Saturday, March 5, 2011

Shari'a in America Called For; Talk Show Host Fired Over Radical Islam Warning; Presidential Elegibility Assurance Acts; Radicalizing NY Students and Who is Van Jones?; Texas May Enact Law Outlawing Whole-body Imaging; Texas Deportation Not For Workers at Homes;

The Blaze reports: Choudary states, concerning the planned protest in Washington for this past Thursday: “In light of the fact that many people have given us advice from the Muslim community, both in Britain and in America, and from our scholars like Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed and others, that it is better to postpone the call for the Sharia in Washington, outside of the White House today, we will be postponing the protest outside the White House.” Choudary said in the almost 15-minute video.
Still, Choudary didn’t back down from his message, saying that “the call for the Shariah is a universal one and it must be implemented immediately wherever we are in the world”: Choudary said the Shariah4America could be rescheduled in the future once “more Muslims” come together and create an “even bigger push” for Shariah law to be implemented in America and throughout the world. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/radical-muslim-cleric-postpones-shariah-d-c-rally/
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AIM reveals: Fred Grandy, a former actor and Republican member of Congress, told AIM, [concerning his being fired from his radio talk show], “My wife and I have used our program over the last several months to warn about the spread of radical Islam at home and abroad. Last week, Catherine (known on the show as Mrs. Fred) delivered a very tough indictment against stealth jihad, and for her efforts she was told she was off the show. I then told management without Mrs. Fred at the microphone, I could not remain either and have resigned effective this morning.”
Grandy told AIM, “We cannot affirmatively conclude CAIR or any of the prominent Islamic organizations had anything to do with this. We do know, however, in 2005 representatives of CAIR in DC were successful in getting midmorning host Michael Graham fired for anti-Islamic statements he had made on the radio and TV.”
Graham was fired from WMAL after describing Islam as a “terrorist organization” on his program and refusing to apologize or modify the description.
James Lafferty of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force, who insists that Grandy was “forced to walk away” from his program after the banning of his wife from the show, blames the controversy on CAIR. “CAIR frequently criticized Grandy for reading FBI reports and court documents on his radio show which labeled CAIR as ‘an unindicted co-conspirator’ in the federal Holy Land Foundation terror finance trial,” Lafferty said. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/did-muslim-lobby-force-firing-of-popular-radio-host/
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World Net Daily writes: A long list of state lawmakers are marching forward on a number of legislative fronts to ensure candidates for president on their election ballots are eligible to hold the office.
But state Rep. Mark Hatfield, R-Ga., is taking it one step further with his proposed eligibility requirement – making it illegal for an elector to cast a ballot for an unapproved candidate.
The state's Presidential Eligibility Assurance Act would specify, "It is unlawful for any presidential elector from this state to cast his or her electoral college vote for a candidate who is not approved by the Secretary of State as having submitted adequate evidence of eligibility. Any person who violates this Code section shall upon conviction be guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature."
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Who is Van Jones (whose curriculum for radical educations is now in the New York State schools? His agenda was discussed in yesterday's blog, and as per various websites and columns: 
Green Jobs Czar: Van Jones, an Apollo board member, was Special Advisor for Green Jobs,
Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Some time
ago, while he was in prison he wrote: “I met all these young radical people of color — I mean
really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’ I
spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a
revolutionary".

He is a man who proclaimed himself to be a "communist" in the 1990s and signed 9/11 "truther"
petitions suggesting Bush administration complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks. Standing Together
to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), the revolutionary group formed by self-
described "communist" and "rowdy black nationalist" Van Jones, held a vigil in Oakland,
California, "mourning the victims of U.S. imperialism around the world" on the day after 9/
11 and was now to be part of the Obama administration's push to turn Sept. 11 into a National
Day of Service focused on the promotion of the radical environmentalist agenda. Jones has
proclaimed publicly that whites are purposely poisoning minority neighborhoods. Jones
said, "The white polluters and the white environmentalists are essentially steering poison into the
people of color communities."

Explaining his job as Green Czar, he said, "We're going to change the whole system! We're
going to change the whole thing. We want a new system. We want a new system." This
statement is especially troubling coming from a self-avowed communist radical with extensive
ties to other communist revolutionaries.
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Lone Star Report writes: The bill, HB 1938, makes it a civil penalty for anyone working in a locally owned airport to install or operate whole-body imaging equipment -- "including a device that uses backscatter x-rays or millimeter waves, that creates a visual image of a person's unclothed body and is intended to detect concealed objects," the bill read.
The penalty is capped at $1,000 per day per violation.
The bill is supported by the Travis County Republican Party, the Travis County Libertarian Party, ACLU-Texas, and Austin-based Texans for Accountable Government which pushed for a city of Austin resolution against the scanners.  Simpson may also have the backing of U.S. Congressman John Carter of Texas, a member of the U.S. House Appropriations and Homeland Security committees. http://www.lonestarreport.org/Blog/tabid/65/EntryId/1022/Simpson-files-anti-body-scanner-bill.aspx
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ABC News reports: Undocumented nannies, housekeepers or lawn caretakers in the state of Texas can perhaps breathe easier about deportation. While new legislation in the Texas House of Representatives would make it a state crime to hire undocumented workers, it excludes those employed in single-family households -- in other words, them. States across the country, including Georgia and Oklahoma, where the legislatures debated immigration bills this week, have been mulling controversial Arizona-style immigration laws.Thirty-seven states are considering tougher immigration bills, with multiple bills pending in some states. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/immigration-wars-texas-georgia-oklahoma-arizona-style-laws/story?id=13050716
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Friday, March 4, 2011

Outrages Abound: Uber-Radical Van Jones and His NY State Public School Curriculum; Northwestern's Sex Seminars; Americans Own All Jobs?; Wisconsin Scofflaws; $48Billion Fraudulent Medicare Claims; $1.5 Trillion More in Pension Payouts Than Touted; Wisconsin Capitol Protesters Did $7.5 Million in Damage; Secretary of Labor Not for All Americans, Just Union Members

[Media Matters reports on Uber radical Van Jones, whose curriculum is now in NY states' schools - designed by the AFL-CIO.  It most definitely is aiding in the radicalization of public school students, and teaching to them the Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals.  I have for years stated that the radical nature of America had its beginnings in public school curricula from the past many decades.
The curriculum asks students,not how do we aid police in doing their jobs, but: Do you really think the police are protecting you?
Being touted is the Universal declaration of human rights from the UN]:  http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=rights
http://mediamatters.org/research/201103040001
Last Friday, December 10, over 1,000 New York students took part in the inaugural webcast of the “Speak Truth to Power” curriculum distributed by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and New York State United Teachers.
As stated by them: After this lesson, students will be able to:
  • Know who Van Jones is and why he is a human rights defender.
  • Understand the issue of police brutality within the U.S. and internationally.
  • Understand the impact media has in advancing a position or perspective on an issue.
  • Understand the connection between policies and financing policy positions.
  • Examine the roles of oppression and repression and police brutality.
STUDENT SKILLS:
  • Drawing inferences
  • Making conclusions
  • Researching, organizing and interpreting information
  • Inquiry and critical thinking
  • Group discussion
MATERIALS:
  • Interview with Van Jones from Speak Truth to Power: http://blogs.nysut.org/sttp/defenders/van-jones/
  • Lessons from a Killing by Van Jones, on his website: http://brasscheck.com/cm/jones.html  [This describes the terrible event of a policeman who thought he was pulling his taser, and then accidentally shot the suspect with his gun.  Now Van Jones and others believe our policeman should do their jobs with no guns allowed.]
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  • The UK Guardian writes: The public looks to the police for protection, yet if a trained law enforcement officer cannot even tell the difference between a Taser and a gun, what hope for protection is there? Perhaps without guns, police would have to be more creative and rigorous when it comes to getting their jobs done. At least this way, we'd have less cases of police firing now and apologising later. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/09/oscar-grant-shooting-us-police
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  • The Chicago Sun Times reports:  More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school’s popular “Human Sexuality” class.
  • The woman said she showed up at the Feb. 21 lecture in the Ryan Family Auditorium in Evanston expecting just to answer questions, but was game to demonstrate. The course’s professor on Wednesday acknowledged some initial hesitation, but said student feedback was “uniformly positive.”
    And Northwestern defended the class and its professor.
    The optional, non-credit demo followed psychology Prof. John Michael Bailey’s sexuality class. Nearly 600 students are in Bailey’s class this quarter, and most didn’t stick around for the after-class show, which featured four members of Chicago’s fetish community describing “BDSM,” or bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism. Faith Kroll, the woman who stripped, was laying down on a towel when she was penetrated. When she arrived, she thought she just would be answering students’ questions and showing off sex toys they brought, including whips, paddles and a clown wig.
    for open minded grown-ups, not for . 
  • “It’s really scary for young people who want to get involved in the BDSM community who don’t understand issues regarding consent and safety,” he said.  
  • Melvoin-Berg said the sex toy used was BDSM, but was “not like a pain thing...we wanted to make it poignant.”
    “I did mention this was going to be the best money their parents had spent on their education,” he said. 
    He described Northwestern students as those "who have demonstrated that they are open-minded grown ups rather than fragile children.” 
  • [Other topics: gay men taking about their sex lives and networking for kinky people. Do you ever ponder about the degradation of our values in America?] 
  • http://www.suntimes.com/4099633-522/northwestern-university-defends-after-class-live-sex-demonstration.html
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  • The Blaze reveals: Michael Moore, he who is suing the studio which produced his movie 9/11 for more money, was on  Grit TV recently, saying : America is not broke.  Our vast monies are concentrated in a few people, and they are not circulating that cash, as in banks. It's not theirs, its a national resource, and we all benefit by it, or we all suffer. We need to tax them at a proper rate. We own those jobs.....!
  • http://www.theblaze.com/stories/really-rich-dude-michael-moore-says-wealthy-americans-money-is-not-theirs-its-ours-a-national-resource-we-need-to-take-it-from-them/
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  • WTMJ News reports: The Wisconsin State Senate has approved a resolution that would set a deadline of 4:00 p.m. Thursday for Wisconsin's 14 Democratic state senators to return to Senate chambers.

    If they do not, they would be held guilty in contempt of the Senate. They would also be guilty of disorderly conduct.
    TODAY"S TMJ4's Mick Trevey says law enforcement could go out with a warrant and detain them, possibly with the use of force.
  • "We hand them over ideas, and they come back us with handcuffs," said Erpenbach to Newsradio 620 WTMJ.
    "It's abysmal.  It's a desperate attempt...to scare us back to Wisconsin, and it simply won't work," said his colleague, Milwaukee Democratic Senator on TODAY'S TMJ4's "Live at Noon."  As of early Thursday afternoon, there was no authorization for law enforcement to go to other states.  http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/117325873.html
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    The Weekly Standard reports: In a newly released report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that, in fiscal year 2010, $48 billion in taxpayer money was squandered on fraudulent or improper Medicare claims. Meanwhile, the nation’s ten largest health insurance companies made combined profits of $12.7 billion in 2010 (according to Fortune 500). In other words, for every $1 made by the nation’s ten largest insurers, Medicare lost nearly $4.
    This is sobering news for the minority of Americans who (for some reason) continue to think that government-run health care is a model of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/medicare-loses-nearly-four-times-much-money-health-insurers-make_552860.html
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    The Washington Post writes: The pension funds for state and local workers in the United States are understating the amount they will owe workers by $1.5 trillion or more, according to some economists who have studied the issue, meaning that the benefits are much costlier than many governments and taxpayers previously believed.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/03/AR2011030302918.html?hpid=topnews
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    T
    he Local Fox News reports: Pro-union protesters who had been camping out at the Wisconsin Capitol for 17 days vacated the building peacefully late Thursday after a judge ordered the building closed at night but ruled the state was wrong to restrict access to the building during the day.  [We also learn that about $7.5 million of damage was done to the Capitol floors and walls by the protesters and their signs taped to the limestone walls. They'll be back...]
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7456267.htmlhttp://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-20110303-capitol-cleanup-costs,0,5141893.story 
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    The Washington Examiner opines: Here's the key passage from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis' remarks at the DNC on public employee protests in Wisconsin and Ohio that points to her fractured understanding of whom she represents: "The fight is on. We work together. We help those embattled states right now where public employees are under assault." She called members of the protesting public employee unions "our brothers and sisters" and pledged to help them against Republican Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio. With those remarks, Solis effectively put the federal government in the de facto position of aiding protesters opposing governors doing what they were elected to do less than five months ago.
    As The Washington Examiner's Byron York pointed out Monday, the Labor Department's mission statement says it is supposed to "foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States." There is nothing in the statement about taking the union side in collective bargaining conflicts, much less about deploying her department's 17,000-plus civil servants for or against either side in any labor-management compensation dispute, much less one between a sovereign state and its workers.




Thursday, March 3, 2011

Judge Orders Administration to Seek Expedited Appellate Review of Obamacare Within Week

A federal judge in Florida on Thursday refused to order the Obama administration to stop implementing its far-reaching healthcare law, a small victory for President Barack Obama in his high-stakes effort to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.
But U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ordered the administration to seek an expedited appellate review within the next week of his January 31 ruling that favored arguments by 26 states that the law's requirement that Americans buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty was unconstitutional. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110303/hl_nm/us_usa_healthcare_states_1

How to Destroy America; Chevy Volt; Eric Holder and "His People"; Gun Owners to be Revealed in Illinois?; Arizona Congressman Could Favor Impeachment of Obama; Wisconsin Senate Slackers to Face Fines; American Money Refurbishes Foreign Mosques; State Department's Hillary Clinton Asks for TV Network in Order to Indoctrinate Americans

Snopes reports that it is true that former Colorado Democrat Governor, Richard Lamm,  gave this speech in 2005, listing principals which would destroy America:

'First, to destroy America , turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country... 

'Second, to destroy America, invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture.


'Third, we could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec ' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. 

'Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. 

'My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' 

'My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity

'Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits. Make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' 

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, 'Lastly, I would censor Victor [David Hanson's] book 'Mexifornia.' His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America.  If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book.'  [Each plan is developed well at the website.]  http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/lamm.asp

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The Detroit News writes: Consumer Reports offered a harsh initial review of the Chevrolet Volt, questioning whether General Motors Co.'s flagship vehicle makes economic "sense."The extended-range plug-in electric vehicle is on the cover of the April issue — the influential magazine's annual survey of vehicles — but the GM vehicle comes in for criticism.
"When you are looking at purely dollars and cents, it doesn't really make a lot of sense. The Volt isn't particularly efficient as an electric vehicle and it's not particularly good as a gas vehicle either in terms of fuel economy," said David Champion, the senior director of Consumer Reports auto testing center at a meeting with reporters here. "This is going to be a tough sell to the average consumer."

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110228/AUTO01/102280401/Consumer-Reports--GM’s-Volt-‘doesn’t-really-make-a-lot-of-sense’#ixzz1FLrt4Xcl
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The Blaze.com wrote: Continuing to face down questions as to why the U.S. Justice Department went easy on prosecuting members of the New Black Panther Party who stood armed with nightsticks outside a Philadelphia polling location during the 2008 presidential election, Attorney General Eric Holder expressed his personal frustration over the criticism that race played a role  “Think about that,” Holder fired back. “When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, to compare what people subjected to that with what happened in Philadelphia, which was inappropriate….to describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line for my people,” said Holder, an African American.  [And just who are "his people"?  Are they all Americans, those who agree with him politically, or "his" fellow black people, or fellow Black Liberation Theologists, or fellow Black Panthers? I believe only he was attempting to make a comparison to the 60's.  Let us get this straight, with this kind of logic - if someone were to commit rape, for instance, he would not try that person because compared to murder, it is not a big deal?] http://www.theblaze.com/stories/holder-focus-on-black-panther-case-demeans-my-people/
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The Chicago Tribune reveals: A plan to prevent releasing the names of those authorized to have guns in Illinois stalled Wednesday, despite gun owners' burgeoning concern over privacy and safety prompted by the attorney general's opinion that the information is public record.
Anti-violence groups countered that releasing the information is important to keep government accountable.
Madigan's office ruled Monday night, in response to a public records request from The Associated Press, that the list of FOID cardholders is public record and must be disclosed. The permit holders' addresses and telephone numbers would remain private. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-gunowners-disclos,0,5686959.story
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World Net Daily writes: A Republican congressman, Trent Franks of Arizona,  has told a left-leaning blog that if there is collective support, he would favor the impeachment of Barack Obama over his decision to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
The author explains that the Founding Fathers enshrined the impeachment clause into the United States Constitution because they feared that a president intent on subverting the very principles upon which the American experiment was built would someday rise to power.
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WTMJ News reveals: The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago will now face fines of $100 for each day they miss, if they miss two or more days [beginning only today]. Republicans remaining in the Senate approved the daily fine on Wednesday morning with none of the Democrats present.
The resolution passed on Wednesday also requires the missing Democrats to reimburse the Senate for any costs incurred during attempts to force them to return. Their salary and other per diem payments can be withheld until they pay back the penalties and costs.

Republicans have already withheld the checks of missing Democrats from direct deposit and denied access to copying machines for their staff.
According to TODAY'S TMJ4's Mick Trevey, there are punishments incorporated into the resolution which would allow for the removal of offices from senators, to downsize their offices, to take away spending capabilities for their offices for photocopies and office supplies, even to changing the way the staffs are run. http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/117248828.html
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The Washington Times opines: Americans also may be surprised to learn that the United States has been an active participant [with hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars] in mosque construction projects overseas. Last April, U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso E. Lenhardt helped cut the ribbon at the 12th-century Kizimkazi Mosque, which was refurbished with assistance from the United States under a program to preserve culturally significant buildings. The U.S. government also helped save the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque in Cairo, which dates back to 642.  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/10/tax-dollars-to-build-mosques/
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Newsbusters reveals: Hillary Clinton spent the morning on C-Span defending the State Department’s need for funding, because she feels private media in the U.S. has fallen woefully behind the likes of Al-Jazeera, the Chinese, and Russia. Via Business Insider, Clinton said:"Al Jazeera is winning. The Chinese have opened up a global English language and multi-language television network, the Russians have opened up an English language network. I've seen it in a couple of countries and it's quite instructive."Has she watched MSNBC or CNN lately?
  

Al Jazeera has been the leader in that [they] are literally changing people’s minds and attitudes. And like it or hate it, it is really effective,” she said.  [So - is she advocating here that a government news station be funded so as to indoctrinate the minds of Americans toward government's beliefs?]
“In fact viewership of al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it’s real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you’re getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners,” she added. [I hadn't realized that our news stations should be programming in order to inform foreigners in the first place.]
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Islamic Justice; Gaddafi Considers Obama a Blessing to the Muslim World; Wind Generators On Hot Days; UN Human Rights Council Was Set to Adopt a Report Hailing Libya's Human Rights Record; Missouri and Illegal Immigrants; an Email on Budget Cuts; GAO Divulges Government Waste

Powerline writes: Four men launched a horrific attack on a teacher in which they slashed his face and left him with a fractured skull because they did not approve of him teaching religion to Muslim girls.
Akmol Hussein, 26, Sheikh Rashid, 27, Azad Hussain, 25, and Simon Alam, 19, attacked [the teacher] with a Stanley knife, an iron rod and a block of cement.
Detectives made secret recordings of the gang's plot to attack Mr Smith prior to the brutal assault.
The covert audio probe captured the gang condemning Mr Smith for 'teaching other religions to our sisters', the court heard.
Yes, well: at risk of seeming rude, if the authorities were eavesdropping on the Muslim terrorists and knew that they intended to attack Mr. Smith, why didn't they do anything? Apparently the terrorists succeeded on their third try. So where were the police?
Nature abhors a vacuum, and Sharia will fill it if law enforcement authorities are so inept that they are unable to protect law-abiding citizens from threatened violence.  http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/02/028430.php
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Ynetnews.com writes: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi considers the US president a blessing to the Muslim world. In a speech published in London-based al-Hayat newspaper on Saturday, Gaddafi praised Barack Obama, called him a "friend" and said there is no longer any dispute between his country and the US.

Speaking in the Libyan city of Sirt at an event marking the 24th anniversary of an American attack on Libya, he said, "At the time, we were the target of the American cannon, the American navy challenged us in the gulf of Sirt and attacked us all along Libya's shores. America tested Libya, and the Libyan people resisted the large country, but today, thank God, the difference is great."  

He said, "Now, ruling America is a black man from our continent, an African from Arab descent, from Muslim descent, and this is something we never imagined – that from Reagan we would get to Barakeh Obama."
Gaddafi stressed that Obama's presidency is "a major historical gain" and said, "He is someone I consider a friend. He knows he is a son of Africa. Regardless of his African belonging, he is of Arab Sudanese descent, or of Muslim descent. He is a man whose policy should be supported, and he should be assisted in implementing it in any way possible, since he is now leaning towards peace." 
Despite the warm sentiments towards the American leader, he stressed, "The Arabs hate America, there is no doubt. There is not an Arab that loves America, and even the leaders who the United States considers allies or friends – hate it. The external love is merely hypocrisy or pragmatism. The reason for this is clear – Palestine." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877174,00.html
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A recent article in Slate by Robert Bryce describes how Texas has more wind generator capacity than any other state — around 9,700 megawatts. But last August, when state electricity demand set a one-day record of 63,494 megawatts, all those windmills contributed just 500 megawatts, or about 5 percent of their rated capacity.
Apparently, the hottest days in Texas have something in common with those in Michigan —they’re usually not very windy. What’s more, the entity that operates the state’s electricity grid determined that on a year-round basis, all those spinning turbine blades are expected to contribute just 8.7 percent of their rated capacity.
Nevertheless, Texas families are now paying $4 more for electricity every month for a network of power lines connecting those distant rural wind turbines to where most people live.  http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14539
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Although yesterday Libya was dropped from the Council, according to Canada.com: The UN Human Rights Council is set to adopt a major report hailing Libya's human rights record -- despite moving to suspend the Arab country's council membership amid an international outcry over attacks on civilians.
The report shows countries applauding and commending Libya as they note "with appreciation the country's commitment to upholding human rights on the ground."
Even Canada "welcomed improvements" Libya made "in its respect for human rights," according to the report, which is scheduled for a vote before the Geneva-based 47-member council March 18. But the Canadian government also made several critically framed recommendations to the Gadhafi regime, including one calling for reinforced measures aimed at fully investigating torture claims.
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The following appeared in the Ozark Sentinel's May 13 issue and is written by State Representative Nita Jane Ayres: In 2007, the Missouri General Assembly approved HJR 7 to place on the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment designating English as the official language of Missouri. Voters then went to the polls and approved the measure with nearly 90 percent voting in favor. With that, English became the official language for all governmental proceedings in Missouri. It also means no individual has the right to demand government services in a language other than English. A common language is the cornerstone of a cohesive and united state and country. Ensuring that English is our official language is simply common sense.
Another measure that directly addresses the issue of illegal immigration was passed in 2008. HB 1549 requires our Highway Patrol and other law enforcement officials to verify the immigration status of any person arrested, and inform federal authorities if the person is found to be here illegally. It also allows Missouri law enforcement officers to receive training to enforce federal immigration laws. Furthermore, the bill makes it clear that illegal immigrants will not have access to taxpayer benefits such as food stamps and health care through MO HealthNet.  2009 saw another significant piece of legislation passed dealing with illegal immigration. HB 390 ensures Missouri’s public institutions of higher education do not award financial aid to individuals who are here illegally.   http://ozarkssentinel.com/missouri-ahead-of-the-game-in-dealing-with-illegal-immigrants-p1034-145.htm
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Quoting a popular email making the circuit: The President ordered the cabinet to cut a whopping $100 million from the $3.5 trillion federal budget.

I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same thing with my personal budget. I spend about $4,000 a month on groceries, medicine, bills, etc. etc., and now  it's time to get out my budget cutting axe, go line by line through my expenses, and get to work.

I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio as the President - 1/35,000 of my total budget. After doing the math, it looks like instead of spending $4,000 a month; I'm going to have to cut that number downward by eleven cents!
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Fox News reports on come of the government waste discovered by the Government Accountability Office [or is it non-accountability?]  The federal government hosts 47 job-training programs, 44 of which overlap. It runs 80 programs for the "transportation disadvantaged." 
Another 82 programs spread across 10 separate agencies endeavor to improve teacher quality -- something hundreds of local school districts are already focused on. 
Similarly, of the 47 job-training programs run out of the federal government, only five could provide an "impact study" since 2004 looking at "outcomes." About half of them provided no performance review at all since 2004. 
The Defense Department takes a number of hits in the report. The GAO found many instances of duplication in the sprawling agency. The use of "urgent need" funds have been expanded, GAO found, with "multiple places for a warfighter to submit" such requests. 
GAO found that the Pentagon has "no tracking mechanism" for these funds, resulting in an estimated $77 billion spent since 2005 on communication and computer technologies, counter-measures for improvised explosive devices and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tools. [You will now hear that draconian cuts such as ones made in these programs will cause 700,000 people to lose their jobs.  That would be especially maddening to Democrats because they will lose their Democrat votes as well as the union dues which help get them elected.]

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Scott Walker, on Obama; Obamas Fly Trainer from Chicago Each Week; Fracking Frights; President Bush and the Convention Against Torture; Changing US Demographics; Rainforests May Become Hazard Instead of Asset to Planet; A Way to Take the Vote in Wisconsin;

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes: Gov. Scott Walker on Monday afternoon responded to comments President Barack Obama made earlier in the day about the protests in Madison:
Walker’s office issued this statement:
“I'm sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I'm sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.
“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.
“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.” http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/117101638.html
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According to Ashley Parker at the New York Times, Obama's fitness czar Cornell McClellan comes out to D.C. every week: [from Chicago....]
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The NYT reports on fracking, a method to be used in Michigan: So energy companies are clamoring to drill. And they are getting rare support from their usual sparring partners. Environmentalists say using natural gas will help slow climate change because it burns more cleanly than coal and oil. Lawmakers hail the gas as a source of jobs. They also see it as a way to wean the United States from its dependency on other countries for oil.
But the relatively new drilling method — known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting huge amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressures to break up rock formations and release the gas.
With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself. The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?emc=eta1
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The Week wrote: "Former President George W. Bush canceled a trip to Switzerland, citing security concerns arising from planned protests.  But international human-rights groups said they had been prepared to indict Bush in Switzerland for approving the torture of detainees by waterboarding and other means..  A case can be filed when Bush travels to any of 147 nations that have signed the Convention Against Torture."  [Anyone who has read the President's recent book will know that he considered the protection of Americans as his top priority, and received affirmation from the Justice Department lawyers that waterboarding was not against the Geneva Convention. Willing to take the blame if his successful methods were later condemned, he ordered only three people to be waterboarded, and they gave up critical information that saved many thousands of American lives.]
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The Week reports from the NTY: Blacks, Asians and Hispanics accounted for 79% of the U.S. population growth between 2000 and 2009, according to Census data.  In 10 states whites are now a minority among people 18 and younger, a harbinger of the future.
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The Week reports: A widespread drought in the Amazon rain forest last year caused the forest to produce more carbon dioxide than it absorbed, according to a study by British and Brazilian scientists.  [This] raises fears that the massive rain forest could accelerate, rather than slow, emissions of heat trapping gases. If events like this happen more often, the Amazon rain forest would reach a point where it shifts from being a valuable carbon sink slowing climate change to a major source of greenhouse gases that could speed it up."
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American Thinker opines: The Republican majority of the Wisconsin State Senate has at hand the tools to end its stalemate now.  The Wisconsin Constitution assigns the state legislature the responsibility of crafting rules and definitions governing how voting is to be conducted, i.e., the mechanics of voting. Article IV, Section 7 empowers 51% of the elected legislators in each house of the Wisconsin legislature to do the following:
  • 1) Define a quorum to include those legislators who have the ability -- if they choose -- to vote absently, either by electronic means or proxy. This would ensure that no citizens are ever deprived of representation in the state legislature even if their representative is in the hospital or out of town; and/or
  • 2) Pass a statute (or legislative rules) that any legislator who refuses or fails to represent his constituents by participating in the deliberations of that body for more than 30 days is to be regarded as having resigned his office. Once again, this would ensure that no citizens are ever deprived of representation in the state legislature even if their representative is in the hospital or out of town or just refuses to show up for work.
  • Such a statute or rule for Wisconsin's legislature would state that so long as a member can reach a telephone and is able to record a vote, that member should be counted as part of a quorum. The act of not voting, that is abstaining, has never been counted against a quorum. It's the ability to cast a vote that is all that has mattered.
    If the 19 Senators who have shown up for work wish to do the people's business, they have the power to do it. It is very plainly given to them in Article IV, Section 7 of their state's constitution. There is nothing in the Wisconsin Constitution to prevent them from doing that immediately.  http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/two_solutions_to_the_wisconsin.html
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    The UK Telegraph opines: The débacle of Washington’s handling of the Libya issue is symbolic of a wider problem at the heart of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. The fact that it took ten days and at least a thousand dead on the streets of Libya’s cities before President Obama finally mustered the courage to call for Muammar “mad dog” Gaddafi to step down is highly embarrassing for the world’s only superpower, and emblematic of a deer-in-the-headlights approach to world leadership. Washington seems incapable of decisive decision-making on foreign policy at the moment, a far cry from the days when it swept entire regimes from power, and defeated America’s enemies with deep-seated conviction and an unshakeable drive for victory. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100077875/do-tyrants-fear-america-anymore-president-obama%E2%80%99s-timid-foreign-policy-is-an-embarrassment-for-a-global-superpower/ 
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  • The Wall St. Journal online writes: The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.
    These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping and duplicative programs that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year, according to the Government Accountability Office. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703749504576172942399165436.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
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    The Weekly Standard reports on another example of Democrat civility on display: On Monday, Milwaukee AM 620 WTMJ radio host Charlie Sykes detailed an encounter between Democratic State Rep. Gordon Hintz, who had previously been busted in a prostitution sting, and Republican State Rep. Michelle Litjens, in which the rules of civility were completely ignored after a vote to “engross” a state budget repair bill.
    “After the vote to engross, he turns to a female conservative Republican, who is also from the Oshkosh area, looks at her and says, ‘You are f—ing dead,’” Sykes said. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/wi-dem-assemblyman-admits-he-threatened-republican-colleagues_552659.html
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Monday, February 28, 2011

Environmental News; CFL's Targeted; Global Cooling More Dangerous; Alaska's Vast Oil Reserves; Turning Platic into Oil; Better Not Teach Religion to Muslim Girls;

Photo on left: Lake Michigan shoreline in winter
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The following is quoted from Financial Intelligence Report: The global-warming hysteria is ill-founded.  I am certainly not alone in doubting its validity.  Some 31,000 U.S. scientists have signed a petition urging the US governmmemt not to adopt expensive measures to curtail carbon emissions, as they are not the driving force in climate change, according to Dr. Willie Soon, astrophysicist and geoscientist at the Solar and Stellar Physics Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, among others.

It would be hard, the report says, to exaggerate the ill effects of a sudden global cooling.  One report put it this way: "Some northern countries will be abandoned as the ice marches down from the Arctic; energy production will be interrupted, and shortened growing periods in the Northern Hemisphere will precipitate mass migrations, famines, food riots, regional conflicts, and a loss of human life that could be measured on an apocalyptic scale."
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From the Washington Examiner: Oettinger is the European Union's energy commissioner and, according to Britain's Guardian newspaper, he has dashed hopes of Big Green environmentalists worldwide with these words: "If we go alone to 30 percent, you will only have a faster process of deindustrialisation in Europe. I think we need industry in Europe, we need industry in the U.K., and industry means CO2 emissions." He was referring to proposals that the EU increase its current carbon monoxide emissions reduction goal from 20 percent to 30 percent. Oettinger predicted that what is left of European industry would flee the continent and move to Asia if that happens.

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John O'Sullivan writes: Governments, investors and even the World Bank are rushing for the exits in the Great Escape from the green energy bubble.
Solar energy appears to be the worst affected sector so far. Dow Jones reports on a startling U-turn by Britain’s ultra-green government has caught investors off guard and shock waves across the markets will likely precipitate the further rush from green energy projects to shale gas. http://johnosullivan.livejournal.com/30603.html
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A recent article in Slate by Robert Bryce describes how Texas has more wind generator capacity than any other state — around 9,700 megawatts. But last August, when state electricity demand set a one-day record of 63,494 megawatts, all those windmills contributed just 500 megawatts, or about 5 percent of their rated capacity.
Apparently, the hottest days in Texas have something in common with those in Michigan —they’re usually not very windy. What’s more, the entity that operates the state’s electricity grid determined that on a year-round basis, all those spinning turbine blades are expected to contribute just 8.7 percent of their rated capacity.
Nevertheless, Texas families are now paying $4 more for electricity every month for a network of power lines connecting those distant rural wind turbines to where most people live.  http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/14539
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The LA Times writes:  Ban Ki-moon, the normally buttoned-up Secretary General of the United Nations, swept into Los Angeles during Oscar week playing the role of Hollywood pitchman. His message: Make global warming a hot issue. Animate these stories!" Ban pleaded. "Set them to music! Give them life! Together we can have a blockbuster impact on the world."
If the pitch sounds a tad desperate, it's not surprising. In recent years, public
concern over climate change has plummeted in the polls, U.N. efforts to craft a new global climate treaty have been unsuccessful, and Congress has rejected federal legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.N. has long courted such celebrities as
Audrey Hepburn, Mia Farrow, George Clooney and Angelina Jolie to be "goodwill ambassadors" for peacekeeping and anti-poverty efforts, but reaching out to writers, directors and producers to incorporate climate change issues in movies, television and social media is new.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-climate-hollywood-20110227,0,3056165.story

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Patriot Update reports: On Feb. 19, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) joined with U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) to introduce the Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act. The legislation would repeal light bulb standards Congress included in the 2007 energy law that effectively bans traditional incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012. http://patriotupdate.com/3343/enzi-demint-bill-would-end-ban-on-incandescent-light-bulbs
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(CNSNews.com) – A new study says drilling on Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) could make Alaska the eighth largest oil resource province in the world -- ahead of Nigeria, Libya, Russia and Norway.
The report -- by the consulting firm Northern Economics and the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research -- says that developing Alaska’s OCS could produce almost 10 billion barrels of oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, create around 55,000 new jobs and produce $145 billion in new payroll nationally, generating a total of $193 billion in government revenue through the year 2057.  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/new-study-shows-offshore-drilling-alaska
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http://motherboard.tv/2010/8/22/a-machine-that-turns-plastic-back-into-oil--2   On this site, a Japanese inventor turns plastic bottles back into oil....
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