My latest Boyne City Gazette column..... Constitutional Republic vs. Democracy

Barack Obama recently said, speaking of Occupy Wall St.,  “The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles, and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what you’re supposed to do, is rewarded,” Obama recently told ABC News.  President Obama, we already had that system in place long before you came along with your intent to bring down capitalism, I would add.  Capitalism rewards those who generate the most value for  others.   

Obama added, “And that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded.”  Only in our President's perspective could he have been describing the so-called "greedy rich" who are the backbone of American cities, providing jobs, working hard, and investing in our future.  The reckless irresponsible ones are those occupying Wall St, not those who are working their way up in businesses around the country.  By impeding hard-working Americans from getting to their jobs, shutting down entire seaports, occupying Black Friday shoppers, threatening conservative gatherings and occupying public and private spaces, it is the occupiers who are irresponsible.  They certainly feel no obligation to their communities.  They are actively and purposely making a failing economy worse and should not be rewarded. 

Contrary to frequent descriptions, America is still a representative Republic, not a Democracy.  In a Democracy, majority or mob rule prevails, so whenever 51% of voters want something, they get it.  Occupiers actually don't comprise 51% of voters, but that does not keep them from trying to make demands as if they do.  They certainly are not the 99% they claim to be, as 53% of Americans are paying the taxes which provide the money which government spends. These clearly uninformed participants call for taxing the “greedy rich” at 100%, free college education, an end to corporate personhood, government-provided jobs for all, an end to all fossil fuels, equal distribution of income, and open borders, for instance. Occupy has no unified message, refusing to list formal demands, but allowing anyone to post their radical ideas on their website for inspiration. 

A group such as this, if in power in a Democracy, rules by mob action in its own interests.  The unions and radical organizations which have attached themselves to the movement and used the initial demonstrators for their own purposes would have free rein to impose their agenda.  This of course couldn't last forever, as the money paying for all their demands runs out and chaos eventually ensues, as any good revolutionary knows.  As a frightened and weary citizenry begs for relief, government can then step in, promising to save the day and make the chaos go away through government intervention.  This scenario comes right out of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, the how-to handbook for collapsing capitalism.  

A Representative Republic on the other hand protects the rights of all citizens, not just the majority, and is founded on  the principle of elected individuals representing the people, with elections providing the opportunity for change.  Using this election process, the Tea Party angrily but peacefully protested a government which has grown too large, which increases our debt to the detriment of our future, which sometimes doesn't honor our Constitution, which honors entitlement and equal outcome more than it honors opportunity.  Using the election process, it has been able to effect change in government representation and legislation.  

I believe the time has come for original Occupy members to condemn the radicals which have attached themselves to Occupy, to meet with Tea Party members to discuss what it is they have in common. There has been at least one such meeting in Memphis.  Certainly the two groups can find at least a few points in which there would be agreement.  Perhaps together they can do what our Congress seems incapable of doing - coming together for the betterment of America.

Fort Hood shootings just "workplace violence"; Unions for campaign Obama; Payroll tax could be an opt-in system; U.S. Futures Regulator approves new rule; Talk of impeachment for Eric Holder; Occupy to occupy foreclosed homes; 50 females attack police; DHS targets couponers, hunters, food hoarders; Obama's class warfare war; Lying is "such a complicated concept:"; No climate deal this time

I swear - you just cannot make this stuff up!  Fox News reports: Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation's Armed Forces at home.

During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/06/military-growing-terrorist-target-lawmakers-warn/

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Redstate writes: With the Obama re-election campaign in full swing since January when ex-SEIU political director Patrick Gaspard left the White House to help run the campaign through OFA, union bosses have expectedly begun lining up their endorsements.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted Tuesday to officially endorse President Obama in the 2012 election.
Union officials have already said they planned to spend upwards of $100 million to help Obama win reelection, so the endorsement itself is not a surprise.

In 2008, unions spent an estimated $1 billion in both hard dollar donations, as well as ‘educational outreach’ and GOTV operations. During the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, according to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, unions spent $2.2 billion.
For those of you who are Constitution-loving Americans, with that much union money going to buy the White House again,  you need to become more engaged.

 http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/12/06/expectedly-afscme-endorses-obama-vows-to-spend-100-million-on-2012-election/

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Redstate writes: If Republicans want to make Social Security the issue, they should push for something like the Jeff Landry plan.  Rep. Landry, along with Reps. Mulvaney and McClintock, have proposed a bill (HR 3551) which turns the payroll tax holiday into an opt-in system, allowing each worker to annually decide if he or she wants to continue receiving the holiday, in exchange for delaying retirement another month.  This will force Democrats to stop avoiding entitlement reform.
On the other hand, if Republicans want to stay on message as supporting tax cuts, they should make the payroll tax permanent.  What they shouldn’t do is play second fiddle to the Democrats on a non-offset temporary cut, while gaining nothing politically or policy-wise.
Why grant the Democrats multiple political victories for the price of one?  http://www.redstate.com/dhorowitz3/2011/12/06/gop-should-launch-offensive-in-payroll-tax-fight/

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Zero Hedge reports: In the aftermath of the MF Global fiasco, popular anger has understandable been focused on the complete lack of any response (let alone prevention) by regulators, in this case by Goldman's Gary Gensler, currently head of the CFTC, who quite comically had to recuse himself from an MF Global investigation due to his previous ties to Jon Corzine. So today, in a unanimous vote, "The U.S. futures regulator approved on Monday a rule that puts tighter limits on how brokerage firms can use customer funds, a measure that the now-bankrupt MF Global had encouraged the agency to delay." In other words, while before commingling client accounts was assumed to be a clear violation of every logical fiduciary imperative, now it is set in stone. For real. The CFTC means it. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/cftc-votes-uninmously-make-client-money-commingling-really-illegal-time

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Daily Caller writes: In a heated exchange between Sensenbrenner and Holder during Thursday’s Judiciary Committee hearing, Sensenbrenner said impeachment is one option on the table if Holder and the Justice Department continue to withhold information from congressional investigators.
Sensenbrenner didn’t specify which administration officials he thinks could face impeachment proceedings, or if Holder is among them. But he did say the drastic measure would be a last resort.
“There is really no responsibility within the Justice Department,” Sensenbrenner said. “The thing is, if we don’t get to the bottom of this — and that requires your assistance on that — there is only alternative that Congress has and it is called impeachment, where our subpoena powers are plenary and there can‘t be any type of legal immunity or privilege that can be asserted on that.” http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/08/sensenbrenner-floats-impeachment-of-obama-admin-officials-as-fast-and-furious-response/
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The Blaze reports: SEATTLE (The Blaze/AP) — The Occupy Wall Street protests are moving into the neighborhood. Finding it increasingly difficult to camp in public spaces, Occupy protesters across the country are reclaiming foreclosed homes and boarded-up properties, signaling a tactical shift for the movement against wealth inequality.
Groups in more than 25 cities held protests Tuesday on behalf of homeowners facing evictions.
In Atlanta, protesters held a boisterous rally at a county courthouse and used whistles and sirens to disrupt an auction of seized houses. In New York, they marched through a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn carrying signs that read “Foreclose on banks, not people.” Southern California protesters rallied around a family of six that reclaimed the home they lost six months ago in foreclosure. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/trespassers-occupy-wall-st-protesters-begin-taking-over-foreclosed-homes/
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The Blaze reports: New York City firefighters came to the rescue of two NYPD cops who were outnumbered and getting pummeled by 50 angry female teenagers on Tuesday.
NYPD officers made nine arrests, but two officers were hospitalized in the attack. Police also recovered a starter pistol, which may have been intended to further terrify the original female target of the mob.
The scene unfolded in New York’s Staten Island borough when a mob of 50 young females gathered outside the home of a single young girl and threatened her. Apparently, the girl had been kept home from school for several days because of repeated and vicious bullying, so the bullies came to her doorstep. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/marauding-mob-of-50-teen-aged-girls-beat-down-2-nyc-cops/
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Expose Obama writes: How much does the government fear its own citizens? So much so that guidelines for spotting potential terrorists include anyone who has more than seven days of food in his home,anyone who is missing fingers,and anyone who possesses multiple firearms or weather-proof ammunition. These criteria are so broad they put every hunter,sportsman,and extreme couponer in the United States on par with Osama bin Laden.
The Department of Homeland Security made waves in 2009,when its report on “Rightwing Extremism”assessed,“lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent rightwing extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States.”These terrorists would not be fundamentalist Muslims (perish the thought!) but “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue,such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/12/05/video-govt-says-hunters-extreme-couponers-are-potential-terrorists/
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Examiner reports on recent speech: President Obama continued, ... "This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class.  At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement."

President Obama, on the offense, speaking of Republicans,  ... "Their philosophy is simple: We are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules...I'm here to say they are wrong."

And, [responding] to those who want to cut taxes and regulation in the belief success will trickle down, Obama said: "Here's the problem: It doesn't work. It's never worked." [Thus his anti-capitalism, anti-what made America great beliefs are put on display for all to see.]

President Obama has revealed his true stance, illustrated by his arrogant proposition that people are universally 'entitled' to own a home, have savings, raise a family and enjoy a secure retirement--this is one form of the "American Dream," not a guarantee.
There is no such thing as "shared sacrifices" in America, unless you define it as how much time someone like Sam Walton spent away from home and his family, while pursuing his passion of building the largest retailing empire in the world--from scratch, within his own lifetime.
As a result, the Walton's also became one of the wealthiest families in the world--achieving their definition of the American Dream.
However, Sam Walton created hundreds of thousands of jobs for people all over the country; including my nephew, who made good life choices, got a solid education, started at the bottom rung on the ladder to success, then worked his way up to become the General Manager of his local Wal-Mart store.
As a result, he now owns his own home, has savings, married his high school sweetheart, who is raising their two wonderful kids, and are building for their retirement.
This is the way most American's view the American Dream, not the "class envy/warfare" proposition; so, just like their forefathers swept President Roosevelt from office in 1912, so will they sweep President Barack Obama from office one hundred years later.

President Obama speaks to small crowd in Kansas--stressing Capitalism and Liberty have not worked in the United States.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Obama Reveals Himself as Communist--Capitalism and Liberty Don't Work - National Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/obama-revealed-as-communist-capitalism-and-liberty-haven-t-worked#ixzz1fypStMwF

eated “working groups” through executive order that will “guide the unionization” over the next year. http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/12/08/ct-gov-schemes-with-seiu-to-unionize-day-care-providers-others-without-a-vote/

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Weekly Standard focuses on the word LIE: On Capitol Hill, Attorney General Eric Holder was asked whether he lied to Congress about the Fast & Furious gun-running scanda
Rep. James Sensenbrenner asked Holder: “Tell me what's the difference between lying and misleading Congress, in this context?”
Holder's response is a bit Clintonian. “Well, if you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that would be considered perjury or a lie," Holder said. "The information that was provided by the February 4th letter was gleaned by the people who drafted the letter after they interacted with people who they thought were in the best position to have the information.”

" You Know, 'Lying' Is Such A Complicated Concept"

[In the Clinton administration we were told to parse the meaning of the word IS.  Now we must parse the word LIE.  This also requires me to ask if Holder thought that President Bush LIED when he took the word of his experts when he said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction....]  http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/lying-holder-says-has-do-your-state-mind_611731.html
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USA Today reveals: Leading scientists warned this week that climate change is accelerating, but this year's U.N. climate negotiations are poised to end without a new binding accord to reduce the world's greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/story/2011-12-08/climate-change-talks-treaty/51750238/1?loc=interstitialskip
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Climate issues...... and the UN's Wildlands Project, coming to you.....

American Thinker writes:  Things don't look promising for the perennial climate confab which convenes in Durban, South Africa today.  There is little chance of extending the expiring 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.  Kyoto has turned into a giant international scam that has already wasted hundreds of billions, with little to show for it; in fact, the increase in atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases has been accelerating.

What brings nearly 200 delegations together is a dream -- thehttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2524324467828580210&postID=8535654654885629252 forlorn hope that developed nations who have ratified the Protocol will come up with a $100-billion-per-year aid program.  This is supposed to allow developing nations to adapt to the putative climate disasters that the IPCC, the U.N.'s climate-science panel, has been predicting for more than 20 years.  The U.S., which never ratified Kyoto, is expected to supply the lion's share of this subsidy.  Fat chance.  Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/durban_climate_conference_the_dream_fades.html#ixzz1f0XhtKkt

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From National Review: Just as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has used the Clean Air Act to broaden the scope of their authority way beyond its original intention with rules like MACT and CSAPR, the Clean Water Act is becoming a tool of overreach by the out of control agency.
Barack Obama and the EPA’s Lisa Jackson have made it clear through their actions that they will circumvent the legislature by using regulatory enforcement to enact Obama’s green dreams, and now it seems that circumvention includes the Supreme Court of the United States.
During the Bush presidency, a series of Supreme Court decisions acknowledged the limits of reach for the Clean Water Act. Most notably, the Supreme Court clarified that federal jurisdiction did not extend to wetlands and other “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.  Through the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook Country v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2001) and Raponos v. U.S. (2006) the Supreme Court established that private property rights still mattered even in light of the Clean Water Act and that the federal government did not have authority over them.
This of course isn’t stopping Barack Obama and Lisa Jackson from moving forward anyway. http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/284345/prepare-have-puddle-your-back-yard-regulated-greg-pollowitz
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The Blaze reports A report released by Accuracy in Media Wednesday, reveals that CH2M HILL, a Colorado-based consulting, engineering and construction firm, received nearly $2 Billion in stimulus funding despite a history of kickbacks, poor conduct and contaminating their own workers. While they are not in danger of suffering the same bankruptcy plight as Solyndra, CH2M has laid-off thousands of workers since receiving taxpayer stimulus. And like Solyndra, CH2M has donated thousands in campaigns finances to Democrats.http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-engineering-firm-ch2m-hill-cut-thousands-of-jobs-after-receiving-2-billion-in-stimulus/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forbes writes: Muller also honestly admits that “The [land based] temperature station quality is largely awful,” noting that “A careful survey of these stations by a team led by meteorologist Anthony Watts showed that 70% of these stations have such poor siting that, by the U.S. government’s own measure, they result in temperature uncertainties of between two and five degrees Celsius or more. We do not know how much worse are the stations in the developing world.”  He adds that, “The margin of error for the stations is at least three times larger than the estimated warming.”
In addition, the scientifically recognized temperature proxy data from tree rings, ice cores, lake and ocean sediments, and stalagmites also show no warming since 1940.  Note that the warming before 1940 is attributable to the global recovery of temperatures from the Little Ice Age, and even the land based records show no warming over the last 13 years.
The truth is a vigorous global scientific debate persists over whether man’s use of carbon-based fuels threatens to cause catastrophic global warming, and the media not reporting that is not performing journalism.  The most authoritative presentation of this debate can be found in the 856 page, Climate Change Reconsidered, published by the Heartland Institute in 2009.  This careful, thoroughly scientific volume co- authored by dozens of fully credentialed scientists comprehensively addresses every aspect of global warming, and indicates that natural causes are primarily responsible for climate patterns of the last century.   Heartland has just published a follow up 416 page Interim Report updating the debate. http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2011/12/01/salvaging-the-mythology-of-man-caused-global-warming/2/
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Ben Johnson, for The White House Watch, writes:
This year’s Rose Parade will feature an estimated43 floats, 21 bands, 400 horses — and an Impeach Obama banner flying overhead.
The groups that flew an Impeach Obama banner during Barack Obama’s Veterans Day visit to San Diego plans to take to the skies again at the beginning of [...] activists launched a campaign earlier this week aimed at convincing politicians that they should curb greenhouse gas emissions for moral and ethical reasons.
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Personal Liberty writes: Activist Carl Swensson,who runs the RiseUpForAmerica.com website, and has been integral in campaigns to have Obama investigated,told WND that not only has he petitioned the state secretary of state,but some half a dozen others have done the same thing.
The initiative, called the Climate Ethics Campaign, was launched to coincide with the first week of international climate talks now underway in Durban, South Africa. http://www.personalliberty.com/news/climate-activists-call-global-warming-ethical-issue/?eiid=

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The UK Daily Mail writes: Climate Change/Global Warming jumped the shark two years ago at Copenhagen when they met in a rare Danish blizzard. Even President Obama — who never met an excuse to vacation that he didn’t like — is skipping the Durban, South Africa, confab on Climate Change/Global Warming, and President Obama is blocking spending of a $100 billion Green Climate Fund because the United States and Saudi Arabia disagree with the rest on how the money should be spent.

It was already feared that souring economic conditions and next year’s US presidential election would make it difficult for the UN summit – which opens on Monday in Durban, South Africa – to make headway on a new deal to tackle global warming before the main provisions of the existing Kyoto protocol climate treaty expire at the end of 2012.

But officials confirmed on Thursday that the US, backed by Saudi Arabia, has still not agreed to a blueprint for the Green Climate Fund. The fund is one of the few concrete measures to emerge from seven years of talks on how countries should share the burden of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say risk raising average global temperatures to dangerous levels. http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/46913

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Bloomberg reports: Canada, the country furthest from meeting its commitment to cut carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, may save as much as $6.7 billion by exiting the global climate change agreement and not paying for offset credits.
The country’s greenhouse-gas emissions are almost a third higher than 1990 levels, and it has a 6 percent CO2 reduction target for the end of 2012. If it couldn’t meet its goal, Canada would have to buy carbon credits, under the rules of the legally binding treaty.
Canada, which has the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, would be the first of 191 signatories to the Kyoto Protocol to annul its emission-reduction obligations. http://topics.bloomberg.com/canada/
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Taxed Enouth Already reports: Step by step, piece by piece, the Wildlands Project is coming to fruition.  The Project, foundational to the U.N.Biodiversity Treaty which was never ratified by the U.S. Senate, calls for approximately 50 percent of the United States to be set aside as "wildlands", where no human can enter.  Much has been accomplished over the past 10 years toward that goal, and the pace is stepping up, with the help of the federal agencies under Clinton/Gore.

http://taxedenoughalready.blogspot.com/2011/11/wildlands-project.html?m=1

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Barney Frank's legacy; Nancy Pelosi's threat; Touch-screen voter fraud; NAACP appeals to UN; GQ pans Obama; Romney purged computer, using $100,000 of state money; Georgia questioning Obama's placement on ballot; By-passing the Constitution with popular vote; Beat Back Obama

National REview writes: Barney Frank will be remembered for three things: First, he was not only the first openly gay member of Congress but the first involved in a gay-prostitution scandal. Second, he said, “I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness” regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as exercised with regard to other government-affiliated agencies, preferring, as he memorably put  it, to “roll the dice a little bit.” Third, he was co-author of the Frank-Dodd financial-reform legislation. Which is to say, Representative Frank will be remembered as an embarrassment, a reckless gambler, and a legislative malefactor. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/284273/exit-barney-frank-editors
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------House The Hill reports: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is holding back some information on Republican Newt Gingrich that could detract from his presidential campaign, according to a report published Monday.

“One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” Pelosi told Talking Points Memo. “When the time is right. … I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff."
"He would be the best thing to happen to Democrats since Barry Goldwater," Frank said last week. Goldwater is credited with reviving Republican conservatism in the ’60s.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/197173-pelosi-plans-to-reveal-information-about-gingrich-when-the-time-is-right
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Live Leaks reveals: Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax said there is no voter fraud, although the issues do come up because the touch-screens are sensitive. For that reason, a person may not want to have their fingers linger too long on the screen after they make a selection at any time.

Now there's absolutely no independently verified evidence of chicanery with the voting machines (yet), but it is worth noting that the voting machine technicians in Clark County are members of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU spent $63 million in elections in 2008 and is planning on spending $44 million more this election cycle -- nearly all of that on Democrats. White House political director Patrick Gaspard is formerly the SEIU's top lobbyist, and former SEIU president Andy Stern was the most frequent visitor to the White House last year.

Just in Nevada, the SEIU has given a lot to groups that are heavily vested in the state -- in just one prominent example, the SEIU gave $500,000 to the Patriot Majority PAC, which has spent $1.3 million against Reid's opponent Sharron Angle. They've and have dropped large sums directly on candidates: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f46_1288234381&fb_source=message
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The UK Guardian reports: The largest civil rights group in America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is petitioning the UN over what it sees as a concerted efforted to disenfranchise black and Latino voters ahead of next year's presidential election.
The organisation will this week present evidence to the UN high commissioner on human rights of what it contends is a conscious attempt to "block the vote" on the part of state legislatures across the US. Next March the NAACP will send a delegation of legal experts to Geneva to enlist the support of the UN human rights council. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/05/civil-rights-naacp-voter-warning
Coincidentally on Friday, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, in another letter to Congress, wrote: "Facts have come to light during the course of this investigation that indicate the Feb. 4 letter contains inaccuracies." In other words, the Department of Justice lied to Congress.So the Friday letter withdrawing the February letter is itself full of "inaccuracies," starting with the statement that only recently discovered facts have changed things. Friday's document dump shows that DOJ knew the letter was deceptive as it was being drafted and that it was a monumental effort to conceal the truth. http://news.investors.com/Article.aspx?id=593738&p=2
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Washington Examiner writes: If our fashion-conscious president still finds the time to read the lad-mags, December's GQ had to hurt.
Obama made the magazine's list of "The 25 Least Influential People Alive," along with Tiger Woods's ex-caddie, the prosecutor who couldn't convict Casey Anthony, and MTV tart Tila Tequila.  Obama "should be the most transformational figure of the century," GQ carped, "Instead, he wields all the power of a substitute teacher at night school."
The "thrill up my leg" is gone for MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Obama has "the worst kind of a notion of the presidency," the Hardball host railed recently: "Why are we in this fight with him? Just tell us, commander, give us our orders and tell us where we're going, give us the mission." http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/now-its-obama-irrelevant/238921
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The Atlantic Wire reports: Shortly before leaving the governor's office in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney's administration spent nearly $100,000 of state money to purge computer and email records in an unprecedented attempt to wipe out the paper trail of his tenure. His staff took home hard drives from state-owned computers and erased emails and other communications from state servers, complicating current efforts to retrieve and review the records of Romney's four-year term that ended in 2007.
It is not believed that Romney violated any laws, but according to state officials who spoke to Reuters, the move to scrub the digital archive of his administration was unusually thorough. Several members of his staff used their own money to purchase the hard drives of their state computers so that they could take them home after leaving their jobs. The staff also broke an existing lease on office equipment so that they could rent new "clean" computers at the end of their run, a move that cost the state $97,000 in additional funds. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/how-mitt-romney-tried-erase-evidence-his-governorship/45773/
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Expose Obama reports: Only a week after there was a formal hearing in the state of New Hampshire on a request to remove Barack Obama’s name from the 2012 presidential primary election ballot over allegations of fraud,state officials in Georgia are facing a related request. 
In his complaint letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp,Swensson wrote that while Obama is listed as the only Democrat candidate,he must be removed “as he does not meet the minimum qualifications as set forth in Article II Section I Clause V concerning the natural born citizen status.”
“Jurisdiction falls squarely on the shoulders of your office as head of the Georgia Board of Elections and it is your sworn duty as a man of honor and public servant to protect and defend the Constitution,”he wrote. “The very U.S. Constitution that is now under attack and assault by the DNC for having failed in their responsibility to submit an eligible candidate for inclusion on our ballot”….
 http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/12/01/new-challenge-to-obamas-ballot-eligibility-in-georgia/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Townhall writes: Under the cover of the presidential debates and the enormous publicity given to the Republican nomination race is a plan to change how U.S. presidents are elected. It would bypass the procedure spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, which has been used successfully for over two centuries. The Constitution prescribes how we elect our presidents. It is a mirror image of the Great Compromise. Designed by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Great Compromise brought together the large and small states by means of a national Congress, with the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate based on state sovereignty.
Likewise, when the presidential electors meet in gatherings known as the Electoral College, each state's vote is equal to the sum of its House and Senate representation in Congress. Our Founding Fathers understood that America is a nation of both "we the people" and a federal system of states, so it allows all states, regardless of size, to be players in electing our president.
The plan to change this system is called the National Popular Vote. It obviously has a lot of money behind it because it is sending highly paid lobbyists around the country to persuade state legislatures to adopt the NPV plan. http://townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/2011/12/06/national_popular_vote_is_a_bad_idea/page/full/
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American Thinker opines: There has been much talk lately about the need for the Republican presidential nominee to move to the center. This is a mistake. The only way to beat Barack Obama is to oppose him rigorously, relentlessly, and without remorse. (snip) Obama will run the most negative campaign in recent history. There will be allegations of racism, of corruption, of incompetence. The Republican nominee needs to understand that in order to beat someone at mud-wrestling, you must get in the mud. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/beat_back_barack.html

I'm tired, by Viet Nam vet and former Massachusetts state senator

This viral op-ed piece was authored by retired U.S. Marine and former Massachusetts state senator Robert A. Hall, who published it on his blog on Feb. 19, 2009

I’ll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I’ve worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven’t called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there’s no retirement in sight, and I’m tired. Very tired.

I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth around” to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I’m tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to “keep people in their homes.” Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I’m willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the leftwing Congresscritters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them—with their own money.

I’m tired of being told how bad America is by leftwing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and women’s rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won’t multiculturalism be beautiful?

I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family “honor;” of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers;” of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery;” of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and Shari’a law tells them to.

I believe “a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.” I’m tired of being told that “race doesn’t matter” in the post-racial world of President Obama, when it’s all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois. I think it’s very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less in an all-knowing government.

I’m tired of a news media that thinks Bush’s fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama’s, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush’s military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin with two years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.

Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore’s, and if you’re greener than Gore, you’re green enough.
I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don’t think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I’m tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana. Update: People have written to tell me I'd have more sympathy if this was close to me. It is exactly having seen the destruction of alcoholism and heroin addiction in my own family that makes me pretty intolerant of people who are willing to destroy the people around them to indulge themselves.
I’m tired of illegal aliens being called “undocumented workers,” especially the ones who aren’t working, but are living on welfare or crime. What’s next? Calling drug dealers, “Undocumented Pharmacists”? And, no, I’m not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic and it’s been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I’m willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person who can speak English, doesn’t have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are the citizens we need. Update: A few people have taken this to indicate some bias against Catholics, based on events 400 years ago. While I think they are either too touchy or fail to understand, I was only trying to say that I have zero problem with Catholics wanting to come to the US, but that I have great concerns about Muslims, as a good % of them do want to kill me, or force their religion and moral code on me.

I’m tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people then themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years—and still are? Not even close. So here’s the deal. I’ll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we’ll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear. UPDATE: It has rightly been pointed out to me, several times, that I should have included Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops here. My apologies for slighting these gallant allies of freedom.

I’m tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers—bums are bi-partisan. And I’m tired of people telling me we need bi-partisanship. I live in Illinois, where the “Illinois Combine” of Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the public for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in Obama’s cabinet are bi-partisan as well.

I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I’m tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn’t have that in 1970, but we didn’t know we were “poor.” The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I’m real tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I’m not going to get to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for my granddaughter.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate. He blogs at www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com 

Obama showers ACORN housing with $730,000; Boeing settles by increasing pay and benefits in state of Washington; Occupy protests Obama big time fundraiser; Obama tries not to pat himself on the back too much; $7.7 trillion dollars in secret Federal Reserve loans; Obamacare loophole; Biden declares non victory in Iraq; Obama cohort supports China method with unions; Senate repeals military law on sodomy; More registered voters in Detroit than there are people over 18; Newt Gingrich fact checking

The Washington Times reports: The Obama administration has showered its allies at ACORN Housing with $729,849 so far this year despite powerful, newly unveiled evidence of corruption and massive accounting irregularities at the longtime affiliate of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).
Watchdog group Cause of Action recently pressured NeighborWorks America, a taxpayer-funded federal nonprofit that funneled more than $26.5 million in federal foreclosure-avoidance money to ACORN Housing, to disclose an internal audit furnished to then-Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, late last year.  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/28/obama-uses-taxpayer-cash-to-back-acorn-name-change/?page=all#pagebreak
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Investors.com writes: Boeing (BA) and the machinists labor union have resolved their highly contentious lawsuit after several weeks of secret meetings, nullifying the need for one of the most controversial cases in decades to come before the National Labor Relations Board.
The agreement would call for a new 737 aircraft line to be built in Washington state and to increase pay and benefits for union workers in the Puget Sound region. The deal would likely mean Boeing's 787 Dreamliner factory in South Carolina would continue to operate, though that wasn't immediately clear.http://news.investors.com/Article/593243/201111301637/boeing-union-settle-nlrb-lawsuit-south-carolina.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NY Times writes: More than 100 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to a Midtown hotel on Wednesday night to protest a fund-raising event for President Obama.
Demonstrators held signs that leveled some of the Occupy protest’s most pointed criticism to date of the president. “Obama is a corporate puppet,” one said. “War crimes must be stopped, no matter who does them,” read another, beside head shots of President George W. Bush and President Obama.
One man, wearing a mask of the president’s face and holding a cigar, carried a sign that read, “I sold out!”
Ben Campbell, 28, one of the march’s organizers, said he hoped to prove to skeptics of the protests that the demonstrators were political critics of equal opportunity.
“President Obama is coming to town solely to raise money from the richest of the rich,” Mr. Campbell said. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/occupy-protesters-mobilize-for-obamas-visit/
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The Jerusalem Post writes: US President Barack Obama defended his policy toward Israel on Wednesday at a political fundraiser where a prominent American Jewish leader mentioned concerns in the Jewish community about the US-Israeli relationship.

Obama, who has been criticized by some of Israel's US supporters for being tough on a close ally and has had strained ties with Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu, offered strong assurances of his commitment to Israel's security.

"I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more for the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration," Obama said. "We don't compromise when it comes to Israel's security ... and that will continue." http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=247682
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The Daily Caller writes: The Federal Reserve doled out a staggering 7.77 trillion dollars in secret loans in an effort to stabilize banks during the  financial crisis — cheap money from the public purse that the banks subsequently lent out at higher rates for a profit of $13 billion dollars, Bloomberg News reports.
Although Bloomberg has been publishing findings from its analysis of over 29,000 pages of documents since August, the true magnitude of the central bank’s intervention during the economic crisis has only come to light in recent days.

At the time of TARP’s passage, members of Congress were unaware of the extent of the Fed’s behind-the-scenes lending activity.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/01/congress-was-unaware-of-7-77-trillion-in-secret-fed-loans-ahead-of-tarp-vote/#ixzz1fI8p5nqY
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The Weekly Standard writes: Minnesota Public Radio reports, “A loophole in the federal health care overhaul would allow many employers to game the system by dumping their sicker employees [into] public health insurance exchanges, according to two University of Minnesota law professors.” Such “targeted dumping” of sicker employees would cause Obamacare’s taxpayer-subsidized exchanges to cost more — potentially far more — than the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/study-under-obamacare-employers-will-likely-engage-targeted-dumping-employees_610739.html
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Commentary Magazine writes: U.S. troops are rushing pell-mell for the exits in Iraq. Time has almost run out on their presence because the Obama administration–either through incompetence, lack of will, or both–did not renew the treaty that would allow a residual force to remain behind in 2012 and beyond. The Iraqis, as they have repeatedly said, would be open to a training mission, but instead of getting the job done, the administration is pulling out.
The sad coda for our involvement may well have come from Vice President Biden​, who has just recently visited the country we are abandoning:

“We’re not claiming  victory,’’ he said. “What we’re claiming here is that we’ve done our job — ending the  war we did not start, to end it in a responsible way, (and) to bring Americans home. (We want to) end bleeding both financially and physically that this war has caused, and to leave in place, the prospect of a trained military, a trained security force within democratic institutions. It’s not done yet, but there’s real hope.”

What an amazing and appalling statement. Biden recognizes we have not yet won the war, that the job is “not done yet,” but we’re pulling out anyway."
But the most outrageous thing about this statement is Biden’s conceit that he and Obama are “ending the war we did not start.” Obama and Biden are the two most senior elected officials of the U.S. government. The U.S. government as a whole made a decision to intervene in Iraq, and it is the height of irresponsibility for one administration to think it can abandon with impunity the commitments made by its predecessor, whatever it may think of those commitments. http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/01/biden-statement-on-iraq/
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Redstate writes: Well, in at least one way you can certainly say that labor’s organized in the PRC: the ChiComs haven’t been shy about instituting absolute and exclusive control over trade unions.  There’s precisely one trade union in China – the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is, as CNN helpfully notes, “a government-sanctioned organization whose primary mission is to support Communist party policies and seek basic compensation for workers.”  If you don’t like that union?  Suffer.  Want to start your own?  Here comes the cops.  Want to do collective bargaining?  Oh, you poor, naive so-and-so – hey, wait: isn’t Andy Stern in favor of collective bargaining?  Why, yes, so he is. So why is Stern supporting a country where they routinely oppress the workers (including children)  in ways that go beyond even the most fetid fever-swamp agitprop of the American labor movement?  Particularly when labor unrest in China just keeps increasing? http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2011/12/01/andy-stern-scab-for-the-chinese/

There has hardly been a better example in recent years than Andy Stern’s Wall Street Journal December 1st op-ed entitled “China’s Superior Economic Model.” In his article, Stern approvingly quotes Intel Corporation co-founder and former CEO Andy Grove who stated in a 2010 Business Week article that there is “emerging evidence that while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a modification that is even better.” http://rossputin.com/blog/index.php
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Vision to Anmerica writes:The Senate this evening is poised to vote on a defense authorization bill that includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, but also repeals the military ban on sex with animals–or bestiality.
On Nov. 15, the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision to repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
Article 125 of the UCMJ makes it illegal to engage in both sodomy with humans and sex with animals.
http://visiontoamerica.org/5989/senate-ready-to-legalize-sodomy-and-bestiality-in-u-s-military/
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Crain's of Detroit: There are about 560,000 registered voters in the city of Detroit. But the 2010 U.S. Census found only 523,430 Detroiters over 18, according to Data Driven Detroit.*
So that's a problem.
Detroit's voter rolls have been plagued by duplicate, incorrect or invalid registrations for a long time, and bringing the lists into compliance is a Herculean task.
"Because of the National Voter Registration Act (of 1983), we are required to hold onto and include in our count those who more than likely be should cancelled because they have moved, relocated and the like, or there has been no activity for a number of years," City Clerk Janice Winfrey said. "However, we have to hold them for two consecutive federal elections. So after this federal election, by the beginning of 2013, we'll have nearly 30,000 we can cancel." http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110822/STAFFBLOG04/110829985/detroit-has-more-registered-voters-than-residents-over-18-census-finds#
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National Review reports: At the forum hosted tonight by Fox News host Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich said this about cap-and-trade:

But if you notice, I never favored cap-and-trade. I –  in fact, I actively testified against it.  I was at the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee the same day Al Gore was there to testify for it.  I testified against it.  And through American Solutions we actively fought it in the Senate, and I think we played a major role in defeating it. 

Both the Perry and Paul campaigns e-mailed media this quote from Gingrich in 2007 on PBS after he made the claim that he had “never favored cap-and-trade”: “I think if you have mandatory carbon caps combined with a trading system, much like we did with sulfur, and if you have a tax-incentive program for investing in the solutions, that there’s a package there that’s very, very good. And frankly, it’s something I would strongly suggest. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284839/gingrich-cap-and-trade-katrina-trinko
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Gingrich, "Meet The Press" 1993, quote: "I am for people, individuals--exactly like automobile insurance--individuals having health insurance and being required to have health insurance."
Gingrich, "Meet The Press" May 15, 2011--post Obamacare, quote: "I agree that all of us have a responsibility to pay--help pay for health care. I've said consistently we ought to have some requirement that you either have health insurance or post a bond."
(i.e., A key component of Obamacare at the federal level.) http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/gingrich-health-care-insurance/2011/05/15/id/396426
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