Saturday, September 4, 2010

Islam in Paris - They're Already Praying in the Streets of NYC in This Way.


  [As to the question: "what could possibly go wrong" ,  I bring to you the following examples of Islam in Europe and America - just because knowledge is power....   Please watch just 30 seconds of  
the video.  It is difficult to recognize Paris.] 
Here in part is an article by the Christian Broadcast Network: Friday in Paris. A hidden camera shows streets blocked by huge crowds of Muslim worshippers and enforced by a private security force.
This is all illegal in France: the public worship, the blocked streets, and the private security. But the police have been ordered not to intervene.  The Muslims in the street have been granted unofficial rights that no Christian group is likely to get under France's Laicite', or secularism law.
But the Muslim birthrate is significantly higher than for the native French. Some Muslim men practice polygamy, with each extra wife having children and collecting a welfare check.  The problem is the people who follow Islam; they're somehow in a political party, which has a political agenda, which means basically implementing Sharia and building an Islamic state." [If you watch the video, you will get a sense that it is too late for Paris, as the Islamic birthrate far outnumbers that of non-Islamics everywhere.]
We were expecting Islam to adapt to France and it is France adapting to Islam," Robin said. 
But even if many government elites are in France are in denial over Islam, the people in the streets increasingly are not. Some have become fed up with what they see as the growing Islamization of France.
They've started staging pork and wine "aperitifs," or cocktail parties in the street. They're patriotic demonstrations meant to strike back against Islam.  Another national demonstration is planned for Saturday, Sept. 4.  [I wonder if any American news station will dare to cover this.]
The French parliament is expected to debate the burqa law in September. Jean-Francois Cope, president of the Union for a Popular Movement political party, has a warning for the West and for America. 
"We cannot accept the development of such practice because it's not compatible with the life in a modern society, you see," he said. "And this question is not only a French question. You will all have to face this challenge. "  The chilling video is at this website:  http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/August/Islamization-of-Paris-a-Warning-to-the-West/

Wordpress writes:  It is amazing to me.  If Christians did what is pictured here, they would be harrassed and then arrested for disturbing the peace, or something else.
Yet, here we clearly see Muslims IN the street, BLOCKING traffic while they pray to Allah!  Apparently, they do this every Friday.
Some may say, “look, what’s the big deal?”  The big deal happens to be that these individuals are literally CLAIMING America for Islam!  Besides, what they are doing is ILLEGAL!  Why should they be allowed to do what Christian citizens cannot do in this country?  [They say they have no place to pray.  How about praying in their homes for a solution?]

Friday, September 3, 2010

Economy; Obama Birther Suing; ACLU; Fewer Illegals

The Washington Times reports:  Lunch at the National Press Club on Wednesday caused some serious indigestion. It wasn't the food; it was the entertainment. Christina Romer, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, was giving what was billed as her "valedictory" before she returns to teach at Berkeley, and she used the swan song to establish four points, each more unnerving than the last:
She had no idea how bad the economic collapse would be. She still doesn't understand exactly why it was so bad. The response to the collapse was inadequate. And she doesn't have much of an idea about how to fix things.
What she did have was a binder full of scary descriptions and warnings, offered with a perma-smile and singsong delivery: "Terrible recession. . . . Incredibly searing. . . . Dramatically below trend. . . . Suffering terribly. . . . Risk of making high unemployment permanent. . . . Economic nightmare." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090106148_pf.html
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By American Patriot Foundation: Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney has supplied an affidavit in support of Army Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin, who faces trial on October 13-15. The retired Air Force three-star is the highest ranking officer yet to lend public support to LTC Lakin. His affidavit acknowledges widespread concerns over the President’s Constitutional eligibility and demands the President release his birth records or the court authorize discovery.

McInerney’s sworn affidavit was filed in Court-Martial in support of Lakin’s motions for subpoenas for all of the president’s school records, and for a deposition of the custodian of Obama’s birth records in the possession of the State of Hawaii. The Judge has set a hearing in the Court Martial on these motions for.... 
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From ACRU: The American Civil Liberties Union has discovered the right to life. Seriously. The ardently pro-abortion organization declares in its Aug. 30 lawsuit against the Obama Administration that the CIA's plan for targeted killings of terrorists violates the terrorists' rights.
"The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights," says ACLU lawyer Arthur Spitzer in the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
While this tack might annoy the folks in the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, it's got to be music to the ears of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born, al-Qaeda-linked Muslim cleric hiding in Yemen. Awlaki has been tied to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers and to the Fort Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, before Hasan slaughtered 13 of his fellow soldiers and an unborn baby on Nov. 5, 2009. After the incident, al-Awlaki pronounced Hasan a "hero."
The CIA put out a "kill" order on al-Awlaki in early 2010, according to the suit, which was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU. It asks U.S. District Judge John Bates to order the government to stop any plot to kill al-Awlaki. Which is a shame, since one of the captured e-mails that Hasan sent to al-Awlaki said, "I can't wait to join you in the afterlife." Of course, Hasan himself is still in this life, too, facing murder charges. http://theacru.org/acru/aclu_outrage_hey_terrorists_are_people_too_even_if_unborn_babies_arent/
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By Ben Johnson
The Obama administration is in overdrive to claim credit for a newly released report showing a decline in the number of illegal immigrants. The Pew Hispanic Center found that “only” 300,000 illegal immigrants entered the United States each year from March 2007 to March 2009. Since Obama took office in late January 2009, how he deserves credit is a mystery to everyone except The One. The fact is, George W. Bush does not deserve (much) credit, either. The report credits two developments with the slowing of the border invasion: greater enforcement of the law — begun by Bush to get support for an amnesty program — and something vastly more significant, the econoic downturn. With jobs scarce, there were fewer “jobs Americans won’t do.” The Pew study states this made many illegals already in the United States leave and fewer not yet here come. It also points out Texas, one of the strongest states economically, has seen virtually no decline.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Stimulus Cost More Than All Iraq War; Obama's Report to The UN Human Rights Commission; New Darth Vader Logo for Department of Justice; Mexican Drug Cartels Control Parts of Arizona; Housing For Illegals?

Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war

By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
08/23/10 11:32 AM EDT

Expect to hear a lot about how much the Iraq war cost in the days ahead from Democrats worried about voter wrath against their unprecedented spending excesses.
The meme is simple: The economy is in a shambles because of Bush's economic policies and his war in Iraq. As American Thinker's Randall Hoven points out, that's the message being peddled by lefties as diverse as former Clinton political strategist James Carville, economist Joseph Stiglitz, and The Nation's Washington editor, Christopher Hayes.
The key point in the mantra is an alleged $3 trillion cost for the war. Well, it was expensive to be sure, in both blood and treasure, but, as Hoven notes, the CBO puts the total cost at $709 billion. To put that figure in the proper context of overall spending since the war began in 2003, Hoven provides this handy CBO chart showing the portion of the annual deficit attributable to the conflict:

But there is much more to be said of this data and Hoven does an admirable job of summarizing the highlights of such an analysis:
* Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more.
* Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other American Thinker opines: Presidents have been wrong. Other presidents have been misguided. Other presidents have been weak and pusillanimous and pathetic. 

Only one truly disdains America. His name is Barack Obama.
According to the Washington Times, the report Obama gave to the UN Commission on Human Rights:
describes how the United States discriminates against the disabled, homosexuals, women, Native Americans, blacks, Hispanics and those who don't speak English. There is the expected pandering to Muslims...the report notes that until recently, the U.S. engaged in torture, unlawfully detained terrorist suspects and illegally spied on Americans communicating with terrorists ... but the report assures readers that Mr. Obama has been putting a stop to all that.
This odious report has placed America -- us -- on a list of human rights violators that includes Iran, North Korea, and Sudan. And Mr. Obama and his administration have done it purposefully, intentionally, and with malice aforethought.
The truth, on the other hand, is that every demographic group mentioned in the report as victimized by America is better off in America than in any other country on earth. That's why they stay here. If they don't like America, they're free to leave at any time. We're not the Soviet Union or China, restricting population flow. European glories are only a plane ticket away. according to Obama, splinter groups of Americans (including women, who compose a majority of the population) are hapless and defenseless victims of our "downright mean" country, a description coined by Mrs. Obama during Mr. Obama's campaign for president.
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Department of Justice ditches red, white and blue stars and stripes

Bruce Cunningham
Well, how interesting! It seems the U.S. Department of Justice has changed its  website. Gone are the colorful red, white and blue U.S. flag decorations on the page,



replaced by stark black and white.



And at the top of the page, is a rather interesting quote:
"The common law is the will of mankind, issuing from the life of the people."
Catchy, huh? Just one tiny little (too small to be relevant obviously) point -- the quote is from C. Wilfred Jenks, who in the 1930's was a leading proponent of the "international law" movement, which had as its goal to impose a global common law and which backed ‘global workers' rights.' 

Call it Marxism, call it Progressivism, call it Socialism -- under any of those names it definitely makes the DOJ look corrupt in their sleek, new black website with Marxist accessories to match. 
The quote at the beginning of this post is credited to Jenks, a man who made a place at the collective table for socialists and communists at the U.N., and inspired the global “workers rights movement.” Jenks was a long-time member of the United Nation’s International Labor Organization and the author of a number of globalist tracts, including a set of essays published back in 1958 entitled The Common Law of Mankind. Jenks also belonged to The League of Nations.   See for yourself:  http://www.justice.gov/
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Further infomation on this was posted by World Net Daily's Bob Unruh:

In the interest of full info, please read what the U.S. House has to say: 

The United States Justice Department has launched a redesigned website, described by some as "Darth Vaderish" for replacing a waving flag banner with a black panel. But the biggest concern raised by critics is a quote posted at the top of the page attributed to a 1930s globalist. The words are, "The common law is the will of Mankind issuing from the Life of the People." According to U.S. House documentation, the quote is one of the multitude of statements engraved outside the Justice building in Washington. The full phrase is, "The common law is the will of mankind issuing from the life of the people, framed through mutual confidence, sanctioned by the light of reason.'' According to The American Spectator, which has documented the controversy, some attorneys believed the quote was pulled or adapted from the writing of the 18th–century British jurist Sir William Blackstone, who "influenced not only British law, but also the American constitutional and legal system." However, the report cites "other Department of Justice employees" who say the quote comes from British lawyer D. Wilfred Jenks, author of "The Common Law of Mankind" essays in the 1950s.  [Regardless of where they got the quote, this is one more move this administration has taken to remove the American flag and patriotism from our government, and in this case, to highlight and promote a quote which no one really noticed before now. Hat tip to Dan!] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Google: "Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona," he said. "They literally have scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and they literally control movement. They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has. "This is going on here in Arizona," he said. "This is 70 to 80 miles from the border - 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States." He said he asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers to patrol the border, but what he got were 15 signs.http://www.google.com/search?q=The+common+law+is+the+will+of+Mankind+issuing+from+the+Life+of+the+People&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.yahoo:en-US:official&client=firefox ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Fox News: Republican lawmakers are expressing shock over a Labor Department ad campaign that offers government assistance to illegal immigrants who think they're getting shortchanged for their work -- and at least one of them is planning to write to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for an explanation. The initiative appears to contradict labor law -- cited on the Labor Department's own website -- which states that employers may hire only people who work legally in the United States. The Obama administration has vowed to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, employers that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has called "evildoers."
But Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, the ranking member on the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, called the announcement "an explicit invitation for illegal immigrants to bring the resources and power of the Department of Labor to bear against American employers."
"It is shameful that Secretary Solis has to be reminded that her primary duty is owed to the American people, and not to those who have illegally entered our country," King said in a written statement. "The Obama administration needs to realize that the American people have a right to have their immigration laws enforced." http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/labor-dept-offers-assistance-illegal-immigrants-facing-wage-disparities/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/labor-dept-offers-assistance-illegal-immigrants-facing-wage-disparities/
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World Net Daily opines: You work hard for your family and to feed this country. You deserve to get paid every dollar you earn and never less than the federal minimum wage. Housing and transportation provided by the employer must be safe. You must be provided safe drinking water, toilets and hand-washing facilities at the job at no cost. And above all, you must be provided a safe workplace. These laws protect you – whether you're documented or not. If there is a problem, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division can help. 
"For a government agency to protect lawbreakers in this fashion may seem unbelievable but not if you consider the source," Judicial Watch stated on its website. "A former California congresswoman, Solis has close ties to the influential La Raza movement that advocates open borders and rights for illegal immigrants. She made the protection of undocumented workers a major priority upon being named labor secretary, assuring illegal aliens that 'if you work in this country, you are protected by our laws.'"  http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=169585
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Thirteen More Democrat Ideas For Fundamentally Transforming America

To the left is Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher.  There will be no more redistribution of the wealth if we have our way.  Nor will there be only "shared salvation". 

Following is my latest Guest Commentary in the local liberal newspaper: 

Thirteen More Democrat Ideas For Fundamentally Transforming America

This is to inform all who read my commentaries: I have researched and provided reputable websites proving all statements.  Contrary to what has been written of me on this editorial page, I have never said the election of Barack Obama was illegitimate, as he was, unfortunately, duly elected.  I have consistently presented my disagreement with just about every law, appointment and position of this administration as being bad for America, as is still my right to do as an American according to Hillary Clinton.

1.)    1) Our Treasury Department has asked for comments on their idea to seize all 401(k) plans for government distribution, as the unions have suggested.  The monies will then be doled out as an annuity until out deaths, at which time the government keeps what is  left.


2.)   2) Amnesty for illegals without the debate and vote of Congress.  Anti-illegal advocates point to this internal U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo, obtained by the National Review, that states, in part: “This memorandum offers administrative relief options to reduce the threat of removal to certain individuals present in the US without authorization.”


3.    3) Encourage states to use “waivers” to bypass enforcement of the MOVE Act (Military Overseas Voter Empowerment). This is meant to ensure that those in the military actually get to cast a ballot while overseas. 

4)   4) Move to the Public Option in healthcare, as Harry Reid has promised.


5)   5) Back the Paycheck Fairness Act, whereby  regulations will require US businesses to provide to the government data about employee pay as it relates to the sex, race and national origin of employees


6)   6) Placement of more radical Supreme Court Justices like Elena Kagen who once spoke the following words: “Why in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force?  Why, in particular, did the socialist movement never become an alternative to the nation’s established parties?”  Now Freedom Watch and Judicial Watch have announced new legal actions against Kagan – accusing her of actively engaging in a conspiracy to deceive the Supreme Court by falsifying a document and lying to Congress about doing so. This info was available prior to her confirmation.

7)    7) Continue making radical appointees like Donald Berwick (to the Medicare/Medicaid task force) – he who said that any healthcare must redistribute wealth, with eyes wide open as he wishes, or with eyes closed as now.
8)    8) George Soros has plans to change the political picture for Democrats by backing Democrat Secretaries of State with his money, in a project he calls the Secretary of State Project.Joycelyn Benson of MICHIGAN
is a top priority.  Capturing these Secretary of State seats in swing states will establish an electoral advantage for future elections. “ It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes." (Josef Stalin) 

9)    9) Follow the State of Massachusetts which is working on changing their state constitution to demand that the winner of the popular votes for President gets all of their states’ votes.  Once enough states with enough electoral votes pass similar legislation, our Constitution will be changed without the input of votes of Congress or of each state.  The Electoral College will be caput.

1   10) Cap and Tax – even though more and more evidence disputes our ability to compete with what the planet has done for millennium, and will continue to do.  This is about income redistribution and control.

1   11) VAT tax – on top of current taxes

12 12) Another stimulus package

13) As per Phyllis Schlafly, "Among the dangers lurking in Congress’s fall session and lame duck session will be Obama’s demand that the Senate rush to ratify the treaty called New START, which he signed with the Russians in Prague last April. This treaty is not only a bad idea, it’s downright dangerous to U.S. national security. The Russian government issued a statement that the New START treaty “can operate and be viable only if the United States refrains from developing its missile defense capabilities quantitatively or qualitatively.”

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

EPA and Lead Bullets; Turn Off Fox News; Lame Duck Plans; ICE Performing DeFacto Amnesty; Muslim Workshop at White House; Dept. of Education Urged To Attend Al Sharpton Rally

PoliticsUSnews reports: In a swift and unexpected decision, the Environmental Protection Agency [Like a deer in the headlights...] today rejected a petition from environmental groups to ban the use of lead in bullets and shotgun shells, claiming it doesn't have jurisdiction to weigh on the controversial Second Amendment issue. The decision came just hours after the Drudge Report posted stories from Washington Whispers and the Weekly Standard about how gun groups were fighting the lead bullet ban.
Click here to find 
out more!
The EPA had planned to solicit public responses to the petition for two months, but this afternoon issued a statement rejecting a 100-page request from the Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, and three other groups for a ban on lead bullets, shot, and fishing sinkers. The agency is still considering what to do about sinkers. http://politics.usnews.com/news/washington-whispers/articles/2010/08/27/epa-surrenders-to-nra-on-gun-control-issue-epa-rejects-attempt-to-regulate-lead-in-bullets-after-nra-protests.html
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The Washington Examiner writes: Now you can join an activist group determined to remove Fox news from ever being broadcast in public. ‘Turn off Fox’
Here is their credo:
Some businesses play Fox without having thought about it at all, and may not know how divisive and dangerous Fox is. Turn Off Fox will help you work with others in your area (and across the country) to identify places that play Fox, ask them to change the channel, and explain why they should.
It’s easy! Arm yourself with a few PDFs and make your case. After that, report back to your leaders, notify them where Fox is playing, and tell them how the business owner responded to you.
For the ‘Turn off Fox’ers,’ Fox News is not just a channel for news, its a channel for evil.
“Fox News isn’t just the home for hate, it’s the home for dangerous and lazy journalism.” says featured member Malkia Cyril, “It’s time for the public to turn off Fox News’ lies.”
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Townhall reports: Lame duck sessions occur after an election has taken place and they usually focus on specific, bipartisan, non-controversial pieces of legislation that were not able to receive sufficient consideration during the regularly scheduled session.
Instead, union boss advocates like Senator Tom Harkin appear to be planning a strategy to ignore the will of the people at the ballot box and attempt to reward their political benefactors in a lame duck session with a bailout for Big Labor bosses at the expense of small businesses and jobs.
Harkin, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) stated, “To those who think [EFCA’s] dead, I say think again … We’re still trying to maneuver … A lot of things can happen in a lame duck session, too.” In spite of a series of questionable comments on Harkin’s part in recent months, his threats have to be taken seriously as he is the chairman of the corresponding committee and in close communication with his national union boss buddies. http://townhall.com/columnists/KatieGage/2010/08/29/union_bosses__their_supporters_on_capitol_hill_put_the_lame_in_lame_duck/page/full/
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[Lou Dobbs was on Fox News recently saying that we should be alarmed by the de facto amnesty program by the Barack Obama administration.  I C E has revealed that if an illegal immigrant who is now in custody has been in the United State illegally for 2 years or more and has no criminal record, ICE will release them into our society and will not prosecute them or remove them.   It is no wonder that Obama is targeting Arizona and states who are serious about the law as his "August surprise".]
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Politico reports: The Fourth Amendment forbids the government from searching Americans without a warrant. However, a recent court case has found the government does not need a warrant to attach a GPS to your car while it is parked in your driveway. Forbes has reported full-body-scanning vans now prowl the streets, as well. Does the administration obtain a warrant to scan (and thus see naked) everyone monitored? If not, does it retain the images of people not covered by warrant? Does it act on information it finds without a warrant?  Politico.com
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Yahoo News writes: PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer demanded Friday that a reference to the state's controversial immigration law be removed from a State Department report to the United Nations' human rights commissioner.
The U.S. included its legal challenge to the law on a list of ways the federal government is protecting human rights.
In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brewer says it is "downright offensive" that a state law would be included in the report, which was drafted as part of a UN review of human rights in all member nations every four years.
"The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to 'review' by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional," Brewer wrote. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100828/ap_on_re_us/us_brewer_un_report
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On August 31, this coming Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood-associated “Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations” (CCMO) will bring 25-30 Muslim leaders of 20 national Muslim groups to attend a special workshop presented by the White House and U.S. Government agencies (Agriculture, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services etc.) to provide the groups “funding, government assistance and resources.” The workshop will apparently provide special access for these Muslim Brotherhood organizations: the organizers pledge to provide “direct access” and “cut through red tape.”  [I wonder when a workshop will be held to assist CHRISTIAN groups to receive government assistance....] http://bigpeace.com/cbrim/2010/08/29/coming-august-31-direct-access-stimulus-grants-for-the-muslim-brotherhood/
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From Politico: “I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead,” quipped Obama, who took a deep breath to gather his thoughts when asked if the poll reflected his inability to communicate with voters.
[No, he can't.  But he could just show it to us one time...... along with college records, passports, etc.]
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41575.html#ixzz0y7PuVNDn
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The Washington Examiner reveals: President Obama's top education official urged government employees to attend a rally that the Rev. Al Sharpton organized to counter a larger conservative event on the Mall.
"ED staff are invited to join Secretary Arne Duncan, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and other leaders on Saturday, Aug. 28, for the 'Reclaim the Dream' rally and march," began an internal e-mail sent to more than 4,000 employees of the Department of Education on Wednesday.
"It sends a signal that activity on behalf of one side of a political debate is expected within a department. It's highly inappropriate ... even in the absence of a direct threat," Boaz said. "If we think of a Bush cabinet official sending an e-mail to civil servants asking them to attend a Glenn Beck rally, there would be a lot of outrage over that."
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From the Gallup Poll: PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP's largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup's history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress. http://www.gallup.com/poll/142718/GOP-Unprecedented-Lead-Generic-Ballot.aspx
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The Washington Times reports: As he winds down one war and escalates another, President Obama is struggling to win over the troops he's leading as commander in chief - and military advocates say the real test will come as the nation approaches final timelines for withdrawal in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[He polls fairly well with veterans, but] His progress among active-duty service members, however, has been slower. A Military Times poll this year found that a majority disapproved of his leadership as their commander.
"But at the same time, there is a lot of concern about whether or not he's truly committed to the fight that we're invested in and whether or not he will truly see through what we need to do to succeed." http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/30/troops-yet-to-give-obama-full-salute/
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Monday, August 30, 2010

Michigan Republican State Convention 2010

[ To the left I am pictured with Tim Boyko, Charlevoix County Republican Party Chairman, with the stage in the background, representing Dictrict 1.  Notice he has his "credentials" and I do not......]

http://www.freep.com/article/20100829/NEWS15/8290457/1318/Tea-party-activists-storm-gates-but-Snyder-gets-his-running-mate 


 In part, from the Detroit Free Press:
EAST LANSING -- In a raucous, record-setting eight-hour session, tea party boosters showed their muscle at the state Republican Party convention, barely ratifying gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder's choice for lieutenant governor, Brian Calley, and forcing showdowns in fights for attorney general and secretary of state.  [I correct this information!  Calley was only "ratified" after we Delegates were denied the right to vote.  Rather, the party heads forced Cooper to back out without a vote.  Below is Cooper.... withdrawing his nomination. The "herd" of party heads are on stage congratulating themselves on their accomplishment.  After all, we can't have democracy prevail, can we?  Don't the party heads get to choose the candidate?]

/20100829
My comments:
1)  Waiting in line for 2 hours to get in to the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan was outrageous.  The lack of organization was inexcusable.  However, though we were irritated, we were perfectly calm. There was no "storming" of the gates.  I used the time to network, to hand out my blog address, and to discuss issues. They finally just let us go in without having to MAKE credentials as we entered (Imagine!).  We waited in line for 1/2 hour just to get a pop or hotdog or pop corn.  ONE concession only was open for nearly 5 thousand people who were supposed to be paying attention to what was going on on the floor.  I never got my credentials, by the way.  State GOP Chairman Ron Weiser had to begin the Convention with an apology, saying, "We screwed up."  Indeed.

2) I am still outraged over the fact that despite thousands of delegates hollering "NO" to a show-of-hands vote for Lieutenant Governor, Ron Weiser decided to pay no attention to us.  Was it our fault they had not made up paper ballots and would not take the time for a Roll Call vote?  We were willing to take the time to give Cooper the vote he deserved.  Weiser tried once again to bring reason to us and have us hand vote.  Alternates, guests and delegates could have voted, for there was NO way to prevent it, and no one was there to actually COUNT the hands held high.  It was a railroad to their desired outcome, for sure. Finally, their solution was to tell the new candidate to just bow out, and, despite the overwhelming number of delegates vigorously shouting for a real vote, he did so.  During that pronouncement everyone shouted "NO!" (don't concede), but delegates' voices were countermanded by the "authority figures".  The party must either not accept late candidates for the position - or they must give him a fair vote if they accept the candidate.  This was not a democratic way to solve the problem.  I am shocked and ashamed.

3) As a new delegate I truly resent being called the problem because I don't understand the "rules".  I saw not ONE Tea Party sign.  They can't possibly know it was the Tea Party who objected to their unfair politics.  It was most of us, delegates fed up by injustices by any government.

4)  I am NOT a "rump faction"!  And we were not "trying to derail Rick Snyder's choice for Lieutenant Governor".  We were trying to have his challenger get a fair vote, and that is ALL!  If, as Ron Weiser says, "The surprise contest for lieutenant governor was a sign "that we're the party of openness," he left out one fact.  We can be "open" to hear ideas from our delegates, but we will NOT do as they demand.  They are the unwashed, I guess.  Sound like Washington Democrats, do you think?

5) The reason Rick Snyder got only a tepid response is apparently because during the campaign he asked Independents and Democrats to cross over in the Primary in order to vote Republican and "choose" him as our candidate, the most liberal of them all.  I believe, by the way, that the State Committee should ban the cross-over Primary votes, for it has given us Rick Snyder, after influencing the John McCain vote as our Republican Presidential candidate.

Democracy in Action is not always pretty, even in the Republican party.  I will be writing to Ron Weiser as well as to Bill Cooper.