Rense's Reflections. . .
by Rense Johnson, Chairman
Citizens for Term Limits

Rush Limbaugh States his Conservative Philosophy --Hard to improve on October 17, 2005  Opinion Journal ---  WSJ on line

I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy.   Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals. We are confident in our principles and energetic about openly advancing them. We believe in individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security. We support school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights and the war on terrorism. And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation--the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.

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On Fox News Sunday June 5, there was a discussion of the two political parties, and how they can play to their respective bases. It would seem that if President Bush were getting any kind of worthwhile political advice at all, he would embrace his term limitation base, seventy-five percent strong, with a call for a constitutional amendment limiting congressional terms. Seventy-five percent strong. This could possibly even raise his approval rating a few points.

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You saw it here first, folks. Help for Enron may be on the way. A news item tells us that members of Congress have been scurrying to give back all campaign contributions received in the past from Enron. Rumor has it that this avalanche of cash may be sufficient to bail the company out of its problems. A happy ending?

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Outrage of the week: "As if the attacks on the Salvation Army by homosexuals and their pink, red, lavender, and rainbow fellow travelers weren't enough...! Now Wal-Mart stores are being impressed into restricting the red kettles, as a result of a National Labor Relations Board ruling ordering retailers nationwide to provide the same access to all groups – including labor unions -- if even one organization solicits on their property. Salvation Army bell ringers outside Wal-Marts will be limited to no more than 14 days at each store, no more than three days in a row, and kept outside and 15 feet away from store entrances. (The United Food and Commercial Workers union has been attempting to unionize Wal-Mart workers.) We now know where the Grinch works off-season!" — The Federalist 12-14-01

"The White House proposed combining the Immigration and Naturalization Service with the Customs Service. What a great idea. Picture an organization with the efficiency of the Post Office and the courtesy of the IRS, all at Pentagon prices. " — Comedian Argus Hamilton

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A great idea from NEWSMAX.COM'S Neal Boortz — and his listener…

A Three-Strikes Law for Congressmen

A listener, Mark Wilson, sent me this gem. What a tremendous idea! Here, I'll just let you read his e-mail to me.

Whenever a bill is found to be unconstitutional, every senator or representative who voted for the bill gets a strike against them. When a total of three strikes is accumulated, that senator or representative is kicked out of office, immediately, no appeal. The strike count is cumulative over a career. This means that strikes accumulated while a representative, still count even if the person moves up to the senate ... or even to the presidency."

What a tremendous idea! Wouldn't you like to hear some elected official trying to explain to us just why he couldn't support this bill? Please, Senator, explain to us just why you should be allowed to continue ignoring our Constitution and remain in office! [Especially those who continually nix Constitution-minded judicial nominees] — www.newsmax.com

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"None of us knew about the secret government. Not knowing things as basic as that is a pretty profound illustration of the chasm that exists sometimes [between Congress and the Bush administration] with information." —Senate Demo Leader Tom Daschle

But Secret Service agents now confirm that Sen. Daschle was among those spirited away to safety on 9-11 — to one of those "secret government" locations! What, he's forgotten already, or was he so scared he lost his memory? — The Federalist 3-8-02

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"Parents who spend $30,000 or more a year to provide their offspring a prestigious education at an Ivy League school are almost certain to be buying their sons and daughters a first-class indoctrination into radical left-wing ideology — from which they may never recover. It is not exactly news to find that many of the professors at schools such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton don't think like most mainstream Americans, and make no effort to disguise their contempt for Western culture, religious faith, patriotism and capitalism. They fuzzily believe that Communism or something like it should probably be given another chance."
—Linda Bowles, quoted in The Federalist

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Shrink the Government

"The larger point is our Senators and government in general wish to have continued enlarged authority over our lives; organizations respond in kind with money. When the federal government has a large impact on your personal and financial life, one is bound to place more to influence it. A smaller government means less reason to be influenced. I'm sure such arguments are lost on purists who wish a government all the power with none of the responsibility of having to answer to those it represents." — Dave Haraske, Middleton, MA

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In my view, picking judges should be about finding the right person for the job, someone who respects the Constitution, instead of distorting the record of good people for political purposes. I am afraid that is what is happening to Judge Pickering.

Those in Washington and New York who criticize Judge Pickering are the same people who have always looked down on Mississippi and its people, and have done very little for our state's residents. I urge the Senate to confirm Judge Pickering. — James Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who now manages a radio station in Jackson, Miss.

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"President Kennedy and President Reagan understood that the best way to put more money in people's wallets is to leave it there in the first place. After all, when you can keep most of what you earn, you have more incentive to be productive and earn more. As your income grows, you spend and save more. And that fuels economic growth. But the long-term logic of this seems to escape most liberals." —Edwin Feulner, quoted in the Federalist

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Some people are tired of hearing the firemen praised, and they have a brother-in-law who's a fireman who's a worthless oaf who can't even pick up his shorts. The other day an Internet executive told me this. I said: "Believe me, as soon as 343 Internet executives rush into a burning building and die so that strangers can live, I'm gonna drop the firemen like a rock and celebrate executives." — Peggy Noonan, in WSJ's Opinion Journal

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Cathy Keating threw in the towel in her race for Oklahoma's First congressional seat three days after a poor finish in the primary, without fighting it out the rest of the way. Mrs. Keating had signed and returned our pledge "America's Contract for a Citizen Congress," but was either ignorant of what it meant or didn't care. We offered her suggestions on how to campaign using term limitation as a weapon before the primary, which she never acknowledged. With state-wide and district-wide name recognition she let her opponent creep up on her from initial single-digit numbers, until he out-polled her in the primary with 46% in a five-way race, against Mrs. Keating's 30%.. News media indicated she had outspent her opponent five-to-one in an incredibly poor campaign. After the primary we e-mailed her and telephoned her to tell her what we thought should be done to pick herself up off the canvas. Neither the e-mail nor the phone call were acknowledged or answered. Bad manners apparently go hand-in-hand with bad politics.

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"President Bush named the Justice Department headquarters after Robert F. Kennedy. Then he went around the corner and named a strip club after Ted." — Jay Leno, quoted in Human Events.

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"Since the 1960s, anti-Americanism has flourished on college campuses, in Hollywood and among the chattering class. Anti-Americanism is the conviction that our history is one long chronicle of crimes against humanity — slavery, segregation, dispossession of the Indians, exploitation of labor and suppression of dissent. It is blind to America's greatness — to our unparalleled contributions to the advancement of human liberty, the development of representative government and the march of progress. Anti-Americanism invariably attributes sinister motives to our government. It assumes that in any international conflict, America is always wrong. It views Berchtesgaden and the Reagan White House, Saddam Hussein and the elder George Bush, Al Qaeda and the CIA as moral equivalents. Anti-Americanism sneers at our heritage. It perceives patriotism as the province of demagogues and dupes. It thinks the pledge of allegiance is passe and the national anthem militaristic. Anti-Americanism exalts hyphens and disparages unity. It holds that those who live here have no obligation to learn our language and history, celebrate America's achievements or support its sovereignty. All of this is a far cry from legitimate disagreements over policy." — Don Feder Quoted in "The Federalist,"

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"These nit-pickers need to find another nit to pick. They need to stop protecting the rights of terrorists. This is about national security. This is about life and death." Zell Miller, the Georgia Democrat, who has been the sharpest critic of his own colleagues in their attempted pillory of Attorney General John Ashcroft by attacking the military tribunals invoked by President Bush. (Quoted in WSJ's Opinion Journal.)

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A U. S. service man in Afghanistan was recently quoted as saying "It is only for God to decide whether or not Osama bin Ladin should be forgiven. Our job is to arrange a face-to-face meeting… as soon as possible."

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Melissa Drexler (AKA "the Prom Mom"), convicted of manslaughter in 1998 after giving birth to and strangling to death her 6.5-pound son, is out of jail after serving only three years of her 15-year sentence. But then, if lives aren't worth defending with adequate firearms, lives aren't worth defending in court either.... "The Federalist" 11-30-01

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When a politician accuses his opponent of doing something unpleasant, it often means he is either doing or preparing to do that very thing himself. Likewise, these guys can get carried away and pervert word meanings, hoping these perversions will stick with some folks. Recently as I was watching C-SPAN broadcasting live the proceedings of the U. S. Senate I saw something I would not have believed had I not seen and heard it with my own eyes and ears. There, holding the microphone and the floor was the all-time champion of pork barrel spending, the man who moved a huge part of the federal government to his home state of West Virginia, Robert Byrd, Mr. Pork himself, proclaiming for all to hear that tax cuts are in fact pork!

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The only person who may have been relieved by events of Infamy Day 2001 was Gary Condit, the serial adulterer whose relationship with the missing Chandra Levy has made him suspect in the eyes of many, and whose TV interviews made him anathema to the Democrats. Chandra's parents, agonizing over their daughter's disappearance, had only their periodic reminders of the situation to jog the press and hold to the fire the feet of the District of Columbia police and the FBI. Now that everything has changed, for them nothing has changed. Who can blame them if they conclude that no one cares? And now we learn that Condit is contemplating a run for reelection. It is an affront to his constituents and the American people, not to mention the Levy family.

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