as the source of the cancer does not serve to cure the cancer. But it does allow us to see how the cancer spreads. It spreads through the vicious concept of “divide and conquer.” Those who thirst for power instead of righteous service to the nation serve their lust by dividing our people to stand against ourselves. They pit labeled group against labeled group, fomenting resentment, envy, fear and even hated for our fellow man, simply so create a larger sub-group than their competitors, and simply to attain power and the ill-gotten riches that tearing apart a peoples affords.

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/palestine-s-grand-mufti-hussein-bds-campaign-grand-mufti-of-palestine-take-back-your-call-india-will-never-boycott-israel

This petition will be delivered to:
Palestine’s Grand Mufti Hussein/BDS-Campaign

We Indians and concerned people worldwide are appalled at your (Grand Mufti’s) call urging India to Boycott Israel.

We will never Boycott Israel.

Indian villages and cities benefit from Israeli innovations in Agriculture and Water Technology.

Indian Institutes and Universities cooperate with Israeli partners in doing path breaking research and contribute to development of India.

India-Israel cooperation in defense and homeland security helps making India safe and secure.

We Indians want good relations with Arab nations on the basis of mutual respect. We reject pressure tactics against Israel and interference in India’s economic and foreign policy.

We respect the authority you hold as a man of faith, but reject your anti-Israel Boycott call, which is motivated by politics and aminosity against the State of Israel – the only true democracy in the Middle East, with equal right granted to members of all faiths.

We call upon Your Holiness the Grand Mufti to take back the call.

We share historic and civilizational ties with Israel and Jewish people.

We will never boycott Israel!

I mentioned this 2002 column of mine last week in connection with the Saudi Ambassador’s idiosyncratic response to it. But it seems appropriate to give it a full-blown rerun today, Thursday, as the US footie team – or “soccer”, as they call it here – prepares for its samba-sultry rendezvous with destiny and a rematch with Germany, the team that did for them 12 years ago.

I’d been thinking that this time round there was more interest in the World Cup than back then. But then I went on John Oakley’s show yesterday morning and the soccer banter ahead of my appearance reminded me that even Canada has an entirely different level of engagement with the sport. At any rate, that’s what caught my fancy three World Cups ago, when the American team looked at one point in danger of making it to the semi-finals, and maybe beyond, despite total lack of public interest – while in England and Ireland there were millions of fans in search of a team. This essay is anthologized in The Face Of The Tiger, personally autographed copies of which are exclusively available from the SteynOnline bookstore, and proceeds of which go towards my pushback against “hockey stick” warm-monger Michael E Mann and the Big Climate enforcers:

And so the dream dies. The boys gave it their best, they played well, but it wasn’t to be. They’re out of the World Cup, to the bitter disappointment of their supporters.

I refer, of course, to the United States team, the first in World Cup history with more players than fans. Across America yesterday, all nine of them gathered in bars to watch the big match, only to find that the other patrons preferred to see the Golden Girls re-run dubbed into Spanish on Channel 173 or the last half of Plastering Idol on the Sheetrock Channel. Twiddling my own dial in New Hampshire, I couldn’t find the game on anywhere except a French-language station from Quebec.

Is there any other sport where you can only follow the US team by watching foreign channels? No one was singing ‘Ere we go, ‘ere we go, ‘ere we go! – even though it’s by an American composer! But, cursed to be born in the US, that poor schmuck Sousa couldn’t even make a living in the soccer business, forced to stick to his day-job as a conductor. In fact, all the great football songs are by Americans – Rodgers and Hammerstein (“You’ll Never Walk Alone”) and Livingston and Evans, whose “Que Sera, Sera” has a British lyric of endearing directness:

A health spending plunge coincides with the new law’s launch.

Financial markets shrugged off Wednesday’s punch-in-the-stomach report that first quarter GDP shrank by 2.9% on an annual basis, far more than earlier estimates and the worst quarterly decline in five years. Optimists blame the weather and point to faster growth in the current quarter, which is reasonable but still shouldn’t overlook ObamaCare’s role in nearly sending the economy back into recession.

January saw the formal launch of the Affordable Care Act, and its attempt to transform U.S. health insurance and medical practice. So it’s notable that a major cause of the sharp downward revision in first-quarter GDP was a decline in consumer spending on health care. Lower exports and investment also played a role, but the overall decline in health spending from the previous quarter was a startling 6.4%.

Health spending is nearly always a positive contributor to GDP, and in the fourth quarter of 2013 it contributed 0.62%. But health spending fell so sharply in the first quarter that it subtracted 0.16% from economic growth. The Bureau of Economic Analysis, which calculates GDP, hadn’t been able to capture the magnitude of the health spending decline in its two previous estimates of first quarter growth.

The decline is especially shocking given that the arc of health spending is always up. The explanation can’t be that Americans suddenly had less demand for health care, or had a healthier winter. Our guess is that the turmoil caused by the disastrous ObamaCare rollout confused many consumers into delaying their health purchases. ObamaCare also caused millions of Americans to lose insurance they liked, and it no doubt took time for many to find new policies that suited them and they could afford.

Senator Rand Paul wrote an essay for The Wall Street Journal last week, “America Shouldn’t Choose Sides in Iraq’s Civil War,” in which he associated his attitude toward overseas interventions with the foreign-policy principles of Ronald Reagan. “Though many claim the mantle of Ronald Reagan on foreign policy,” Sen. Paul wrote, “too few look at how he really conducted it.” Essentially what this means, Sen. Paul continued, is that “Like Reagan . . . we should never be eager to go to war.”

The Kentucky Republican doubts that Reagan would have committed U.S. troops to driving out Saddam Hussein, as President George W. Bush did. And he strongly implies that Ronald Reagan, like the senator, would not want to involve the U.S. in Iraq’s current catastrophe.

To support the similarity between his views and Reagan’s, Sen. Paul cites the Weinberger Doctrine as a summary of the 40th president’s views on foreign interventions. Caspar Weinberger, Reagan’s secretary of defense, articulated what came to be known as the Weinberger Doctrine in a November 1984 speech at the National Press Club.

As accurately summarized by Sen. Paul, Weinberger said the U.S. shouldn’t commit combat forces unless America’s vital interests are involved, should do so only if we intend to win, have clear political and military goals, the capacity to achieve them, the support of Congress and the U.S. public, and act only as a last resort. Sen. Paul wants his readers to believe that Weinberger’s view was Reagan’s view.

As he prepares for his all-but-certain presidential run in 2016, Sen. Paul seems to have decided that he needs to refine his—and his father’s—reputation for non-interventionist absolutism. A Washington Post-ABC poll this week suggests that U.S. attitudes toward intervention are in flux, and a center may be re-forming over how much global disintegration the public is willing to accept.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/oregon-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=puball

Primary: May 20, 2014
Ron Wyden (D) Next Election in 2016.

Jeff Merkley (D) Incumbent

http://www.merkley.senate.gov/ http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Jeff_Merkley.htm**

Rated +2 by AAI, indicating pro-Arab pro-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE To make our health care system work for American families and small businesses, Jeff voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama in March 2010. This historic law has brought an end to many of the predatory insurance practices that victimized our families. Although the implementation of the law has been deeply flawed in Oregon, the new system makes important changes that must be preserved. It stops insurance companies from denying people coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition or dropping coverage once someone actually gets sick. It requires that many preventive services be covered by insurance free of charge and stops insurance companies from charging women more than men for the same coverage. And under the law, young adults can now stay on their parents’ plans until age 26.

The law also makes health care affordable to many Oregonians for the first time, with new subsidies for many, expanded access to the Oregon Health Plan, and tax credits for small businesses that offer coverage to their employees. Recognizing that it is often challenging for small businesses to offer health insurance, Jeff led the effort during debate on the health care reform law to expand small businesses’ access to health insurances exchanges, allowing businesses with up to 100 employees to compare and shop for affordable health insurance options. Despite the problematic roll-out of Cover Oregon, the state’s health insurance exchange, over a quarter-million Oregonians have received health insurance coverage under the law. Jeff believes the roll-out has been unacceptably rocky and there are things that he has been working hard to fix, like ensuring people can keep plans they like and don’t lose out because of Cover Oregon’s problems, but Jeff will also fight attempts to take us back to the old system when insurance companies could kick people off their insurance when they got sick and could deny people coverage for preexisting conditions.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY Opposed to construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Our nation is addicted to fossil fuels. This addiction is bad for our economy, our national security, and our climate, and it’s one we need to end. The carbon pollution in our atmosphere from burning fossil fuels like oil and coal is waging a direct and unchecked assault on our farming, fishing and forests – the cornerstones of Oregon’s rural economy. When Jeff was young, his dad worked as a millwright. He spent his childhood in Southern Oregon timber communities, where timber jobs were what put food on the table and kept roofs over folks’ head. Fires and insect infestations are already killing trees at alarming rates across the Northwest, and climate change will only make these threats to our forests worse.

Timber is not the only iconic Northwest industry affected by climate change. Today, warmer, more acidic oceans are threatening fisheries and shellfish farmers. Several shellfish growers in the Northwest are already facing a crisis because their baby oysters struggle to survive in more acidic waters. These changes to our oceans will have a profound effect on our fisheries, and on the fishermen that have relied on these fisheries for generations. The decline of snowpack is affecting our rivers and streams in Oregon. Without good snowpack in the winter, those rivers and streams dry up in the summer and fish die. Without water coming down into our rivers and lakes in the spring and summer, our farmers don’t have the irrigation water they need for the growing season. The Klamath Basin has seen repeated droughts in recent years, but the farmers and ranchers there are not alone. Natural disasters are steadily on the rise nationwide. Congress needs to wake up. Climate change is real, and it’s bad for our economy and jobs, especially in rural Oregon and the places that most depend on our abundant natural resources.

CIVIL RIGHTS Jeff is committed to protecting the rights and liberties of all Americans. Since its creation, our nation has come a long way in the march toward equality and fairness, but there is still much work to be done. All Americans deserve the opportunity to live, work, and succeed without facing discrimination.

Ending Workplace Discrimination
Marriage Equality

Fair Pay Jeff strongly believes that all workers deserve equal pay for equal work. At a time when women who work full time, year-round, still make only 78 cents for every dollar that a man makes, we are still falling short on the promise of equal opportunity for all. In one of his first acts as a U.S. Senator, Jeff cosponsored two bills to provide workers with increased protection from discriminatory pay practices. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which was passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by President Obama, restores fairness to the workplace by allowing victims of discrimination the ability to seek compensation even if they only discover the discrimination later. Jeff is working with his Senate colleagues to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would close the loopholes that allow employment discrimination to go unchecked while improving the remedies available and prohibiting retaliatory action by employers.
Monica Wehby M.D. (R) Challenger

http://www.monicafororegon.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE In 2009, while Obamacare was rolling down the legislative pike, Monica was a prominent opponent of the ACA. She was enlisted to be in a television commercial which ran across the nation warning people about the dangers of that bill. Monica got a lot of hate mail for that ad campaign and had to change her home phone number, but every one of her predictions has come true. 150,000 people have had their health insurance plans cancelled in Oregon. Premiums have increased. Medicare Advantage benefits for our state’s seniors have been cut. The Obama administration is constantly changing its rules and regulations and delaying its mandates. As one person she met on the campaign trail told her, “The Affordable Care Act has made my health insurance un-affordable.” This system is so flawed that it needs to be repealed and replaced with a patient-centered, market-based approach like the one Monica outlined in November of 2013 that increases access that is actually affordable. It’s radically different from what the President and Jeff Merkley forced through on a partisan basis.

FOREIGN POLICY Monica believes in the idea that the best way to keep America and the world safe is by keeping America’s military strong and unrivaled. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “Walk softly, but carry a big stick.” Dr. Wehby will do everything possible in her capacity as our U.S. Senator to strengthen our armed forces and protect our freedoms. Monica also believes that the bond between the United States and Israel must remain rock solid. We must always stand by our strongest allies, especially in a region that is going through such turmoil. As the nuclear negotiations proceed with Iran we must be ever mindful that whatever deal is struck does not jeopardize the security of Israel.

IMMIGRATION Dr. Monica Wehby believes that before we make any reforms to our immigration system that we must secure the border. Border security must be the immediate priority. Monica is also against amnesty for those who came here illegally. That simply isn’t fair to the people who came here through the proper channels. Dr. Monica Wehby also believes that we need to increase the amount of H1B visas for skilled workers. It doesn’t make any sense to train and educate these workers in the U.S. and then force them to take the skills they learned here to another country. We also need a verification system that allows employers to check a new employee’s legal status, whether it is E-Verify or a new online application, is needed so that employers can comply with our national immigration laws. Dr. Monica Wehby also believes we should work with Oregon’s agriculturists to develop a temporary guest worker program that works.

GOVERNMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES Monica has traveled all across Oregon meeting with farmers, fisherman, ranchers, miners, and loggers. These hard-working Americans have seen their industries and their jobs decimated by a federal government they believe is not on their side. She spoke to one miner with tears in his eyes who related the long story of how the government has regulated his industry out of business. Dr. Wehby believes that we need leaders in D.C. who will take a truly balanced approach when it comes to protecting our state’s jobs and natural resources. The Federal government telling our state we can’t use our timber resources is like telling Texans they can’t drill for oil. One logger said to Monica that he feels like a man starving to death in the middle of a grocery store. There is a human cost to over-regulation that comes from a federal bureaucracy in Washington D.C. that doesn’t seem to care about the impact that their policies have on working families. The people who live in these areas have been good stewards of their lands for generations. They are not looking to harm the environments they live in. They just want an honest partner in D.C. that isn’t looking to take away their right to work.

District 1

Suzanne Bonamici (D) Incumbent

http://www.bonamiciforcongress.com/ http://bonamici.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Suzanne_Bonamici.htm**

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY Opposes the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. Climate change is a real and increasing threat to our environment and our economy. I have a strong record of working to reduce Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. At the state level I supported legislation that enacted Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio standard, which will require Oregon’s largest utilities to supply 25% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Additionally I supported multiple bills to increase the energy efficiency of Oregon homes, small businesses and schools, saving homeowners, business owners and school districts energy and money.

Oregon has shown that we can create jobs while protecting the environment. Investing in clean and renewable energy has and will continue to create jobs, reduce our impact on climate change and simultaneously reduce our reliance on foreign fossil fuels, which will increase our national security.

Action: Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Invest in Renewable Energy Oppose tax benefits for established, fossil fuel industries like big oil. These tax benefits hinder our ability to combat climate change and invest in renewable energy, prolong our dependence on foreign oil, and therefore threaten our national security. Instead we should be investing those resources in our citizenry, protecting the middle class, standing up for seniors and helping our small businesses grow. Oppose attempts to drill off of Oregon’s coast. Oregonians can count on me to oppose attempts to drill off our coast, just as I did in the Oregon Legislature. Support policies that decrease our dependence on foreign fossil fuels. I support increasing mileage standards for cars and incentives for electric vehicle adoption and for the development of renewable energy sources. Support EPA regulation of greenhouse gasses. This must be done in a meaningful way to fight climate change and its effects on the environment, health and the economy. Support policies that increase the energy efficiency of our buildings. We can reduce energy use and carbon emissions while simultaneously saving money. I support targeted investments in education, research and development in energy efficiency and conservation.

HEALTHCARE Increase Access to Affordable Health Care for All – My first experience dealing with the challenges facing our health care system was when I worked helping low-income families at Legal Aid. I witnessed the stress that people experience when they do not have access to health care. Medical bills can create a downward spiral of debt and other tragic consequences in the lives of families and it was my job to do all I could to get these people back on solid financial ground.

This experience, along with my work as a state legislator on the House Health Care Committee and my work as co-chair of the Mental Health Caucus, helped to solidify my commitment to work for affordable and accessible health care for all. Congress took the first steps to reform our health care system, but more needs to be done. Right now, paying for health care is a struggle for families and small businesses. We need to continue to work toward system focused on health care that is truly accessible so that when people need care, they can access the services they need. When people are healthy, our families, communities and businesses thrive.
Jason Yates (R) Challenger narrowly defeated Republican Challenger Delinda Morgan

http://www.yatesforcongress.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE I support repealing ObamaCare. Health insurance should be as simple to buy as car insurance. If you want insurance from another state, you should have the right to purchase it. This will increase competition and make the rates go down.

IMMIGRATION This nation was founded on immigrants coming to this land to look for a better opportunity. I support legal immigration and the harsh enforcement of strong border control, including a well-armed border fence.

TERM LIMITS The government is being overrun with career politicians. As they continue to be re-elected, they gain more power and lose more grip on the needs and issues of their constituency. I support a Constitutional Amendment that will set term limits of a total of 12 years in each chamber for members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

District 2

Greg Walden (R) Incumbent

http://www.gregwalden.com/ http://walden.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/greg_walden.htm**

Rated -3 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY Supports construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. “America’s smarter energy future must include a plan to get us off foreign oil, provide the energy resources necessary to fuel the country’s drive to remain the most powerful economy in the world, and do the right thing for the environment at the same time.” – Greg Walden

As a leader in solar, wind, geothermal, and woody biomass technologies, Oregon remains a leader in reduc­ing our dependence on foreign oil and building a smarter energy future that creates jobs at home.

Equality for Oregon’s woody biomass

Fuel created from woody biomass is clean-burning and created from the small-diam­eter byproducts from good forest management projects. Here’s what woody biomass production would mean for Oregon:

Jobs for rural communities
Domestic energy production
Healthier forests

Because the federal government does not give Oregon’s woody biomass the same incentives as other clean, renewable energies, Greg Walden worked in bipartisan fashion to write legislation to fix the inequality. He pushed the same language in committee as an amendment to the national energy tax, but was denied on partisan lines. The Society of American Foresters says the exclusion is “extremely problematic” and “has no basis in science.” Greg will continue to work across the aisle to ensure this woody biomass, with its economic, environmen­tal, and energy potential, has the chance to deliver jobs and healthier forests to rural Oregon.

Oregon is uniquely position as a leader in new energy technologies to benefit from America’s smarter energy future, be it solar energy in Christmas Valley, groundbreaking geothermal energy at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, wind energy in Shepherds Flat, or biomass-fueled heating systems in rural schools and hospitals. Rep. Walden will continue to support legislation that promotes homegrown, smarter energy that will get us off our addiction to foreign oil from countries that wish us harm.

HEALTHCARE Greg Walden has opposed the government takeover of healthcare, but supports reform that tackles the big­gest problems, right now:

1. Give all individuals access to health care coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions.
2. Let individuals and small businesses group up to get coverage at lower prices, like unions do.
3. Provide assistance to those who still cannot access a doctor.
4. Protect and expand the doctor-patient relationship by putting patients before profits and politics.
5. Reduce junk lawsuits that drive up healthcare costs by billions of dollars a year.

Making coverage more affordable. The plan Greg Walden supports would reduce the cost of family premiums by $5,000 compared to Speaker Pelosi’s plan. It prioritizes spending and is careful with taxpayer money, unlike the $1.3 trillion government takeover plan that heaps billions in debt on future generations. Protecting seniors. Greg Walden has repeatedly voted to protect the Medicare program from damaging cuts that would jeopardize seniors’ access to health care services. He opposed Medicare premium increases and a $500 billion cut to home health, nursing home care, rehabilitation, Medicare Advantage and hospital services that would damage benefits for Oregon’s seniors.

Greg Walden voted to improve how Medicare treats seniors by ensuring that doctors have the resources they need to avoid rationing or closing their doors to seniors. Ensuring access to quality care. Through Greg’s consistent support of the community health centers program, Oregonians now benefit from 29 community health centers that deliver care at over 150 sites and serve 200,000 patients annually. And he has worked with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to ensure no one is ever denied care at rural hospitals because of inflexible federal rules. The patient-doctor relationship. Greg Walden has voted to reign in junk lawsuits while protecting injured patients with compensation for medical expenses, the cost of future medical care, and lost wages. And he has worked this year to ensure that no Washington bureaucrat or politician comes between you and your doctor.
Aelea Cristofferson (D) Challenger

http://aeleaforcongress.com/

District 3
Earl Blumenauer (D) Incumbent

http://www.earlblumenauer.com/ http://blumenauer.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/earl_blumenauer.htm**

Rated +6 by AAI, indicating pro-Arab pro-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

REBUILDING AMERICA Our nation’s infrastructure is falling apart. Climate change, the aging of the baby boomers, lack of repair, and the movement to our nation’s cities are all putting different strains on our infrastructure, which have for too long been neglected. Blumenauer is a leader in Congress for a national plan that will revitalize America’s communities, economy, and infrastructure, allowing America to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

ENERGY Voted against construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. Blumenauer strongly believes that our country needs a national energy policy that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and creates clean energy jobs. Fighting climate change, one of the greatest challenges of our generation, is one of his top priorities.

The impacts of a changing climate are far-reaching; a threat not only to our natural ecosystems but to national security as well. In the Pacific Northwest, climate change will have the most significant impacts on our water cycle, which could mean major changes for agriculture, land use, growth and development, recreation, fisheries, and energy generation. We need to encourage a renewable electricity standard that requires utilities generate a portion of their energy from renewable sources like wind and solar. A combination of regulations, tax incentives, and investment in research and development for cleaner energy can stimulate the market and help make financing renewable energy competitive with fossil fuels.

We need to reinstate the Superfund. It is time to make public health, not protection for polluters, a priority. With the reinstatement of the Superfund tax, the stable funds generated would ensure that cleanup efforts at large sites can be properly maintained, and the EPA would have more power to recover costs from liable parties in cleanups. We need to continue our country’s commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The federal government can and should be a partner in this effort, through a variety of ways, including investing in transportation alternatives, providing incentives for affordable housing choices and better community design, and funding innovative pilot programs that add community value while reducing greenhouse gases.

HEALTHCARE Congressman Blumenauer is proud of his vote in favor of historic health care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This new law improves access, quality, and affordability of health care for all Americans, while protecting your right to choose your own doctor and health plan.

MARIJUANA REFORM While President Obama has declared that his administration has “bigger fish to fry” in regards to cracking down on use of marijuana in states where it is legal, far too many US Attorneys and Drug Enforcement personnel are still ‘frying those little fish.’ Only Congress has the power to unravel this mess. It is past time it does so. Congressman Blumenauer supports legislation that would:

Allow states to enact existing marijuana laws without federal interference – Congressman Blumenauer supports legislation to allow states to enforce their laws without fear of interference by the federal government.
Tax and regulate marijuana – Considering the growing number of jurisdictions that have legalized medical marijuana and the two jurisdictions that have legalized recreational use, it is time that Congress removes the federal prohibition on marijuana. Congressman Blumenauer supports legislation to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and create a regulatory and taxation framework similar to what is in place for alcohol and tobacco.
Remove ban on industrial hemp – Congressman Blumenauer supports ending the ban on industrial hemp by removing industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. This would allow a new agricultural industry to begin to flourish in the United States.
Allow the marijuana industry to operate in a normal business environment – Federal banking regulations make it difficult for any marijuana business to obtain loans, open bank accounts, or take advantage of services offered to other businesses. Congressman Blumenauer supports immediately removing tax and banking barriers to allow legitimate businesses to operate in states that have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use.

James Buchal (R) Challenger

http://buchal.nationbuilder.com/ I am running for Congress because the federal government is out of control and threatening our freedom and prosperity. If civic-minded people can agree on nothing else, they ought to be able to agree that the federal government has made a mess out of most of the policy initiatives that extend beyond traditional constitutional powers, and that many of these policies ought to be set at the state level. We need a revolution in governmental structure, with radical decentralization, radical simplification, and increased accountability. Long-term incumbents like my opponent seem incapable of even understanding the structural problems they create by never pruning the tree of government.

I received my A.B. degree in physics from Harvard College in 1981, my J.D. from Yale Law School in 1985, and my M.B.A. from Yale School of Management also in 1985. I am a partner in the Portland, Oregon law firm of Murphy & Buchal LLP. Representing citizens in a wide variety of disputes with the government has given me a keen understanding of how to improve government.

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY Did you ever stop to wonder why we put a man on the moon forty-four years ago, and then somehow all progress slowed, and everyone else started catch up? We should have had American industries in space by now.

And we didn’t just wait for everyone else to catch up. Congress sat like a potted plant while the Clinton Administration let the Chinese steal the most important rocket and bomb technology, and the thefts continued under Bush. Did you ever stop to wonder what it means when we can’t even convict anyone when Chinese agents steal all of our top-secret advanced nuclear weapon design information? Obama recently objected to a law passed by Congress that says he must “submit a report to the Congress 60 days prior to sharing any U.S. classified ballistic missile defense information with Russia.” What are we doing sharing classified ballistic missile defense information with Russia at all? Especially when the Russians have violated and continue to violate every arms control treaty we have with them.

The Chinese are building a space arsenal that could cripple this country overnight, just like Red Dawn. They have the most active ICBM development program in the world, and are building advanced first strike missiles which we have no defense. Reagan tried to protect us thirty years ago with the Strategic Defense Initiative, but instead of reaching for the stars, we spent our defense money instead fighting war after war after war in the Mideast, trying to install one corrupt set of Muslim dictators instead of another, or building a vast, illegal surveillance empire. And, as the Secretary of Defense announced the day before 9/11, no one can even figure out where $2.3 trillion in defense spending went-the number is far higher now. So now we are almost broke and soon will have great problems defending ourselves.

Congress has failed entirely to manage the military, and to provide for the national defense. If Congress were trying to destroy national defense, and pursue national self-annihilation instead, one could scarcely imagine a better policy. Under the Constitution, only Congress can declare war, but the Members of Congress have abandoned this vital restraint on war making, to let the military-industrial complex start its own wars at will. Not until Obama proposed to start yet another war in Syria did anyone raise a fuss, and then it may well have been Russia that stopped Obama, not Congress. (I am proud that the Oregon Republican Party urged Congress to use its authority to prevent a Syrian attack.) As a member of Congress, I would fight to stop undeclared wars, and push to redirect defense spending back home, to restore our supremacy in space, and build a fortress America that is a beacon of liberty to the world, not a meddling and incompetent empire. We can build a bright future, or fall on the ash heap with the failed empires of history. It’s up to you. You know we can’t trust the leaders we have. What are you going to do about it?

IMMIGRATION Allowing millions of illegal aliens into the country depresses the wages of the poor and entry-level working class. It overwhelms demand for public services, also injuring our own citizens most in need of help. Open borders are a policy that benefits only the rich, whether it is corporations seeking cheap labor, or rich people seeking cheap nannies, gardeners, and house-keepers.

There is no moral imperative for open borders. American can serve as a model of freedom and enterprise for the world; it can never provide enough welfare for the world. As to the children, the idea that foreigners visiting here can create an American citizen by giving birth here is just dumb. No other nation does this, and no one ever voted to create this doctrine. It is again the product of elites serving the rich.

It is long past time to close the border, and with modern technology, that is a trivial task that only an utterly corrupt and incompetent federal government could fail to achieve. One big problem is that the federal government has been corrupted by, and is now in partnership with, Mexican drug gangs and other criminal elements that cannot profit if the border is closed. (See, for example, here, here and here.)

Once the border is closed, we need to separate the good illegal immigrants from the bad illegal immigrants-those who are making a net positive contribution to society from those who are not. Once again, the federal government has failed entirely here and needs to step out of the way. We need to repeal all of our immigration laws and start from scratch, with a program that will let states use the best means they can devise to make the cut between the good and the bad. Once upon a time, ethnic associations sponsored immigrants for which they were responsible, and turned them into contributors-ideas like this can stop draining our public resources dry, yet allow America to continue to be a land of opportunity.

It makes sense to offer the good illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, but not an easy one. Lots of law-abiding foreigners have been waiting in line for years, and they come first. The whole immigration bureaucracy, like most other federal bureaucracies, needs to be simplified and restarted from scratch. Citizenship must be earned, and our new immigrants need to meet standards of Americanization that are frankly higher than those held by many Americans. We can’t add more voters who believe there is nothing special about America, and our Constitution, or we are going to destroy the last hope of liberty in the world.

District 4
Peter DeFazio (D) Incumbent

http://www.defazioforcongress.org/ http://defazio.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Peter_Defazio.htm** Rated +1 by AAI, indicating a mixed Arab/Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

CLIMATE CHANGE The science is clear that global warming is happening and that it is caused by human activity. It is long past time for Congress to get serious about climate change, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and other fossil fuels, and to create jobs by creating a new energy economy.

Earlier this year scientists from Oregon State University joined with their colleagues from Harvard University and published a study in the journal Sciencethat provides new context to today’s climate and rising temperatures. The report reconstructs a temperature history for the last 11,300 years and concludes that rising temperatures over the last century have been greater than the temperature increases over the previous 100 centuries…combined.

Fighting Climate Change Deniers – Unfortunately, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives continues to pursue a policy of “do nothing and know nothing” on climate change. In fact, a significant number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives deny climate change is happening and remain adamant that reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) is not only unnecessary, but part of a grand conspiracy orchestrated by the federal government. These ideological positions, which do not represent the views of a majority of Americans or climate scientists, have made the current Congress a difficult environment for crafting a smart, 21st-Century American energy policy. As a member of the minority, DeFazio will continue to fight further attempts to weaken our nation’s most important environmental and public health laws – like the Clean Air Act – and to work with the Obama administration to support responsible and effective climate change policies.

ENVIRONMENT Voted against construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. Curbing Carbon Emissions – In 2008, greedy Wall Street bankers, hedge funds, and speculators nearly destroyed the U.S. economy by betting against the housing market and gambling with workers’ retirement savings. But instead of learning a lesson about the dangers of unregulated financial markets, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a “market based” approach to reduce GHG emissions called a cap-and-trade program in 2009.

In theory, cap-and-trade would set pollution limits (the “cap”) and distribute pollution allowances to industry that can be bought and sold in a market to meet emission targets (the “trade”). DeFazio voted against cap-and-trade arguing that creating a new, complex, speculative, multi-trillion dollar financial market for Wall Street – which has no interest in reducing pollution – was an unwise and potentially disastrous decision.

The Supreme Court already clarified that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to crack down on GHG pollution through the Clean Air Act. We have been doing this for decades with other air pollutants and everyone agrees it has been phenomenally successful. DeFazio believes if we truly want to cut carbon emissions, the Obama administration and Congress should implement predictable regulations. This approach is far superior to emulating the failed carbon trading scheme in Europe which is rife with manipulation, fraud, and marketplace boom and bust cycles.

FOREIGN POLICY

Afghanistan DeFazio has been an outspoken critic of the war in Afghanistan. He adamantly opposed the Obama escalation of the war and has repeatedly voted in Congress to bring a responsible end to the open-ended conflict. DeFazio called on both the Bush and Obama Administrations to provide a clear exit strategy and to move towards a less expensive, less troop intensive policy that could bring about more successful and strategic results. He continues to advocate for investing the $100 billion the U.S. spends in Afghanistan each year in America’s economy, infrastructure, and education system.

Iraq DeFazio has a long and consistent record opposing the war in Iraq. He voted against the original authorization for the war in October 2002 after rejecting the Bush Administration’s bogus arguments about weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda. DeFazio introduced legislation in February 2003 to repeal the congressional authorization of the Iraq war before it started and has repeatedly sponsored bills to mandate a safe and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops.

War Powers Resolution DeFazio is a recognized expert and a public watchdog on Congress’ constitutional prerogative to declare war. The War Powers Resolution was passed by Congress after the Vietnam War to check the power of the President in committing U.S. forces in armed conflict. Only Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war and as a co-equal branch of the federal government, DeFazio has insisted that Congress fulfill its constitutional responsibilities and obligations. Unfortunately, over the last several decades Congress has outsourced its war powers to the executive branch, giving administrations unchecked authority to unilaterally commit U.S. forces to armed conflict. After President Obama committed U.S. forces in Libya, DeFazio introduced legislation requiring the President to acquire Congressional authorization for any conflict lasting more than 60 days.

Iran DeFazio has serious concerns about Iran’s support for terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas, its drive to undermine U.S. interests in Iraq and the region, and its pursuit of developing nuclear weapons. DeFazio supports a policy of containment through active diplomacy, working with U.S. allies in Europe, and imposing severe multilateral economic sanctions on the Iranian regime.

Israel-Palestine Conflict The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an emotional and complicated dispute. Both sides passionately believe the actions of the other are illegal under international law and consider the lands under dispute to be their ancestral home. The conflict is further complicated by religious, political, and economic differences. DeFazio believes the United States has humanitarian, economic, and security interests to ensure a lasting peace is reached between Israel and Palestine. DeFazio believes this can only be accomplished through a two-state solution, which will require a much more assertive role by the U.S. in bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to the negotiating table.
Art Robinson (R) Challenger

Dr. Art Robinson is an internationally respected scientist and educator, successful businessman, skilled public speaker, and expert on energy, medicine and emergency preparedness. He worked on medical and defense issues during the Reagan administration and on energy issues during the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Art gathered the signatures of more than 31,000 American scientists on a petition urging the U.S. government not to take action on the scientifically invalid claim that human activities warm the earth. All six of the Robinson children are in science. Three hold doctoral degrees, with the other three now in graduate school. Robinson family curricula and books have won many awards, and are now used by more than 60,000 home-schooled children For the past 17 years, Art has authored the 37-year-old newsletter Access to Energy, which deals with scientific issues that are especially relevant to public affairs.

http://www.artforcongress.com/about

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE On Sunday March 21, 2010, Congress voted – with Peter DeFazio casting one of the four deciding votes – to end free enterprise medicine in the United States. This legislation put in place apparatus for a complete government takeover of medicine – placing all medical care under the power of government bureaucrats.

This law must be repealed! Medical care is available to everyone in the U.S., even those without insurance or ability to pay – through the charity of health providers and many private organizations. This remarkable achievement costs the American people 18% of their earnings – far more than its actual value due to governmental regulations and other actions. Government-controlled medicine will cost far more than free-enterprise medicine and deliver very inferior medical care, especially to older Americans, who need it most. American medical care, in spite of costly government impediments, is still the finest in the world Government control of medical care – control of who will be sick and who will be well – who will live and who will die – gives power to government that is incompatible with American freedom.

IMMIGRATION The U.S. borders are not secure and the problem of illegal immigration into the U.S. is not being effectively addressed, thus creating a situation wherein many millions of illegal immigrants have crossed our borders and reside in our country.

A country without secure borders will not long remain a country. It is absolutely essential to secure our borders and for Congress to appropriate all of the resources necessary to do this. Congress should also withhold funding from agencies and branches of the U.S. government, especially the Executive Branch, when they fail to do their part to secure the borders. When people are found to be in the United States illegally, they should be deported to their country of citizenship. This should be charitably and compassionately, but firmly done. For example, if an individual seeks treatment in a U.S. hospital and is found to be in the U.S. illegally, he should be given the medical treatment he requires (in accordance with our American medical tradition that no sick person is denied treatment) and then he should be sent home.

Exceptions to a strict policy of compassionate deportation are counterproductive because they encourage people to enter the U.S. illegally in hopes of being allowed to stay. There are, however, a very wide range of individual and regional circumstances which Congress must address, and each state’s right to control the use of its resources and institutions must be honored. Most illegal immigrants would prefer to come into the U.S. legally as citizens or legal visitors, but they must apply for legal entry from outside of the United States. Every person must eventually find himself either inside the U.S. or outside the U.S. entirely in accordance with the law.

ENERGY Americans can and must be energy independent – no longer buying fuel from unstable, expensive foreign sources. Inexpensive abundant energy can restore our jobs and economy and assure our prosperity. We have many energy-producing technologies – nuclear, oil, coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, wood, solar, wind and other methods. Energy resources are very abundant within the United States. Americans should be exporting energy, not importing it. Nuclear and hydroelectric electricity are inexpensive, clean, and safe. Spent nuclear fuel – so-called “nuclear waste” – is easily disposed of by nuclear fuel re-cycling, a method used in other countries but prohibited by misguided government policies in the U.S. Coal, oil, and natural gas are indispensable for many purposes. Solar and wind are expensive and resource-intensive, but useful in remote locations. The relative percentage of our energy that comes from these various sources is best determined by competition within the market place, not by politicians. Our government should neither favor nor disfavor any method of energy production, and no tax money should be used for this purpose.

Most of our energy industry was built before and during the 1970’s and 1980s, when government meddling was much less. Government has since prevented the installation of nuclear power stations – costing the American people more than $10 trillion in electricity that would otherwise have been generated – a loss, so far, of $100,000 per American household. Government impediments to the use of coal, oil and natural gas have cost additional trillions of dollars in lost energy. Energy development need not cost the American taxpayer a single cent. All that is needed is for Congress to pass laws that get the federal government out of the way! Congress should close the Department of Energy. This department was established for the purpose of making the U.S. energy independent. Not only has it failed at this task, it has actually increased our dependence on foreign energy sources and, through interference in our energy industries, cost Americans millions of jobs by driving our energy-intensive industries abroad. American energy independence can be restored in only one way – by the restoration of American liberty! Free, productive men and women built our country, the greatest achievement in human history. Our freedom has been taxed and regulated away by politicians, and our nation has therefore stumbled. We must remove these obstacles.

REGULATIONS Federal regulation has reached a level where it is definitely unconstitutional. Federal agencies have assumed powers over the American people that go far beyond anything justified in our Constitution or justifiable in a country based upon individual liberty. The U.S. Congress has the power to roll back this over-regulation and destruction of our liberty by bureaucrats in federal agencies because Congress controls the funding of these agencies. There is much discussion about the merits of lowering taxes vs. raising taxes. Conservatives point out that lowering taxes will help the economy. Others, while acknowledging this, contend that the federal budget cannot be balanced without raising taxes. Then both groups debate the role of “entitlements” and begin to discuss cuts in Social Security – a frightening prospect to 50 million senior citizens.

Yet, there is a major step that can be taken that should satisfy everyone and make great progress toward balancing the budget with no danger to Social Security. Lowering the regulatory tax – the terrible burden of complying with endless unnecessary regulations issued by government bureaucrats serves both purposes. This would help the economy by reducing business costs and simultaneously help balance the budget by eliminating the cost of paying millions of counterproductive bureaucrats. Reduction of federal government regulations to common sense levels would be the greatest effective tax cut in American history, and it would not cost the American taxpayers one cent. In fact, it would save hundreds of billions of federal tax dollars. Free people produce more than they consume and prosperity rises – as it did in the United States before we permitted government over-taxation and over-regulation to restrict our freedom. Americans, on average, now consume more than they produce as a result of governmental oppression, so American prosperity is falling. While taxation is a matter of heated debate, surely most people of common sense can agree on the issue of regulation. Why should we use our over-stretched tax dollars to pay an army of bureaucrats who are regulating away our liberty? Large cuts in the budgets of the regulatory agencies would do wonders for the American economy and for American freedom.

District 5
Kurt Schrader (D) Incumbent

http://www.kurtschrader.com/ http://schrader.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/kurt_schrader.htm** Rated +1 by AAI, indicating a mixed Arab/Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE As the Affordable Care Act is implemented, it is my priority to provide you with as much information as possible. Following that commitment, make sure to check back here as more information becomes available.

IMMIGRATION There needs to be a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Special pathways are needed for the children of immigrants, who were brought to the United States through no action of their own, and for migrant workers, who are integral to the operation of our agricultural economies. The pathway to citizenship should require a background check, followed by a probationary period where immigrants learn English, pay back taxes and work before getting in the line for full citizenship.

The pathway to citizenship should be built upon improvements to border control and the legal immigration system. We have already drastically reduced illegal border crossings with massive investments in border security in the last four years. Investments in technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance, a functional and mandatory employment verification system and better tracking of people entering and exiting the United States is also essential. Many immigrants have simply overstayed their visas. Additionally, the legal immigration system must be reformed to reflect our values and the needs of our modern economy. The visa system must admit innovative job creators and their families to the United States and also needs a better low-tech guest worker program, especially for agricultural workers. In doing so, we must ensure that the rights of all workers, both Americans and immigrants, are protected.

I am hopeful we can do this because the outline proposed by Senators from both parties includes all those essential elements and has the blessing of the President to move forward. My colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are also optimistic about the prospects of this outline becoming a solid legislative proposal. However, we do not yet have legislative language and there are voices of dissent.

ENERGY Voted against the Keystone Pipeline without limiting amendments. I have a strong, proven record as a supporter of renewable energy. The federal government needs to make a strong investment in renewable sources of fuel that have the capacity to create thousands of new jobs and move our nation towards energy independence. In Oregon, we are fortunate to have many options for alternate forms of energy. We can harness the wind, waves and sun to produce energy. We can grow alternative crops to reduce our carbon footprint and reliance on foreign oil. And we can promote sustainable farming and fishing practices. I also believe a strong investment in renewable energy is a key component of reversing global climate change. The key to curbing the effects of global warming is to significantly reduce our carbon emissions. I support significant increases in fuel efficiency standards and strong reduction requirements for carbon emissions.

Addressing climate change also includes better management of our federal forestry land. Right now, wildfires are wreaking havoc in our forests and releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. There is a need for responsible forest management, which includes thinning forests responsibly. In addition, I know far too well the challenges of earth friendly farming. Years ago, I ran an organic farming co-op back home. Despite the challenges we all face, the cost of inaction is far too great. By finding alternative energy sources, managing our forests, utilizing smart agriculture practices, taking care in our recycling practices and putting in place positive legislation, we can help to save our home.
Tootie Smith (R) Challenger

https://www.facebook.com/tootie.smith.12

Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/oregon-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=puball#ixzz35eCol3JY
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http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/hillarys-fantasy-about-hamas-technocrats-on-the-glazov-gang/

This week’s Glazov Gang was guest-hosted by Josh Brewster and joined by Michael Hausam, a writer at IJReview.com, Nonie Darwish, the author of The Devil We Don’t Know, and Ernie White, a civil rights activist.

The Gang gathered to discuss, Hillary’s Fantasy about Hamas’ “Technocrats. [starting at 22:40 mark] The guests also tackled The Nightmare on America’s Borders, Surrendering to ISIS in Iraq?, Benghazi ‘Suspect’ Captured, The IRS’s “Lost” E-mails, and much, much more.

Don’t miss it!

For most Westerners, Turkey is a hard nut to crack. How can you understand a state sponsor of terrorism that is also a member of NATO? How can you explain Turkey’s facilitation of Kurdish independence in Iraq in light of Turkey’s hundred-year opposition to Kurdish independence? What is Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan trying to accomplish here? Is he nuts? On the terrorism support front, today Turkey vies with Iran for the title of leading state sponsor of terrorism.

First there is Hamas.

Last week an Israeli security official told the media that the abduction of Naftali Frankel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah was organized and directed by Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas commander operating out of Turkey.

Turkey has welcomed Hamas to its territory and served as its chief booster to the West since the jihadist terror group won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. Erdogan has played a key role in getting the EU to view Hamas as a legitimate actor, despite its avowedly genocidal goals.

Then there is al-Qaida. As Daniel Pipes documented in The Washington Times last week, Turkey has been the largest supporter and enabler of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

Erdogan’s government has allowed ISIS fighters to train in Turkey and cross the border between Turkey and Syria at will to participate in the fighting. Moreover, according to Pipes, Turkey “provided the bulk of ISIS’s funds, logistics, training and arms.”

Similarly, Turkey has sponsored the al-Nusra Front, ISIS’s al-Qaida counterpart and ally in Syria.

The Assad regime is not the Turkish- sponsored al-Qaida-aligned forces’ only target in Syria. They have also been engaged in heavy fighting against Rojava, the emerging Kurdish state in northwest Syria. Yet the same Turkey that is sponsoring al-Qaida’s assault on Syrian Kurdistan is facilitating the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In breach of Iraqi law that requires the Kurds to sell their oil through the central government and share oil revenues with the central government, earlier this month Turkey signed a 50-year deal allowing the Kurds to export oil to the world market through a Turkish pipeline. The Kurds are currently pumping around 120,000 barrels of oil a day to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Top Turkish officials have in recent weeks come out openly in support for Iraqi Kurdish independence from Baghdad.

Following ISIS’s takeover of Mosul, Huseyin Celik, the spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling AKP party told the Kurdish Rudaw news service, “It has become clear for us that Iraq has practically become divided into three parts.”

The unfolding collapse of Iraq’s government before the legions of al Qaeda jihadists is the capstone of Barack Obama’s incompetent and politicized foreign policy. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), armed with plundered American weapons and flush with stolen money, is consolidating a Sunni terrorist state in eastern Syria and northern Iraq, replete with mass executions, sharia law, and the beheading of violators. With revered Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani calling the Shia faithful to arms, a vicious civil war between Shia and Sunnis will likely intensify in the coming days. But whoever wins, the fallout for our security will be disastrous – a Shiite “crescent” from Aleppo to Mosul allied with Iran, which looks ever more likely to be nuclear armed, and a safe haven for terrorist training camps to prepare “martyrs” for attacks against the West. And our allies Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel all will to various degrees find their own security and interests impacted by this administration’s criminal foreign policy negligence.

Obama deserves the lion’s share of the blame for many reasons. Most important is his failure to secure a status of forces agreement that would have left in Iraq sufficient American firepower to deter both Prime Minister Maliki from indulging his autocratic tendencies and abusing his power to subjugate the rival Sunnis, and the ISIS from attempting to expand its territorial reach through sectarian violence and mayhem. This catastrophic error was the result of Obama’s political narrative that he ended George Bush’s “bad” war in Iraq and brought all of our troops home, a potent campaign slogan in the 2012 presidential election. That sacrifice of America’s security and interests, and betrayal of the soldiers killed and maimed during the Iraq war – just to gratify political necessity and an ideological disbelief in the goodness of American power – will join Congress’s abandonment of Vietnam in 1973 on the roll of American foreign policy dishonor and disaster. Yet there are larger lessons from the debacle in Iraq that transcend one administration’s incompetence.

Democracy’s Foreign Policy Weaknesses

Political freedom depends on the accountability of politicians to the voters whose interests they must serve. Yet as democracy’s critics starting in ancient Athens have pointed out, electoral accountability to the conflicting interests of citizens and factions makes foreign policy difficult. “The structures and habits of democratic states,” Churchill wrote after World War II, “lack those elements of persistence and conviction which can alone give security to the humble masses.” Foreign policy often requires long-range planning and steadfastness that are compromised by two-year election cycles and the eagerness of self-interested partisan politicians to respond to the short-term interests, impatience, anger, or indifference of the citizens. The hardships of war – the loss of life, the expense, the inevitable blunders and unforeseen consequences, and the necessary brutality that define armed conflict –especially try the patience of citizens and politicians to whom military professionals are accountable. Yet giving in to such impatience can be dangerous in the long run. As Tocqueville wrote, “The people are more apt to feel than to reason; and if their present sufferings are great, it is to be feared that the still greater sufferings attendant upon defeat will be forgotten.”