AUL - Tell Your Senators to Protect Americans' Freedom of Conscience

This is a call for action: last Friday, the Obama Administration continued its unprecedented attack on Americans’ freedom of conscience by refusing to reverse its mandate that nearly all insurance plans must provide full coverage of all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved “contraception,” including the abortion-inducing drug ella.  We must urge the Senate to protect Americans’ freedom of conscience by supporting the Blunt Amendment to protect the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in healthcare coverage that is consistent with one’s religious beliefs and moral convictions. Follow this link to contact your Senators and urge them to vote for the Blunt Amendment.  Tell them that passage of this Amendment is essential to preserve the freedom of conscience that forms the bedrock of American liberty. The 111th Congress’ passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in March 2010 marks the first time that the federal government determined to impose specific coverage and care requirements on those who provide, purchase, or enroll in healthcare insurance.  The recent regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) mandating that nearly all insurance plans provide full coverage of all FDA-approved “contraception”—which includes life-ending drugs and devices, such as the abortion-inducing drug ella—further underscores the Administration’s unwavering resolve to undermine our freedom of conscience.  The HHS mandate compels Americans to choose a plan that covers services—as well as life-ending drugs and devices—that are contrary to our consciences, and forces healthcare insurance providers to furnish such plans regardless of the providers’ religious beliefs or moral convictions.  Contact your Senators now and urge them to vote for the Blunt Amendment to safeguard Americans' freedom of conscience. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of civil authority.”  Thank you for standing with us for life and freedom at this critical time in history.

AUL Action is the legislative action arm of Americans United for Life.
As 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, AULA is able to take immediate and direct action in response to proposed legislation. However, contributions to AULA are not tax-deductible for Federal income tax purposes.

CEI Today: Barriers to jobs, economic growth, foreign bribes, Obama contraception mandate and more

Wednesday, February 15, 2012
In the News Today

Media Contacts: Christine Hall 202.331.2258 Nicole Ciandella 202.331.2773 CEI Experts by Issue Advancing Capitalism Constitutional and Legal Issues Energy and Environment Finance and Entrepreneurship Health and Safety Labor Nanny State Regulatory Reform Tech and Telecom Trade and International Transportation   Also featuring... CEI IN THE NEWS THE "FRED WEEKLY" February 10, 2012: Fred at CPAC! Panel discussion of EPA over-regulation with Myron Ebell and Marlo Lewis

JOBS & THE ECONOMY - JOHN BERLAU Today's Testimony Before House Subcommittee With unemployment still stubbornly high and the economy still in tenuous shape, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade is seeking answers to those problems, launching the first in its series of hearings entitled, “Where the Jobs Are.”  Wednesday's hearing features John Berlau, Director of CEI's Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs. "Of all the regulations out there facing entrepreneurs, among the most important are those affecting access to capital," Berlau explains in written testimony submitted to the subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Berlau notes recent research showing that firms less than five years old are responsible for nearly all net job growth. Yet these are the very firms hit by crushing regulations that make it very difficult to raise capital by going public. > Read the full testimony by John Berlau   > Interview John Berlau FOREIGN BRIBES VS.DOMESTIC INFLUENCE PEDDLING - BILL FREZZA Forbes.com:Making Sure Corruption Remains "Made In America" If the U.S. government really wants to use its influence to get the world of global business to operate on a level playing field, instead of terrorizing American corporations for doing in Rome as do the Romans, perhaps it should run training sessions for foreign governments on how to construct a legalized system of influence peddling as subtle and backhanded as the one we have here. I sat in on such a training session in the winter of 2008 run by the venerable K&L Gates LLP, the nation’s ninth largest law firm, which boasts on its website of its ability to “seamlessly integrate lobbying and regulatory implementation.”  > Read the commentary on Forbes.com > Interview Bill Frezza   OBAMA CONTRACEPTION MANDATE - HANS BADER Openmarket.org:Misconceptions about the Obama Administration’s Contraception Mandate for Religious Employers There are a number of misconceptions about the Obama administration’s recent rule requiring employers’ health insurance policies (including those of religious schools and hospitals) to cover contraceptives and certain abortifacients. First, as a commentator notes, it’s not true that states in general already require such coverage. Second, it’s just not true that the Obama administration’s rule must be legal because it is supposedly modeled on state insurance rules in states like California. Under basic principles of federalism, there are things that states can require, but the federal government, which has only enumerated powers, cannot. > Read the full commentary on Openmarket.org > Interview Hans Bader CEI COMMENTARY ROUND-UP The Hidden Cost of Fuel Economy Regulations: Constitutional Vitiation Strange Bedfellows Coalition Urges Congress To Drop Drilling for Roads The Problems with the STOCK Act Maryland Weighs Discriminatory College Child Support Mandate Openmarket.org      Globalwarming.org Ten Thousand Commandments By Wayne Crews Welcome to The Other National Debt -- The Cost of Regulation -> Read Today's Decrees CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government.  For more information about CEI, please visit our website, cei.org, and blogs, Globalwarming.org and OpenMarket.org.  Follow CEI on Twitter! Twitter.com/ceidotorg.

New on 10KBet.com: More Evidence Romney Touted His Massachusetts Plan as Model in 2007

Manchester - Today, the Huntsman campaign unearthed press releases from Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign that further demonstrate that he would have lost the $10,000 bet he offered to Rick Perry during Saturday night's ABC News debate in Iowa.

The press releases titled "A History of Conservative Health Care Reform" and "Romney Vision" tout his Massachusetts health care plan's "personal responsibility principle" (read: mandate) and highlighted the plan as a "national model that would dramatically expand access to health care."

See both press releases at www.10KBet.com HERE and HERE.

"It is clear that Mitt Romney once touted Romneycare as a 'national model' before he changed his mind and his book. Governor Huntsman signed a free market health care reform plan in Utah that was the opposite from the top heavy, mandated approach that President Obama and Governor Romney took," Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller said. 

Democrats Do Backflips Over Romney’s 10K Bet

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/democrats-do-backflips-over-romneys-10k-bet.php

 

Democrats Do Backflips Over Romney’s 10K Bet

Mitt

Benjy SarlinDecember 10, 2011, 11:35 PM5400

Democrats could barely contain their glee after Mitt Romney proposed a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry over his health care position.

“He’s going to own that $10,000 bet line,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse said on Twitter. “Nothing else he has said in this debate matters.”

Before the debate ended, the DNC was out with an e-mail to reporters trying to put the $10,000 number into perspective, noting it was more than the average in-state tuition at a public university, for example.

But it was Twitter where things really took off. Woodhouse and other DNC officials began tweeting a #What10kbuys hashtag to amplify their message, with items like a year of daycare for the average family. Within less than a half hour of the debate’s end, it was one of the top trending topics not just in Iowa, or in the United States, but around the world, according to Twitter.

“I’ll bet you ten thousand beers Mitt lives to regret that $10K bet line,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala tweeted.

The episode recalled Romney’s “corporations are people” moment at an Iowa event, which Democrats pounced on in similar fashion. Romney responded to that episode, which many observers interpreted as a gaffe at the time, by doubling down on the line and using it again on the trail and in his official economic plan.

It appears they’re taking a similar tack this time as well. Romney spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, for his part, told TPM that he thought the line went over just fine, describing it as a “good moment” for the former Massachusetts governor.

“It made Perry look weak,” he said, adding that Romney made the wager “because he knew Perry wouldn’t take it.”

Evan McMorris-Santoro contributed to this post.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/11/us-usa-campaign-romney-idUSTRE7B825X20111211?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=60468

Romney's $10,000 bet falls flat in Iowa debate

By Sam Youngman

DES MOINES | Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:58pm EST

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney put his money where his mouth was on Saturday in a quip at a presidential debate that may have backfired.

Romney, a multi-millionaire and a frontrunner for the Republican nomination, offered a $10,000 bet to opponent Texas Gov. Rick Perry in an argument over what Romney wrote about healthcare in his book "No Apologies."

Former Massachusetts governor Romney tried to bet that he had not supported implementing an individual healthcare mandate, mistrusted by conservatives.

"Rick, I'll tell you what: 10,000 bucks?," Romney said. Perry, like many of those assembled at Iowa's Drake University for the debate, seemed surprised by the offer.

"I'm not in the betting business, but I'll show you the book," Perry said.

The bet line could potentially hurt Romney, who has suffered in the polls in recent weeks as former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich has risen in the polls. Romney's wealth has long been a point of attack from Democrats who say the former head of Bain Capital is out of touch.

Bill Burton, spokesman for PrioritiesUSA, an outside group supporting President Barack Obama's re-election, said the attempted wager is another sign that in an economy with 8.6 percent unemployment, Romney "could not be more out of step."

Burton, a former Obama administration official, pointed to other statements Romney has made joking about being unemployed and calling corporations people.

"It is predictable that Mitt Romney will slip up and let folks in on who he is from time-to-time," Burton said in an email. "Corporations are people, joking about being unemployed and now this. Mitt Romney has no clue what pain the American middle class is feeling right now."

Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney adviser, said the campaign was not concerned the comment might make its candidate appear out of touch.

"Not at all," Fehrnstrom said in an email to Reuters. "Mitt Romney knew that Rick Perry wouldn't take the bet because it's a phony attack. By backing down, Perry looked weak."

Rival Republican Jon Huntsman's campaign seized on Romney's remark, promising in an email that the website 10KBet.com was on its way.

"While Jon Huntsman signed free-market health care without a mandate, Mitt Romney was arguing that his government-run, mandate approach should be a model for the nation," Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller said.

"I guess he owes Rick Perry $10,000."

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http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2011/12/romney-foes-will-take-that-bet-106789.html

Romney foes will take that bet

By ALEXANDER BURNS | 

12/10/11 10:40 PM EST

The line of the debate, as far as Democrats are concerned, is evidently Mitt Romney’s offer of a $10,000 bet to Rick Perry. The DNC has already blasted out an email titled: “Here’s What the Average American Family Can Buy with $10,000.” And a senior Democratic Party strategist emails to exult in Romney’s rich-guy moment:

Mitt Romney is going to rue the day he offered a $10,000 bet in this debate.  Talk about a window in to his out-of-touch soul.  And he did it in the same debate where he again called the payroll tax cut for the middle class a temporary band-aid.  You just can’t be more out of touch than Mitt Romney – and you can’t have a less understanding of what it’s like to be middle class.

The Huntsman campaign, as it happens, has also pounced on the comment and announced in an email that it purchased the URL www.10KBet.com

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http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/debates/#sha=95dd3ceec

D.N.C. Attacks Romney Bet

What will everyone remember from the debate tonight?

Even before it was over, the Democratic National Committee sought to make sure that voters don't forget Mitt Romney's spontaneous offer to bet Rick Perry $10,000 on a dispute about what Mr. Romney had written in his book.

"Here's What the Average American Family Can Buy with $10,000," the D.N.C. said in an e-mail to reporters.

The email noted that $10,000 is more than four month's pay for most people in America, where the median income was $26,197 in 2010.

For Mr. Romney, the moment reinforces the problem he has had connecting with average people. (Mr. Romney is a multi-millionaire whose net worth is estimated at about $200 million.)

The moment recalled another earlier in the year, when Mr. Romney went looking in his wallet for a $1 bill for a boy who had donated a dollar folded into origami. The candidate at first only found a $100 bill and then dug deeper to find a $5 bill.

The particulars of the dispute with Mr. Perry tonight may not matter as much as the fact that he was so quick to bet such a large amount.

The D.N.C., at least, will be trying to make sure that's what everyone remembers.

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http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/mitt-romneys-10000-bet-blows-up-twitter.php?ref=fpb

MItt Romney’s $10,000 Bet Blows Up Twitter

BENJY SARLIN DECEMBER 10, 2011, 10:00 AM 

Pundits and strategists on the left and right alike were united in their reaction to Mitt Romney’s $10,000 mid-debate bet with Rick Perry: expect to see it many, many, many more times if Romney wins the nomination.

“If Mitt is the nominee, we’ll see that ten-thousand dollar bet offer about ten thousand more times,” Josh Trevino of the Public Policy Foundation in Texas, which is close to Perry, tweeted. 

“Do you think Romney is carrying $10,000 with him right now? #whatsinyourwallet,” Democratic strategist Bill Burton tweeted.

“I’m doing an endzone dance on it,” tweeted Democratic strategist Matt Ortega.

The consensus seemed to be that Romney had given Democrats a big fat peg for yet another round of attacks on the candidate’s vast fortune.

You can already feel the $10k bet backfiring—will be one of the replayed moments from the debate,” The National Review’s Rich Lowry tweeted.

“How does Romney challenging Perry to a $10,000 bet fit into strategy of being champion of the middle class?” tweeted the Washington Examiner’s Phillip Klein.

“Not too many Iowa caucusgoers are the sort to offer a $10,000 bet, even on a sure thing,”tweeted Des Moines Register columnist Kathie Obradovich.

Watch the video of the moment:

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http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-bet-20111210,0,2009778.story?track=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=56325

Mitt Romney's $10,000 bet could come back to haunt him

By James Oliphant

December 10, 2011, 7:26 p.m.

Mitt Romney, the millionaire who has tried again and again to try to show voters that he’s just another everyday Joe, may have given his GOP rivals and President Obama a gold-plated gift in Saturday’s debate in Iowa.

While sparring with Rick Perry over healthcare at the debate in Des Moines, Romney challenged Perry to a wager. The stakes? A cool 10 grand.

That’s not exactly your typical bar bet.

Perry had accused Romney of altering a paperback version of his book to delete a line that had Romney wanting to make his Massachusetts healthcare plan a model for the rest of the nation, suggesting that Romney is a champion of an individual mandate to force people to purchase health insurance.

Romney said that wasn’t true.

“I'll tell you what. 10,000 bucks? Ten-thousand-dollar bet?” Romney said.

“I’m not in the betting business,” Perry replied.

Romney, who likes to talk about his work creating jobs as a venture capitalist in the private sector, is estimated to be worth between $190 million and $250 million.

Should he go on to win the Republican nomination, the clip from Saturday's debate may be replayed again and again in Democratic attack ads.

The reaction of former Obama White House aide Bill Burton to Romney's bet was typical. Burton now runs a Democratic "super PAC."

 "Not a lot of 99%'ers are out there making $10,000 bets," Burton wrote on Twitter.

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ALG Praises 11th Circuit for Striking Down ObamaCare Individual Mandate

August 12^th, 2011, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today praised the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals for striking down ObamaCare's individual mandate:

"This is just one more confirmation that ObamaCare's individual mandate does not pass constitutional muster.  We are disappointed that the court chose to reverse Judge Vinson's ruling declaring the entire law null and void.  The Democrat-controlled Congress of 2010 would have never implemented ObamaCare without the inclusion of the individual mandate.  It is more important than ever that the Supreme Court resolve this issue by affirming Vinson's original decision that the individual mandate is both unconstitutional and cannot be severed from the rest of the law."