Saturday, August 28, 2010

Border Off Limits - to Border Patrol; Obama's Report To The UN; Taliban to Attack Foreign Helpers in Pakistan; ABC Creating News, Not Reporting It; USS Cole Attacker's Trial Shelved

The Washington Examiner writes: Agents of the U.S. Border Patrol have long complained that they are barred by edicts from the Department of Interior against entering federal wilderness areas along the Mexican border. As a result, millions of federally owned acres adjoining Mexico have in recent years become a veritable no man’s land infested with drug and human traffickers, and a host of other criminals.

Now career employees of another federal agency at the center of immigration enforcement are accusing Obama political appointees of preventing them from doing their jobs. Officials representing 7,000 members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO), National Council 118, in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unanimously voted “no confidence” in ICE Director John Morton and ICE Assistant Director Phyllis Coven, who heads the agency’s Office of Detention Policy and Planning.

Council 118 President Chris Crane said in a statement that Morton and Coven “have abandoned the agency’s core mission of enforcing United States Immigration Laws and providing for public safety, and have instead directed their attention to campaigning for programs and policies related to amnesty and the creation of a special detention system for foreign nationals that exceeds the care and services provided to most United States citizens similarly incarcerated.”
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More on that UN report, from Expose Obama: Ditching the Constitution: Obama’s shift away from traditional American respect for our Constitution and God-given liberty is startling. The 26-page report uses the word “progress” 18 times. After mentioning  “the original flaw” of the U.S. Constitution, he makes this pivot: “Our commitment to the rights protected in our Constitution is matched by a parallel commitment to foster a society characterized by shared prosperity.” [Oh, here is his oft stated belief in "shared salvation" again.]  In other words, our reverence for the barriers our Founding Fathers wisely wrote into our form of government is the equal to our commitment to “spread the wealth around.”
Obama affirms that he accepts “all kinds of obligations – both positive and negative – that governments have with regard to their citizens.” The reference to “positive obligations” is significant to Obama’s view of the Constitution and its “flaw.” In a 2001 interview with Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ-FM, he complained:
[A]t least as it’s been interpreted…the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can’t do to you, says what the federal government can’t do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.
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Michael Reagan writes: Long-time liberal Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel is a case in point. The veteran Harlem congressman reacted to criticism from the president, who called on him to “end his career with dignity,” by remarking that Obama hasn’t “been around long enough to determine what my dignity is.”
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- An advocacy group is calling for the ouster of former Sen. Alan Simpson, the co-chairman of President Obama's bipartisan debt commission, who described Social Security as a "milk cow with 310 million tits!" in an email. He went on: "I've made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know 'em too. It's the same with any system in America. We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work!
Such groups say that Social Security hasn't contributed to the country's fiscal woes since $2.5 trillion of surplus revenue was paid into the system over the years and borrowed by Uncle Sam.
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Yahoo News reports: The Taliban hinted Thursday they may launch attacks against foreigners helping Pakistan respond to the worst floods in the country's history, saying their presence was "unacceptable." The U.N. said it would not be deterred by violent threats. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100826/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_floods
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Big Journalism writes: In my opinion, the ABC employee’s role at the [anti Ground Zero mosque] rally was to provoke a confrontation with participants so ABC News cameras could record it and then use the footage; literally, making newshttp://bigjournalism.com/alafferty/2010/08/25/report-from-the-front-lines-apparent-abc-employee-in-confrontation-with-ground-zero-mosque-protestor/
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The Washington Post reports: The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing. The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082606353.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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National Journal writes: A presidential commission on tax reform is expected to deliver a report Friday that fails to make any clear recommendations and ducks virtually all of the controversies that have deterred tax reform for 24 years. Meanwhile, a higher-profile presidential commission tackling the budget deficit is mired in partisan disputes that are intensifying as the November elections draw closer. Co-chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson are finding it increasingly hard to keep partisanship out of their deliberations, endangering their deadline of providing clear recommendations to President Obama by the end of the year. [To which I say, good!  It won't then become something the newly ousted Congressmen can try to force through during their Lame Duck Session before they hand over the reins in January.  Don't worry, there will be other things they will be trying by hook or by crook to pass.] http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/ec_20100826_7269.php 

Friday, August 27, 2010

Health Care Bill and Its Ramifications; The Overpowering EPA and A Lead Bullet Ban; Cash For Clunkers Cost Us Taxpayers $24,000 Per Car Sale


As we consider our choices in this November's election, we should revisit the passage of this Congress's premier legislation: the health care bill. Thirty five years ago, someone I know drew this artwork, which turns out to be a good diagram of the rules, laws, and provisions of Obamacare. Following is part of an Editorial in the Washington Times this March] 
President Obama declared that the new health care law "is going to be affecting every American family." Except his own, of course.
The new health care law exempts the president from having to participate in it. Leadership and committee staffers in the House and Senate who wrote the bill are exempted as well. The law is intended to affect "ordinary Americans," according to Vice President Joe Biden (who - being a heartbeat away from the presidency - also is not covered), not Washington insiders.


Last year, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, spearheaded efforts to have all Americans included in the plan, but he ran into heavy opposition from unions representing federal workers - the same unions that were pro-Obamacare stalwarts. In September, the Senate approved a scaled-down amendment that covered members of Congress and their staff. When this provision later emerged from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office, the leadership and committee staff loophole had appeared. A move in December by Mr. Grassley and Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, to close this loophole and to extend the law to senior members of the executive branch - including the president, vice president and Cabinet members - was blocked by Senate Democratic leaders. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/23/obamacare-for-everyone-but-obama/
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The costs of ObamaCare,  that many of us warned about, are already being felt in several states that voted for Barack Obama and the best part is the first victims out of the shoot are the unionized public employees.
In Iowa state employees using Blue Cross/Blue Shield are paying up to 11.2 percent more in premiums for the same or less health care thanks to the provisions of ObamaCare. The State of Iowa will pay an additional $17 million to cover its employee’s medical insurance as well.
In Washington State, another Obama stronghold, unionized State employees will have to ante up increased healthcare insurance premiums.  Starting January 1st some will be paying 50 percent more for what they had before ObamaCare. http://www.exposeobama.com/2010/08/26/obamacare-already-jacking-up-rates/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=9a01010d13-EO_08_26_20108_26_2010&utm_medium=email
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The Atlanta Journal Constitution: This is a very different picture [from the Congressional Budget 0ffice, now that it is too late.] Imagine two scenarios of a lawmaker who was on the fence last March [on the health care bill]. He or she is a Blue Dog Democrat, or a Democrat from a fiscally conservative red district, and is deeply concerned that the legislation may be fiscally responsible. He is presented with two different statements from CBO:
1. “CBO says these bills will reduce the budget deficit by $124 billion over the next decade.”
2. “CBO says these bills will increase federal entitlement spending by $401 billion over the next decade, and will increase taxes by $525 billion over that same time period, for a net deficit reduction of $124 billion.”
These are very different statements. Both are true. CBO said only the first when Members were looking to understand the fiscal impacts of this legislation. This failure by CBO is important both because they failed to fully inform legislators and because that lack of information may have affected how some Members voted. [I'm compelled to add that the CBO MUST work with the scenario they are given, for the Dems structured their question to the CBO with this intended outcome in mind, as many pointed out at the time].   http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2010/08/25/obamacare-bending-the-cost-curve-upward/?cxntfid=blogs_kyle_wingfield
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From NSSF: [Cass Sunstein promotes EPA ban on ALL lead bullets.  Since the only other kind of bullets are "armor-piercing", which is also frowned upon, this could just outdo bullets, and therefore, guns.....   Or, the ammo you will be able to get will be wildly expensive.....  Change you can believe in to "fundamentally transform America?  And, of course, without the input, debate and votes of Congress, as the EPA was given, by our Supreme Court unassailable power. A citizenry without guns is ripe for the overtaking.]
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF):  All Gun Owners, Hunters and Shooters:
With the fall hunting season fast approaching, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
under Lisa Jackson, who was responsible for banning bear hunting in New Jersey, is now
considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) - a leading anti-hunting
organization - to ban all traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act of
1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition. If the EPA approves the
petition, the result will be a total ban on all ammunition containing lead-core components,
including hunting and target-shooting rounds. The EPA must decide to accept or reject this
petition by November 1, 2010, the day before the midterm elections.
Today, the EPA has opened to public comment the CBD petition. The comment
period ends on October 31, 2010.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) -- the trade association for the firearms,
ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry -- urges you to submit comment to the EPA
opposing any ban on traditional ammunition. Remember, your right to choose the ammunition you
hunt and shoot with is at stake.
The EPA has published the petition and relevant supplemental information as Docket ID:
EPA-HQ-OPPT-2010-0681.

By Susan Jones: (no, not the one I know....)
Environmental activists are pressing the Obama administration to ban the manufacture, processing and distribution lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, but hunting and Second Amendment groups say the EPA lacks the authority to do so, for starters. 
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Free Republic divulges: The Democrats' "Cash for Clunkers" program had one major impact on the market: it raised prices almost $2,000 per car in a way that disproportionately hurts the poor. And Obama's Green Left advisers could not be happier.
The automobile industry authority Edmunds.com has found used car prices are up 10.3 percent over last summer. The average used vehicle costs $1,800 more than it did one year ago. The price hike is even greater for larger vehicles. Warner Todd Huston of Gateway Pundit has the details. (Also h/t to Mass SNAFU.)

The program (which most Americans opposed) cost $3 billion. In the end, taxpayers shelled out $24,000 per car sale generated. A study conducted at the University of California-Davis found even the environmental benefit cost us “at least 10 times the ‘sticker price‘ to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2578201/posts?page=1
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From PoliticsUSNews: [Earth to Nancy Pelosi: "Words" which could incite are being spoken by those on the LEFT! Are you teary-eyed yet?]  One of Washington's principal supporters of the Tea Party movement, former GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, has been receiving death threats and profanity-laced phone calls as it gets involved in the fall elections. The number and intensity have reached such heights that the organization is leaving its downtown location near the FBI and moving to a high-security building near the U.S. Capitol.
"FreedomWorks and Dick Armey receive dozens of threatening and harassing calls and E-mails each day. Many imply violence and use of weapons," spokesman Adam Brandon tells Whispers. "As we get closer to the election we expect the harassment to increase."
He says that FreedomWorks will hire additional security, meaning less money for its election-eve, get-out-the-vote, or GOTV, campaign. "Unfortunately, we may have to use resources for security guards that we would rather use for GOTV," he said. http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/08/25/tea-party-group-hit-with-death-threats
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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Obama and the Muslim Question; Mosque or No Mosque; Sharia's Taqqiya

Townhall asks: Why has President Barack Obama on at least two occasions told specifically Muslim audiences that America is a nation of -- among other things -- "non-believers"?
The Pledge of Allegiance says America is one nation under God, our national motto says in God we trust, the Declaration of Independence says we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and since the time of George Washington our presidents have placed their left hands on the Bible as they raise their right hands and swear to defend our Constitution.
The Census Bureau's official Statistical Abstract of the United States says a miniscule 0.7 percent of American adults -- or 1,621,000 out of 228,182,000 -- are atheists.
http://townhall.com/columnists/TerryJeffrey/2010/08/25/why_does_obama_tell_muslims_america_is_nation_of_non-believers
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Expose Obama reveals: In the attempt to debunk the Obama birth-certificate controversy, the State Department author confirmed Obama was a dual citizen of the U.K. and the U.S. from 1961 to 1963 and a dual citizen of Kenya and the U.S. from 1963 to 1982, because his father was a Kenyan citizen when Obama was born in 1961.
In a number of court cases challenging Obama’s eligibility, dual citizenship has been raised as a factor that could compromise his “natural born” status under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. The cases argue dual citizenship would make Obama ineligible even if documentary evidence were shown the public, such as the hospital-issued long-form birth certificate that indicates the place of his birth and the name of the attending physician.
The entry “The Obama Birth Controversy” was written by Todd Leventhal, identified as the chief of the Counter-Misinformation Team for the U.S. Department of State. The office appears to have been established “to provide information about false and misleading stories in the Middle East,” as described in a biography of Leventhal published on the U.S. Public Diplomacy website.
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American Spectator writes: Why does a significant chunk of the American electorate think Obama is a Muslim? Let's count some of the reasons: he speaks of his "Muslim roots," says he hails from "generations of Muslims," was born to a line of Muslim males and given by them an Arabic name, went to a Muslim school in Islamic Indonesia, speaks glowingly of Islam whenever he gets the chance, holds a Ramadan [Iftar]dinner in the White House, tells his NASA head to turn the space agency into a Muslim outreach program, and last but not least insults doctrinal Christians routinely, [telling the world that the United States is not a Christian nation.]  http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/26/a-relativist-wrapped-in-a-musl
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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich just made a strong stand against the Ground Zero mosque: He said, in part:
There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or
synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave
aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

The proposed “Cordoba House” overlooking the World Trade Center site – where a group of
jihadists killed over 3000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks – is a
test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites., [and a symbol of Islam's dominance over America].

For example, most of them don’t understand that “Cordoba House” is a deliberately insulting
term. It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory
over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest
mosque complex.
Meanwhile, there are no churches or synagogues in all of Saudi Arabia. In fact no Christian or Jew
can even enter Mecca.  And they lecture us about tolerance.
We have not been able to rebuild the World Trade Center in nine years. Now we are being told a 13 story, $100 million mega-mosque will be built within a year overlooking the site of the most devastating surprise attack in American history.

Finally where is the money coming from? The people behind the Cordoba House refuse to reveal all their funding sources.

America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization. Sadly, too many of our elites are the willing apologists for those who would destroy them if they could.  
 
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Townhall reports: Specifically, the public is learning of the obligation on shariah's adherents to imposeit's toxic program everywhere via jihad - holy war, waged by violence or by stealth. Thanks to the Ground Zero mosque controversy, Americans are also getting a crash-course on the preeminent perpetrator of the stealthy form of "civilization jihad," the Muslim Brotherhood. While its tactics may differ from, say, al Qaeda's, the Brotherhood's objectives are identical: the supremacy of Islam and the establishment of a theocratic ruler, the Caliph, who is to govern worldwide in accordance with shariah.
As spokesmen from various Brotherhood front groups (notably, the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Muslim American Society and the Muslim Public Affairs Council) have been vociferously demanding that the construction of a megamosque is a test of our religious tolerance, more and more of us are realizing that this is what is known in shariah as taqqiya, lying for the faith. http://townhall.com/columnists/FrankGaffney/2010/08/24/the_end_of_the_beginning_on_shariah/page/2
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Healthcare Law Will Not Reduce Costs or Deficit; UN Human Rights Council on America; Government as Community Organizer; and Net Neutrality Loses Support

The Washington Examiner writes: Faced with that bad news, the pollsters came up with several recommendations for Democratic candidates. When talking about Obamacare, Democrats should "keep claims small and credible." They should promise to "improve" the law. They should avoid talking about policy and stick to "personal stories" of people who will benefit from Obamacare. And above all, the pollsters advise, "don't say the law will reduce costs and deficit."
It's a stunning about-face for a party that saw national health care as its signature accomplishment. "This is the first time we've seen from Democrats that they clearly understand they have a serious problem in terms of selling this legislation," says Republican pollster David Winston.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/For-Obamacare-supporters_-judgment-days-approaches-540167-101325829.html#ixzz0xXH07Wss
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The Washington Post writes about the President's first-ever report to the U.N. Human Rights Council on conditions in the United States.  The State Department said Monday that some Americans, notably minorities, are still victims of discrimination.The report noted that although the U.S. now has an African-American president and that women and Hispanics have won greater social and economic success, large segments of American society suffer from unfair policies and practices.
High unemployment rates, hate crime, poverty, poor housing, lack of access to health care and discriminatory hiring practices are among the challenges the report identified as affecting blacks, Latinos, Muslims, South Asians, Native Americans and gays and lesbians in the United States.  [I guess if one is a poor, unemployed, homeless white person with poor health care access, this Administration just doesn't see it or doesn't care.]

The administration sought to rebuff criticism in the report, saying its participation in the review was not an acknowledgment "of commonality with states that systematically abuse human rights." [Is this a statement about countries such as Iran, China, etc. - or the state of Arizona?] It also said the report did not reflect "doubt in the ability of the American political system to deliver progress for its citizens."
At the same time, it said that the U.S. welcomed "observations and recommendations" from council members "that can help us on that road to a more perfect union."  [Perhaps we will be told to have the "shared sacrifices Obama has discussed, or perhaps we will be told to have a Constitution which includes "positive liberties" such as free housing, food, health care, etc, as Obama has mentioned.] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/23/AR2010082303880.html
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Washington Times writes: Saying Washington is hampered by "endless spending sprees, entangled tax structures and bureaucracy run amok," the top House Republican on Tuesday demanded President Obama fire his entire economic team and immediately submit a plan to cut spending to pre-stimulus 2008 levels.
"We've tried 19 months of government as community organizer. It hasn't worked. Our fresh start needs to begin now," Rep. John A. Boehner http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/24/boehner-obama-must-fire-entire-economic-team/
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The Hill writes: A bipartisan coalition in favor of net neutrality has lost a key conservative supporter amid signs that the issue is becoming more divisive.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA) severed ties with the net-neutrality coalition Save the Internet after a conservative blog [RedState]questioned the association with liberal organizations such as ACORN and the ACLU [and SEIU and MoveOn.Org].

GOA was one of the charter members of Save the Internet, but a spokesman for the gun rights group said times have changed.
"Back in 2006 we supported net neutrality, as we had been concerned that AOL and others might continue to block pro-second amendment issues," said Erich Pratt, communications director for GOA.
"The issue has now become one of government control of the Internet, and we are 100 percent opposed to that," Pratt said. http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/115367-as-elections-near-net-neutrality-backers-challenged-by-moveonorg-and-acorn-ties
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

3.8% Medicare Tax on Home Sale Profits; Civilian Jihadist Process;

To my readers: At the bottom of every post, just past the "Comment" space, is an icon which allows you to subscribe to this blog as an email.  It makes it easier to read, but you will not be able to comment.
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From the Gazette: Chapter 2A, like all the other chapters of the Internal Revenue Code, seems to be written with the specific intent that it should never actually be understood by anyone.) Chapter 2A does create a new 3.8 percent tax to support Medicare. The tax begins in 2013. It applies to “investment income”  and affects only individual taxpayers with an income in excess of $200,000 and couples filing a joint return with an income in excess of $250,000.
Now, putting this in the context of the sale of a home, for a married couple the first $500,000 of gain from the sale of a home is exempt. For an individual taxpayer, the exemption amount is $250,000. Once a taxpayer has used up the exemption, the gain from the sale becomes investment income and is subject to a regular capital gains tax of 15 percent. Under the new law, if a taxpayer exceeds the income threshold amount stated above, the 3.8 percent Medicare support tax will also apply.
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The Canada Free Press writes: Trial of the United States vs. The Holy Land Foundation et al The document that should stop the Islamic “Victory Mosque” By Doug Hagmann Monday, August 23, 2010 
Feisal ABDUL RAUF is indeed an adherent and promoter of the Muslim Brotherhood’s goals and objectives. Any doubt to his Muslim Brotherhood connections are addressed by the excellent and timely report by Alyssa A. Lappen, which is required reading for factual insight into ABDUL RAUF’s link to the Muslim brotherhood.
Clearly, according to this document, the objective of the Muslim Brotherhood is to convert the U.S. into an Islamic nation through sabotage and subterfuge.  It is a handbook to achieve that end. The author painstakingly describes the process of “settlement,” among others, and further described its meaning and the methods to be employed:
The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. The Ikhwan* must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions. [Emphasis added].
The succinct analysis by Ms. Lappen of point 17 of the document clearly illustrates that “building Islamic centers equals building military “battalions,” points from which to later stage the planned destruction of the West.”
And what better place inside our front lines is there but within the perimeter of destruction at Ground Zero?
* Ikhwan (Arabic for brothers) was the Islamic religious militia which formed the main military force of the Arabian ruler Ibn Saud.  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26849
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From Michigan Capitol Confidential: Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson, a candidate for Michigan Secretary of State, says she has evidence of forgery in one of the candidate statements for the "Tea Party" political party. The supposed candidate, Aaron Tyler of Springfield Township, has been in Phoenix, AZ, and told Johnson's office that he did not wish to be a candidate, did not sign his name on candidate statement paperwork, and had no idea his name was in the process of being placed on the ballot.  http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/13429
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Reuters reports: The biggest U.S. companies stepped up their lobbying on Monday to block Democrats' plans to let taxes on wealthier Americans rise at year's end, asking lawmakers not to cut short the hearing process in Congress. (snip) Republicans and business contend that raising taxes on the top income classes will choke the economic recovery, and they are demanding that Democrats commit to "regular order" in the Senate. That process includes hearings, mark-up of legislation and then movement to the Senate floor for a vote. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67M3XO20100823
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"President Barack Obama's job-approval rating has dropped to 34 percent in Texas, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released this afternoon. Lone Star State voters are more hostile to Obama than the rest of the country."   http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2010/08/obama_approval_rate_in_texas_d.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Ftxpotomac+%28Texas+on+the+Potomac%29
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Daily Caller reveals: Alveda King, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s niece and one of Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally’s keynote speakers, said if her uncle were alive today, he’d choose to attend the Aug. 28 rally that “demonstrates the spirit of love and unity and peace.” (snip) Alveda King said she think Beck embraces the meaning of her late uncle’s “I have a dream,” speech, and aims for trying to reach a better tomorrow, better than the NAACP.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/23/alveda-king-speaks-on-whether-her-uncle-martin-luther-king-jr-would-stand-with-glenn-beck-or-naacp-on-aug-28/ 
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From Daily Caller: While much attention has been focused on questions surrounding the Ground Zero mosque and the appropriateness of the State Department funding Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s trip to the Middle East, little attention has been given to the fact that U.S. taxpayer money is funding mosque development around the world.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has also spent millions reconstructing and financing multiple mosques in Cairo and Cyprus, as well as providing computers for imams in Tajikistan and Mali.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Obama Not a Muslim; Fundamental Transformation; BP Is A Nice Fella; Black Liberation Theology; and Giant Tax Increases Coming

[Without offering any proof at all, yet another columnist in the main stream media declares that those who think Obama is a Muslim are wrong - even the 1 in 10 Democrats who think so.] The Chicago Tribune asks: Are Americans getting dumber? New evidence of that dreary possibility is offered by two new polls that show an unexpected development: Since President Barack Obama's inauguration, the number of people who believe — wrongly — that he is a Muslim actually has increased. Almost one in five Americans (18 percent) think President Obama is a Muslim, according to a new Pew Research Center poll, up from the 11 percent who said so in March 2009. The proportion who correctly say he is a Christian is just 34 percent, down from 48 percent in March of last year. [For me, the more the MSM attack our stupidity and rascism, the less I believe a word they write.]  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-oped-0822-page-20100822,0,4153667.story
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Daily Interlake writes: It is amazing how easily the American people have let the hood be pulled over their eyes as they are led on their way to political slaughter.
No, I’m not talking about the elections of 2008, 2010 or 2012, but rather the “fundamental transformation” of our U.S. Constitution from a document that protected “we the people” from the government into a tool the government can use to control us.
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/opinion/columns/frank/article_c8c65f40-ada1-11df-bfde-001cc4c002e0.html#user-comment-area
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This interesting tidbid comes from Financial Times: But now that he is a BP contractor through the oil company’s Vessels of Opportunity programme, designed to employ local fishermen in the oil spill clean-up operations, he earns more consistent money, and works a lot less than he used to.
BP is a very nice fella, and this is a guaranteed cheque,” he says, pointing to a huge yellow skin or “bladder” on his boat that is used to collect skimmed oil. “I’m sticking with this for as long as I can.”
All over Louisiana, it is the same story: fishermen involved in the programme – according to BP, there are 2,000 vessels currently on active hire in the VoO – are discovering that hauling oil boom is far less taxing than shrimping, and they are in no hurry to return to their traditional way of life.
In Venice, Louisiana, the nerve centre of BP’s operation to remove the estimated 200m gallons of oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout of Deepwater Horizon on April 20, the atmosphere is like a modern-day version of the Californian gold rush.   http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/22f0dc08-ae19-11df-bb55-00144feabdc0.html
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American Thinker writes: As Wright's black liberation theology was the only experience with Christianity that Barack Obama had ever had, it should have been incumbent upon him to explain his renunciation of not only Wright, but also of black liberation theology as a whole.
Black liberation theology is the brainchild of James H. Cone.  Cone states in his own explanation that black liberation theology is his attempt to forge a third way between Martin Luther King's orthodox Christianity and the Islamic creed of Malcolm X.  As I noted in my original work on black liberation theology as practiced by Jeremiah Wright, anyone wishing to become a member at Trinity needed only a black perspective on faith and Black Muslims were welcome members with no renouncing of Islam necessary to join.
Here, then, is the first of a 3-part series I wrote in 2008 on Obama's faith. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/obama_black_liberation_theolog_2.html
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In just six months, on January 1, 2011, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.
They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves. 
First Wave:

Expiration of 2001 and 2003 President Bush Tax Relief legislation.
  In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families.  These will all expire on January 1, 2011.
  
Second Wave:
Obamacare
There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011.  They include:

The "Medicine Cabinet Tax" and being taxed on the value of your health insurance, as
Now, your insurance will be INCOME on your W2's!

  
Third Wave:
The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and Employer Tax Hikes:

  For the details and extensive lists of changes, comment on this blog, asking me to send the entire list of changes....
   
  

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Land Grab By Obama; Healthcare Doesn't Save Money; Tracking Lives Touched; Barney Frank's New Admission; Government Investigation of Citizens Called For

News from Townhall: It's not enough that the White House is moving to lock up hundreds of millions of acres of land in the name of environmental protection. The Obama administration's neon green radicals are also training their sights on the deep blue seas. The president's grabby-handed bureaucrats have been empowered through executive order to seize unprecedented control from states and localities over "conservation, economic activity, user conflict and sustainable use of the ocean, our coasts and the Great Lakes."_
Democrats have tried and failed to pass "comprehensive" federal oceans management legislation five years in a row. The so-called "Oceans 21" bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Sam Farr of California, went nowhere fast. Among the top reasons: bipartisan concerns about the economic impact of closing off widespread access to recreational fishing. The bill also would have handed environmentalists another punitive litigation weapon under the guise of "ecosystem management." Instead of accepting defeat, the green lobby simply circumvented the legislative process altogether.
In late July, President Obama established a behemoth 27-member "National Ocean Council" with the stroke of a pen. Farr gloated: "We already have a Clean Air Act and a Clean Water Act. With today's executive order, President Obama in effect creates a Clean Ocean Act." And not a single hearing needed to be held. Not a single amendment considered. Not a single vote cast. Who gives a flying fish about transparency and the deliberative process? The oceans are dying!
The panel will have the power to implement "coastal and marine spatial plans" and to ensure that all executive agencies, departments and offices abide by their determinations. The panel has also been granted authority to establish regional advisory committees that overlap with existing regional and local authorities governing marine and coastal planning. http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/08/20/and_now_the_stealth_obama_ocean_grab
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Politico reports: Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit and instead stressing a promise to "improve it."
The messaging shift was circulated this afternoon on a conference call and PowerPoint presentation organized by Families USA — one of the central groups in the push for the initial legislation. The call was led by a staffer for the Herndon Alliance, which includes leading labor groups and other health care allies. It was based on polling from three top Democratic pollsters: John Anzalone, Celinda Lake and Stan Greenberg.
The confidential presentation, available in full here and provided to POLITICO by a source on the call, suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage, as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled. Instead, the presentation is designed to win over a skeptical public, and to defend the legislation — and in particular the individual mandate — from a push for repeal.
The presentation concedes that groups typically supportive of Democratic causes — people under 40, non-college-educated women and Hispanic voters — have not been won over by the plan. Indeed, it stresses repeatedly that many are unaware that the legislation has passed, an astonishing shortcoming in the White House's all-out communications effort.
And now, as more is being learned about the particulars of health care, we are finding that it is not at all what Democrats have said it is.  After all, we passed the bill and now have actually read it...  For instance, I'll mention the 3.8% sales tax on taxable profits on home sales - over and above the capital gains tax.  What on earth does this have to do with healthcare, we ask....  The Democrats have now presented a slide show of talking points for Democrats during this election.] season....  http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0810/The_new_message_Improve_health_care_dont_talk_cost.html
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[The Obama administration has decided to track one more group of people (in addition to jobs lost, jobs saved, ect.).  They will now be tracking "lives touched".  Well, you can be sure that they can report several hundred million people- as no one living in America will be untouched.
From Daily Caller: It isn’t simply the absurdity of a recent Government Accountability Report (GAO), finding that each job ‘created’ by the stimulus bill costs an average of $194,213.  It’s the fundamental shell game that the administration is playing with the public regarding the numbers, a game that can only be interpreted one of two ways – either the administration itself is inept in their reporting, or they assume the American people are too inept to catch on.
In fact, the jobs reporting has been such a muddled mess, that even liberal media stalwart, MSNBC, couldn’t keep track of their stories earlier in the year.  On January 13th, they ran two stimulus related stories, one which touted the White House claim that the stimulus had saved two million jobs, and another which explained why calculating such a number is impossible.
Now however, the GAO report shows that the phrase ‘jobs created’ or ‘jobs saved’ is no longer the term of choice.  They have decided to go with – wait for it – ‘lives touched’.
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Have you been hearing that our President and Hillary Clinton are successful in being able to get Palestine and Israel back to the bargaining table very soon?  Don't believe it.  Palestine has just said NO!   So I guess that great ability of Obama to communicate and sway minds has once again been shown to be a hope - not a fact.  After hundreds of years of warring, why do we even think a peaceful solution is possible?]
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Daily Caller writes: “I hope by next year we’ll have abolished Fannie and Freddie,” he said. Remarkable. And he went on to say that “it was a great mistake to push lower-income people into housing they couldn’t afford and couldn’t really handle once they had it.” He then added, “I had been too sanguine about Fannie and Freddie.”
In fact, these failed government agencies are in such bad shape that they can’t even pay Uncle Sam the dividends owed under the conservatorship deal reached two years ago. That’s right. In order to pay a $1.8 billion dividend on Treasury department stock, Fan and Fred had to borrow $1.5 billion from — you guessed it — the Treasury.
Then there’s this head-scratching detail [head-scratching?  How about infuriating?]: In an absolutely outrageous move last Christmas Eve, President Obama signed off on $42 million in bonuses for the top twelve Fannie and Freddie executives, including $6 million apiece for the two CEOs. (Hat tip to attorney Stephen B. Meister.)
[Sounds like a good move for Barney prior to the elections.....]
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From Yahoo News:  The deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico costs at least 23,000 jobs, according to a federal document that weighed the economic impact and alternatives to the drilling ban.  [That costs American taxpayers nothing, right?]  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_moratorium;_ylt=AsmW3r7yVqPsbnAvYdxdV_NI2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTMzZGdkdDFuBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwODIxL3VzX2d1bGZfb2lsX3NwaWxsX21vcmF0b3JpdW0EcG9zAzEzBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA2dvdnQyM2t3b3JrZQ
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Human Events writes: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent threat to “investigate those opposing the mosque” at Ground Zero is indicative of how sick our once-free society has become. Clearly her remarks were directed at those of us who are leading the opposition to the gross offense and humiliation of the Ground Zero Islamic supremacist mosque. 
Only when her office sent over a statement clarifying her remarks did Pelosi say anything about investigating where the funding was coming from for this giant mosque at Ground Zero, despite the fact that Rauf told the American press that he was only getting funding from American sources, and then told the Arabic press that he was getting money from Muslim countries all over the world.
Are dissenting voices now to fall silent for fear of harassment and oppression by statists, collectivists and Islamic supremacists? [Can you not see our freedoms slip sliding away - when our government wishes to investigate those citizens who disagree?]  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38654
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Headline: They won't build it! Hardhats vow not to work on controversial mosque near Ground Zero

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Friday, August 20, 2010

The Real September 2009 March on Washington; Stimulus for Teachers Not Hiring Teachers; Ex Girlfriend of Cuban Spy Appointed as Ambassador to El Salvador

[I think this is shocking!  Why didn't our American news organizations let us know how huge this protest was?  It is left to the Dailymail in the UK to once again inform Americans of what is going on here in our country].  They wrote on September 14, 2009: As many as one million people flooded into Washington for a massive rally organised by conservatives claiming that President Obama is driving America towards socialism.
The size of the crowd - by far the biggest protest since the president took office in January - shocked the White House.
Demonstrators massed outside Capitol Hill after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue waving placards and chanting 'Enough, enough'. 
Saying he was determined to push through a bill making health insurance more affordable [one of the major protestations of the march], Mr Obama said: 'I intend to be president for a while and once this bill passes, I own it. [Yes, you do, Mr. President]

[Please take the time to go to the website to view the many photos of the day's event.]
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[Congress was called back to session in August because of the terrible need for funds to prevent the layoff of teachers, right?  Obama told us how awful it would be for our children to not have teachers to teach them, right?  NO!  The teachers will not be hired.  The funds will be put in the reserve fund for some future use!  I bet their failing pension funds are looking a bit healthier now.  Do you feel scammed - once again?]
Edutopia.org reports: The $100 billion in education monies in the economic-stimulus package aims to stem huge cuts by states, fund programs for special education, low-income students, and early-childhood initiatives, and provide incentive to everyone, from teachers to state officials, to think in terms of reform.
The grant does leave open a few questions, including how states will prove they're doing everything right, and what they'll do with their incentive money. Duncan says it's intended to make students and schools more competitive globally. Also included in the $5 billion is $650 million for more innovative programs, to "scale up what works" in schools, Duncan adds. How that money will get doled out is unclear. http://www.edutopia.org/economic-stimulus-education-school-budget
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Sweetness and Lights reports: With the economic outlook weakening, they argue that big deficits are looming for the next academic year and that they need to preserve the funds to prevent future layoffs. Los Angeles, for example, is projecting a $280 million budget shortfall next year that could threaten more jobs…
The [Lose Angeles county school] district laid off 682 teachers and counselors and about 2,000 support workers this spring and was not sure it would be able to hire any of them back with the stimulus money. The district says it could be forced to cut 4,500 more people next year…
Of course this time next year they will have their hands out again.
A $26 billion federal aid package, signed by President Obama on Aug. 10, allocates $10 billion for school districts to retain or rehire teachers, counselors, classroom aides, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and others — with the remainder of the money directed toward health care for the poor, emergency personnel and other state purposes.
The education measure requires states to distribute the money for the current school year, but allows school districts to spend it as late as September 2012http://sweetness-light.com/archive/bailout-not-being-used-to-hire-teachers
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Human Events reveals: This is huge news coming on the heels of Barack Obama's support for the Ground Zero Mosque.
He has appointed Maria del Carmen Aponte to be Ambassador to El Salvador.

Three United States Senators have a hold on her nomination.  Why?  Because  she had a longterm relationship with a top Cuban spy.  She withdrew as a Clinton appointee back in the 90's because of it. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38632
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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Let's Investigate Funding of Ground Zero Mosque Critics; Stimulus For Propagana Uses; US Threatens Lawsuit Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio; AL Gore; Unemployment Escalates; Point of No Return

www.youtube.com
[Democrats think it is not pertinent, however, to find out just who is financing the Muslim mosque itself, even though our own State Department has sent the Imam on a good-will Middle East tour, on our taxpayer dollars.  It's a strange world...]
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ABC News reports: The developers behind the Islamic center planned for a site near Ground Zero won't rule out accepting financing from the Mideast -- including from Saudi Arabia and Iran -- as they begin searching for $100 million needed to build the project. http://abcnews.go.com/US/Politics/islamic-center-backers-rule-taking-funds-saudi-arabia/story?id=11429998 
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The Hill reports: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday accused the White House of using the stimulus tracking website Recovery.gov to disseminate propaganda.
Issa released a 37-page report documenting alleged misconduct by the Obama administration in several of its new-media projects. The report documents several instances in which government agencies allegedly promoted administration policies using federal resources.
Issa called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the allegations and determine if the administration violated federal law by using taxpayers' dollars for political purposes.
Specifically, the report points to websites it claims contain false or misleading information, such as Recovery.gov and HealthReform.gov, as well as to a conference call during which a White House staff member urged artists and entertainers to support President Obama's agenda.
Rather than serve as a tool for strong oversight and transparency, "Recovery.gov became a taxpayer-funded tool to promote false and misleading propaganda to support the Democrat-backed stimulus," the report states. "The manifest inaccuracies in the data the White House used to justify its economic policies constitutes the dissemination of false propaganda by the federal government." http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/114653-issa-calls-recoverygov-qpropagandaq
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The Washington Post reports: A federal investigation of a controversial Arizona sheriff known for tough immigration enforcement has intensified in recent days, escalating the conflict between the Obama administration and officials in the border state.
Justice Department officials in Washington have issued a rare threat to sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio if he does not cooperate with their investigation of whether he discriminates against Hispanics. The civil rights inquiry is one of two that target the man who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff." A federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining whether Arpaio has used his power to investigate and intimidate political opponents and whether his office misappropriated government money, sources said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081703637_pf.html
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The Hill writes: In a post on his personal blog headlined “The Movement We Need,” Al Gore linked to and quoted from an Australian wire service report that “tens of thousands of protesters … have taken to the streets across Australia to urge the major political parties to take action on climate change.”
“Across the world, when politicians fail to take action to solve the climate crisis, people are taking action,” Gore wrote.
He added after excerpting the news report: “It is my hope we see activism like this here in the United States.”
Gore noted he trained activists in Australia to deliver the slideshow that formed the basis for the documentary film that won him an Academy Award. A representative of Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection addressed the rally in Sydney.  [This would be the documentary which the British government only allows to be shown to their school students if it is pointed out that NINE factual errors are presented in the movie.]
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/114717-al-gore-calls-for-us-protests-on-climate-change-inaction 
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CNBC reports: Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 500,000 in the week ended August 14, the highest since mid-November, the Labor Department said on Thursday. http://www.cnbc.com/id/38768328 
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American Thinker opines: There comes a moment in a failing presidency where the incumbent, through some single gesture, action, or statement, crosses a certain line from beyond which there is no return. Through his own will and behavior, he so underlines his failings, so frames his negative image, that no further action can ever erase it. Fate, accident, and circumstance have nothing to do with it. It is the president himself who puts the period at the end of his own sentence. 
With Obama, we have an abundance of riches: the multiple vacations, the legal harassment of the state of Arizona on behalf of illegals, the clownish response to the Gulf oil blowout. But when historians come to select the moment when Obama went over the edge of the world, I think they'll find the great Iftar mosque speech of August 13, 2010 hard to beat.

During a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan, the president found it appropriate to come out in favor of religious freedom. Not in support of Christians being attacked by janjaweed gunmen, or Bahá'ís tormented by Iranian mullahs, or Jews being stalked by assassins, or even American citizens being told that they cannot pray in public, but in favor of a shadowy foreign foundation with suspicious financing and disturbing jihadi connections that wishes to build some kind of victory monument congruent to the site of the 9/11 massacre. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/obamas_point_of_no_return.html

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Elena Kagen Scandal; Tea Parties; Americans for Prosperity Demonized; Petulant Obama

Breaking News: Freedom Watch, Declaration Alliance to empanel Citizens' Grand Jury and seek indictment of Elena Kagan.

Lifeandlibertypac announces: Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch and Judicial Watch, has announced new legal actions in the Elena Kagan scandal. "Prior to confirmation, Freedom Watch and Declaration Alliance filed a complaint before the Supreme Court, to have Elena Kagan disbarred for falsifying a report as Associate Counsel in the Clinton White House that resulted in the inhumane killing of very late term unborn infants. Her conspiracy to defraud the Supreme Court, in order to defy the expressed will of the American people banning partial birth abortion, made our nation needlessly complicit in these heinous acts. Kagan's actions rise to the level of criminality," Klayman said.

Freedom Watch and Declaration Alliance, with Kagan's reckless confirmation to the Supreme Court, will therefore also seek her impeachment. But this punishment is insufficient to right the wrongs of Justice Kagan's criminality.
Kagan Knowingly, Willingly and Actively Engaged In A Conspiracy To Deceive The Supreme Court - This Is a Crime and Kagan Must Be Investigated and Impeached! http://www.lifeandlibertypac.org/
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According to Dick Morris: The Tea Party movement, working closely with Americans for Prosperity (AFP), mobilized people against the Obamacare proposal and, in the end, will cost the Democrats their Congressional majorities - a fitting price for defying the will of the people.
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Here is an Alinsky/Rules for Radicals moment, where Obama demonized not only the Tea Party but Americans for Prosperity.  He must be worried about us!
Here are choice excerpts from Obama’s speech in Austin, Texas:
Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country.  And they don’t have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are.  You don’t know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation.  You don’t know if it’s a big oil company, or a big bank.  You don’t know if it’s a insurance company that wants to see some of the provisions in health reform repealed because it’s good for their bottom line, even if it’s not good for the American people. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/09/remarks-president-a-dnc-finance-event-austin-texas
[I myself question the power and influence of left wing organizations like MoveOn.org, heavily financed by George Soros. Obama doesn't have a problem with that one or those of that ilk.  The President of the United States is the President of us all, and as such should be ashamed of treating one of us in a different way from another, of getting down in the dirt to even mention people and groups by name for whom he wishes us to have contempt.  This President, however, spends each day pitting one group of Americans against another, and choosing his "winners" in a biased way.]
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Here's something new for the birthers to chew over: President Barack Obama's passport. Says he was born in Hawaii! But the White House has strategically fuzzed out certain data, so the mystery continues.
Now, it's his official passport, which means it's new, so the true believers will not be persuaded. Not that they ever would.
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UK Daily Mail writes: Afghanistan was dubbed ‘Obama’s War’ last night after it was revealed that as many American soldiers have died in the conflict during his presidency as during George Bush’s entire time in office. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303963/Obamas-War-Same-number-US-troops-die-Afghanistan-Bush-years.html
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Powerlineblog.com writes: When the Democrats were trying to sell their "culture of corruption" theme, Exhibit A was Tom DeLay, the Republican House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005. DeLay stepped down under a cloud, as he was indicted by a partisan Democrat in Travis County, Texas, and was under investigation by the Department of Justice in connection with the Abramoff case. There was never any substantial evidence, however, that DeLay had done anything wrong, and the Texas prosecution, as we wrote repeatedly at the time, was a joke. Now the Justice Department has announced that it is no longer investigating DeLay. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/027019.php
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American Spectator opines: If Obama's term in office thus far can be summed up with a single word I would choose petulant. Merriam-Webster defines petulant as "insolent or rude in speech or behavior"; "characterized by temporary or capricious ill humor." This fits Obama to a tee.
President Obama has been petulant towards those who disagree with him. Just days after taking office he told Republican Congressional leaders who objected to his stimulus plan, "I won. I'm the president." At this same meeting he told Republicans, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." 
[This article goes on to say that Obama has been petulant  "toward those who disagree with him; towards those who seek freedom from Totalitarianism (Iranians); toward dissidents; toward allies; toward police officers; toward this country (What American President refers to his country while abroad as "arrogant, derisive and dismissive"?); toward; and towards families who lost loved ones on 9/11"]  [And this is the most brilliant President in our history, with a first-class temperament?] http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/18/obamas-petulant-presidency
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