The University of Illinois Alumni Association recently awarded it’s “International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement” to the current President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa Delgado.  Since the University of Illinois is the premier university for the state of Illinois, let’s see the list of accomplishments President Correa can boast of while claiming this prestigious award:

• Transparency International listed Ecuador as one of the world’s most corrupt countries under Correa.
• He has seized numerous TV and Radio outlets in his country.
• He has jailed reporters critical of his government.
• Organzied crime has had a magnificient rise during his reign.
• He has rammed through constitutional changes to increase his power and extend his term of office.
• He was found to have FARC terrorists fund his campaigns.
• Documents found by Colombia show that he has actively worked with FARC terrorists. FARC has also been involved with kindnapping Americans.
• Ecuador has provided a safe haven for FARC terrorists to launch attacks on Columbia, an ally of the United States.
• Ecuador has ties to both Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and has increased ties to Iran.

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Congress is moving closer to enacting a law requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says that this is “like paying taxes.”

He’s right about that. But Hoyer made this statement as part of an effort to justify the health-care mandate on constitutional grounds. Here he indicates that he doesn’t understand the Constitution that he took an oath to support.

When asked what power the Constitution gives to Congress to enact this legislation, Hoyer claimed that it came from the Constitution’s “general welfare” clause.

Article One, section eight says that Congress can “lay and collect taxes… to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.”

But what defines the “general welfare”?

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