President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on behalf of honoring the Constitution’s trial rights for suspected terrorists, and a restoration of protecting individual rights under the U.S. Constitution. But Obama hasn’t merely continued the Bush policy of detaining terror suspects without trial, he’s put many suspected law-breakers — including “dozens” of U.S. citizens — on assassination lists. “To me, terrorists should not be able to hide behind their passports and their citizenship, and that includes U.S. citizens, whether they are overseas or whether they are here in the United States,” Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan told the Washington Times in June 2010. Brennan said at that time that “dozens” of American citizens were on Obama’s assassination list. New Mexico native Anwar al-Awlaki is reportedly on the assassination list, but the list itself remains classified. Anwar al-Awlaki is thought to be hiding out from the United States in Yemen.

A recent Gallup poll on abortion laws passed in state legislatures across the nation found that, for the most part, Americans favor measures that make various restrictions on the procedure. But the survey also found that a majority of Americans do not necessarily favor laws that allow healthcare providers to opt out of providing abortion medication or procedures or laws that bar government funding for abortion providers. Most significantly, the Gallup pollsters found that 87 percent of Americans would favor a law “requiring doctors to inform patients about certain possible risks of abortion before performing the procedure.” Similarly, the survey found that:  

This article is the third installment in a series on Americanist entrepreneurs. The first two, on Robert Welch and Fred Koch, appeared in the May 23 and June 20 issues of The New American. A given name such as Augereau was bound to get a boy in trouble, especially in Texas at the turn of the 20th century. Whether or not Augereau G. Heinsohn, who was born in 1896 and lived near Gulfport as a small boy, was aware that his namesake was the brother of Revolutionary War hero Lafayette, he developed early a fighting spirit as a result of being teased about his name. Although as an adult he was known as A.G. or “Heinie,” Heinsohn’s fighting spirit never diminished, and drove him to become an uncompromising foe of Big Government for decades.

It is now known why the Muslim conscientious objector, Army Pvt. Naser Jason Abdo — who was granted a request to be discharged from the Army until he was caught with child pornography — went AWOL. He was plotting an attack at the Texas Army base Fort Hood, the site of the mass murder allegedly perpetrated by Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, a Muslim jihadist. Pvt. Abdo, of the storied 101st Airborne Division, has admitted he planned a major terror attack on Fort Hood, the Associated Press reports. He was arrested in Killeen, Texas, following a tip from a gun store clerk where Abdo attempted to buy gunpowder, ammunition, and a magazine for a handgun. "I can probably tell you that we would be having a different briefing today if we hadn't arrested him," Killeen Police Chief Dennis Baldwin said at a news conference, according to the Killeen Daily Herald.

A conservative religious group has filed suit against the state of New York for its new legislation legalizing homosexual “marriage,” which Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law on June 24. The group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms says the law, known as the Marriage Equality Act, was passed illegally because the negotiations leading up to Cuomo’s effort to overturn the definition of marriage trespassed several open meetings laws. After the law was passed, at least two town clerks quit their jobs rather than sign same-sex marriage licenses.

World renowned evangelical Christian leader John R.W. Stott died July 27 at his home in London. He was 90 years old. “Stott, considered one of the greatest evangelical thinkers of the 20th century, led an evangelical resurgence in England in the 1960s and 1970s,” reported CBN News. “He influenced Christians worldwide through his preaching and writings,” including authoring 50 books on a variety of topics of interest to evangelicals and the church at large. While he was ordained by the Church of England in 1945 and served All Souls Church in London for more than 60 years, the impact of his thinking and leadership were felt widely throughout evangelical Christendom. “He was an intellectual pioneer who in the years following World War II spearheaded an evangelical revival in England at a time when evangelical Christians had almost no influence and were often derided as uneducated,” reported the Associated Press. “Stott, who studied at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, took a rigorous approach to Scripture that moved beyond the largely emotional appeals commonly used by preachers of his era.”

On July 27, Education Secretary Arne Duncan reiterated an earlier request for a 13.3-percent budget increase over 2011, which would bring Education Department spending to one-fifth higher than 2010 levels. Amid congressional arguments over reducing the nation’s debt and raising the debt ceiling, Duncan justified his stance by explaining: “You can’t sacrifice the future to pay for the present.” He said the additional funding would allow the department to fund more Pell grants; to place increased emphasis on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) initiative; to continue most aspects of President George W. Bush’s decade-old No Child Left Behind law, which even liberals have admitted is a disappointment; and to push the Obama administration’s new toddler initiatives, such as the Early Learning Challenge (ELC), described earlier this week as part of the President’s “Race to the Top” boondoggle.

House Speaker John Boehner’s last-minute “pep talk” to his Republican caucus early Thursday morning failed to turn the tide of Tea Partier “nays” to “yeas,” and the vote on his debt-limit bill has been postponed. Calling on them to “get ... in line” because “I can’t do this job unless you’re behind me,” Boehner failed in getting the 216 votes he needed. He claimed, “The Republican proposal includes real spending cuts and reforms that will restrain future spending — and the spending cuts are larger than the debt limit increase.” He went on to say his bill represents "the best opportunity we have to hold the president’s feet to the fire. [Obama] wants a $2.4 trillion blank check that lets him continue his spending binge through the next election. This is the time to say no."  

We shall not be able to even start reducing the size of the federal government until Tea Party Republicans take control of both houses of Congress and the White House. Hopefully that will happen in November 2012. Then will begin the great task of abolishing the hundreds of departments and agencies that have done nothing but interfere with the ability of American industry and business to grow. In other words, we must restore the kind of free-market economy that permits individuals to create new businesses and permits old businesses to expand. In that way we shall also create many new jobs. In the past, when Republicans took control of Congress and the White House, they did nothing to reduce the size of government. They didn’t repeal a single useless liberal program. They simply consolidated the gains of the liberals. Why? That’s the mysterious part of American politics. Believe it or not, the Republicans were simply behaving like good Hegelian dialecticians.

Four Taliban and Hezbollah operatives were arrested overseas on Monday during a drugs-for-weapons sting operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). According to The Blaze, the incident illustrates a “growing nexus” between drug trafficking and terrorism. Those arrested were part of a larger crime ring reportedly intending to supply Stinger Missiles, AK-47 automatic rifles, and U.S. carbines to terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Hezbollah. The Blaze reports, "At least two of the men arrested, Lebanese national Bachar Wehbe and Afghan national Tazar Gul Alizai, are currently on U.S. soil and are reportedly set to appear before a federal court in Manhattan."