Voter Intimidation OK With Obama Administration?; Afghanistan Policy A Matter of Politics; The UN Speech; Colbert Does Congress

Big Government opines: In May 2009, the Obama/Holder Justice Department dropped charges in a voter intimidation case against Malik Shabazz, a leader of the New Black Panther Party, despite having already won a summary judgment against him, and his New Black Panther Party colleagues King Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson who were video-taped outside polling place in Philadelphia intimidating voters as they arrived on election day, 2008.  In July 2009, when Congress began looking into the matter, someone named Malik Shabazz visited the private residence at the White House.  When news of the visit was released under the auspices of transparency, the White House denied that the Malik Shabazz on the visitor’s log was the same Malik Shabazz involved in the New Black Panther voter intimidation case.  According to Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, the records contained “a few “false positives” – names that make you think of a well-known person, but are actually someone else.”  He specifically cited Malik Shabazz as an example of one of these “false positives”.  http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/09/24/which-malik-shabazz-visited-white-house-in-july-2009-mr-president/
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Ben Johnson writes: A second career civil rights lawyer ripped a hole in the Obama administration’s lies about the Black Panther voter intimidation case this morning. Christopher Coates, who headed the Voting Rights division of the Justice Department, said the administration’s decision to throw out the case was “a travesty of justice” that reflected the “anger” of the president’s appointees and their “deep-seated opposition to the equal enforcement of the” law “for the protection of white voters.” This second witness contradicts the testimony of administration officials and calls into question whether the president has ordered the Department of Justice to deny equal justice to a whole segment of American citizens, an impeachable offense.
He revealed the case’s dismissal “was not required by the facts” but “was intended to send a direct message” that race-neutral justice “would not continue in the Obama administration.”
He then cited two political appointees who foisted the new, racially divisive policy on the department: Loretta King and Julie Fernandez. Loretta King, whom Obama appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, told Coates to stop asking job applicants if they would be willing to apply the law equally to all races and ethnicities, a cornerstone of American jurisprudence, “because she does not support equal enforcement of the provision of the [Voting Rights Act] and had been highly critical of the filing and civil prosecution of” a 2005 case against blacks in Mississippi who discriminated against whites.  Coates added that Fernandez, Obama’s Deputy Asst. AG for Civil Rights, told employees “the Obama administration was only interested in bringing…cases that would provide political equality for racial and language minority voters.” She has made similar statements in public.
Fernandez said the Obama administration had no interest in forcing states to remove ineligible, incarcerated, fraudulent, or deceased voters from state voting rolls. Coates elaborated that eight states are currently in “major noncompliance,” and this could have “partisan consequences” by increasing the likelihood of “voter fraud” in “Democratic strongholds.” "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."  [Just one more "fundamental transformation"?  For this President perhaps that oath is true - unless you happen to be white....  This should be big news, for it is momentous !]   http://floydreports.com/?p=2238&utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=03094e4fe4-EO_09_24_20109_24_2010&utm_medium=email
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The Washington Post opines: What is most disturbing about the coverage of Bob Woodward's "Obama's Wars" is not the juicy bits of conflict and infighting; it is the fact that the White House seems pleased with the image of President Obama that emerges. "I think the president comes across pretty well in the book," says one official, "even if it looks crazy around him."
What comes across is a president deeply skeptical about the Afghan war, suspicious of the advice of military leaders and obsessed with finding exits and setting withdrawal deadlines. To a press or political aide in the administration, this must seem like the public relations sweet spot: Since Americans are conflicted about the Afghan war, won't they be reassured to know that the commander in chief is conflicted as well?
But a president has a number of audiences, including American troops, the allies who fight at our side and enemies who constantly take the measure of our resolve. None of those groups is likely to be impressed by America's reluctant warrior.
Cynics may regard this as typical. Actually, it is remarkable. It is the most basic duty of a commander in chief to pursue the national interest above any other interest. The introduction of partisan considerations into strategic decisions merits a special contempt.
The largest problem is the president's own ambivalence. "This needs to be a plan about how we're going to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan," Obama is quoted as saying. During his campaign for president, Afghanistan was the good war, the war of necessity, the war that had been ignored but must be won. As president, Obama's overriding goal is retreat. "Everything we're doing has to be focused on how we're going to get to the point where we can reduce our footprint," Woodward quotes Obama as saying. There can be no "wiggle room." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/23/AR2010092304743.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
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The Scotsman describes what happened at the UN in NYC: 

United States delegation walked out of the UN speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last night after he said some in the world have speculated America was behind the 9/11 terror attacks, staged in an attempt to assure Israel's survival.

He did not explain the logic of that statement that was made as he attacked the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
The US delegation left the hall after Ahmadinejad said there were different theories about the 11 September , 2001, attacks:

 That "powerful and complex terrorist group" penetrated US intelligence and defenses.

 That some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order also to save the Zionist regime.

He said: "The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view."

The Americans stood and walked out without listening to the third theory, that the attack was the work of "a terrorist group but the American government supported and took advantage of the situation". http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/Fury-after-Iran-claims-US.6548566.jp
[He ended with a call for “an independent fact-finding group for the event of 11 September so that in the future expressing views about it is not forbidden.”]
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[Do you recall when testifying before Congress was a respectful, somber event?  Well, with a President who does not revere the United States and her Congress, it should surprise no one to learn that comedian Stephen Colbert actually gave a comedy routine before that once august body - all the while "acting" as one of those stupid conservatives who want only Americans to pick their tomatoes...  I kid you not.  Even Michigan's own Representative John Conyers was embarrassed enough to ask Colbert to leave.].  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Colbert-embarrasses-Dems-Conyers-asks-comedian-to-leave-then-withdraws-request-103712949.html
Fox News’ Megyn Kelly estimated today’s political sideshow cost taxpayers a mere $125,000. The Comedy Central star’s bewildering testimony occurred as a result of an invitation from Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a left-wing California Democrat.
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Obama Gets Heckled; Brainwashing Global Warming; Belt-tightening in New Jersey; Obama Losing His Old Friends; Our Universities Under Control of State Government

Yahoo News reports: President Barack Obama got heckled at a fundraiser Wednesday night by protesters pushing for more funding for AIDS programs and quicker action to allow gays to serve openly in the military.
"Some of those signs should be going up at the other folks' events, and folks should be hollering at the other folks' event. Because the choice in November could not be clearer," the president said.
Addressing an activist pushing for more funding for global AIDS initiatives, the president said, "We heard your point. And as I said before, we increased AIDS funding. ... The people who will take over if we don't focus on the election, I promise you, will cut AIDS funding." [It seems that the old adage that the bigger the lie is, the more people believe it.  First of he, where is his proof that Republicans will cut AIDS funding - in their recent Pledge?  I don't think so. Perhaps, in the name of honesty (not one of Obama's strong points), he should have admitted that George W. Bush tripled America's funding of AIDS programs.  I recall that when I was in Africa, President Bush was a hero to the Tanzanians, Muslims all - for having donated over a million bed nets to save the lives of millions of Africans who would otherwise die of malaria.  This disease was exacerbated by the banning of DDT by America decades ago, by the way.  Today, the science is not even so sure that DDT was actually causing many illnesses in the first place. Not being able to use it to control mosquitoes does cause millions of deaths, however.]    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100922/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_hecklers 
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From CNS News:  Like I keep saying over and over again, if you get young people invested in those ideas early on, that will result in those kinds of positive policy developments," Sarbanes told CNSNews.com. "So, whether it’s climate change, whether it’s population growth, whether it’s all these factors that impact the health of our world, raising that awareness early among young people is only going to promote the agenda.” When asked if students should be taught that global warming is a threat, Sarbanes said: “If you’re promoting outdoor education, building that into educational programming, they [students] can’t help but understand about climate change because they’re going to see the effects of it. They’re going to go to a local science center , right, and they’re going to learn about the effect that global warming is having right in their own communities. [Let the brainwashing begin, and don't let them hear that it may all be a hoax!  Let no real debate exist - just scare them out of their wits that the world is coming to an end because of man.  Who cares if students have to be treated for depression and nightmares?]  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/75645
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National Review online:  Part of Gov. Chris Christie’s belt-tightening plan for New Jersey was the termination of $7.5 million in public funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in the state, a decision Democrats in the legislature countermanded with a bill that cleared the Senate with a 30-10 vote — sufficient to override a veto. But when that veto came and the Democrats scheduled an override vote, Republicans in the legislature backed down, and the measure failed 23-17. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/247495/christie-veto-shuts-down-abortion-clinics-nj-daniel-foster
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The Washington Post opines: In his nearly two years in office, President Obama has relied on a very small clique of advisers that serves as his most trusted sounding board on politics and policy.
Members of his staff describe Obama as wary of outsiders and reluctant to widen his inner circle. As one of his advisers bluntly put it, the president "doesn't like new people."
Like it or not, he will soon be surrounded by them as an expected staff shuffle will deprive Obama of two of his closest aides and an influx of replacements will take their places within the West Wing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/22/AR2010092206741.html
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Expose Obama reports: According to the Centennial Institute, a proposed new rule by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) “would place private colleges and universities under the ultimate control of state governments, rather than independent accrediting agencies. The notice of proposed rulemaking was posted in the Federal Register on June 18 for a public comment period ending Aug. 2. It could take effect as soon as November.”
Armstrong says the attempt by the government to regulate curricula “is part of an unprecedented power grab in which government has already moved to dominate such industries as automobiles, energy, health care, banking, home loans and student loans — and now seeks dominance over the colleges and universities themselves.” http://www.exposeobama.com/2010/09/23/obama-plans-to-control-what-private-universities-teach/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=a4941f62fe-EO_09_23_20109_23_2010&utm_medium=email
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The Wall Street Journal writes:  Democrats abandoned plans to vote before Election Day on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class while eliminating them for better-off Americans, spooked by protests from vulnerable incumbents and bleak prospects for passage.For now, taxpayers confront a number of worrisome scenarios, including the possibility Congress might deadlock on the issue in the post-election "lame duck" session, resulting in across-the-board tax increases.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703384204575509793142421332.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
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The News Gazette in Illinois reveals: In a move that hasn’t happened for years, University of Illinois Board of Trustees voted to deny a professor emeritus status Thursday.
Chairman Chris Kennedy of Chicago, son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said he would not vote for emeritus status for University of Illinois at Chicago Professor William Ayers.
The rest of the trustees agreed to vote no, without discussion.
Ayers, a former ’60s radical, was one of four authors of a 1974 book, “Prairie Fire,” a manifesto of the radical Weather Underground.
“I intend to vote against conferring the honorific title of our university to a man whose body of work includes a book dedicated in part to the man who murdered my father, Robert F. Kennedy. There can be no place in a democracy to celebrate political assassinations or to honor those who do so.”
After the meeting, several trustees said they would rather not comment on the vote out of respect to Kennedy.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/education/2010-09-23/emeritus-status-ayers-denied.html
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We Conservatives Use Our Lizard Brains;

The Huffington Post writes: There is a new book out called Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. The authors write about how people make choices and decisions about their health, their money and their happiness. They talk about the two systems of the brain that people use -- the automatic brain, which harkens back to the more primitive lizard brain, and the reflective more rational part of their brain. They note that voters often react with the automatic lizard response to political choices. They even say "How can people be simultaneously so smart and so dumb?" Why do they act against their own self interest? They do it because they are not thinking with their rational brain, they are making off the cuff, instant judgments about people and policies, often without even realizing that they swallowed the sound bite whole. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-bergthold/the-war-of-the-lizard-bra_b_125226.html
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From Glenn Beck's "The Blaze":  As the intellectual Left struggles to understand why the majority of the country is standing athwart the Obama administration’s signature attempts at “fundamental transformation,” they’ve apparently agreed on one thing: we’ve all got lizard brains.
It turns out, according to people such as President Barack Obama and liberal media magnate Arianna Huffington, that many people are acting so irrationally because their brains are not fully developed and in times of uncertainty, we revert back to this “reptilian” way of thinking. (It couldn’t have anything to do with people actually disagreeing with them…)
During a recent appearance on The View, the president himself used this elitist line of thinking to try and explain the apparent rampant racism present in today’s society:
More recently, Huffington yesterday warned of the dangers of “lizard brains” in today’s electoral politics, blaming them for people’s so-called irrational support of Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell:
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Gather your armies ad:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iQ7ZDUutU4&feature=player_embedded
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[Do you recall Barack Obama campaigning for the Presidency while repeatedly saying that "Bush's" war in Iraq was the wrong war?  He opined that Afghanistan is the important war that we must not lose?  So do I.  So here he is saying that he is not looking for a strategy for victory, but instead an exit strategy.]  From the NYT:  A new book, “Obama’s Wars,” by the journalist Bob Woodward, depicts an administration deeply torn over the war in Afghanistan even as the president agreed to triple troop levels there amid suspicion that he was being boxed in by the military. Mr. Obama’s top White House adviser on Afghanistan and his special envoy for the region are described as believing the strategy will not work.
The president concluded from the start that “I have two years with the public on this” and pressed advisers for ways to avoid a big escalation, the book says. “I want an exit strategy,” he implored at one meeting. Privately, he told Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to push his alternative strategy opposing a big troop buildup in meetings, and while Mr. Obama ultimately rejected it, he set a withdrawal timetable because, “I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party.”  [While I have no argument with an exit strategy, it should be following a victory.  Being reelected should not be the rationale for decisions on war.]  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/world/asia/22policy.html?_r=1
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Politico writes: President Barack Obama was heckled multiple times during his speech at a Democratic fundraiser in one of the country’s most Democratic cities.
Demonstrators held signs that said “Broken Promises” and interrupted his speech to protest AIDS funding and the stalled repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy banning gays from serving openly in the military that Obama has promised to lift.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42585.html#ixzz10MDWUYp7

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American Spectator writes: The CBS affiliate in Denver reports that the Census Bureau paid about $100,000 in airfare, meals and hotel for 140 of its administrators in the West to gather at a Las Vegas luxury hotel to confer on "lessons learned." Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican, saw it differently:
"It's impossible to argue this without saying these folks took a vacation and they took it at taxpayer expense.... I mean I think it's the equivalent of theft," said Coffman, who insisted the Census Bureau could have saved taxpayers money by gathering the same information from administrators by conducting online and written surveys, phone conferencing and a host of other data-gathering methods that would not involve congregating in Las Vegas.  [$100,000 here, $100,000 there - pretty soon it adds up.  All the while we the people are told by Obama that times are tough (except for him).  At least he gave a little back to Vegas, a city whose economy took a nosedive following Obama's castigation of those who would go there for a meeting.]  http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/22/census-party-time-in-vegas
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Barack Obama famously said: "I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking."

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2010/09/23/elizabeth-warren-first-amendment-right-scares-me-needs-dialing-bac#ixzz10MLaRjR3

Unintended Health Care Bill Consequences; Obama Loses His Magic

From the LA Times: Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others say they will make the move as soon as Thursday when parts of the new healthcare law take effect. They cite potentially huge and unexpected costs for insuring children.

Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.
Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories.
The action will apply only to new coverage sought for children and not to existing child-only plans, family policies or insurance provided to youngsters through their parents' employers. An estimated 80,000 California children currently without insurance — and as many as 500,000 nationwide — would be affected, according to experts.
Insurers said they were acting because the new federal requirement could create huge and unexpected costs for covering children. They said the rule might prompt parents to buy policies only after their kids became sick, producing a glut of ill youngsters to insure. As a result, they said, many companies would flee the marketplace, leaving behind a handful to shoulder a huge financial burden.  [Welcome to the real world of unintended consequences.]  http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-kids-health-insurance-20100921,0,799167.story
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This, from a President Bush detractor:  In 20 months, Barack Obama has outbottomed W.  His 75 percent approval rating is barely 40. Like “stimulus,” “health care” is such a dirty word the Left dare not proclaim its name. A Rasmussen poll asks Ohio who it wished were president: Shockingly, W. beats Obama, 52-44 percent. One cause is policy. Another: Increasingly, Obama seems cheap in a rude and snarky way.

Think of Obama as Eddie Haskell Goes to Washington: TV’s “Leave it to Beaver” late 1950s and early ’60s essence of narcissism gone mad. Despite his toxic waste, Bush could be gracious: honoring Ted Kennedy, preaching tolerance, treating critics civilly. By contrast, Obama has become an MSNBC caricature: a hip, glib and graceless man.

Obama ridicules Nancy Reagan’s “seances,” calls Winston Churchill a drunk and terms tanned Republican leader John Boehner’s “color not found in the natural world.” He or aides insult “lost souls ... liars ... narrow-minded nut jobs” for “spewing misinformation” — actually, for noting that non-“recovery summer” has begot a winter of our discontent.

Like Eddie Haskell, Obama cries wolf, saying health care would slash cost while bulging coverage. Both blame others — here, the GOP — except that, controlling nothing, how can it be to blame? Each always comes back to them, as in Obama’s Labor Day diatribe. “They talk about me like a dog.” “If I said fish live in the sea, they’d say no.” “Their slogan is ‘No we can’t. Nope, no, no, no.’” A juvenile delinquent would sound more mature.
What a contrast. Nixon hailed a predecessor whose war enormously complicated his presidency. Obama can’t praise a predecessor responsible for his presidency’s signal triumph. Perhaps one day we will again have a president who is also an adult.

Radical. Uberpartisan. Self-absorbed. Each describes a man whose “change we can believe in” now seems more farce than hope. Like Eddie Haskell, though, the word most applicable is “small.” If grace determined a person’s height, Obama would be 2-feet tall.http://www.uticaod.com/opinion/x1547939079/Eddie-Haskell-goes-to-Washington
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A GOP video ad; YouCut Wants Federal Employees to Pay Their $1 Billion in Taxes Due; Thursday's Announcement of What Republicans Will Do If Elected; Obama "Invests In America" TV Conversation

http://minx.cc/?post=304681  What a great ad this one is, from the GOP!  Be sure to watch it.
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From Eric Cantor: The current Speaker [of the House], Nancy Pelosi, is now considering raising taxes on American families and small businesses, many of which are already struggling to pay the bills. While she is talking about raising your taxes, over 97,000 government employees haven't even bothered to pay theirs - owing almost $1 billion in unpaid taxes.
This is simply unacceptable and the YouCut movement spoke out - this week's winning item, championed by Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, requires the collection of unpaid taxes from federal employees.

We brought your voice to the House floor - every Republican voted with you to hold these government employees accountable just like every other citizen. Unfortunately, 226 of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted against it; proving once again how out of touch with the American people they really are. Eric Cantor House Republican Whip
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From Politicl Ticker: Washington (CNN) – House Republicans plan to unveil what amounts to a campaign blueprint on Thursday in suburban Virginia, GOP sources have told CNN.
The much anticipated announcement comes after a nearly three-month-long listening session with the public online and through town hall meetings, dubbed "America Speaking Out," and is intended to show that House Republicans would have a governing agenda if rewarded with majority control in the congressional elections on November 2.
Many GOP strategists call such an agenda - like the 1994 Contract with America - a critical missing ingredient for Republicans this election season to help give voters a reason to vote for GOP lawmakers, not just against Democrats. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/20/house-gop-to-unveil-agenda-thursday/
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The NYT writes: WASHINGTON — It was billed as “Investing in America,” a live televised conversation on the state of the economy between President Obama and American workers, students, business people and retirees, a kind of Wall Street to Main Street reality check.  But it sounded like a therapy session for disillusioned Obama supporters.
People from Main Street wanted to know if the American dream still lived for them. People on Wall Street complained that he was treating them like a piñata, “whacking us with a stick,” in the words of Anthony Scaramucci, a former law school classmate of Mr. Obama’s who now runs a hedge fund and was one of the president’s questioners.
"I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for,” said the first questioner, an African-American woman who identified herself as a chief financial officer, a mother and a military veteran. “I’ve been told that I voted for a man who was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class and I’m waiting sir, I’m waiting. I still don’t feel it yet.”

“I was really inspired by you and your campaign and the message you brought, and that inspiration is dying away,” one man said, adding, “And I really want to know, is the American dream dead for me?”
“The challenge for the Tea Party movement is to identify specifically: What would you do?” the president said. “It’s not enough to say get control of spending. I think it’s important for you to say, ‘I’m willing to cut veterans benefits, or I’m willing to cut Medicare or Social Security, or I’m willing to see taxes go up.’ ”  [This begs the question:  why didn't you, Mr. President tell us specifically what your "fundamental transformation" of America would have you do to our country?] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21obama.html?_r=1&ref=us
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Constitution Day; Governement to Determine Our Household Appliances; Democrat Ad Against Tea Parties; Outreach to Palestine; Insulting Christianity OK (Islam? Not So Much); President Takes Creator Out of Declaration of Independence

Readers:  Following each item which is selectively quoted is the web address for the entire article.

   ANAHEIM HILLS – The Cookie Monster was busted. SpongeBob Squarepants, jailed without trial. And some ninja turtles were facing prison after police found them loaded down with weapons.
Fortunately for all of them, they had the U.S. Constitution on their side – as hundreds of school children learned Friday.
Anaheim Hills-area schools celebrated Constitution Day on Friday with skits that brought each article and ten amendments to life – in terms that any fifth grader could understand. It was a lot more fun than the stale textbook entries of old, and teachers said it works: Social-studies test scores, they said, have risen in the schools that participate.
Since 2005, the federal government has required any school that receives federal funding to teach the Constitution on Sept. 17. That was the day in 1787 when 39 delegates and a secretary scratched their names onto the original, making the Constitution law.
"It's how we ended up today," said William Klos, 11, of Anaheim Hills. "The Constitution has all the rights and laws on it, and what you should do and shouldn't do."   http://www.ocregister.com/news/constitution-267015-school-day.html
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Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Energy has a “mandate” to issue regulations to determine what household appliances are available to Americans in the future.Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the recently reestablished Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), Zoi pointed to four tactics the Obama administration intended use to advance the “deployment of clean energy.” The first three were government subsidies for private-sector green energy projects, special tax incentives for green energy projects and low-interest government-backed loans for green energy projects.
“The fourth one, which the secretary and I love,” said Zoi, “is where we have a mandate. Where we can actually just issue regulations and do market transformation.” http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/75469
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WASHINGTON — President Obama’s political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a range of ideas, including national advertisements, to cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said.  “We need to get out the message that it’s now really dangerous to re-empower the Republican Party,” said one Democratic strategist who has spoken with White House advisers but requested anonymity to discuss private strategy talks. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/us/politics/20dems.html?_r=1
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The Tea Party victories of last week have clearly revealed the movement for what it actually is: not a tantrum, not a voter mutiny, not a short-term insurrection, but something never actually seen before in this country -- it is a counter-revolutionBut such speculation, I think, misses the point, which is this: the Tea Party tsunami is knocking down every obstacle in its way, no matter if it's Republican or Democrat. If there were Whigs or Ghibellines running, they'd be dropping too. The Tea Parties are a political phenomenon the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes, one that occurs once every century or so. It is exhilarating to witness. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/09/the_counterrevolution_has_begu.html
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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Bush administration said it was prepared to absorb 100,000 Palestinian refugees if a peace deal was reached, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday, Israeli media reported. Speaking at a Geneva Initiative conference in Tel Aviv, Olmert said during negotiations under his premiership with President Mahmoud Abbas that he had offered a solution that would have been in line with the Arab league Peace plan, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. He also said former US President George W Bush had offered the immediate recognition of 100,000 Palestinian refugees as American citizens.  http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=316230
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So just to clarify the ground rules, if you insult Christ, the media report the issue as freedom of expression: A healthy society has to have bold, brave, transgressive artists willing to question and challenge our assumptions, etc. But, if it’s Mohammed, the issue is no longer freedom of expression but the need for "respect" and "sensitivity" toward Islam, and all those bold brave transgressive artists don’t have a thing to say about it.

More importantly, the logic of Breyer's halfwit intervention is to incentivize violence, and undermine law itself. What he seems to be telling the world is that Americans' constitutional rights will bend to intimidation. If Koran-burning rates a First Amendment exemption because Muslims are willing to kill over it, maybe Catholics should threaten to kill over the next gay-Jesus play, and Broadway could have its First Amendment rights reined in. Maybe the next time Janeane Garafolo goes on MSNBC and calls Obama's opponents racists, the Tea Partiers should rampage around town and NBC's free-speech rights would be withdrawn.

Meanwhile, in smaller ways, Islamic intimidation continues.
Now Molly Norris, an American citizen, is forced into hiding because she exercised her right to free speech. Will President Obama say a word on her behalf? Does he believe in the First Amendment for anyone other than Muslims?  Thank you to everyone at the Danish Free Press Society who helped make my trip to Copenhagen such fun http://www.steynonline.com/
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The most famous words in the Declaration of Independence — and almost surely the most famous words ever written by an American — read, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

On Friday evening, when President Obama addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, he quoted that passage as follows (on the clip at 22:30):  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal [pause], endowed with certain unalienable rights:  life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

In Obama’s version, there is no “Creator.”

Only two plausible explanations spring to mind.  One is that President Obama isn’t very familiar with the most famous passage in the document that founded this nation; that even when plainly reading from a teleprompter, he wasn’t able to quote it correctly.  The other is that President Obama doesn’t subscribe to the Declaration’s rather central claim that our rights come from our “Creator” (also referred to in the Declaration as “Nature’s God” and “the Supreme Judge of the World”). http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/does-president-obama-think-our-rights-come-our-creator
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At the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing last Thursday, Democrats passed a bill to require federal health officials to question anyone seeking services from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) community health centers or other programs about their sexual orientation and “gender identity.” Introduced by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), H.R. 6109 requires HHS to obtain, retain and analyze sexual identity information from patients who seek healthcare, including children. “This bill is about collecting data, no more, no less,” Baldwin said. According to Baldwin, the current “lack of cultural competency” among federal officials http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39076