Sarah Slams Senate Immigration Bill 

In a Facebook post Sunday evening that was liked by more than 3.5 million people, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin slammed the Senate's immigration bill and ripped into Florida Senator Marco Rubio. 

Palin wrote that Senate liberals were trying to "Pelosi" the amnesty bill -- "They'll pass it in order to find out what's in it." She blasted Senate "amnesty supporters" for repeatedly voting down strict border security amendments, and Palin included Marco Rubio among the "amnesty supporters."

Palin also echoed remarks I have been making: We cannot trust this gang to secure the border. She wrote: 
 

• "If D.C. expects us to just sit back and 'trust' them despite our permanent political class and Washington bureaucrats proving themselves so very untrustworthy, then I have a bridge to somewhere in Alaska to sell them. Our government is awash in one scandal after another involving blatant lies and violations of our basic liberties, and the leader of the pack ventures out on one road trip after another to avoid accountability.

Harry Reid has vowed to ram the bill through the Senate before the July 4th recess. Yesterday Barack Obama said he wanted the House to "get this done" before August. There is a reason they are in such a rush. 

The left is worried that protests and demonstrations against the bill during the summer August recess could persuade House members to oppose it. And they should be worried about protests -- it's a terrible bill! 

Don't wait until August, my friends. Members of Congress are scheduled to be back home next week for the July 4th recess. Contact your local congressional offices then. (You can find local contact information at our online Congressional Directory.) 

A Victory For Common Sense 

The Supreme Court today struck down a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The act routinely subjected the laws of nine states and many other local jurisdictions to the intense scrutiny of the Justice Department whenever they sought to change any aspect of their election laws. 

For example, Attorney General Eric Holder used the Voting Rights Act to block popular voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina. While congressional and state redistricting was left to most state legislatures, certain states were required by the Voting Rights Act to get "preclearance" or approval from the Justice Department in order to complete their plans. 

Today the Supreme Court declared that regime unconstitutional. The court's majority objected to the fact that the law relied on "a formula based on 40-year-old facts, having no logical relationship to the present day." Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts rightly observed, "Our country has changed."

Indeed it has. America has elected and reelected its first black president. During his campaigns, Barack Obama won two southern states -- North Carolina and Virginia. 

Senator Tim Scott, a black man, now represents the state of South Carolina. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both Hispanics, represent Florida and Texas. Susana Martinez, who is Hispanic, is governor of New Mexico. Brian Sandoval, also Hispanic, is governor of Nevada. Indian Americans Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina are governors of their respective states. 

The Voting Rights Act seems unnecessary when states like Louisiana and South Carolina are electing minorities to high office. 

This ruling was a victory for common sense. Tomorrow morning we will find out whether the court has enough common sense to uphold the definition of normal marriage. 

Obama Declares War On Coal 

President Obama delivered a speech today which the New York Times labeled "a sweeping plan to address climate change." In reality he is declaring war on the coal industry and your wallet. 

Don't take my word for it. The New York Times quoted Daniel Schrag, a member of Obama's presidential science panel, which is advising the White House on this issue. "The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants," Schrag said. "Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they're having a war on coal. …a war on coal is exactly what's needed." 

This is not a sudden shift. Don't forget that in 2008 Obama promised to bankrupt the coal industry. 

Combatting climate change might sound like a laudable goal to some. But this is a very radical idea. In fact it is so radical that it failed to pass three years ago when Democrats controlled a super-majority vote in the Senate. 

There were plenty of reasons why many Democrats opposed Obama's climate change plan then and those reasons are still valid today. Here are just a few: 
 

• Higher energy costs. Even with low natural gas prices, coal still produces most of our electricity. 
   
• Higher gas prices. If you think gasoline is too expensive now, just wait until Obama's carbon tax kicks in. A 2010 Harvard study estimated that to achieve Obama's climate change goals, gasoline prices would have to rise to $7 a gallon. 
   
• Higher food prices. Carbon taxes and regulations would have a tremendous impact on the price of fertilizers and pesticides, not to mention all the goods in your local grocery store that are transported by trucks paying $7 a gallon for diesel! 
   
• More foreign aid. Obama is pledging billions of your hard-earned dollars for "international climate mitigation and adaption projects," but many developing nations are demanding far more. 
   
• Science far from settled. Forty years ago, scientists were concerned about global cooling. Global warming isn't happening as predicted. And I don't think the warming on Mars is the result of our SUVs.

Everybody wants clean air and clean water. But as I wrote yesterday, climate change is just one more way for liberals to justify higher taxes and big government control over our lives. Sadly, the environmentalist movement has been hijacked by radical socialists.