1. Freedom of Choice Act:
   
   President Barack Obama is the by far the most radical, pro-abortion President we’ve ever had.  During the campaign, he pledged to his abortion supporters that one of his first acts as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act into Law.  So, what is the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) and how will impact all of us?  Well, since Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court of the United States has allowed individual states to put restrictions on abortion such as: requiring parental notification, and involvement, requiring informed consent, protecting doctors and hospitals that refuse to perform abortions, prohibiting government funding of most abortions, establishing safety requirements and licensing requirements for abortion doctors, and outlawing the horrific procedure known as partial-birth abortion.  The FOCA would nullify all of these state limitations.  In other words, the federal government will supersede the will of individual states.  When you consider that 36 states have such laws, you can see how imposing this legislation is.  Perhaps that is why the Catholic Church is doing all it can to fight it, including warning Catholics before the election not to vote for such a radical pro-abortion politician as Barack Obama (54% of Catholics ignored such warnings and did vote for Barack despite his anti-Catholic, pro-abortion positions).  Since the election, the Catholic Church has conducted a post-card campaign to petition Congress to vote against this legislation.  FOCA would force Catholic Hospitals to either perform abortions or close.  Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, VA had this to say regarding FOCA: “You’ll have to drag me out, go right ahead, I’m not closing this hospital, we will not perform abortions.”  Chicago Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued a statement in November on behalf of all Catholic bishops warning that "aggressive pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion." A Senior Vatican official told Time Magazine that the passage of FOCA would mean the “equivalent of war between Mr. Obama and the Catholic Church.”
   

2. Employee Free Choice Act
   
   I received an email from a friend and small business owner the other day.  He has grave concerns over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, also called Card Check) and the impact it will have on his small business and others.  The EFCA changes how unions are allowed to organize.  Under today’s law, workers can vote for unionization via secret ballot and under federal supervision.  Employers are notified and given an opportunity to present their side before the vote.  EFCA eliminates this notification, the secret ballot and the federal supervision.  This leaves employee voters susceptible to intimidation and coercion.  Since the union is not recognized until 50% of the employees vote for it, organizers could simply target those voting against and pressure them until they consent.  Because the ballot process is not secret, employees voting against will be identified immediately. Once a union is certified, business owners and their unions will have only 120 days to reach a labor agreement before a government board will force them into a binding arbitration.  This will give a union-friendly, government board unprecedented control over small businesses and their bottom lines.  EFCA also places harsh penalties on businesses, not unions, for violations during the union recognition process.  When you consider that small businesses are not familiar with the National Labor Relations Act or with the unionization processes, you can see what a disaster this could be.  As it stands today, employers are permitted to make their case to their employees before the secret ballot vote to unionize.  Under EFCA, employers may not even be aware a unionization campaign is underway until they are ordered by the Federal Government to start collective bargaining.  Today, union organizers are careful to target businesses for unionization since secret ballot initiatives are costly, time-consuming and there is a chance they will lose.  Once EFCA goes through, if unions can persuade over 50% of workers at any business to sign cards, they win.  In addition, here are a couple things to consider: over 70% of voters prefer the secret ballot process and over 75% of voters believe that government arbitrators should not decide terms of union contracts.  Even liberal stalwart, union champion and former Democrat Presidential candidate, George McGovern is against EFCA because it violates the sanctity of the secret ballot.
   

3. Civilian National Security Force

In a July 2008 speech, Obama said, “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set.  We’ve got to have a Civilian National Security Force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, and just as well-funded.”  Those paying attention wondered what he meant.  Then, 4 days ago at the dedication ceremony of the National Defense University’s Abraham Lincoln Hall, President Obama said it again: “America must balance and integrate all elements of our national power.  We cannot continue to push the burden onto our military alone, or leave dormant any aspect of the arsenal of American capability.  That's why my administration is committed to renewing diplomacy as a tool of American power and developing our civilian national security capabilities.”  I’m confused.  Our Department of Defense currently has a budget of approximately $500 billion annually.  Our military has the nuclear arsenal to destroy a country.  How could we have a civilian security force be “just as well-funded” or “just as strong”? Well, there is a proposed bill in the House right now (HR 1388) that creates a national volunteer service.  Depending on how you interpret the bill, it could make volunteer service mandatory for our high school and college aged children.  In addition, the service would begin in education camps, has goals of building its force to 250,000 by 2011 and 50% of the volunteers are targeted to come from disadvantage youth.  This is really some scary stuff that we’ll have to keep an eye on .  There are many historical examples of similar such civilian corps.  I won’t list them just yet but they were all used to confiscate guns, spy on citizens, intimidate voters and repress freedom.

There you have it, a simple multiple choice test.  So, which of the Obama initiatives listed above do you find most threatening?  Before you answer, you should know that there is one more choice, and unfortunately, this is the most likely to happen.  D: All of the Above.