From Michelle Malkin: "Last week, The Washington Post reported on a new Justice Department inquiry into photographs of undercover CIA officials and other intelligence personnel taken by ACLU-sponsored researchers assisting the defense team of Guantanamo Bay detainees. According to the report, the pictures of covert American CIA officers -- "in some cases surreptitiously taken outside their homes" -- were shown to jihadi suspects tied to the 9/11 attacks in order to identify the interrogators".
Excuse me, but didn't several people get into deep doo doo for "outing" Valerie Plame, who was not actually a CIA agent, nor even covered by the outing law? The lives of these interrogators, doing what their country asked of them to protect all of us, has now been violated and endangered, endangering their families as well. Even one of the Left's favorite pundits, James Carville, sees the dangers to our country in this action.
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While I regret the passing of Senator Kennedy, and respect his fight for life (which his own health care reform may not have allowed), I do believe we should all know what action he took just prior to his death. From the Politico: "Sen. Edward M. Kennedy urged Massachusetts lawmakers last week to give Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick the power to name his successor. But with reactions to Kennedy’s proposal mixed – and with the legislature not due back until after Labor Day – it appears for now that Massachusetts will be without a second senator until a special election can be held early next year
While many states allow a governor to fill a vacant Senate state, Massachusetts Democrats changed their state’s law in 2004 to prevent then Gov. Mitt Romney – a Republican – from naming a replacement for Sen. John Kerry if he had defeated George W. Bush in the presidential race".
It seems to me that Democrats often think laws should be changed just for their benefit, not that of the country. Here is another case in point.
ACORN in Retreat (We can only hope!)
While ACORN retreats across the nation, an upcoming voter registration fraud trial may reveal embarrassing information that hinders the ability of the embattled radical activist group to function.
The testimony will come as soon as next month from former ACORN Las Vegas field director Christopher Edwards. Charged with election fraud by Nevada's Democratic attorney general, he cut a deal last week with prosecutors and has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit the crime of compensation for registration of voters.
ACORN allegedly enforced voter registration quotas with its employees and offered bonuses for extra registrations. Nevada law forbids the use of such incentives on the theory it encourages canvassers to file fraudulent registrations. No wonder: ACORN registers "Mickey Mouse" and various celebrities, out-of-state residents, and dead people, every election cycle.
As part of the plea deal, Edwards, whom state investigators consider to be the mastermind of the incentive program, has agreed to testify against former regional director, Amy Busefink, and against ACORN, which is a co-defendant. The Las Vegas Sun reported that Edwards acknowledged he conspired with Busefink and ACORN to create the "Blackjack" incentive program that gave canvassers an extra $5 for submitting 21 or more registration cards each day. The daily quota was allegedly 20 forms.
If ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) happens to be convicted, it could have its status as a nonprofit corporation revoked in Nevada, which could make it very difficult for the ACORN network to operate in that key battleground state.
Such a conviction would send shock waves through leftist organizing circles across the nation and might embolden more prosecutors to take on ACORN.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Danny Tarkanian: The new health care bill features a costly menu of 53 brand-new federal agencies, panels, and programs. Including the National Medical Device Registry, the Health Choice Administration Commissioner, and the Program of Administrative Simplification. One Senate draft offers 29 initiatives and new entities, including the ominously-titled “National Oral Health Surveillance System.” With all these costly new bureaucracies, it is no wonder rationing occurs in every major country where the government dominates health care.
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From Ira Mehlman: What all of these "experts," like a lot of members of Congress who will be voting on the bill, have in common is that they haven't read the bill, or, if they have, they failed to take note of what is not in the bill. Nowhere does H.R. 3200 say that illegal aliens are ineligible to enroll in the proposed "public option." To the contrary, Section 202 provides that "all individuals" are eligible for benefits offered through the government exchange unless they are enrolled in another health insurance plan.
Then we come to the portion of the bill relating to payment and subsidies. Section 246 states that illegal aliens are ineligible for government "affordability credits" (the subsidies that will allow people to purchase private insurance), which seems to be as far as most of the pundits have read. Saying that illegal aliens are ineligible is one thing; providing an enforcement mechanism to ensure that ineligible persons do not obtain this benefit is another matter. Section 246 lacks an eligibility verification requirement, thus rendering the prohibition against subsidies for illegal aliens meaningless.
The complete omission of language barring illegal aliens from coverage under a government-run insurance program, and the Mack Truck-size loophole in the affordability credit provision, are not mere oversights. Section 245 contains three pages of text directing the government to verify income eligibility for this new health insurance program. The authors of the bill, however, did not seem to think similar verification requirements for immigration status was important enough to also include in the bill.
Fortunately, at least one member of the House Ways & Means Committee, a key committee involved in crafting the bill, did notice that these restrictions were missing. Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) offered an amendment that would have applied the same eligibility verification procedures already in place for Medicaid to the new plan in H.R.3200. These verification requirements have been on the books for years. But, in a straight party-line vote, every Democrat on the Ways & Means Committee voted against the Heller amendment.
Even the well known Capitol Hill journal Roll Call has reported how the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has been lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to leave the bill in its current form, because those members understand the bill will allow backdoor health coverage for illegal aliens.
When will the main stream media actually allow this to be known? The only "free press" currently in place is one which is free to allow their favorite politicians to say whatever they want without being challenged.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the New York Daily News, regarding the number of uninsured Americans: This number is misleading. Many of the uninsured are offered insurance and don't take it, and millions are illegal aliens. More troubling is the fact that the former director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that 43% have the means to buy insurance but don't. CBO projections among the uninsured in 2009: 18% will be eligible for but not enrolled in Medicaid, and 30% will be offered, but will decline, coverage from an employer, leaving the electorate questioning a full overhaul.
: Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
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