Where are the jobs?

Where are the jobs? - My latest Boyne City Gazette column:

 

President Barack Obama and the Progressives who advise him believe that government is the best provider of jobs, recently declaring that tax cuts are job killers.  When government creates jobs, it spends tax revenues from the 50% of Americans who actually pay income tax.  Government-created jobs paid by our taxes for the Stimulus Bill cost taxpayers $257,000 each, an extraordinary waste of taxpayer dollars which provided few jobs.

When entrepreneurs create jobs by using their good ideas, hard-earned money, extensive hours of personal labor, and investment in new technologies which may or may not pan out, our government benefits by the income taxes paid by their businesses as well as by their employees.  So – instead of being a drain on government, citizen-created jobs bring revenue to the government.

Democrats want to bring more tax revenues to the government by further taxing the wealthy.  Almost 50% of Americans receive a government check for not earning enough to pay taxes.  This is in addition to various forms of welfare they receive.  When the day arrives that more than 50% of Americans pay no taxes, expecting government to take care of them, that majority will vote for more and more government money and programs for themselves.  This burden on taxpayers will lead to tax avoidance by employers and workers – by downsizing their businesses, not hiring, retiring, or taking jobs to a foreign country.

Much is made of President Reagan’s tax cuts.  Government actually received far more in revenues when taxes were cut, but the Democrat Congress spent all of those revenues and more.  This puts a bright light on the current calls from our President for further sacrifice from those he describes as “rich”, as if paying almost 55% to various government entities is not their fair share.

President Obama said just last week, “I’d rather be talking about stuff that everybody welcomes, like new programs”.  As Margaret Thatcher said, “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”.

Conservatives believe that when government gets out of the way, business owners will want to build or expand businesses, work for a living, provide jobs, and enrich our society with human skills.  The fewer burdens we place on business, the more people they will employ.

Government fails to provide a blue print for the future when it passes temporary tax measures, causing business to not know what their futures hold.  They then retain their money.  When business must wait for several more years to find out if the new Obamacare law will be repealed or implement, they are kept in limbo, and withhold the hiring of more employees.

Obama’s hold on drilling permits has put 100,000 people out of work; the old-fashioned light bulb ban caused the closing of the American bulb-making plant, ending 200 more jobs and sending jobs making dangerous CFLs to China; businesses are refusing to employ more than 50 employees, as that would force them to provided government-approved health care coverage; and un-mandated EPA regulations cause more timidity in business decisions.  Obama’s avowed plans for higher taxation and new government programs deter expansion.

Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus has stated that the single biggest impediment to job growth today is the U.S. government.  He claims “Obama’s speeches are wonderful, but his output is absolutely, incredibly bad”, producing thousands of pages of new job-killing regulations:.  A new Heritage Foundation report shows private sector job creation dropped a full 90% almost immediately after our President signed Obamacare into law.  The latest Democrat to decry Obama’s regulations is casino owner Steve Wynn, saying, “My customers and the companies that provide the vitality for the hospitality and restaurant industry in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration.  And it makes you slow down and not invest your money.  It’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America.  And until he’s gone, everybody’s going to be sitting on their thumbs.”

We now have Nancy Pelosi claiming that she is trying to “save life on this planet as we know it,” and that Medicare will “vanish”.  Scare tactics are deplorable.

Americans know we mustn’t keep overspending. When will it end?

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Drug tests for welfare recipients; Southern border not secure; Welfare recipients have civil right to free cell phones; Army vet can sue Rumsfeld; Tea Party now called psychotic; Rep. Walsh disagrees with Biden - not terrorists; Foreign aid to over 150 countries; Bank charges fee for large cash accounts; Disappointmints; White House does not create jobs; Namecalling shows lack of intelligence and originality; Employee Free Choice Act by Labor Board after Congress failed to pass it;

CNN reports: Florida is the first state that is now going to require drug testing for welfare!  Some people are crying this is unconstitutional.  How is this unconstitutional?  It's completely legal that every other working person had to pass a drug test in order to have a J-O-B that supports those on welfare? http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/08/florida-to-charge-welfare-applicants-to-take-drug-test/
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Judicial Watch reports: While the nation’s Homeland Security secretary repeatedly assures Americans that the southern border is more secure than ever,a separate U.S. government agency has quietly issued an alarming report warning of “recent violent attacks and persistent security concerns” in the area. http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/08/03/obama-finally-admits-dramatic-increase-in-violence-on-mexican-border/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=212b2bc164-EO_08_04_20118_4_2011&utm_medium=email
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The NY Post reports: Pennsylvanians on public assistance now have a new 'civil right' -- free cell phones. Meanwhile, the rest of us get to pay higher cell bills as a result.
Recently, a federal government program called the Universal Service Fund came to the Keystone State and some residents are thrilled because it means they can enjoy 250 minutes a month and a handset for free, just because they don't have the money to pay for it.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/capitol/free_cell_phones_are_civil_right_htTMcKQFrjdvyl9A6NHPdP#ixzz1TyoCdl5A
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The AP reports: A judge is allowing an Army veteran who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally for damages.

The veteran's identity is withheld in court filings, but he worked for an American contracting company as a translator for the Marines in the volatile Anbar province before being detained for nine months at Camp Cropper, a U.S. military facility near the Baghdad airport dedicated to holding "high-value" detainees. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_RUMSFELD_TORTURE_SUIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-03-17-39-56
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On Wednesday, MSNBC's Martin Bashir actually brought on an addiction specialist to analyze the nation's most powerful conservative movement, and his opinions were nothing less than vile

After reading some of Maureen Dowd’s truly disgusting column in Wednesday’s  New York Times - "[The Tea Party] were like cannibals, eating their own party and leaders alive. They were like vampires, draining the country's reputation, credit rating and compassion. They were like zombies, relentlessly and mindlessly coming back again and again to assault their unnerved victims, Boehner and President Obama. They were like the metallic beasts in 'Alien' flashing mouths of teeth inside other mouths of teeth, bursting out of Boehner's stomach every time he came to a bouquet of microphones" - Bashir brought on Peele:

BASHIR: Dr. Stanton Peele is a psychologist whose specialty is addiction, and he's the author of "Seven Tools to Beat Addiction." Good afternoon, sir.

PEELE: Well, the way I think about it is they are pursuing goals that can't be achieved. It's sort of like a child who has some kind of fantasy, and they keep asking you to give them things to acquire that, but it's impossible to arrive at the goal that they want. The idyllic paths that they are pursuing probably never existed and certainly not something that we can reach right now. [So now, pursuing ideals is psychotic?]

PEELE: They are adamant about achieving something that's unachievable, which reminds us of a couple of things. It reminds us of delusion and psychosis. It reminds us of addiction because addicts are seeking something that they can't have. They want a state of happiness or nirvana that can't be achieved except through an artificial substance.

Perhaps people become discontented. Perhaps they will become discontented. And then I think people are likely to get riled up, and it could become a very angry movement, could potentially become a violent movement.  [Having absolutely no proof of Tea Party violence, he nevertheless accuses them.  If this is not a fine example of the Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, whereby they pick their target, freeze their target and denigrate them, what is?  We must be ready for far more of this from the left, as it is their only weapon.]

Read more: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/08/03/bashir-brings-addiction-expert-analyze-tea-party-delusion-and-psychos#ixzz1U4TWd8cT

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Real Clear Policics writes: "Vice President Biden, I'm not a terrorist. Terrorists target and kill innocent people. I'm a freshman Congressman who was sent to Washington in January to stop President Obama from bankrupting future generations and destroying job creation," Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) said in a web video. Walsh also had a message for President Obama.

"President Obama, we're not terrorists. We're just Americans who disagree vehemently where you're taking this country. When your friends call the Tea Party organization a terrorist organization, not only do they defy your call earlier this year to be more civil, but they're insulting most Americans."

Walsh also had a message for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who last week referred to the Tea Party members in Congress as "hobbits."

"John McCain, if I'm a hobbit then you're a troll," he said. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/08/03/gop_congressman_responds_to_biden_im_not_a_terrorist.html
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YouTube reports: There's 192 Countries That Exist In The World & We Give Foreign Aid To Over 150 Of Them!" Rep Poe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ocVj6UWiDI&feature=share

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The Wall St. Journal reports: Bank of New York Mellon Corp. on Thursday took the extraordinary step of telling large clients it will charge them to hold cash. 

The unusual move means some U.S. depositors will have to pay to keep big chunks of money in a bank, marking a stark new phase of the long-running global financial crisis.
The shift is also emblematic of the strains plaguing the U.S. economy. Fearful corporations and investors have been socking away cash in their bank accounts rather than put it into even the safest investments. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903366504576488123965468018.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
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Knox News reports: Disappointmints: Breath mints are usually refreshing, but a Knoxville legislator believes a University of Tennessee bookstore's selling of novelty candies mocking President Barack Obama stinks.
UT officials pulled the mints poking fun at Obama from store shelves after state Rep. Joe Armstrong, a Democrat, visited the bookstore and told the director he found the satirical mints offensive. "When you operate on state and federal dollars, you ought to be sensitive to those type of politically specific products," Armstrong said. "If it was a private entity or corporation or store, (that's different), but this is a state university. We certainly don't want in any way to put the university in a bad light by having those political (products), particularly aimed at defaming the president."  The store previously carried satirical mints aimed at former President George W. Bush when he was in office.
"We've never had any complaints before and we've carried them for years," Kent said. "But someone saw it and they were offended by it, brought it to the attention of a state representative, and I said 'no problem, we'll remove them.'"
   http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/aug/04/other-products-poke-fun-at-variety-of-targets/
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Business Insider writes: As President Barack Obama once again pivots to focus on economic growth, Press Secretary Jay Carney declared Thursday that "the White House doesn't create jobs.  [If only our President believed this!]

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-we-dont-create-jobs-2011-8#ixzz1U9RIXYX2

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American Thinker opines: About the name calling of Tea Party members: On Tuesday’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly suggested it was a concerted effort, organized by the left with the intention of marginalizing the Tea Party. But Washington Post columnist and Fox News Channel regular Charles Krauthammer said the situation is far simpler. He said instead it was a show of their “lack of intelligence” and “lack of originality.” http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/the_president_who_wasnt_there.html

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The Charleston Daily Mail writes: In 2010, organized labor condemned the bipartisan vote in the United States Senate that killed the Employee Free Choice Act.
Employees, prematurely, celebrated the fact that their right to a secret ballot in elections determining union representation was secure.
EFCA, or the "card check" bill, would have eliminated the sacred right of employees to participate in their union elections by secret ballot.
It would have substantially increased penalties on employers (but not unions) for violating the National Labor Relations Act. It would have obtained other "wish list" items for unions that no Congress ever intended, as re-emphasized with their vote.
Those who believed the card check bill was gone are now realizing that was naive.
Since the rejection of the Employee Free Choice Act, the administration, largely through the National Labor Relations Board, has brought the legislation the Congress killed back to life.
Consider these recent regulatory initiatives of the NLRB:
n Expanded use of mail and Internet balloting in union elections.
Why? Because these ballots are not cast in secret.  [Read more at link...] http://www.dailymail.com/Opinion/Commentary/201108021369

Budget Control Act unconstitutional; China & Russia, on USA debt limit; NY residents fleeing taxes; UN Sustainability Agenda 21; Media Matters sabotages "Fox News", may lose nonprofit standing; Obama "running out of capital"; Government swat team descends on private buying club; Debt is now 100% of GDP; IMF says stimulate growth by tax cuts; UN is not our Constitution

American Thinker: The Budget Control Act Of 2011 Violates Constitutional Order - [Or- don't they have constitution scholars there to advise both parties of their possible unconstitutional actions?  This precedent turns the constitution on its ear and changes the way laws are to be written and passed.]

First, the "Debt Ceiling Disapproval Process" in BCA 2011 Title III unconstitutionally upends the legislative process.  According to Article I, Section 7, before an act can become a law, it must first be passed as a bill by the House of Representatives and the Senate.  Thus, any action taken to authorize the borrowing of money on the credit of the United States - whether such action is a formal bill or a vote or resolution -- must be initiated by Congress and, then, presented to the President for his veto or signature.  This bill creates what it calls a "Debt Ceiling Disapproval Process" whereby the constitutional process is reversed.  Instead of Congress's initiating the decision to borrow money, the President has the initiative.  Congress is relegated to the role of having to disapprove the President's decision to lift the debt ceiling and authorize the Secretary of Treasury to do what the Constitution says only Congress may do -- borrow money on the credit of the United States.

Second, the joint select committee on deficit reduction provision undermines the constitutionally established bicameral legislative process.
The Budget Control Act of 2011 establishes a joint select committee of 12 members, six from the House and six from the Senate.  Three of the six House members are appointed by the Speaker of the House and three are appointed by the House minority leader.  Three of the six Senate members are appointed by the majority leader and three by the leader of the minority. 
Title IV of the Budget Control Act vests in that joint select committee the power to draft legislation to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion over the period of fiscal years 2012 to 2021. 
Here, members of Congress yield their individual legislative duties and responsibilities to a "Super Congress" selected not by the people -- but by Republican and Democrat leaders. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/the_budget_control_act_of_2011_violates_constitutional_order.html
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Bloomberg reports: China, the largest foreign investor in U.S. government securities, joined Russia in criticizing American policy makers for failing to ensure borrowing is reined in after a stopgap deal to raise the nation’s debt limit.
People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China’s central bank will monitor U.S. efforts to tackle its debt, and state-run Xinhua News Agency blasted what it called the “madcap” brinksmanship of American lawmakers. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said two days ago that the U.S. is in a way “leeching on the world economy.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-03/china-s-zhou-to-monitor-u-s-debt-as-xinhua-sees-bomb-yet-to-be-defused.html
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My Fox News reports: [What happens when government overdoes its authority to take from one group of citizens and give to another?] Taxed-out New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with a staggering 1.6 million residents fleeing the state over the last decade.
For the second consecutive decade, New York led the nation in the percentage of residents leaving for other states, according to the report by the Empire Center for State Policy.
The population loss is "the ultimate barometer of New York's attractiveness as a place to work, live and do business," the report's co-author, E.J. McMahon, said. "It's the ultimate indication that we've been doing things wrong."
Most analysts blamed New York's high taxes and skyrocketing cost of living for the mass exodus.  http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/new-yorkers-fleeing-state-ncx-20110803
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Canada Free Press opines: Just when you thought you might sleep better at night, with only worries about feeding your family, keeping your job and home in a terrible economy, the debt ceiling just raised to $2.8 trillion, the United Nation’s “Sustainability” Agenda 21 marches on with the help of a myriad of private and governmental organizations nationwide dedicated to the “fundamental change” of America as we know it.
The HUD Secretary just announced on July 28, 2011 the availability of $95 million to support “sustainable local initiatives” through the fiscal year 2011 Regional Planning and Community Challenge Planning Grant Programs. It seems like a good idea except that it is dedicated to “sustainable communities,” another pet word of United Nations Agenda 21. It is a good idea if you want to live in housing tenements with no cars while the streets will be replaced by trains. http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/print-friendly/39063
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Fox Business writes: David Brock, chairman and chief executive of Media Matters for America, told a news website earlier this year that his nonprofit is now moving to “sabotage” FOX News because it says the network is now the “de facto head of the GOP,” among other things. 

Anchors and guests appearing on FOX News have said because of such statements, the nonprofit is violating U.S. tax law.

There is no indication the IRS is auditing or probing Media Matters for these alleged violations.

However, interviews with current and former IRS officials, tax lawyers and tax experts, as well as a review of Media Matters’ IRS documents and its activities indicate the nonprofit has put its tax-exempt status in jeopardy for reasons beyond those allegations.

But these charges are serious. Given that Media Matters is a tax-free nonprofit, the government is effectively supporting its efforts to disrupt the commercial enterprises of a taxpaying business. The government is also effectively supporting its partisan activities that the nonprofit was ostensibly created to monitor in the first place, a problem also at right-wing nonprofits.

Taxpayers have effectively been supporting Media Matters in its campaign to get advertisers to "Drop Fox,"--words billboarded on its website along with "NewsCorpwatch" that link viewers to form letters to send to advertisers to get them to stop advertising on the network.  http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/08/03/media-matters-puts-tax-exempt-status-in-jeopardy/?cmpid=cmty_email_Gigya_Media_Matters_Puts_Tax-Exempt_Status_in_Jeopardy

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Yahoo News opines: Obama does not have much presidential persuasion left. He is running out of capital," said James Thurber, of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.

Obama's political opponents have been openly scornful of the impact of two previous stimulus packages, which were accompanied by extraordinary measures by the Federal Reserve to kick-start the U.S. economy.

"It seems we've thrown everything at it. We've had QE1 and QE2, Stimulus 1 and Stimulus 2, and the unemployment rate is still 9.2 percent," said John Makin, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "Maybe there are just not many options here at this point," he said.  http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-obama-bernanke-ammo-boost-jobs-growth-184553112.html

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Natural News reports: This is a NaturalNews exclusive breaking new report. Please credit NaturalNews.com. A multi-agency SWAT-style armed raid was conducted this morning by helmet-wearing, gun-carrying enforcement agents from the LA County Sheriff's Office, the FDA, the Dept. of Agriculture and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

Rawesome Foods, a private buying club offering wholesome, natural raw milk and raw cheese products (among other wholesome foods) is founded by James Stewart, a pioneer in bringing wholesome raw foods directly to consumers through a buying club. James was followed from his private residence by law enforcement, and when he entered his store, the raid was launched.

Law enforcement demanded that all customers (members) of the store vacate the premises, then they demanded to know how much cash James had at the store. When James explained the amount of cash he had at the store -- which is used to purchase product for selling there -- agents demanded to know why he had such an amount of cash and where it came from.

James was handcuffed, was never read his rights and was stuffed into an unmarked car. While agents said they would leave behind a warrant, no one has yet had any opportunity to even see if such a warrant exists or if it is a complete warrant.

Law enforcement then proceeded to destroy the inventory of the story by pouring the milk down the drain and / or confiscating raw cheese and fresh produce for destruction. Video now posted at NaturalNews.TV: http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=A...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_Rawesome_Foods_armed_raids.html#ixzz1U3iGTPuf

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Yahoo News reports: US debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic project after the government's debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed Wednesday. http://news.yahoo.com/us-aaa-rating-still-under-threat-204040123.html

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The IMF has joined the burgeoning party of those urging the government to acknowledge what all sensible people know: the way to stimulate real and lasting (as opposed to phoney and temporary) growth in the economy is by cutting taxes. And some of the taxes that could be most fruitfully reduced are those which inhibit the spending of ordinary households. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/janetdaley/100099369/imf-knows-it-too-tax-cuts-stimulate-growth/

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Expose Obama reports: Democrat Jon Huntsman, on Obama's Libyan war:Well,last I looked the UN was not our Constitution. We ought to recognize who’s responsible for declaring war and giving the approval for these kinds of things,and get back to the basics of who should be driving these decisions.

Huntsman:I have a fundamental problem,generally,I mean beyond this decision,just with the decision that has been made to get involved,in Libya,in a tribal country,when we have no definable interest at stake,we have no exit strategy. Look in Afghanistan,you want to get involved in tribal government? How hard it is to extricate yourself once you’ve gotten involved? Let history be your guide. http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/08/03/jon-huntsman-refuses-to-rule-out-impeachment-over-libya/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=212b2bc164-EO_08_04_20118_4_2011&utm_medium=email
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Adding $12 trillion to our debt; Criticizing politicians for supporting Obamacare abortion might be defamation; Polar bear population up 400%; Talk about defamation!; Obama's appointee to Commission on International Religious Freedom; Libya to get Embassy in D.C.; Local communites must combat violent extremism, not Washington; Thomas Sowell on poverty; Wind Farm kills 6 golden eagles

Redstate writes: Government spending is going above 25% of GDP.

Tax revenue, up until the last two years has averaged 18.5% GDP.

Today the Senate will vote on the compromise debt ceiling plan. If the plan is implemented to the letter as intended, we will add $12 trillion in debt over the next decade. http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/08/02/the-necessity-of-the-fight/ 

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World Net Daily reports: A federal judge who owes his lifetime appointment to Barack Obama today concluded that a pro-life organization whose leaders criticized a politician for supporting Obamacare for funding abortions just might be guilty of defamation – and possibly worthy of jail time.

The ruling comes from Judge Timothy S. Black in Cincinnati, who refused to dismiss a case brought by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus against the Susan B. Anthony List organization, which had criticized the congressman's vote for Obamacare.

Read more: Blast a politician? It could mean jail http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=328961#ixzz1Ttx002nb

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Glenn Beck reveals: Remember the overdramatic Polar Bear commercial that claimed the bears can't find food any longer, they're drowning, they have no hunting grounds, mom bears are angry - all because of climate change. Well, here's the update: the basis of all these claims? Yeah, not exactly true. Polar Bear population has increased 400% in the meantime - get the full story http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/08/02/dramatic-climate-change-polar-bears-are-drowning-commercial-update/

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Thoughtsfromaconservative reports on various descriptions of Tea Party members: Politico has officially labeled us “terrorists”, complete with an image of a dollar sign-shaped bomb strapped to our chests:

NBC is echoing the hysteria, claiming that Tea Partiers are waging “economic terrorism”, “strapped with dynamite sitting in middle of Times Square at rush hour“:

TIME’s Joe Klein whines that “Osama bin Laden, if he were still alive, could not have come up with a more clever strategy for strangling our nation” than the Republican debt strategy.
The New York Times shrieks that the Tea Party is the “Hezbollah Faction’ of the GOP“.
And NewsBusters reports that the networks are deriding “Rebellious” “Hardline Conservatives” Creating “Chaos”.
This is what liberals consider “fair” and “balanced” reporting.
Another Politico opinion piece comparing the Tea Party to the Taliban.   These people have seriously lost all touch with reality.
UPDATE: NYT’s Maureen Dowd calls Tea Partiers “maniacal” “towel-snapping crazies”, “gargoyles”, “adamantine nihilists”, and “political suicide bombers“.   Classy. http://www.thoughtsfromaconservativemom.com/?p=24922
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Israel National News writes: Obama has announced the appointment of Azizah al-Hibri to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Al-Hibri (full name, Azizah Yahia Muhammad Toufiq al-Hibri) is a Muslim professor and the granddaughter of a Sheikh, who claims that the Koran inspired Thomas Jefferson and the Founders and that the Saudi criminal justice system is more moral than the American one because it accepts blood money from murderers.
Appointing a Muslim scholar to a commission on international religious freedom is only justifiable if that scholar recognized that much of the injustice in the world originates from Islamic law. But Al-Hibri has made her career whitewashing Islamic law and even presenting it as superior to American law. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10337#.TjgfuwrNRiE.facebook
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Vision to America writes: The Obama administration is preparing to follow Britain in recognizing the rebel National Transitional Council as the official government of Libya by approving an embassy in Washington DC, which given the fact that the rebel army is spearheaded by Al-Qaeda militants who have killed U.S. troops would equate to Obama handing terrorists a diplomatic outpost on U.S. soil.
“The United States said Wednesday it was reviewing a request by Libya’s rebels to open an embassy in Washington, following Britain which expelled diplomats from Moamer Kadhafi’s regime,” reports AFP.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that the U.S. would be “sympathetic” to the request, after which rebel supporters unfurled their flag outside the embassy where Gaddafi’s regime is still in control. http://visiontoamerica.org/2747/obama-to-approve-al-qaeda-embassy-in-washington/
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The AP writes: Local communities around the country are best suited to take on the challenge of combatting the kind of violent extremism that inspires people to kill, the Obama administration concludes in a new national plan to fight the threat of al-Qaida and other violent radicals at home.  [As far as I am concerned, we can start with President Obama, many Democrats in Congress, and the liberal left media - all of whom are habitually calling peaceful people terrorists.]

And although al-Qaida and like-minded groups pose the "most significant and direct" threat to the U.S., the strategy focuses on violent extremism of all varieties because violent ideologies change over time and "new threats will undoubtedly arise in the future," according to an unclassified draft of the strategy obtained by The Associated Press. It is expected to be released Wednesday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_VIOLENT_EXTREMISM_STRATEGY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-02-22-13-43

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The marvelous Thomas Sowell, an African American of the Hoover Institute opines: This is not just a question of semantics. The whole future of the welfare state depends on how poverty is defined. "The poor" are the human shields behind whom advocates of ever bigger spending for ever bigger government advance toward their goal.
If poverty meant what most people think of as poverty -- people "ill-clad, ill-housed, and ill-nourished," in Franklin D. Roosevelt's phrase -- there would not be nearly enough people in poverty today to justify the vastly expanded powers and runaway spending of the federal government.
Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has for years examined what "the poor" of today actually have -- and the economic facts completely undermine the political rhetoric. 
Virtually everyone living in "poverty," as defined by the government, has color television, and most have cable TV or satellite TV. More than three-quarters have either a VCR or a DVD player, and nearly nine-tenths have a microwave oven.
As for being "ill-housed," the average poor American has more living space than the general population -- not just the poor population -- of London, Paris and other cities in Europe.
But the political left hates means tests. If government programs were confined to people who were genuinely poor in some meaningful sense, that would shrink the welfare state to a fraction of its current size. The left would lose their human shields.
  http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/08/03/misleading_words_part_ii/page/full/
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The LA Times reports: Federal authorities are investigating the deaths of at least six golden eagles at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Pine Tree Wind Project in the Tehachapi Mountains, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday.

So far, no wind-energy company has been prosecuted by federal wildlife authorities in connection with the death of birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. A prosecution in the Pine Tree case could cause some rethinking and redesigning of this booming alternative energy source. Facilities elsewhere also have been under scrutiny, according to a federal official familiar with the investigations.

"Wind farms have been killing birds for decades and law enforcement has done nothing about it, so this investigation is long overdue," http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wind-eagles-20110803,0,2891547.story

Did Mike Lee filibuster the vote?; Cleaver's "Satan sandwich"; Conyers calls for march on White House; Unions punish members who seek non-union jobs; Defining moment for Obama; Our non-healing President; How can one do business with Pelosi?; Putin on America; Obama's birthday party; Barack 's bluff was called; The death of the Socialis left;

Political Ticker reports: Sen. Mike Lee of Utah told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Sunday night that he will filibuster Monday's Senate vote.
Breaking a filibuster would require sixty votes in the Senate. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/31/sen-lee-threatens-to-filibuster-debt-ceiling-vote/
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RealClearPolitics reports: "I am concerned about this because we don't know the details. And until we see the details, we're going to be extremely non-committed but on the surface it looks like a Satan sandwich," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Missouri) said on MSNBC. http://realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/07/31/dem_congressman_debt_deal_a_satan_sandwich.html
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The Media Research Center tv reports: At a press conference held by the House "Out of Poverty Caucus", Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich) lambasted President Obama and called for people to march on the White House.
Conyers says, "We’ve got to educate the American people at the same time we educate the President of the United States. The Republicans, Speaker Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal. The President of the United States called for that. My response to him is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this." http://www.mrctv.org/blog/rep-conyers-obama-weve-had-it-calls-protests-white-house
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Redstate writes: Nathaniel Musser, a former member of the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters, according to his lawyer, could not find work through his union. So, as union members sometimes do, Musser found work on his own–at a non-union company.
As working non-union is against many trade unions’ rules, the Carpenters’ union filed internal union charges against Musser and imposed a $300,900.00 fine against Musser.

According to ChicagoUnionNews.com, Musser is alleging in his court documents that the union maintained a policy that precluded members from resigning from the union. http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/07/31/ex-union-member-fights-200000-union-fine-for-working-non-union/
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American Thinker opines: There comes a time and a point in history which indelibly define a President.  Oftentimes the event may not be of major import in the greater scheme of things but the management of it is of such prominence that the success or failure in the handling of the issue is permanently attached to the individual.  Such a moment has happened to Barack Obama.  His incompetence, inability to lead, prevarications, petulance and immaturity in the debt ceiling crisis have indelibly created an image of abject failure in the minds of a critical mass of people in the United States and around the globe.  He will never be able to overcome the portrait that has been etched in too many minds.
Barack Obama's only interest in the debt ceiling debate was to raise the borrowing limit sufficiently to get by the next election, and as a cudgel to denigrate the Republicans.  His concern was not for the American people and the impact of overwhelming national debt, nor an impending and inevitable credit downgrade.  Rather, he was determined that raising the debt ceiling would not become an issue during the presidential campaign.  Thus, spending cuts created out of whole cloth, combined with tax increases aimed at stoking the embers of class envy, were bandied about by his party in order to justify an increase in the debt ceiling of $2.4 Trillion. 
Little does Barack Obama understand that he has forever branded himself as an incompetent and failure.  His narcissism and lifelong history of receiving public adulation will not allow him to comprehend the damage.  He does not understand that now few will listen to his speeches, no matter how well delivered; that few will believe what he is saying, as he has lied and obfuscated the facts so often.  Many world leaders have already arrived at the conclusion that Barack Obama is a leader that cannot be trusted, the citizens of the United States are beginning to  understand that he is a man without a core set of principles thus incapable of guiding the ship of state.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/obamas_failed_presidency.html
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Big Journalism opines: Obama stood in front of a crowd in Tucson that had anxiously sought leadership amidst the chaos of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting; a teachable moment that had The Guardian gushing about how the President had delivered “calm amid the toxic rhetoric.”
That moment of calm has long since dissipated. Where once the President had denounced discourse that places “the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do,” we hear Republicans blamed for holding the American people hostage to their economic policies. Where once we were urged to talk “with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds,” we now hear tea party members being denounced as terrorists.  This message has been a coordinated and vicious attack amongst the media, the Democrats, and most assuredly, the President.

It is enough to make one wonder, where did our healing President go? Where is the man that calmed during a time of toxic rhetoric? Where is the man who urged Americans to talk in a way that helped rather than harmed?
That man is a myth. He simply does not exist.
We will never hear the President denounce such vile language from his side of the aisle. In fact, we consistently hear the drone of silence from a supposed leader, where such silence equates to consent. http://bigjournalism.com/rweiss/2011/08/01/media-democrats-and-the-president-have-been-in-lockstep-with-the-tea-party-as-terrorists-message/
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National Review writes: Nancy Pelosi said the following about Republicans:  We're trying to save life on this planet as we know it today.", adding that Medicare would just disappear. National Review opines:  “They don’t just want to make cuts. They want to destroy. They want to destroy food safety, clean air, clean water, the Department of Education. They want to destroy your rights.”I want to ask you: How do you do business with someone like that? How do you do business with a party like that? “They want to destroy”? (I’ll grant that we think the Department of Education a total boondoggle.) “They want to destroy your rights”?
I want to ask you: How do you do business with someone like that?  http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272939/problem-pelosi-c-jay-nordlinger
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Reuters reports on the words of Russia's Putin: "They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy," Putin told the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi while touring its lakeside summer camp some five hours drive north of Moscow.
"They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar," http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-russia-putin-usa-idUSTRE77052R20110801
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UK Daily Mail opines: Tickets for the fundraising [Barack Obama birthday] dinner cost an astonishing $35,800 a person. Additional contributions of $50 will gain entry to the concert with limited seating, while $1,000 donors receive 'premium' seats for President Obama's birthday and $10,000 tickets include 'preferred' seating along with the chance to take a photograph with Obama.

While some might say the U.S. debt pool could do with the thousands, all proceeds will instead go to the campaign to re-elect the President in 2012 and to the Democratic National Committee fund.

After days of heated discussion, the President faced bitter reaction to his last minute debt deal today with accusations that the agreement was a sly method to push through higher taxes to hit the middle classes at a later date.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2021286/What-debt-crisis-President-Obama-serenaded-Jennifer-Hudson-50th-birthday.html#ixzz1Ts2p7FI3

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The NY Post opines: If Barack Obama loses next November, we'll look back on Sunday -- July 31, 2011 -- as the day he became a one-termer.
He demonstrated the one key quality common to all unsuccessful leaders: Haplessness.
In the most confrontational partisan moment of his presidency, Obama ended up looking remarkably powerless. He didn't get his way. To put it mildly.
The deal he endorsed on the debt ceiling will long be an object of debate for both right and left. There's so much for everyone to dislike in it that people are lining up to rage against it, even though it will surely pass.

But there won't be much debate over the fact that just 10 days after Obama insisted he would not agree to any deal without tax hikes -- "Don't call my bluff, Eric," he warned House Majority Leader Eric Cantor -- he assented to a deal without any tax hikes.
"I'm going to the American people on this,"  [I believe that Obama got the ONLY thing he would have truly fought for: the debt ceiling debate off the table til after his possible reelection.]
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/it_the_day_the_emperor_officially_mwR1iZyJRMqnrIbhaoGt7I#ixzz1Ts4mgsY5

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The UK Telegraph opines: The real story of the US debt deal is not the triumph of the Tea Party but the death of the Socialist Left

 For British conservatives, the US debt deal is a thing of beauty. Under the terms of the deal, the federal government will cut spending by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years and there won’t be any corresponding increase in taxation. That is to say, the American Government has agreed to tackle its deficit by spending cuts alone. The British Government, by contrast, is planning to cut its deficit through a combination of spending cuts and tax rises – and it’s cutting it by a smaller amount. 
The majority of citizens in nearly all the world’s most developed countries simply aren’t prepared to tolerate the degree of borrowing required to sustain generous welfare programmes any longer.http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100099357/the-real-story-of-the-us-debt-deal-is-not-the-triumph-of-the-tea-party-but-the-death-of-the-socialist-left/
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The Hill reports: [Explaining "baseline budgeting"], Rep. Ron Paul writes: No plan under serious consideration cuts spending in the way you and I think about it. Instead, the "cuts" being discussed are illusory, and are not cuts from current amounts being spent, but cuts in projected spending increases.
In reality, bringing our fiscal house into order is not that complicated or excruciatingly painful at all.  If we simply kept spending at current levels, by their definition of "cuts" that would save nearly $400 billion in the next few years, versus the $25 billion the Budget Control Act claims to "cut".  It would only take us 5 years to "cut" $1 trillion, in Washington math, just by holding the line on spending.  That is hardly austere or catastrophic. [Fight on, Representative!]
.http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/174717-when-a-cut-is-not-a-cut
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Immigrants fail to integrate and assimilate; Levin supports UN arms treaty; Texas can't deny driver's licenses to those with temporary visas; NAACP official in prison for voter fraud; Defining terrorism down; Honor killings in Chicago; Obama loses 33,000 Twitter friends; Margaret Carlson says Tea Party has "strapped explosives to Capitol"; S&P demands lower government spending; Quartzsite, AZ

American Thinker opines: Western countries are perplexed by the problem of the current immigration of large numbers of individuals coming from different cultures, and the tension caused by their reluctance to assimilate and integrate into the larger society.  To debate the issues of immigration and the likelihood of groups becoming participants in the larger society is not racist behavior, but rather a necessary consequence of real problems.
Aware of the potential positive value of immigrants, governments along with other agencies have subscribed to a set of policies and values that has become known as multiculturalism.  They seek to diminish the difficulties the newcomers face: lack of respect, verbal abuse, and discrimination in general (and especially in housing and employment).
However desirable some of the efforts have been, both for immigrants and for their new society, it is evident that Western policies of multiculturalism have drawbacks as well as benefits. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/multiculturalism_revisited.html
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In a letter to a constituent, Sen. Carl Levin of  Michigan says the following about a possible UN arms treaty: Over the years, the United States and other UN member governments have undertaken both national and international efforts to combat the significant increase in illegally manufactured and trafficked firearms.

 [I guess this is great, except for our government's involvement in actually arming the Mexican drug cartels via Fast and Furious.] http://www.mcrgo.org/mcrgo/view/news.asp?articleid=6093&zoneid=108
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American Thinker writes: A judge this week ruled this week that Texas can no longer deny driver's licenses to legal immigrants with temporary visas and must issue standard licenses instead of non-standard ones approved by a state panel three years ago.
Judge Orlinda Naranjo said in a ruling Wednesday that the Texas Department of Public Safety exceeded its legal authority when it adopted a policy in 2008 as part of a crackdown on identity theft and fraud that requires immigrants applying for driver's licenses to prove they're in the country legally.

My chief conundrum is why Americans put up with their political system and sometimes even consider it the best in the world.  Are they blind?  Can't they see it just doesn't -- and cannot -- work?  Consider: A president is elected.  The only time when he can truly feel as a head of state is immediately after his electoral triumph, before he takes the oath of office, when he takes a victory lap, looking and sounding presidential and soaking in the public's admiration.  But no sooner does he move into the White House than the honeymoon abruptly ends: he is no longer the president.  He is now a candidate running for reelection.
From day one, everything he does is primarily political, dictated by the exigencies of his reelection campaign.  A Republican president is more constrained because the leftist press watches him eagle-eyed, pouncing on his slightest faux pas.  But a Democrat has a totally free hand; he can do as he pleases.  The press proclaims that what's good for the president is good for America and darkly intimates that Republican opposition to anything the president does is unpatriotic, maybe even subversive, and of course racist if the president's name is Barack Obama.
And so most of the president's time in office is consumed by politicking, not policy-making. http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/an_innocent_in_america.html

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Daily Caller writes: While NAACP President Benjamin Jealous lashed out at new state laws requiring photo ID for voting, an NAACP executive sits in prison, sentenced for carrying out a massive voter fraud scheme.
In a story ignored by the national media, in April a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers is identified on an NAACP website as a member of the Tunica County NAACP Executive Committee.
Sowers received a five-year prison term for each of the 10 counts, but Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster permitted Sowers to serve those terms concurrently, according to the Tunica Times, the only media outlet to cover the sentencing.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/29/mississippi-naacp-leader-sent-to-prison-for-10-counts-of-voter-fraud/#ixzz1Tapl2uhT

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Townhall reports on the words of a Politico columnist: It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House “hostage takers.” But they have now become full-blown terrorists.  They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm on innocent victims to achieve their political goals. A strong America has always stood firm in the face of terrorism. That tradition is in jeopardy, as Congress and President Barack Obama careen toward an uncertain outcome in the tea party- manufactured debt crisis. http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/07/29/politico_columnist_these_tea_partiers_are_full_blown_terrorists
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Citizens Report writes: [So - you think Muslims and their Sharia law is not affecting anyone negatively in America?] The Chicago Tribune reports: A man who was angry that his family would not go along with his conversion to Islam was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday in the slayings of his mother, pregnant wife, infant son and two nieces in a rampage last year on the South Side.
James A. Larry, 33, of Madison, Wis., pleaded guilty last month to multiple counts of murder, attempted murder and the intentional homicide of an unborn child. http://citizensreport.info/2011/07/27/chicago-man-kills-5-family-members-that-refused-to-convert-to-islam/
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The UK Telegraph reports: Barack Obama’s vulgar Twitter spamming campaign is a classless act of desperation by the US president

One would have thought the leader of the free world might have better things to do with his time than spam Twitter with highly partisan tweets that quickly became a major annoyance. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100099148/barack-obama%E2%80%99s-vulgar-twitter-spamming-campaign-is-a-classless-act-of-desperation-by-the-us-president/
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Newsbusters reports: Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson on Friday accused the Tea Party of wanting "to burn the place down" and having figuratively "strapped explosives to the Capitol" during debt ceiling negotiations.
Sitting beside her on PBS's "Inside Washington" was Charles Krauthammer who smartly replied, "I thought post-Tucson we weren’t supposed to accuse our political opponents of being terrorists" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/07/29/krauthammer-scolds-lib-columnist-claiming-tea-party-has-strapped-expl#ixzz1TgOZcjCN

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Reason.com writes: Perhaps the most important shot not heard around the world was S&P’s other admonition: Namely, that the U.S. bond rating will be downgraded in three months, if not sooner, unless we do something about government spending. Beyond raising the debt limit, S&P laid out clear criteria for avoiding a downgrade: 1) reduce the debt by about $4 trillion; 2) agree to a credible plan within three months; and 3) guarantee that this newfound fiscal discipline will actually stick.

Take the work of Harvard’s Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna. They examined 107 efforts to reduce the debt in 21 OECD nations between 1970–2007. Their findings suggest that tax cuts are more expansionary than spending increases in the cases of a fiscal stimulus. Also, they found that spending cuts are a more effective way to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio:
For fiscal adjustments we show that spending cuts are much more effective than tax increases in stabilizing the debt and avoiding economic downturns. In fact, we uncover several episodes in which spending cuts adopted to reduce deficits have been associated with economic expansions rather than recessions.   http://reason.com/archives/2011/07/29/the-facts-about-spending-cuts

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World Net Daily reports: The town of Quartzsite, Ariz., has been in the headlines several times lately, and a state investigation was launched after such odd reports as:

• A man was ordered to give up his guns after he allegedly "glared" at a town official.
  
• A woman was forcibly removed from a public town meeting by police even though the mayor pleaded her cause.
  
• Some sort of secret decision was made to quit paying the mayor, as police officers were wrongly being fired."Several hundred" emails prompted a declaration of a state of emergency.

Now the state has taken the unusual step of releasing a statement amid its investigation, confirming there is "reasonable cause" to believe officials in Quartzsite, after getting worldwide attention by having officers forcibly remove a woman from speaking at a town-hall meeting, have broken the law.

Read more: State of Arizona breaks silence on madness in 'Nazi'-cop town http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=327929#ixzz1ThFtwHJt

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