Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future.

Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.

This leaves Mitt Romney free from the last serious competition for the Republican nomination. Paul will most likely continue to win delegates in the remaining contests as he has a solid support base, however, he will not be a serious threat to Romney’s quest for the Republican nomination. However, the question is, will he be a threat to Romney if he chooses to run as an Independent or a third-party candidate?

SUNDAY: Biden comment

On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden stated during an interview on “Meet the Press” that he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”  This statement of clear support for same-sex marriage kicked off what can be called “Gay Marriage Week.”

MONDAY: White House response

On Monday, Press Secretary Jay Carney was flooded with questions over Biden’s comments as well as if the position held by President Barack Obama has changed.  Obama has maintained that his position is “evolving,” making it sound as if he was trying to have it both ways on the issue.  Comments made by the reporters included “What does the word ‘evolving’ mean” and “I want you to dissect the evolution.”  Carney summarized the Presidents position by stating “I will leave it to individuals to describe their own personal views,” leaving the reporters with more questions than answers.

TUESDAY: North Carolina

Voters in North Carolina went to the polls on Tuesday to vote on a Constitutional Amendment (Amendment 1) to define marriage as being only between a man and a woman.  This Amendment is on top of the existing law within the state that outlaws gay marriage.  The ballot measure passed by a margin of 61% to 39%, with opponents of the already seeking alternatives to overturn the Amendment.

WEDNESDAY: Colorado bill

Meanwhile, out in Colorado, the State’s House of Representatives had a bill in hand that would grant civil unions to gay couples.  The bill made it through committee with a narrow vote of 7-6.  The bill would then be eligible for a preliminary vote by the House, with the formal vote occurring the following day.  Unfortunately, the last day of session for the legislature was Wednesday, so even if the preliminary vote was held on Wednesday, a formal vote would not be held.

WEDNESDAY: Obama comment

Fearing that he was losing control of the issue, Obama quickly scheduled an interview with Good Morning America.  During the interview, he explained his progression to endorsing gay marriage, citing conversations he’s had with college students, members of the military, as well as members of his staff.  However, in his interview, he said that gay marriage shouldn’t be nationalized (quickly), but rather handled by the states.  Currently, 30 states have laws on the book banning same-sex marriage, while only 6 states have legalized it.

THURSDAY:  Biden apologizes

As the week started to come to a close, the discussion ended where it started.  Media reports cited administration officials that stated Biden apologized to Obama for pushing the issue on gay marriage before Obama was ready to formally announce his support.  It was noted that the President was not upset.

FRIDAY: Opinion

The segment of voters where gay marriage is the major issue (either for or against) is small, with those that support gay marriage were already likely to vote for Obama, while those who oppose were going to vote for Mitt Romney.  So I don’t believe the events of this week will have a major impact come Election Day.  What do our blogging friends think on this topic?

Chasing the Asson: I’m not even sure how the law just passed in North Carolina even holds muster.  Not when Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington DC have passed laws saying that gay people can marry.  One version LIMITS rights (i.e. abridges the privileges); the other does not.

Generation Gossip:  That being said, marriage is not a religious issue, it is a government issue. There is supposed to be a separation of church and state so separate it damnit. The Church has no right to decide who gets rights and who doesn’t, if they had their way we would all still be living in the 1800′s and progress would never have been made. If the Catholic church does not want to welcome gay marriage or perform them fine, they are a business  and that is their choice but they have no right to influence the law.

Capitol Commentary:  He was for it before he was against it before he was for it.  That pretty much sums up President Obama’s brave stance on gay marriage.  With 61% of votes cast in North Carolina going against allowing gay marriage (or civil unions for straight people) it might be a tad awkward with the Democratic convention happening in that state later this year.

Stop the ACLU:  In other words, the GOP just doesn’t care about the issue. Like Obama, they probably feel like it is a State’s rights issue. And they plan on focusing on the economy. Gay marriage will not take this country off a cliff ala Greece. But, the economic policies of the Obama admin. will.

The Marc Chamot Report:  On his same sex marriage approvals, what was Barack Obama thinking? Most of the states that Obama needs to win electoral votes are from battleground states, which staunchly don’t support nor approve of same sex marriages in high margins.

The Conservative Cloakroom:  Lauer goes on to state, “But the president talked about it (gay marriage) in 2004 and never talked about it again..now, obviously we are in a election cycle…isn’t this just an overt way to say to the social conservative base..look I will talk about it again, come out and vote for me.”  Matt Lauer and the liberal media at large are total hypocrites and they’re disgusting to watch.  When a Republican brings up gay marriage it’s only to get votes and when a Republican changes sides on an issue it’s flip-flopping.  When a liberal brings up gay marriage it’s wonderful and when they change their minds it’s called evolving.

Sic Semper Tyrannis:

I am libertarian by instinct if not by party.  I don’t care who you have sex with and then call it “marriage.”  I am about as neutral on this “issue” as one can be.  Nevertheless, I find the homogeneous unity of the coastal elites and the media on this to be ludicrous.  The assumption appears to be that only their attitudes matter and that if they keep rejoicing and condescending eventually the unwashed masses in “fly-over” America will follow their “lead.”

With this being a tough economy, you understand how even a small donation can help.  That’s why, for the month of April 2012, any revenue received on the site will be going to aid the Andrews family in burying their father.  You can help by also contributing to this cause and/or sharing the news with your friends and family.  Let us help the Andrews family reach their goal of $6,000 by April 27th.

If you wish to contribute directly, please visit this link:  donation page.

Thank you in advance.

UPDATE:  With such a short window of time, we were able to $27.10 for the Andrews family (not to include donations you made directly).  Thank you for your help in this time of need.

Title II of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (also known as HIPAA) placed a set of rules on how to handle electronic medical information for individuals. These rules, know as the “Administrative Simplification” requirements are: the privacy rule, the transaction and code set rule, the security rule, the unique identifiers rule, and the enforcement rule. In short, the rules (primarily the privacy and security rules) were to ensure that your information could be shared between medical providers in a secure manner, using coding that – if there was a security breach – the data would not be easily linked to the patient(s) involved without access to additional information.

HIPAA was updated in 2009 when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “Stimulus Package”) was passed. Within it was the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), the privacy and security rules from HIPAA were expanded to cover more entities involved with handling electronic medical records as well as lay out the rules covering breaches of protected medical information. When a breach occurs, the individual and the entities associated are to be notified, and in cases where 500 or more patients are impacted, the media is also to be notified.

With security measures already in place, I feel that a decentralized medical database accessible to first responders would would something practical that can be rolled out sooner rather than later without the need of an over-arching reform bill such as the Affordable Care Act. With proper security features, HIPAA compliance training, and broad acceptance, I see this as being a safe practice that can result in better care up front, meaning less costs and risks of medical mistakes in the future.

For some background, the GSA came about from recommendations from the Hoover Commission. President Harry Truman asked former President Herbert Hoover to come up with recommendations on how to restructure the organization of the Federal Government to make it more efficient. The recommendations led to the Federal Property and Administrative Act of 1949 as a way to consolidate many of the administrative functions within the Federal Government. Among the functions of the GSA, they manage government assets (buildings, vehicles, etc), assist with business relationships between the private sector and Federal agencies, assist with procurement of materials and services (through the GSA schedule), as well as explore ways to reduce government administrative waste.

It currently came to light as a result of an Inspector Generals’ audit of various sections of the GSA that there was inappropriate use of taxpayers’ funds over the past few years. Much of the controversy centers around Regional Commissioner Jeff Neely and a Las Vegas training conference in 2010. At a cost of almost $823,000.00, the conference featured outrageous parody videos joking about wasteful spending by the GSA, expensive gifts to employees, entertainment, and more. Neely was also being investigated for long trips with his wife to various locations around the Pacific, including Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan (part of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – near Guam). In a service designed to save the taxpayers’ money, GSA (and the actions of Neely) quickly became the symbol of uncontrolled spending in a government that has already added $5 Trillion to the national debt over the past three years.

Since the point of the Las Vegas conference was training, I want to put on my “GSA hat” and offer a recommendation them a recommendation. In order to save the taxpayers $800,000, why not skip these lavish training conferences and instead hold training sessions online? GSA already has information for online training on their own website, including scheduled webinars and self-learning modules, so this shouldn’t be a foreign concept. But since they are the ones who need training, maybe they need to hire an outside group like iLMS (www.ilms.com) or another group to handle the training needs for the 12,000 GSA employees. Maybe then they can go back to their core function to save the nation money.