ObamaCare Versus Individual Freedom
President Obama’s new mandate requiring all employers to purchase insurance coverage for their employees that includes abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception is an outrage, of course.

But what kind of outrage is it? Most of the public outcry has understandably centered around the mandate’s assault on religious liberty.

The mandate forces every businessman or non-profit executive with religious objections to these products to buy them anyway, or pay a fine.

The mandate is unconstitutional, for its violation of the First Amendment’s “free exercise” clause. It is also illegal, for its violation of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Some of the outrage has been rightly directed specifically at the president, as both the mandate and the underlying law, ObamaCare, are his doing.

Indeed, many pro-life citizens and members of Congress only supported ObamaCare’s passage because the president assured them that conscience rights would be protected. Thus the mandate is also a personal betrayal.

And some of the outrage is more practical. The Obama administration’s mathematically impossible assertion that abortion drugs, sterilization and contraception will somehow now simply be “free,” and thus not paid for by morally opposed insurance customers, suggests the president believes in magic.

All of these affronts to the rights and intelligence of the American people are enough to warrant the criticism the new mandate has invited.

The violation of conscience rights is simultaneously unconstitutional, illegal, and ridiculous – any one of which are sufficient grounds for its immediate rescission.

Yet, it is still not our true cause of concern. Ultimately, the character and ideology of the president, and the particular constitutional provisions being trampled by this one mandate are incidental, compared to the manifest threat to freedom intrinsic to ObamaCare itself.

The problem is not how the federal government is abusing its new power in this instance, but that the government – indeed, a single person – suddenly wields this power at all.

From SC Citizens for Life: COLUMBIA, S.C. – Your calls to our 46 state senators to stop South Carolina tax funding for abortion in ObamaCare have been extremely effective. By a slam-dunk vote of 32-9, the S.C. Senate voted today (Tuesday, February 21), to set S. 102 for special order. Special order overrides the pro-abortion senators seeking to block the bill from being debated and voted on.

Bill sponsor Senator Larry Grooms, R-Berkley, expressed his gratitude for our calls and said, “Without outside intervention this bill would never have been set for debate.” Senator Groom calls the bill a “firewall against the overreach of ObamaCare.”The next step, he said, is to assure that the bill receives a favorable vote so that it can be sent to the S.C. House. The House last year passed similar language opting South Carolina out of paying for abortions in ObamaCare, the so-called Affordable Care Act.

Predictably, the vote was strongly along party lines with six Democrats voting with the Republicans to set special order. To see how your Senator voted, click here. Five senators did not vote.

S.102 is not difficult to understand. When the U.S. Congress passed ObamaCare – the so-called Affordable Care Act – it created the opportunity for individual states to “opt out” or refuse to pay for abortions. In order for a state to opt out of paying for abortions, the state legislature must pass an opt out law. That is what S.102 does. It stops tax funding for most abortions once ObamaCare is in place by 2014.

Please feel welcome to call and thank your senator if he voted to set special order for S. 102 or, if he didn’t, to call and express your disappointment.

Senator Grooms said debate on S.102 could be as early as next week and we will need you to call your senators again once debate begins.

Please distribute this e-mail widely. E-mail the SCCL office as sccl@sclife.org if you have any problem reaching your senator’s office.

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I personally agree with many of the positions submitted by the SC Policy Council, and we got some, but not all. The Department of Administration bill now goes back to the SC House for either amendments, non-concur with the Senate (sending it to conference committee), or concur (sending it to Gov. Haley’s desk). My guess would be for the House to further amend the bill, hopefully, in a positive direction.

Yesterday the Senate passed what many are calling the most significant restructuring plan this state has seen in decades. By a vote of 44-0, the South Carolina Senate passed H.3066 – a bill creating a Department of Administration and dissolving the anomaly that was the state Budget and Control Board.
Unfortunately – and despite all the claims of victory from elected officials – very little has changed. So, what happened?
Earlier this month, senators adopted a comprehensive amendment full of diffused accountability and legislative power grabs. Subsequently, scores of amendments were introduced – some of which would have improved the legislation, but some that would have made things worse.
SCPC analyzed the original amendment and concluded it did little more than maintain the status quo. Citizens made it clear they didn’t want half-measures, and several amendments were introduced that would have implemented SCPC’s recommendations to fully divide power and bring real reform to South Carolina’s government. However, the President Pro Tempore raised a point of order on these amendments that had not been raised on two previous amendments violating the same rule the real reform amendments were said to be violating. Those amendments passed and still stand in the legislation today.
Ultimately, lawmakers chose not to restore power to the citizens of South Carolina, but to diffuse accountability, shuffle a few agencies around, and preserve – or expand – their power. Here’s what months of debate and legislative decision-making delivered in place of real reform. read on

s.1154 congratulates the champions that broke a 7 year streak by Lexington, and set a state record with a score of 597. Congratulations!

A SENATE RESOLUTION

TO RECOGNIZE THE WREN HIGH SCHOOL “LADY HURRICANES” GOLF TEAM UPON WINNING THE 2011 CLASS AAAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE.

Whereas, mentally tough and physically ready for the challenge, the Wren High School “Lady Hurricanes” golf team capped off an excellent season setting a state girls golf record for a two-day total of 597 and won the 2011 Class AAAA State Championship title; and

Whereas, the excitement of these young ladies could be heard throughout the golf course at Brookstone Meadows as they blew away the runner up by thirty-three strokes; and

Whereas, this championship was the first for golf at Wren High School and only the fifth state championship in school history; and

Whereas, under the leadership of Coach Bobby Tripp, the team’s demonstration of heart, desire, hard work, perseverance, and talent showed opposing teams and spectators why the “Lady Hurricanes” are the “Number One” team in the State; and

Whereas, the Senate takes great pleasure in recognizing Morgan Kallio, Makalyn Poole, Cayla Smith, Maegan Higgins, Kaitlin Matheson, Amanda Phillips, Ashley Rogers, and Elliott Mills for their excellence in the classroom and on the golf course. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, recognize and congratulate the Wren High School “Lady Hurricanes” golf team, of Anderson County, on its outstanding season and impressive win of the 2011 Class AAAA State Championship title.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Principal G. Robert Binnicker and Coach Bobby Tripp of Wren High School.