Saturday, November 26, 2011

Boyne City Gazette Column - "Words mean things", said Barack Obama

“Words mean things”, as President Obama said.  Media continues to ignore the words of Barack Obama, much of which has fueled class warfare in America.  During his election campaign he told Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher that we must “spread the wealth around”, openly stating his intention to take money from those who produce jobs and wealth and give it to those who don’t, inspiring the demands of Occupy Wall St., which our President openly supports.  He recently said that we must “spread out the sacrifice so that it is fair”.

President Obama once stated that he thinks one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was that there was a “tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change.” It illustrates why this former community organizer is so supportive of Occupy Wall St., which has recently developed a website called Occupy Revolution.  One protestor declared that Occupy is infiltrating our military right now, for “revolution” is impossible without it.

President Obama has argued that our Constitution “is a charter of negative liberties which doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on our behalf.”  He lamented that “the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and economic justice in this society.”  “Occupy” America groups are certainly echoing that.  President Obama is certainly not alone in criticizing the Constitution.  The Democrat Governor of North Carolina recently made a serious suggestion to “suspend elections for Congress for two years.” This anti-Constitutional suggestion bears watching.

President Obama truly believes that capitalism is evil and "social justice" through government policy is good.  He believes in equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity.  This is just who he is. He doesn’t agree with Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman who said, “The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus.” “Capitalism has provided the most wealth to the most people that this world has ever seen”.

Perceived hateful words of conservatives are described by our President and the main stream media as words which create violence.  Words of Democrats go unmentioned by media and our President, who once asked for “respectful speech which doesn’t inflame hatred.” Leading the way, President Obama then said that the vote against the Recovery Act helped to create “the tea-baggers” – a sexually-deviant term he was happy to use to describe the Tea Party.  President Obama has remained mute while some of his favored Occupy Wall St. members have called for more militancy and violence to promote their radical demands.  He continually pits one group of Americans against another, teaching hatred for anyone who does not agree with his agenda.

While Representative Maxine Waters said the Tea Party can “Go straight to Hell”, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee recently said that right-leaning media and blogs should “shut up”. She urged America to forget our “Buy American” motto and instead go with “Buy African-American”, saying that it is not racist, it is affirmative action. 
Nancy Pelosi asked God to bless the Occupy Wall St. protesters. She also had the audacity to actually speak this lie on the John Daly Show: "Bless their hearts.  The Republicans, they do what they believe," she said. "And they do not believe in social security, Medicare, Medicaid, clean air, clean water, food safety, public safety, public education." Words, just words.

Speech such as this inspires hatred, class warfare, and anarchy.  “Occupy” protesters reflect the outcome of their progressive education. Entitlement trumps responsibility for ones’ actions.  For decades many college professors have taught that America is bad, capitalism is evil, striving for the riches that come with excellence and hard work is greedy, socialism is cool, and judging behaviors is unacceptable. Is it any wonder that young people who cannot  speak intelligently about their concerns are now focused on entitlement without merit? A newly formed group, Wall St. Fighters, is part of the 53% of Americans who pay all income taxes.  They are asking for protesters to “Occupy a desk”.

It is impossible to solve the problems of America without civil discourse on various methods of solving those problems.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Russian newscaster loses job over gesture to Obama; No mention of God in Obama's Thanksgiving address; D.C. Council wants to add ex-offenders to anti-discrimination laws;

The UK Telegraph reports: Online footage of the incident involving news anchor Tatyana Limanova went viral in both Russia and the West causing REN TV, her employer, huge embarrassment.
To broadcast bosses' horror, Ms Limanova was caught mechanically raising her left arm and showing the camera her raised middle finger after referencing US President Barack Obama.
REN TV, a privately owned channel controlled by associates of Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, said on Thursday it had decided to take her off air calling her actions "unacceptable" and "unprofessional". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8912395/Russian-newsreader-fired-after-Obama-middle-finger-insult.html
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Fox News reports: President Obama did not include any reference to God during his weekly address titled, “On Thanksgiving, Grateful for the Men and Women Who Defend Our Country.”
His remarks were void of any religious references although Thanksgiving is a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God.
The president said his family was “reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.”
For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are.http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/obama-leaves-god-out-of-thanksgiving-address.html


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Washington Post writes: D.C. Council member Marion Barry is driving legislation to give ex-offenders legal safeguards against employment discrimination, a proposal that unnerves some in the business community and activists covered by similar protections.
Hoping to jump-start a proposal that has floated around for a decade, Barry (D-Ward 8) has been reaching out to council colleagues to gauge interest in adding people charged with a crime to the city’s Human Rights Act.
Considered one of the broadest anti-discrimination documents in the nation, the act offers protection based on “race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, familial status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, disability, source of income, and place of residence or business.”
Now, Barry and advocates hope to include the words “past arrests and convictions" to that list. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/marion-barry-seeks-anti-bias-protection-for-those-with-past-arrests-and-convictions/2011/11/23/gIQAa8AHtN_story.html?hpid=z4
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Washington Times writes: In cash-strapped Washington, President Obama’s $1 trillion health care law is presenting a tempting target for lawmakers seeking funds for other projects, as Congress last week raided the health care piggy bank for the third time in less than a year.Congress last week axed a part of Democrats’ signature domestic achievement to find $11 billion to cover the cost of repealing a withholding tax that otherwise would have hit government contractors in 2013. Mr. Obama signed that bill into law on Monday.
The withholding bill follows two other efforts - one n December and another in April - that reworked the health care law to squeeze savings for other priorities. The December bill funded higher payments for doctors who treat Medicare patients, and the April legislation repealed a paperwork provision in the original health care law that businesses said would be onerous.
All told, Congress and the president have tapped some $50 billion earmarked to pay for benefits and programs in the health care overhaul in future years to fund more-immediate spending needs.
Both earlier efforts dealt with health care issues, but the bill Mr. Obama signed Monday marks the first time that the massive 2010 law has been tapped to fund something completely unrelated. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/24/money-slated-for-health-law-gets-detoured/
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Clean Water Act authority; Weapons contract goes to foreign country with ties to Iran; U.S. Geological Survey off by a factor of 25 on oil that can be recovered; Economy grew more slowly than governement reported; Pelosi decries conscience thing of Catholics; Global-warming-killed Caribou found - oops!; Climategate Version II; Congress afraid of blame if they cut off Obamacare funding; Occupy Black Friday to rattle stock market; Afghan women to choose marriage to rapist or 12 years in jail; Democrat calls for investigation into Obama's no-bid $443 million to donor's company to produce smallpox vaccine

Redstate writes: It’s important to remember the original purpose of the Clean Water Act (1972).  It gives the federal government and the EPA the authority to regulate “navigable waterways.”  In other words, not a ditch out front with a lot of water in it and certainly not acres upon acres of private or state owned wetlands.  Yet, regulating these types of waters is precisely what the EPA is in the midst of doing.
The Army Corps (pronounced core) of Engineers and the EPA are in the process of finalizing “Draft Guidance on Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act,” which is a fancy way of saying “we’re going to go out and change the definition of certain bodies of water so that we can pretend they fall within the Supreme Court’s definitions.”
The Barrasso-Heller Amendment, introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), was created to prevent the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA from incorporating those Obama changes into the regulatory guidelines, which serves the purpose of distinguishing precisely what the Supreme Court had already covered when it established the clear limitations of the Act. http://www.redstate.com/aglanon/2011/11/21/obama-administration-and-epa-use-clean-water-act-for-new-overreach/
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Redstate reveals: Obama Administration Sends Weapons Contract to Foreign Company with Ties to Iran 

According to the Financial Times, building war planes is actually part of an industry that Embraer is fairly new to as they  are only just “venturing into the defence industry.”  Yet, the U.S. government has found them to be more capable and trustworthy than an American manufacturer that already builds hundreds of U.S. military aircrafts and would employ as many as 1,400 new workers across 20 states.

Then again, with a President that is known for awarding favors to allies and punishing enemies that don’t kiss the ring, perhaps it’s not that surprising at all.

 http://www.redstate.com/aglanon/2011/11/21/obama-administration-sends-weapons-contract-to-foreign-company-with-ties-to-iran/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US Government reports: Reston, VA - North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil. http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
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CNBC writes: The U.S. economy grew more slowly than previously estimated in the third quarter, but weak inventory accumulation amid sturdy consumer spending supported views output would pick up in the current quarter. Gross domestic product [cnbc explains] grew at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate on Tuesday, down from the previously reported 2.5 percent. http://www.cnbc.com/id/45399429
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Hot Air reports: According to LifeNews.com, Nancy Pelosi is upset that the U.S. Catholic bishops wouldn’t approve if the Obama administration did, in fact, decide to force insurance companies to cover birth control, contraception and drugs that could cause abortions. The bishops say that, under such a decision, some religious groups might have to provide the insurance against their moral and religious views.
“[Those who disagree] may not like the language,’’ she told The Washington Post, “but the truth is what I said. I’m a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing [that puts women at risk.]”
Shame on us! How dare we have a conscience! http://hotair.com/archives/2011/11/21/pelosi-whines-about-catholics-having-this-conscience-thing/
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Daily Mail reports: The story two Octobers ago by Charles J. Hanley of the Associated Press was a sad one. Caribou were dwindling due to mankind’s global warming! A survey found that a quarter-million caribou had disappeared. Wrote Charles J. Handley: “Global warming has boosted temperatures in the Arctic twice as much as elsewhere, and Canadian researchers say the natural balance is suffering.”
Two years later, those missing caribou have been found. In Saskatchewan. From the Canadian Press:

A vast herd of northern caribou that scientists feared had vanished from the face of the Earth has been found, safe and sound — pretty much where aboriginal elders said it would be all along.
“The Beverly herd has not disappeared,” said John Nagy, lead author of a recently published study that has biologists across the North relieved. http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/46673
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The UK Telegraph reports: Breaking news: two years after the Climategate, a further batch of emails has been leaked onto the internet by a person – or persons – unknown. And as before, they show the "scientists" at the heart of the Man-Made Global Warming industry in a most unflattering light. Michael Mann, Phil Jones, Ben Santer, Tom Wigley, Kevin Trenberth, Keith Briffa – all your favourite Climategate characters are here, once again caught red-handed in a series of emails exaggerating the extent of Anthropogenic Global Warming, while privately admitting to one another that the evidence is nowhere near as a strong as they'd like it to be.
In other words, what these emails confirm is that the great man-made global warming scare is not about science but about political activism. This, it seems, is what motivated the whistleblower 'FOIA 2011' (or "thief", as the usual suspects at RealClimate will no doubt prefer to tar him or her) to go public. Observations do not show rising temperatures throughout the tropical
troposphere unless you accept one single study and approach and discount a
wealth of others. This is just downright dangerous. We need to communicate the
uncertainty and be honest. Phil, hopefully we can find time to discuss these
further if necessary [...] http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100119087/uh-oh-global-warming-loons-here-comes-climategate-ii/
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CNS News reports: Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) says that Congress is not going to cut off funding for Obamacare or Planned Parenthood because House Republican leadership is afraid of the threat of a showdown with Senate Democrats and the president – they’re afraid that Republicans would be blamed for a government shutdown.
King said the House GOP leadership, if asked, would say that they did pass a repeal of Obamacare – and would blame the Senate, which didn’t take up the measure.
But King also said House Republicans “didn’t use the leverage that we should have used.”
“We didn’t bring up the maximum leverage because the decision was made by leadership to avoid the prospect of a showdown with the president or Harry Reid that could result in a potential shutdown of government,” King told CNSNews.com in an interview. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/rep-king-house-wont-defund-obamacare-because-leaders-afraid-gop-will-be-blamed-shutdown
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The Blaze reports: In an effort to raise awareness for “income inequality” and “corporate greed,” organizers of various Occupy chapters have revealed their newest move: “Occupy Black Friday.”
It’s what it sounds like.
The idea is that they will protest numerous retailers the day after Thanksgiving in an effort to disrupt credit card usage and their 4th quarter profits, thereby rattling the stock market.
On the website stopblackfriday.com, the organizers have written the following:
ON NOV. 25th: OCCUPY LARGE CHAINS AND PUBLICLY TRADED RETAIL. Hit the 1% where it hurts – in the wallet. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/newest-strategy-occupy-black-friday/
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CNN reports: Afghan woman's choice: 12 years in jail or marry her rapist and risk death


Woman being forced to marry her rapist

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Afghan rape victim Gulnaz found guilty by courts of adultery and jailed for 12 years
  • The only way victim can escape incarceration is to marry her attacker
  • Gulnaz refuses to give away the daughter who resulted from the rape
  • Women in her situation can be killed for the perceived shame their ordeal has brought their community [The religion of peace and the love of women - Islam] http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/22/world/asia/afghanistan-rape/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
  • ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Daily Caller reports: Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, has asked The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the Obama administration’s award of a $443 million sole-source contract to a company owned by a major Democratic donor.
    The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that the Obama administration has taken unusual steps to procure an experimental smallpox vaccine from a company owned by a major Democratic donor despite concerns from some experts that such a drug was unnecessary and would not be effective.


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

John Kerry enriches himself on insider information; Justice Dept. sues Alabama for public school records; House pushes back on union rulemaking; Occupy Congress planned by SEIU for DEC. 5-9; Lone wolf terrorist had bid plans for NYC; 50 person flashmob steals from 7-Eleven; Iowa elementary school principal gets 30 yrs. for videotaping males in bathroom; Hezbollah has captured a number of U.S. spies; Democrats never intended to come to an agreement; Automatic cuts amount to a drop in the bucket; Occupy L.A. offered office space and farmland

BigGovernment.com has obtained records of Massachusetts Democrat Senator John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz’s stock portfolios that show almost perfectly timed pharmaceutical stock trades during the Obamacare debate, which fattened their already enormous personal fortune.

The documents further support allegations of suspicious trading leveled during Sunday’s 60 Minutes report about the explosive new book by investigative reporter and Breitbart News editor Peter Schweizer, Throw Them All Out.
Sen. John Kerry’s position on the powerful Senate Finance Committee’s Health Subcommittee gives him direct access to critical information regarding health care policy. In July 2009, pharmaceutical industry representatives met with key members of Congress to flesh out the Obamacare bill. Then, in November 2009, with the bill’s passage was looking more likely, the Kerrys’ portfolios reflect a drug stock buying spree.   http://biggovernment.com/whall/2011/11/18/exclusive-documents-the-kerrys-curious-stock-trades/

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Personal Liberty reveals: The Department of Justice sued Alabama earlier this year for its controversial immigration law; now, as parts of the law take effect, the Department has launched a discrimination investigation against the State.
According to The Washington Post, part of the investigation has Justice Department officials seeking detailed enrollment information from Alabama schools, after reports that several Hispanic families withdrew their children from public schools as a result of the legislation.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange has denied the requests and questioned the Federal government’s authority to access such information, and school districts throughout the State have been ordered not to comply. The Justice Department will likely file another lawsuit against the State in light of the controversy over student attendance records.
Strange said that Federal authorities are required by law to hand any complaints that they have received about the law over to the State so that Alabama officials can take action. http://www.personalliberty.com/news/justice-department-may-launch-second-lawsuit-against-alabama/?eiid=&rmid=2011_11_21_PLA_[P11842499]&rrid=394582776
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Representative Dan Benishek writes: Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act — On Friday, November 18, 2011, the House approved the rule for consideration of H.R. 3094, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act.  The bill would pre-empt National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed rulemaking that will significantly change procedures that govern union elections by providing employers just seven days to find legal counsel and prepare their entire case to be presented at a NLRB pre-election hearing.  The bill would amend the National Labor Relations Act to require specified waiting periods before unionization hearings and elections can occur. The bill would also provide minimum and maximum time frames in which action should be taken in response to the filing of union election petitions. © 2011 Congressman Dan Benishek, Michigan’s First District | www.benishek.house.gov
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Washington Post writes: A coalition of labor and progressive groups is about to unveil its answer to that question. Get ready for “Occupy Congress.”
The coalition — which includes unions like SEIU and CWA and groups like the Center for Community Change — is currently working on a plan to bus thousands of protesters from across the country to Washington, where they will congregate around the Capitol from December 5-9, SEIU president Mary Kay Henry tells me in an interview.
“Thousands of people have signed up to come to Capitol Hill during the first week in December,” Henry says, adding that protesters are invited to make their way to Washington on their own, too. “We’re figuring out buses and transportation now.”  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/next-up-occupy-congress/2011/11/18/gIQAGObiYN_blog.html
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NY Daily News reports: A lone wolf with an anti-American grudge was charged Sunday with plotting to kill cops and soldiers with bombs he was building in his Manhattan apartment from an Al Qaeda recipe, officials said.
Jose Pimentel was within an hour of finishing a powerful pipe bomb when the NYPD busted him as he worked at a Harlem apartment of a police informant at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Pimentel, 27, of Manhattanville, planned to test three bombs on mailboxes and was plotting to eventually use explosives on soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Kelly said Pimentel, an American citizen born in the Dominican Republic, also planned to bomb NYPD cruisers, a police station in Bayonne, N.J., and postal facilities.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/jose-pimentel-plotted-kill-cops-soldiers-bombs-building-manhattan-apartment-authorities-article-1.980471#ixzz1eLTdeGor
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About 50 people simultaneously shoplifted from a Silver Spring, Md., 7-Eleven Saturday night. http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Flash-Mob-Knocks-Over-Silver-Spring-7-Eleven-134286103.html
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Iowa elementary school principal to 30 years in prison for secretly videotaping dozens of young male students using the bathroom, calling his actions a shocking abuse of trust and among the worst crimes against children she'd seen. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PRINCIPAL_CHILD_PORNOGRAPHY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-11-21-19-09-25
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP News reports: The CIA's operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw it coming.
Hezbollah's longtime leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, boasted on television in June that he had rooted out at least two CIA spies who had infiltrated the ranks of Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group closely allied with Iran. Though the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon officially denied the accusation, current and former officials concede that it happened and the damage has spread even further.
In recent months, CIA officials have secretly been scrambling to protect their remaining spies - foreign assets or agents working for the agency - before Hezbollah can find them. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20111121/D9R53CD80.html
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American Thinker writes: As the impasse at the deficit reduction supercommittee shows, Congress's inability to get things done is once again on display.  The blame for this failure has been widely attributed to the "unwillingness of both sides to work together," but the reality is that liberal Democrats on the committee never intended to compromise.  They would rather pursue their goal of socialism than save the country from fiscal collapse.
This is just sort of behavior that has brought Greece to ruin and that now threatens all of Europe, if not the entire global economy.  To channel Rick Perry's thoughts on Chairman Ben, the refusal to put country ahead of party is nothing less than treasonous.  [I believe the Democrats and Obama knew from the start that they wanted this to fail, for now they can use this by falsely saying it is the Republicans' fault.]
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National Review writes: As Veronique points out below, the “automatic” sequestration cuts would over the course of ten years reduce US public debt by only $153 billion. Which boils down to about a month’s worth of the current federal deficit.
Yet even slashing a pimple’s worth of borrowing out of the great oozing mountain of pustules will prove too much for Washington.
Another downgrade is now inevitable. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/283765/happy-sweet-sequesterd-days-mark-steyn
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LA Times reports: Occupy L.A. protesters said Los Angeles officials have offered them office space and farmland to end their encampment at City Hall. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/la-offers-occupy-protesters-office-space-farm-to-close-camp.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29
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Monday, November 21, 2011

Choosing our leaders by election, not by street mob; All whole Butterball turkeys killed in name of Allahu Akbar!; NBA players for Obama; Obama's economy; Obama's Green Czar now spokesman for Occupy; Occupy attendee shoots White House windows; Obama administration pressured analysts to fudge EPA review; Occupy San Fran a public health nuisance; Spain votes for conservatives; Occupy Oakland to shut down all west coast ports; Obama gone again during crisis in government; An increasingly dysfunctional Washington; Occupy not like civil rights uprising;

Fox News reports: By MARK STEYN / Syndicated columnist

Every two years, our country conducts federal elections to determine the course of the country on significant public policy issues. This mechanism – free, fair elections – is the centerpiece of our representative democracy. 
In between elections, of course, citizens are free to petition their government for redress of grievances, and they can pass judgment on the extent to which their current representatives respond to those grievances at the next election. This system is now being attacked by radical, undemocratic protesters in the so-called Occupy Movement.
“We’re no longer settling for 'we live in a democracy because we voted for a politician,'" left-wing rabble rouser and propaganda moviemaker Michael Moore has explained. “Those days are over,” he said. “Capitalism is an evil system.”
As Moore explained, Occupy is not about organizing for the next election – an election that looks increasingly likely to be another landslide in favor of limited government. Occupy is about replacing our democratic institutions with naked force, replacing the rule of law with the intimidation of street thugs, and our constitutional republic with the same type of autocratic tyranny that (notwithstanding naïve good intentions) always ends up accompanying socialism.
The occupiers arrogantly call themselves "the 99 percent,' but well over 50 percent of voters picked Republican candidates campaigning to restrict government power, and we can probably conclude – by virtue of their participation in the elections – that most voters who voted for Democrats also prefer electing their leaders to appointing them via street mob.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/11/18/occupy-movement-is-not-what-democracy-looks-like/#ixzz1e9lvQZSq
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American Thinker writes: A citizen activist and reader of my website AtlasShrugs.com wrote to Butterball, one of the most popular producers of Thanksgiving turkeys in the United States, asking them if their turkeys were halal. Wendy Howze, a Butterball Consumer Response Representative, responded: "Our whole turkeys are certified halal."
In a little-known strike against freedom, yet again, we are being forced into consuming meat slaughtered by means of a torturous method: Islamic slaughter.
Halal slaughter involves cutting the trachea, the esophagus, and the jugular vein, and letting the blood drain out while saying "Bismillah allahu akbar" -- in the name of Allah the greatest. Many people refuse to eat it on religious grounds. Many Christians, Hindus or Sikhs and Jews find it offensive to eat meat slaughtered according to Islamic ritual (although observant Jews are less likely to be exposed to such meat, because they eat kosher).
Others object because of the cruelty to animals that halal slaughter necessitates. Where are the PETA clowns and the ridiculous celebs who pose naked on giant billboards for PETA and "animal rights"? They would rather see people die of cancer or AIDS than see animals used in drug testing, but torturous and painful Islamic slaughter is OK.
Still others refuse to do so on principle: why should we be forced to conform to Islamic norms? It's Islamic supremacism on the march, yet again.
Non-Muslims in America and Europe don't deserve to have halal turkey forced upon them in this way, without their knowledge or consent.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/happy_halal_thanksgiving.html#ixzz1eLW5NXOV
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Politico reports: It’s still possible to see NBA All Stars in action this year — if you’re willing to cough up cash for the Obama Victory Fund.
With extra time on their hands because of pro basketball’s lockout, super hoopsters Kevin Durant, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin are among a few dozen current and former NBA players who have committed to hit the hardwood for the first “Obama Classic” on Dec. 12, according to an Obama campaign Web page set up for the event.
“Athletes who support President Obama … will play actual games at the event in Washington, D.C.,” Michael Blake, deputy director of the Obama campaign’s “Operation Vote,” wrote in an e-mail to prospective donors that was obtained by POLITICO.
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Forbes opines: The history of America’s recessions is provided at the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).  Before this last recession, since the Great Depression recessions in America have lasted an average of 10 months, with the longest previously lasting 16 months.  Yet here we are 47 months after the last recession started, and we still have no real recovery.
Instead, unemployment has been stuck at 9% or above for the longest period since the Great Depression.  Unemployment for blacks has remained over 15% for over 2 years, with Hispanic unemployment stuck well into double digits over that time as well.  Teenage unemployment has persisted at nearly 25%, with black teenage unemployment still nearly 40%.
The U6 unemployment rate, reflecting all of the unemployed still wanting work and the underemployed who can’t get full time work, is still 16.2%.  That includes an army of the unemployed or underemployed of over 26 million Americans.  And that still doesn’t fully count the millions of Americans who have given up and dropped out of the work force altogether. http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2011/11/17/there-are-no-longer-any-excuses-for-obamanomics/
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Judicial Watch reports: The ousted Obama “Green Czar” who describes himself as a “rowdy black nationalist” turned communist has found a job as the official spokesperson and leader of the national movement to end economic segregation and social injustice in the United States.
Among the movement’s goals is to get major banks to stop preying on the poor and people of color, according to the organizer of a Massachusetts rally promoted as Take Back Boston. Protesters also demand that politicians stop giving tax breaks to the rich while slashing vital services families depend on. In short, they want to “rebuild” the American dream to make it more inclusive.
Leading the campaign is President Obama’s good friend, civil rights lawyer Van Jones, the highly-touted “Green Czar” who was booted amid controversy over his radical history. A Yale Law School grad, Jones became a communist after the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles and says he loathes capitalism because it exploits nonwhite minorities worldwide. Jones is a committed Marxist-Leninist-Maoist who became a revolutionary after meeting “young radical people of color” in jail and views police officers as the arch enemies of black people.
Jones’s proudest moments include publicly supporting convicted cop killer Mumia abu-Jamal, signing a petition suggesting the U.S. government had a hand in the 2001 terrorist attacks, accusing “white polluters” of “environmental racism” for steering poison into poor black communities and referring to Republicans in vulgar terms unbecoming of a presidential advisor.
The movement is also in the process of recruiting 2,000 candidates to run for office under the 99 percent banner, he said. http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/nov/ousted-wh-green-czar-becomes-occupy-movement-s-official-leader
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World Net Daily reports: The identity of the man responsible for loosing a few shots at the White House last week [Oh!  You hadn't heard that either, the gunshots into the window of the private residence area where the Obamas live?] has been made public by the D.C. police but one little fact is being buried by every news report about this guy. He is linked to the Occupy movement. Yet the media refuses to make the connection explicit. Imagine how the media would be wailing if the guy was a Tea Partier! But that this shooter was part of the Occupy movement seems somehow unimportant to the Old Media. http://kleinonline.wnd.com/2011/11/18/silence-of-the-media-man-who-attempted-to-assassinate-obama-connected-to-occupy-d-c-why-the-media-has-no-questions/
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Fox News reports: The Obama administration pressured analysts to change an environmental review to reflect fewer job losses from a proposed regulation, the contractors who worked on the review testified Friday. 
The dispute revolves around proposed changes to a rule regulating coal mining near streams and other waterways. The experts contracted to analyze the impact of the rule initially found that it would cost 7,000 coal jobs. 
But the contractors claim they were subsequently pressured to not only keep the findings under wraps but "revisit" the study in order to show less of an impact on jobs. 
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — San Francisco’s public health department has declared the Occupy San Francisco encampment in Justin Herman Plaza a public health nuisance.
The declaration came on Thursday, though city authorities so far are allowing the demonstrators to remain in the plaza. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/11/18/occupy-sf-camp-declared-public-health-nuisance-eviction-deadline-passes/
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The UK Telegraph writes: Spain votes as conservatives head for crushing victory

Crisis-hit Spaniards voted in rain-swept elections all but certain to hand a thundering victory to the right and topple yet another debt-struck eurozone government.  Bowed by a 21.5-per cent jobless rate, economic stagnation and deep spending cuts, the first voters of the 36-million-strong Spanish electorate headed to polls ready to punish the ruling Socialists. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8902172/Spain-votes-as-conservatives-head-for-crushing-victory.html

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CNS News reports: Occupy Oakland Calls For Shutdown Of ALL West Coast Ports

Vandalism, violence, burning and shutting down the nation’s fifth busiest port weren’t enough for Occupy Oakland. On Friday, the General Assembly for the group voted unanimously for “a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12."
According to a statement from Occupy Oakland, this move is in “response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation.” “We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port.”  http://cnsnews.com/blog/dan-gainor/occupy-oakland-calls-shutdown-all-west-coast-ports
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The Hill wonders where Obama is: Now in a week when leadership is needed to push this critical committee to do something big and bring the nation’s fiscal house back into order, the president once again disappears. It causes one to wonder, why? The general consensus is that neither he nor the people around him feel there is a great upside to doing something that involves making so many difficult decisions to straighten out our nation’s fiscal future.
Like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), he sees no real need to move in this direction. After all, any significant action would require fixing Social Security; overhauling taxes; returning to healthcare reform, especially as it affects Medicare and Medicaid; and, most importantly, agreeing not just to slow growth of the federal government but in fact to reduce it.
There is no great concern at the White House that our government is getting too large. They look at Europe — where governments routinely absorb 30 percent to 40 percent of the economy — and believe we can certainly have the same http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/judd-gregg/194747-where-in-the-world-is-obama
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The New York Post writes: Unless a miracle happens today, the so-called super committee (otherwise known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction) will end in ignominious failure. It’s yet another blow to responsible representative democracy in an increasingly dysfunctional Washington.
The super committee — six Republicans and six Democrats charged with cutting at least $1.2 trillion in federal spending — was born during the debt-ceiling turmoil last August as an attempt to save Congress from its own dereliction of duty. It’s now been more than 900 days since the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a budget (it voted down Rep. Paul Ryan’s House-passed “Path to Prosperity” budget, 57-40, in May and voted down President Obama’s extravagant $3.8 trillion budget 97-0), and yet even the looming Thanksgiving deadline hasn’t seemed to focus the 12 minds on the panel.
That’s because at least one side in this cold civil war never wanted to succeed in the first place. “The worm has turned a little bit,” one Democratic aide was quoted as saying by Politico. “The national conversation now is about income inequality and about jobs, and it’s not really about cutting the size of government anymore or cutting spending.”
So the super committee’s failure was preordained, as the Dems have thrown in their lot with Obama’s demonize-the-productive-class 2012 campaign.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_debt_committee_inevitable_fizzle_jWzfP8aKGvdih97WFTyjrK#ixzz1eLQt88hT
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The UK Telegraph writes: The sight of well-off white kids rummaging around in black history for a few choice phrases that might make their public temper tantrums appear "with it" and historic is deeply embarrassing. It strikes me that there at least five key differences between the glorified Scouts camping trip that is the Occupy movement and the properly inspiring US civil-rights uprising.
1) Blacks in the American South faced serious repression.
2) Civil rights activists had to bear the full brunt of state violence. When they marched to demand equality, they were frequently water-cannoned and truncheoned off the streets or attacked with police dogs.
3) The civil rights movement was a mass movement. In 1963 it got a million people to march on Washington. The Occupy movement is an infinitesimally tiny clique in comparison.
4) Civil rights activists were thirsty for freedom. If Occupy London’s “Safe Space Policy” is anything to go by, today’s occupiers wouldn’t know freedom if it accosted them in an alleyway.
5) Probably the most important difference is that where black civil-rights activists were driven by a deep desire to be full, free, productive members of society, the occupiers have a deep disdain for the mainstream, or the “rat race” as they call it, for those hordes who cluelessly trudge to pointless jobs every day. Read full explanation at:  http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100118658/dear-occupy-wall-street-please-please-stop-comparing-yourself-to-the-black-civil-rights-movement/ 
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