Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Shameful: for the first time in my life I am not proud of my country

The US today co-sponsored legislation with Marxist regimes Venezuela and Bolivia in support of tinpot Leftist dictator-wannabe Manuel Zelaya of Honduras.

Re-visiting The Tea Party Movement

HAT TIP: InstaPundit

...as large as the on going Tea Party protests have been and remain, rest assured they are indicative of a much broader trend. Moving through political seasons and on to 2010 and 2012, the Tea Party movement represents We The People's best chance of taking back control of the nation's political direction and processes we have. Americans haven't seen anything quite like it since the Vietnam War.
Read the whole thing!

Obama's Drug Czar

Now it all makes sense! It's not JUST that Obama and the other dictators (Castro, Chavez, Ortega, etc.) are looking after one of their own who was trying to subvert his country's constitution to foil term limits...

AP REPORTS:
BOGOTA – The regime that ousted Manuel Zelaya in Honduras claimed Tuesday that the deposed president allowed tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the United States.
Zelaya accused of drug ties

How would YOU like to have your own private dealer AND get kickbacks from his sales too??? Cush job, eh?

CBS: Obama administration covering up evidence

CBS News - hardly an outlet of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" - has the explosive allegations that the Obama administration directed aides to suppress information critical of the authenticity of global warming theories, just as the Obama Administration is trying to shove through a big-government, socialistic "Cap & Trade" legislation that would lead to massive government expansion and higher taxes: Here's an excerpt from the report:

"EPA May Have Suppressed Report Skeptical Of Global Warming"

Telegraph.co.uk:
According to the world's leading expert on polar bears, their numbers are higher than they were 30 years ago...Mitchell Taylor, who has studied the animals for 30 years, was told his views 'are extremely unhelpful’, reveals Christopher Booker.
Polar bear expert barred by global warmists

Wall Street Journal:
Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.
Read the whole thing

Monday, June 29, 2009

Obama sides with world's dictators...what a surprise (NOT)

Regarding the ousting of the President of Honduras: The guy was trying to change things to keep himself in office past his term. So the people removed him from office. Now all the tin-pot dictators (including ours) have got their undies in a bundle.

Obama says coup in Honduras is illegal

IRAN continues terrorizing and torturing its citizens...but White House will still sit down with them!

HORRIFIC Video Captures Basij Thugs Shooting At Protesters From Rooftop


Iran 'has arrested 2,000’ in violent crackdown on dissent


IRAN: Day 16 Liveblogging the Revolution


ISLAMIC FINANCE: Foreign bank accounts of those Iranian leaders

Moving the Stimulus Goalposts

Oh, ok...NOW the stimulus will start working...uh, uh

I have a bridge...

SCUM

Sitting in a Durham County jail cell, Frank M. Lombard, the Duke University researcher accused of offering his adopted 5-year-old son for sex, awaits a trip to Washington, D.C., this week to face federal criminal charges.

After waiving an extradition hearing Friday morning, he was locked in the Durham jail Saturday without bail.

Federal authorities say Lombard, 42, of 24 Indigo Creek Trail, performed sexual acts on his son and invited an undercover investigator online to fly to North Carolina and do the same.
Full story

The CBO's latest warning on the long-term deficit is scarier than ever!

Read about The Debt Tsunami!

(Don't you just want to strangle every Democrat that you know? I do. Especially the ones who did "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA" -- one, literally -- when I tried to explain who this Marxist scum runnning our country really is.)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Obama Is Choosing To Be Weak

Clive Crook at the Finanacial Times in London explains

Democrats' FOIA problems

President Obama's promises of greater government transparency haven't panned out. Multiple transparency problems afflict the Obama administration.

Just last week, the administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for White House logs showing the names of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Mr. Obama's "clean coal" policies. This is the same Mr. Obama who as senator castigated the "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House during the Bush administration.

Unfortunately, as if that isn't enough, the Democrats have yet another new transparency problem...
Read more

The "Green Jobs" Scam

“President Obama has cited Spain as an example to be followed for how our country can achieve long-term growth if we just commit ourselves down a path of a massive, long-term subsidization of ‘green jobs.’ But if that’s really the model on which the president’s basing U.S. policy, we may be in for a longer, deeper and more severe recession than previously thought.
Read and Weep

Hostages in Iran again!!!

8 from the British Embassy

After days of virtual silence: 7,000 back in the streets of Iran again!!!

Meanwhile, no sign of Obama, except that he tried to help the Honduras dictator guy get an extra term in office (plan on Obama trying to get an extra term(s) for himself)...no time to meddle in Iran though!

UPDATE: See the proof on any of these websites
  • http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hj111-5
  • http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-hj5/show
  • http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HJ_5.html
UPDATE #2:
...foreign policy experts over at State and the White House* have gone into, bluntly, full Ugly American mode: they’re currently declining to recognize the right of the Hondurans to remove their own head of state on constitutional grounds. Apparently, when it’s a choice between a chief executive on the one hand and said chief executive’s country’s judiciary, legislature, military, and own political party on the other… well, it all apparently depends on what Hugo Chavez thinks.
RedState.com

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Murder?


No Recovery? No Shit!

New York Times sez: No Recovery in Sight

Wow. Conservatives knew what would happen if the voters [HowObamaGotElected.com] put an economic midget with no experience [unless you count 3 failed years as a community organizer and 143 days in the Senate] in office. I guess we should be grateful that they're starting to notice something's wrong, but it just really pisses me off to think how they are dragging everyone down with them while they experiment on the country and for what? So they could feel good about having a black President. Great. How good does it feel when you can't feed your children?

Pedophilia to be a protected sexual orientation in Senate bill S. 909 and House Bill H.R. 1913

Excerpt from an email by USAGOP; June 27, 2009
The forthcoming S.909 will mirror a House bill H.R. 1913, already passed 249-175 along strict party lines, which makes "sexual orientation," "gender," and "gender identity" into federally-protected classes under the law, and codifies federal protection of up to 547 types of sexually deviant behaviors, including:

* Incest – sex with one’s offspring (a crime, of course)

* Necrophilia – sexual relations with a corpse, also a crime

* Pedophilia – sex with an underage child, another crime

* Zoophilia – bestiality, a crime in numerous states

* Voyeurism – a criminal offense in most states

* Fronteurism – a man rubbing against an unknown woman’s buttocks
* Coprophilia – sexual arousal from feces

* Urophilia – sexual arousal from urine

Attempts by House Republicans to add amendments stating "pedophilia is not protected as a sexual orientation" were specifically blocked and defeated by House Democrats.
There's some sick shits in the Democratic Party...

UPDATE: read more about The Pedophile Protection Act!

BARACK OBAMA ANNOUNCED IN 2008 THAT HIS CAP & TRADE LEGISLATION WOULD CAUSE ELECTRICITY RATES TO SKYROCKET AND WOULD BANKRUPT THE COAL INDUSTRY...

...this year, he no longer cares.


SHAME: Eight Republicans Support Tyranny--Help Pass Climate Change House Bill

Welcome to The Bribe Factory

Excerpt:
The question becomes, why kill business? Government spending depends on the golden egg of taxation that comes from the goose of commerce. Throttle the goose, and where will the golden eggs come from?

That is a reasonable question, but the same people ready to run up a 10 trillion dollar deficit built on debt to China are not the people you should expect reasonable thought from. The socialist drive all along has been to reconstruct society and centralize it through government. Asking the same people who think Cuba represents a successful revolutionary experiment about finance is like asking a morbid alcoholic who will pay for the whiskey when he gets fired from his job.

Socialism is about social control. Capitalism is a key obstruction toward that end. It was the rise of the merchant and the accompanying middle class that helped bring an end to the nobility and monarchies of Europe. The American Revolution was driven by the wish of free people to keep their economic independence from an outdated centralized monarchy that was out of touch with their needs and realities.

The free market allows people to be independent of government, it allows for the "American Dream" of social mobility, aspiration and freedom. It permits people to work their way up, build a better life for their children and go from the "huddled masses" of Emma Lazarus' poem, to leading comfortable independent lives in the middle class.

That same middle class which the left has always hated and roared against. Because the bourgeois represents something very dangerous for would be tyrants, personal independence. That is why tyrants must seize control of a country's economy, smother it outright or distribute it among their friends who will then turn it into a bribe factory, as is the case under Russia's Putin.

A free economy means freedom. All tyrants know this. Obama knows this. It is why socialism and the free market have been such intractable enemies. The free market is a knife at the throat of tyranny. And socialism is a knife at the throat of the free market.
Obama's Post-Capitalist America

Friday, June 26, 2009

BEAT IT!


EPA pushes CAP-AND-TRADE for Obama and Dems by ignoring scientific data

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has obtained internal EPA e-mails that show the agency willfully and recklessly disregarded scientific data that undermined the bureaucracy's global warming zealotry. This information is especially relevant as Congress rushes to pass the cap-and-trade nightmare on Friday.
Read the whole thing

Death Watch for America

'Involuntary euthanasia' coming soon to a neighborhood near you: The Termination Team: Obama-Soros Care

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How to help Iranian protestors communicate with the outside world

A LIST OF IMPORTANT RESOURCES FOR THOSE IN IRAN AND OUTSIDE TRYING TO HELP:

Tor is a program that allows people to bypass firewalls and use the internet anonymously. Communications from Iran are being actively filtered and they are trying to block some proxies too. As a human being I believe that censorship is wrong and that the people of Iran have a choice in who leads them. The rest of the world doesn’t have a right to tell them what to do but we have a duty to help them be able to communicate and choose for themselves.

I am no longer asking people to post their personal bridges here. Please email them to irancurtain at iansbrain dot com. I will verify them and forward them on to people who can use them without drawing attention. Please install Tor and setup a bridge but don’t post it publicly. You can download Tor and the Vidalia bundle below.
TOR and the Iranian Election

For any Iranian (Inside Iran only) needing internet access, proxy server etc.

Anonymous Iran

Iran: Real-time Tweets, Video, and Stories

http://tehranbureau.com - An Independent Source of News on Iran and the Iranian Diaspora. Top Story: "War Of The Ayatollahs"

From The Green Brief #9 - NiteOwl: These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Thursday, June 25 in Iran

Halt Terrorism--The Top Seven Things a Citizen Can Do

THANKS TO USPACE FOR POINTING ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Heartbreaking

Day 13

Is Obama Protecting the Saudis?

Via InstaPundit:
In a lawsuit by 9/11 families, new evidence has surfaced that Saudi Arabia funds terrorism worldwide—and paid two of the hijackers—yet the Obama Justice Department wants these documents destroyed.
Read more

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Barack: You're no Abe Lincoln

"Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, & you're no Abe Lincoln."
  • You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
  • You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
  • You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
  • You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
  • You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
  • You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
  • You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
--Abraham Lincoln

ABSOLUTE BRUTALITY IN IRAN: DAY 12...militia with axes chopping people like meat

IRAN: DAY 12 BLOODIEST OF THE REVOLUTION - How could Obama do nothing? "Blood everywhere" "militia with axe chopping ppl like meat" "militia beating one woman with baton on ground - she had no defense nothing - sure that she is dead"
And more...
Indigo Red: "A gruesome observation: The sniper victims are being shot in the high upper torso just below the neck so as to increase visible bloodflow. The trachea and esophagus are smashed, the vein and artery burst causing maximal blood flow from the nose and mouth. Death is not immediate and is more akin to drowning as blood is inhaled into the lungs. These sniper shots are meant to be as gruesome, frightening, and graphic as possible; it is intimidation and emotional torture, as well as cold blooded murder".
From Pameal Geller at ATLAS SHRUGS

Incredible coverage and resources: Gateway Pundit (see comments at end)

UPDATE: NEDA'S FAMILY FORCED OUT OF THEIR HOME; IRAN GOVERNMENT REFUSES THEM HER BODY AND BURIAL

The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.

Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.
Read the whole thing

Democrats: shut up...you don't get to judge

We do. We’ll deal with Sanford. We have standards (you don’t), and we have a long history of punishing and purging our leaders who prove unworthy of trust. For your part, serial adulterer Bill Clinton remains a rock star as far as you are concerned, and that about sums up the standards to which Democrats hold themselves..

So, spare us your mock outrage, your tut-tutting, your finger-wagging, your eyebrows furrowed in anger. If you are well and truly outraged by Mark Sanford’s adultery, but could not trouble yourself to muster even a little mild disapproval against the cretin who wiped his feet with the honor of the office of President of the United States, then you are a hypocrite yourself of the lowest stripe. You are unworthy to judge.
To majority media and other Democrats: we police our own, and you don’t get to judge

Mark of The Beast?

Like so many things, can be very good and help people...until a government starts using it for other purposes - Read about it

Climate change "crisis" manufactured for the sole purpose of redistributing wealth, inhibiting freedom and empowering government

'Global warming 101'

The Question

This is the question that must be asked of Gibbs if anyone else ever gets another chance:

"During the election, then Senator Obama published a statement at his website which said that his birth status was “governed” by the British Nationality Act of 1948. Can you please tell the American people how a natural born citizen of the United States can be governed – at birth – by British law?"

World Net Daily Drops The POTUS Ineligibility Ball

Impeachment

At The Cypress Times, Bill Turner who is the Idaho State Director of The Patriotic Resistance at www.resistnet.com is talkin' about it: Obama and Biden Exposed!

So is Tom Sears, Professor of Accounting at Hartwick College in Oneonta over at The Daily Star: How long till Obama is booted?

There's gotta be a lot more people talkin' about it...

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Obama Likely to Back UK Muslim Group's Condemnation of Sarkozy's Stand on Burqas

The same U.S. President who rejects "meddling" in Islamist Iran has no problem meddling in democratic France--on the side of Islamists. During his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama pointedly criticized French opposition to barbaric burqas and Islamic headscarves.

Obama is likely to intervene again and express support for a UK Muslim group that today condemned Sarkozy.
Read the whole thing

Neda

Watch this and remember it when you see Obama kiss Ahmadinejad's ass--as he most surely will in the next few months.

Be careful what you wish for...

BROOKE GREENBERG IS 16 YEARS OLD!!! Read about it

Rethinking Kindle...

Ouchhhh

Support Trader Joe's. Buy Israeli products.

PowerLine Reports

Please make a point of shopping at Trader Joe's over the coming days and weeks. Please go out of your way to introduce yourselves to store-managers and to let them know that one of the reasons that you are patronizing their store is precisely because of their principled and courageous determination to continue selling Israeli products. Let them know that you know of many others who feel this way, who might not choose to introduce themselves personally, but who have determined to support Trader Joe's all the more so because of its decision.
Wherever you may shop - for groceries and otherwise, please consider both or either (a) going out of your way to purchase Israeli products and/or (b) thanking store-managers or proprietors for carrying Israeli products.

Learn more about this immediate concern by reading the report issued on the StandWithUs website (StandWithUs is a Los Angeles based Israel-advocacy organization that does outstanding work).

Obama thinks you are stupid...

...and here's why:

The Markey-Waxman "Cap-and-trade" Energy Tax bill

Patriots,

We've got a country to save. We wont be able to fight everything and win, but we can't let what happened with the $787 Billion stimulus pork 'n waste package happen again. But unless we mobilize now, it will.

The Markey-Waxman "Cap-and-trade" Energy Tax bill, in the current form being considered by the House Energy and Commerce committee, would, according to the Heritage Foundation, have the following catastrophic effects by 2035:

1. Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $9.6 trillion annually;

2. Destroy 1,105,000 American jobs per year on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs;

3. Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation;

4. Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent;

5. Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent;

6. Raise an average family's annual energy bill by $1,500 annually; and

7. Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 26 percent, or $29,150 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants the U.S. House to vote at the end of this week on the Waxman-Markey National Energy Tax (House Bill 2454). We must kill the bill there, in the House of Representatives, before it reaches the Senate where it could passes with near certainty before being signed into law by the President.

We can't settle for calling our own representatives--especially if where you live, your Congressional Representative is a far-Left Liberal. We can't hope it'll be good enough if every single Republican in the House of Representatives votes against Waxman-Markey because Democrats have the majority.

We must target Democrats in order to stop this thing, but not just Any Democrats. Democrats that are moderate-to-moderately Conservative. Fortunately, they already identified themselves by forming the Blue Dog Coalition.

According to Wikipedia, their ideology (largely born out of the necessity to get votes in conservative regions like Texas and other southern states, and states in the heartland like Indiana), "the Blue Dog Coalition is often involved in finding a compromise between liberal and conservative positions. The Blue Dogs are viewed by some as a continuation of the socially conservative wing of the Democratic party prominent during the presidency of Harry S Truman.[citation needed] However, the only stated policy position of the Blue Dogs is fiscal conservatism...

"Despite the Blue Dogs' differing degrees of economic and social conservatism, they generally work to promote positions within the House of Representatives that bridge the gap between center-right and left-wing politics. Blue Dogs are an important swing vote on spending bills and as a result have gained influence in Congress out of proportion to their numbers. They are frequently sought after to broker compromises between the Democratic and Republican leadership, generally lending a more conservative character to US politics."

Here is a complete list of those sitting Representatives in the House, and their telephone numbers. We need to call 'em up, ASAP, and tell them to vote NO on H.R. 2454.

All numbers, area code 202:

* Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
225-2801
* Baron Hill (IN-9), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
225-5315
* Charlie Melancon (LA-3), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
225-4031
* Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip
225-6401

* Jason Altmire (PA-4), 225-2565
* Mike Arcuri (NY-24), 225-3665
* John Barrow (GA-12), 225-2823
* Marion Berry (AR-1), 225-4076
* Sanford Bishop (GA-2), 225-3631
* Dan Boren (OK-2), 225-2701
* Leonard Boswell (IA-3), 225-3806
* Allen Boyd (FL-2), 225-5235
* Bobby Bright (AL-2), 225-2901
* Christopher Carney (PA-10), 225-3731
* Ben Chandler (KY-6), 225-4706
* Travis Childers (MS-1), 225-4306
* Jim Cooper (TN-5), 225-4311
* Henry Cuellar (TX-28), 225-1640
* Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), 225-5406
* Lincoln Davis (TN-4), 225-6831
* Joe Donnelly (IN-2), 225-3915
* Brad Ellsworth (IN-8), 225-4636
* Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), 225-2542
* Bart Gordon (TN-6), 225-4231
* Parker Griffith (AL-5), 225-4801
* Tim Holden (PA-17), 225-5546
* Frank Kratovil (MD-1), 225-5311
* Jim Marshall (GA-8), 225-6531
* Jim Matheson (UT-2), 225-3011
* Mike McIntyre (NC-7), 225-2731
* Mike Michaud (ME-2), 225-6306
* Walt Minnick (ID-1), 225-6611
* Harry Mitchell (AZ-5), 225-2190
* Dennis Moore (KS-3), 225-2865
* Patrick Murphy (PA-8), 225-4276
* Glenn Nye (VA-2), 225-4215
* Collin Peterson (MN-7), 225-2165
* Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), 225-2611
* Mike Ross (AR-4), 225-3772
* John Salazar (CO-3), 225-4761
* Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), 225-2965
* David Scott (GA-13), 225-2939
* Zack Space (OH-18), 225-6265
* John Tanner (TN-8), 225-4714
* Gene Taylor (MS-4), 225-5772
* Charlie Wilson (OH-6), 225-5705
* Melissa Bean (IL-8), 225-3711
* Mike Thompson (CA-1), 225-3311
* Dennis Cardoza (CA-18), 225-6131
* Jim Costa (CA-20), 225-3341
* Adam Schiff (CA-29), 225-4176
* Jane Harman (CA-36), 225-8220
* Joe Baca (CA-43), 225-2823

It would take a little over three hours to call of these numbers straight through, so feel free to break it up. Just be sure to call as many as you can as soon as you can, especially the numbers at the top!

Feel free to modify this script to suit what feels comfortable to you. It runs about a minute and 42 seconds.

"Good morning,

My name is and I'm calling about the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade bill that the Speaker of the House is urging a vote on as soon as possible, an issue that affects all Americans and not just those in your district. Like those Americans, I care deeply about the environment and being responsible as we try to re-grow our prosperity in this country, but I strongly feel this bill is the wrong way to do it.

According to credible economists and their peer-reviewed academic research, this piece of legislation will kick our economy while it's down. At a time when we should be doing everything we can to make this the best place in the world for people to come and start a business, and create jobs, we're going to make energy so incredibly expensive that they can't afford to hire anyone. And for families already struggling-whether by having to string together two-part time jobs or get by on unemployment-they will see their gasoline, heating and electricity bills shoot through the roof.

I know the sponsors of this bill have said otherwise, but I am telling you, I know other wise. And I am also telling Representative to vote against this legislation. There aren't too many issues more important than this one, and I'm afraid that how each Representative votes on this bill will matter to me and everyone that I know when it's time for us to vote during the mid-term elections next November, 2010.

Thank you for your time."

And for good measure, give Republican House minotiry leader John Boehner's office at a call at (202) 225-6205 to reinforce, and remind his staffer that we're out here, watching, and that we wont tolerate any give from the party in the House on this bill. Remind his staffer that his and their re-election counts on standing strong against this bill.

I truly hope that you'll join me in my mission to stop this madness, and tell everyone you know to help you too.

Thank you for your time.

Dairenn Lombard, Los Angeles
http://dlombard.livejournal.com/

White House Can't Explain More Than Half of $80 Billion in Drug Savings

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday details on non-donut hole savings remain to be negotiated between the drug companies and the Senate Finance Committee.
Read more

Democrats' Health "Reform" By the Numbers

Taken from America's Right post today: A Few Notes on Barack Obama's Press Conference This Afternoon

June 23, 2009: After the Friday release of the House Democrat leadership's health reform discussion draft, the Republican Conference has compiled a list of important numbers relevant to the legislation:

852 - Pages in the bill

120 million - Number of individuals who could lose their current coverage as a result of the government-run plan reimbursing at Medicare rates created in the bill, according to non-partisan actuaries at the Lewin Group

4.7 million - Number of jobs that could be lost as a result of taxes on businesses that cannot afford to provide health insurance coverage, according to a model developed by Council of Economic Advisors Chair Christina Romer

$88,200 - Definition of "low-income" family of four for purposes of health insurance subsidies

Trillions - New federal spending, which likely could exceed the $1.6 trillion reported price tag of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus' legislation

32 - Entitlement programs the bill creates, expands, or extends

48 - Additional offices, bureaus, commissions, programs, and bureaucracies the bill creates over and above the entitlement programs listed above

1,367 - Uses of the word "shall," representing new duties to be carried out by federal bureaucrats and mandates on individuals, businesses, and States

$10 billion - Minimum loss sustained by taxpayers every year due to Medicare fraud; the government-run health plan utilizes the same ineffective anti-fraud statutes and procedures that have kept Medicare on the Government Accountability Office's list of high-risk programs for two decades

$1.75 billion - Mandatory spending on home visitation services that would educate parents on "skills to interact with their child"

Zero - Prohibitions on government programs like Medicare and Medicaid from using cost-effectiveness research to impose delays to or denials for access to life-saving treatments

2017 - Year Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted - a date unchanged by the legislation, which re-directs savings from Medicare to finance new entitlements for younger Americans

Walpingate: Will Congress investigate? Do Democrats ever care about facts?

Sen. Grassley's investigations and the subsequent media coverage have already brought to light several suspicious circumstances surrounding the controversy that some have labeled "Walpingate":
  • Prior to his dismissal, Walpin had been calling for action against Kevin Johnson's St. HOPE Academy, which, it has been learned, misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars in AmeriCorps funds. Johnson, a former NBA star, was an outspoken celebrity supporter for the Obama campaign.

  • Even closer to his dismissal, Walpin filed a report critical of what he called "the largest" AmeriCorps project authorized by the Corporation for National and Community Service – a fellows program at the City University of New York – with a price tag, he estimated, of over $80 million. Calling such a large program waste, the Washington Times opined, could not have sat well with the Corporation's chairman, Alan Solomont, who contributed more than $800,000 to Obama's campaign and inauguration.

  • The CNCS is also expected to welcome this week a new senior adviser, Jackie Norris, who since January has been serving as chief of staff for Michelle Obama.
Read the whole thing

What's wrong with Obama?

As His Agenda Collapses On Capitol Hill, Obama Hopes For Press Conference Hail Mary Today

NBC's Chuck Todd: "The honeymoon is coming to an end for President Obama, but it's not personal. It's professional, as now the public appears to be judging the president on some of his actions." (NBC's "Nightly News," 6/17/09)

AMERICANS FEEL "STICKER SHOCK" OF OBAMA'S GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE PLAN

CBO Concludes Democrat Plan Increases Federal Deficit By $1 Trillion And Counting Over Next Decade. "[E]nacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010-2019 period. ... It is important to note, however, that those figures do not represent a formal or complete cost estimate for the draft legislation ..." (Douglas W. Elmendorf, Congressional Budget Office Director, Letter to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 6/15/09)

Democrats' Plan Fails To Insure 36 Million Americans. "The analysis says that the number of uninsured Americans, now estimated at around 50 million, would decrease to about 36 million once the bill was fully implemented." ("CBO: Senate Bill $1 Trillion Over 10 Years," The Associated Press, 6/15/09)

House Democrats Have "Lots Of Potential Targets For Higher Taxes" To Pay For Government-Run Health Care. "House Democrats have lots of potential targets for higher taxes as they aim to expand health care coverage to reach the roughly 50 million that experts say are uninsured. Also under consideration are higher alcohol taxes, increases to the Medicare payroll tax and a value-added tax, a sort of national sales tax, of up to 1.5 percent or more ... The [other] tax options include: increasing the price of soda and other sugary drinks by 10 cents a can, applying a potential 2 percent income tax increase to single taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year and households earning more than $250,000, a new employer payroll tax could target 3 percent of employers' health care expenditures, taxing employer-provided health insurance benefits above certain levels ... House Democrats planned to unveil a draft of their sweeping health care bill Friday ... The draft, being released at a news conference ... was not expected to mention the potentially unpopular tax options." (Erica Werner, "House Eyes New Taxes As Senators Pare Health Bill," The Associated Press, 6/19/09)

CBO Director Says Plans For Government-Run Health Care Would Worsen Budget Outlook. "President Obama's plan to expand health coverage to the uninsured is likely to dig the nation deeper into debt unless policymakers adopt politically painful controls on spending, such as sharp reductions in payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers, congressional budget analysts said yesterday ... 'Without meaningful reforms, the substantial costs of many current proposals . . . would be much more likely to worsen the long-run budget outlook than to improve it,' he said. ..." (Lori Montgomery, Shailagh Murray And Ceci Connolly, "Obama's Health Plan Needs Spending Controls, CBO Says," The Wash ington Post, 6/17/09)

Public Knows That Obama Has No Plan To Deal With Deficits. "A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll ... Six in 10 people surveyed said the administration has yet to develop a clear plan for dealing with the deficit, including 65 percent of independents." (Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care," The New York Times, 6/17/09)

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS AT WAR OVER OBAMA'S NATIONAL ENERGY TAX

Democrats Balking At Job-Killing National Energy Tax. "[S]everal Democratic aides noted that with the economy in a deep recession, many vulnerable Democrats might be loath to vote for anything that could be blamed for higher utility bills. 'With the economy the way that it is, I don't know that there's going to be the stomach to pass a bill that might raise people's utility and gas rates,' one Senate Democratic staffer said." (Emily Pierce & Steven T. Dennis, "House Climate Bill Facing Senate Headwinds," Roll Call, 5/18//09)

No Agreement Among Democrats Despite Pressure From Obama Administration. "House Democrats still lack agreement on key details of a comprehensive global warming and energy bill despite intervention from several top Obama administration officials..." (Darren Samuelsohn, "House Climate Bill Remains In Holding Pattern," The New York Times, 6/22/09)

Dem Leadership Attempting To Ram Bill Through Without Consulting Fellow Rank-And-File Democrats. "And significantly, four conservative Blue Dog Democrats - Reps. Mike Ross (Ark.), John Barrow (Ga.), Charlie Melancon (La.), and Jim Matheson (Utah) - voted against the bill in committee, which could portend trouble for it on the House floor and in the Senate. Ross and other Blue Dogs had complained loudly that Waxman and other key Democrats did not bring them in early enough in the drafting of the health care or cap-and-trade bills." (Steven T. Dennis, "Democrats Plan an Offensive; Leaders Looking to Legislate," Roll Call, 5/26/09)

Discussions Among House Democrats "Blew Up." "House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) on Friday said climate change bill negotiators are heading back to the drawing board after discussions between Democrats 'blew up last night' ... 'It's a whole new concept being brought in at the last minute,' said Collin Peterson (D- MN). 'Many didn't like it ... I'm tired of this running around in circles.'" (Jennifer Bendery, "Peterson: Democrats Back to Square One on Climate Bill," Roll Call, 6/19/09)

OBAMA'S STIMULUS ISN'T "CREATING OR SAVING" JOBS

In January, Administration Report Said Unemployment Would Only Reach 8 Percent This Year With Stimulus. "In January, the incoming administration predicted in a white paper study that without a huge stimulus package, unemployment would reach just over 8%, and would be contained at under 8% with a stimulus package." (Jake Tapper, "President Obama Predicts Unemployment Will Hit 10% This Year," ABC News' "Political Punch" Blog, 6/16/09)

But Now Obama Says Unemployment Will Reach 10 Percent This Year. AL HUNT OF BLOOMBERG: "Do you think that unemployment will reach 10%?" PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: "Yes." HUNT: "This year?" OBAMA: "Yes." (Bloomberg, 6/16/09)

Associated Press: Obama's Claim That Stimulus Has Saved 150,000 Jobs "So Murky It Can Never Be Verified." "Obama faces souring public opinion over his handling of the economy, which has shed 1.6 million jobs since the stimulus was signed in February. That total has far overshadowed White House announcements estimating the effort has saved 150,000 jobs, a figure that is so murky it can never be verified." (Brett J. Blackledge & Matt Apuzzo, "Spin Meter: Obama's New 'Accelerated' Recovery Plan Is Neither New Nor Accelerated," The Associated Press, 6/9/09)

Majority Of Americans Say Obama Economic Policies Have No Effect Or Make Conditions Worse. "[W}ith fewer than half of Americans saying they approve of how he has handled health care and the effort to save General Motors and Chrysler. A majority of people said his policies have had either no effect yet on improving the economy or had made it worse ..." (Jeff Zeleny, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care", The New York Times, 6/17/09)

EXPERTS, DEMOCRATS AND MEDIA CRITICIZE OBAMA'S FINANCIAL REGULATION PLAN

Simon Johnson, Senior Fellow At Peterson Institute For International Economics: History Proves We Should Not Give Federal Reserve More Power. "First and foremost, [Obama] says the Federal Reserve will become the official 'system risk regulator'... But in principle the Fed had exactly this kind of leadership role before -- and under both Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke it was a reckless cheerleader and facilitator for the unsustainable real estate boom. If the Fed had been stronger before, the crisis now would be worse." (Simon Johnson, "The Defanging Of Obama's Regulation Plan," The New York Times' "Economix" Blog, 6/18/09)

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA): Giving One Institution Too Much Power Dangerous. "We have resisted creating an all powerful central bank to this point, and the experiences of countries which have concentrated too much power in one entity serve as cautionary tales. The Fed and Treasury over the past year struck "private deals" with the largest and most powerful financial institutions that put smaller, less powerful institutions "at a competitive disadvantage. An old African proverb says that when elephants dance, the grass gets trampled. We've got a trampled grass problem now. I don't think we can solve it with bigger elephants -- whether they are regulators or institutions." (Sudeep Reddy, "Sen. Warner Proposes 'Systemic Risk' Council," T he Wall Street Journal's "Real Time Economics" Blog, 6/16/09)

Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA): Giving Power To Federal Reserve Means Little To No Accountability. "I'm concerned about giving all this additional power to the Fed, while at least the Federal Reserve's 12 branches are not even governmental entities. Their boards are selected by bank executives and are not responsive to the electorate in this democracy." (MSNBC's "Live," 6/17/09)

USA Today Editorial: Obama's Plan Will Create Bureaucratic Turf Wars. "The most worrisome aspect of Obama's plan -- which would create both a Consumer Financial Protection Agency and a Financial Services Oversight Council -- is its potential to spawn turf wars and bureaucratic bloat." (Editorial, "Our View On Preventing Economic Excess: Obama Plugs Financial Holes, But Opens Door To Bloat," USA Today, 6/18/09)

Associated Press: Obama's Plan Will Not Improve Efficiency. "[T]he plan would do little to streamline the alphabet soup of agencies that oversee the financial sector..." (Jim Kuhnhenn & Martin Crutsinger, "New Financial Rules: Major Changes For Big, Small," The Associated Press, 6/17/09)

BROKEN PROMISES: OBAMA NOT LIVING UP TO HIS WORD ON TRANSPARENCY

OBAMA PLEDGED: "When There Is A Bill That Ends Up On My Desk As President, You Will Have Five Days To Look Online And Find Out What's In It Before I Sign it." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Taking Our Government Back, Manchester, NH, 6/22/07)

BUT NOW: Obama "Has Almost Never" Waited Five Days Before Signing Legislation. "During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised that once a bill was passed by Congress, the White House would post it online for five days before he signed it... Five months into his administration, Mr. Obama has signed two dozen bills, but he has almost never waited five days." (Katharine Q. Seelye, "White House Changes The Terms Of A Campaign Pledge About Posting Bills Online," The New York Times, 6/22/09)

OBAMA PLEDGED: "My Administration Is Committed To Creating An Unprecedented Level Of Openness In Government." (President Barack Obama, "Memorandum For The Heads Of Executive Departments And Agencies: Transparency and Open Government," Press Release, 1/21/09)

BUT NOW: Obama Administration Refuses To Disclose White House Visitors Logs After Meeting Privately With Coal Executives. "[L]ast week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama's 'clean coal' policies... The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig's office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclo sure." (Michael Isikoff, "Obama Closes Doors On Openness," Newsweek, 6/20/09)

SOURCE

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Obamacare Horror Story You Won't Hear

The White House, Democrats and MoveOn liberals are spreading health care sob stories to sell a government takeover. But there's one health care policy nightmare you won't hear the Obamas hyping. It's a tale of poor minority patient-dumping in Chicago -- with first lady Michelle Obama's fingerprints all over it.
Read more

Compare genuine 'long-form' Hawaiian birth certificate with Obama's online form

Seeing is believing!

Then please donate to World Net Daily's billboard campaign (see top right of this blog and click on "Where's The Birth Certificate!")

-2

President Barack Hussein Obama

What's going on in Iran?

Former Highway Patrol Officer Dave Hollenbeck sent me this:
This came from a retired CHP Officer (1959-71)

AMAZING VIDEO AND SONG FOR ABOUT TWO MINUTES - WORTH WATCHINIG
Hi All,

This is hard to believe but my stepdaughter Raya Yarbrough, is becoming the singing voice of the new Iranian “revolution.” Her fiancé Bear McCreary wrote all the music for the TV series Battlestar Galactica. Raya sang on several tracks including this song, which fit the TV show perfectly but was actually about the Armenian genocide and their fight for freedom. Someone took the song and just made this amazing video of the current Iranian protests for more freedom. We are working to push it into millions of views. Please pass it along.

“Today we are all Iranians.”

Part I

Part II

*****************************************************

An Iranian's Open Letter to Barack Hussein Obama

*****************************************************

Received via email: Here’s a list of the embassy addresses taken from http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Iran#13964 and from embassy websites, and broken into easy formatting. I put the original list together, this one is much better formatted and likely more accurate. The original list was compiled purely from twitter. We tried calling the embassies for confirmation of their actions but the international circuits are completely jammed up.

Ireland – North Kamranieh Avenue Bonbast Nahid Street, No. 8 19369 – (98 21)-22 80 38 35

Australia – No. 13, 23rd Street Khalid Islambuli Ave Tehran 15138 – (98 21) 88 72 44 56

Finland – Elahiyeh, Agha Bozorgi St Shirin Alley no.4 P.O.Box 19395-1733 – (98-21) 22 20 70 90; 22 23 09 79

Finland (Alternate) No. 2, Haddadian St., Mirzapour St. (former Soheil St.), Dr. Shariati Ave. Tehran 19336

Germany – Ferdowsi Ave., No 320-324, Teheran – (0098 21) 39 99 00 00

Belgium – Elahieh – 155-157 Shahid Fayyazi Avenue (Fereshteh) 16778 Teheran – (98) (21) 22 04 16 17

Canada – 57 Shahid Javad-e-Sarfaraz, Ostad-Motahari Avenue 15868 Tehran, Iran – (98 21) 81 52 00 00

Netherlands – Darrous, Shahrzad Blvd Kamasaie Street, First East Lane No. 33 – 98 (0) 21 .22 56 70 05 / 22 56 70 07

Norway – No. 201 Dr. Lavasani St. (Ex. Farmanieh St.) Corner of Sonbol St. Tehran, Iran – (0098 21) 22 29 13 33

Italy – 81, Ave. Neuphle le Chateau – 98 21 672 6955

Slovenian Republic – No 30, Narenjestan 8th Alleym, Pasdaran Avenue PO Box 19576 19575-459 – (98-21) 280- 2223

United Kingdon – 198 Ferdowsi Avenue – (98) (21) 64 05 20 00

Switzerland – Elahieh Ave. Sharifimanesh Yasaman Street No. 2 P.O. Box 19395-4683 19649

Tehran – 98 (0)21 22 00 83 33

Address of Embassy of Finland is different from that on their official web page:
Embassy of Finland No. 2, Haddadian St., Mirzapour St. (former Soheil St.), Dr. Shariati Ave. Tehran 19336 (Eastern entrance / Consular and visa customers)
http://www.finland.org.ir/public/default.aspx?nodeid=39986&contentlan=2&culture=en-US

NOTICE WHO IS NOT THERE???

*****************************************************

TO LIVE OR JUST BE ALIVE – THAT'S THE QUESTION
Written by Persian Professor
Sunday, 21 June 2009

[An extraordinarily poignant and vividly powerful eyewitness account of the protests for freedom in Tehran yesterday, June 20, by a philosophy professor at Tehran University.]

We gather up with my students on Saturdays for a private class. We cook and eat together, then talk of philosophy. This time there was no class. We only tried to keep up our morale. We were very determined but scared.

That is how I can describe the most people who came out to attend the demonstration today. After the fierce speech [by Ayatollah Khomenei] at the Friday prayers, we knew that today we would be treated differently. We felt so vulnerable, more than ever, but at the same time were aware of our power, which, no matter how influential it is collectively, would have done little to protect us today.

We could only take our bones and flesh to the streets and expose them to batons and bullets. Two different feelings fight inside you without mixing with one another. To live or to just be alive, that's the question.

Read more

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Barack Obama has left a huge loophole for himself on the issue of transparency

As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding "secret energy meetings" with oil executives at the White House. But last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama's "clean coal" policies. One reason: the disclosure of such records might impinge on privileged "presidential communications." The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig's office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclosure. Since Obama pledged on his first day in office to usher in a "new era" of openness, "nothing has changed," says David -Sobel, a lawyer who litigates FOIA cases. "For a president who said he was going to bring unprecedented transparency to government, you would certainly expect more than the recycling of old Bush secrecy policies."

The hard line appears to be no accident. After Obama's much-publicized Jan. 21 "transparency" memo, administration lawyers crafted a key directive implementing the new policy that contained a major loophole, according to FOIA experts. The directive, signed by Attorney General Eric Holder, instructed federal agencies to adopt a "presumption" of disclosure for FOIA requests. This reversal of Bush policy was intended to restore a standard set by President Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno. But in a little-noticed passage, the Holder memo also said the new standard applies "if practicable" for cases involving "pending litigation." Dan Metcalfe, the former longtime chief of FOIA policy at Justice, says the passage and other "lawyerly hedges" means the Holder memo is now "astonishingly weaker" than the Reno policy. (The visitor-log request falls in this category because of a pending Bush-era lawsuit for such records.)

Obama Closes Doors on Openness

Friday, June 19, 2009

Obama and Iran: The Supreme Coward

Obama Opposes Revolution in Iran

Krauthammer: Obama is Missing the Point on Iran

'No Comment' Is Not an Option

White House finally admits the truth about their health care plans for us

Over and over again, Barack Obama has told us about his health care plans that if you like your current health care plan that you can keep it. But today, the White House admits that that is not the entire truth.

Do Democrats EVER pay their taxes??? This time, the dog ate...no, the Post Office LOST her taxes..TWO YEARS IN A ROW!!!

UPDATE: Pardon me, it was THE POST OFFICE that lost her taxes (not the IRS)! Got so riled up just thinking about it I screwed up the post :-)

Shocker: New Obama appointee has a tax problem

Climate change agenda: misrepresents scientist's work

Dr. Pielke says that the 13 agencies (and The White House) "cherrypick weak evidence that fits their own policy preferences."
The new federal report on climate change gets a withering critique from Roger Pielke Jr., who says that it misrepresents his own research and that it wrongly concludes that climate change is already responsible for an increase in damages from natural disasters.
U.S. Climate Report Assailed

Obama's Doctor Knocks ObamaCare

Dr. David Scheiner took care of Obama for 22 years. But they don't see eye-to-eye on how to fix the health care system.

An Open Letter To Our Nation's Leadership...from an ordinary citizen

I am Janet Contreras, a concerned, home-grown American citizen. I am 53, and I have been a registered Democrat all of my adult life. Before the last Presidential election, I registered Republican because I no longer feel the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. I now no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me.

There must be someone, please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me you are there and are willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please do it now.

You might ask yourselves what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me? These are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

* Illegal Immigration—I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S. I am not a racist. This not to be confused with legal immigration.

* TARP Bill—I want it repealed and no further funding supplied to it. We told you “NO!” but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze! Repeal!

* Czars—I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the Czars. No more Czars. Government officials answer to the process not the President. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

* Cap & Trade—the debate on global warming is NOT over, there IS more to say.

* Universal Health Care—I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don’t you dare pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

* Growing Government Control—I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Please mind your own business; you have enough to do with your REAL obligations. Let’s start there.

* ACORN—I do not want ACORN or its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them on every real estate deal that closes. Stop all funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audit and investigation. I do not trust them with the taking of the census or with taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before the taxpayers get any further involved with them. It walks like a duck and talks like a duck—hello… stop protecting political buddies. You work for the people. Investigate.

* Redistribution of Wealth—No. If I work for it, it is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth I support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do want me to hate my employers? What do your have against shareholders making a profit?

* Charitable Contributions—although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities where we know our needs best and can use local talent and resources. Butt out, please. We want to do this ourselves.

* Corporate Bail Outs—knock it off! Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we will be better off just getting to it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful, like ripping off a band aid. We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us a chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

* Transparency and Accountability—how about it? No really, let’s have it. Let’s say we give the “buzz” words a rest and have some straight, honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with cleaver wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

* Unprecedented Quick Spending—stop it, now. Take a breath. Listen to “The People.”

Let’s just slow down and get some more input from some “non-politicians” on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law.

I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant nor a violent person. I am a mother and grandmother. I am a working woman. I am busy, busy, busy and tired, tired, tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawns and wash our cars on weekends, and be responsible, contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same, all the while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding our Constitution and believed in the checks and balances to keep you from getting too far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think that I find humor in hiring a speed reader to unintelligibly ramble through a bill you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not! It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face! I am not laughing—the arrogance!

Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it, but you expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children? We did not want that TARP bill. We said “NO!” We would repeal it if we could. I am not sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all the recent spending. From my perspective, it seems that you have all gone insane.

I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back!

You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington.

Posted on Glenn Beck's blog: June 17th, 2009 4:04 PM Eastern

Thursday, June 18, 2009

It's lookin' more and more like the Great Depression...

Via INSTAPUNDIT
...today I got my hands on alarming graphs from the folks at VoxEU (via a column by Martin Wolf) which convincingly demonstrates that, for the much of the world, 2009 looks, without question, just as bad, if not worse, than the first years of the Great Depression.
Read the whole thing

An American Indian candidate for Congress speaks out about America

I was raised with the belief we must give back more than we take and we need to consider the impact our actions will have on the next four generations. I was taught to respect my elders and that our mothers are the matriarchs of society.

History has shown many nations what not to do and what can be done for the better of the whole. History has shown me that every path traveled has been traveled by our elders. Our only difficulties come from our selfish need to receive credit for a job well done.

History has given us many wise men and women to learn from. Their written word is a tribute to the way in which they thought. Speech writers will use many quotes from a variety of speeches to express their point of view however; it still is not an original. I do like using the written word of my elders because it will express what it is I believe best. In 1919 a Doctor Frank Crane wrote; “The best of all possible governments is that in which the last and least citizen feels he is to blame or to be praised for all the government does. The worst is that in which the largest number of citizens do not think it is any concern of theirs.

All governments by a chosen few, by the richest, strongest, wisest or best, tend to keep the people in a state of childhood. The stronger the state the weaker the people.

The whole people grows as a man grows, by self expression and responsibility.

It is not so necessary to keep a people from making mistakes; it is necessary to make a people feel that it is responsible for its mistakes.

Government’s smallest duty is ruling a people; its chief duty is educating a people.

You have heard it said that this or that nation is unfit for self government. As a matter of fact, there never was a nation fit for self government. A people grows cable of self government in only one way ----- by governing itself.”

In 1966 a man came along with ideas that most dismissed, however have become more relevant as time passes. He delivered a speech with a theme worth repeating today. I made a few changes to fit this speech.

Politicians are confused and they have confused us with a double standard of morality. They try to keep alive a moral code for our individual conduct --- “Don’t cheat,” “Promises are sacred.” “Your word is your bond,” “Serve your fellow men’ --- but at the same time, they expect us to accept double-dealing at government levels. We have lost our capacity to get angry when decisions are not based on moral truth, but on political expediency. When small men are granted great rewards for political favors, we excuse it with the expression: “Well, that’s politics.”

I realize that modern political dialogue concerns itself largely with false image-making, rather than with legitimate debate over different viewpoints: and no candidate can hope to engage in a political contest without experiencing the deliberate distortions of his or her positions and his or her beliefs. But I sometimes wonder if we haven’t reached one of those moments in time when the stakes are too high for this kind of middle-aged juvenile delinquency.

Public officials are elected primarily for one purpose—to solve problems. You have a right to ask any candidate about his or her understanding of the problems we face today, their acceptance of responsibility for solving those problems, and whether they have a fresh approach or just offers the same old bargain-basement politics-“We’ll do everything the other fellow’s been doing; only we will do it cheaper and better.” You have the right to know—and I am obligated to tell you—where I stand and what I believe.

To begin with – I am not a politician. I am an ordinary citizen with a deep-seated belief that much of what troubles us has been brought about by politicians; and it’s high time that more ordinary citizens brought the fresh air of common sense thinking to bear on these problems. We’ve had enough of the wheeling and dealing, and enough of schemers and schemes. I think it’s time now for dreamers—practical dreamers—willing to re-implement the original dream which became this nation—that idea that has never fully been tried before in the world—that you and I have the capacity for self government - the dignity and the ability and the God-given freedom to make our own decisions, to plan our own lives and control our own destiny.

Now it’s been said that nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. This took place some 225 years ago in this country. But there is another idea abroad in the land today. Americans, divided in so many ways, are united in their determination that no area of human need should be ignored. A people that can reach out to the stars has decided that the problems of human misery can be solved and they’ll settle for nothing less.

The big question is not whether—but how, and at what price. We can’t accept the negative philosophy of those who close their eyes, hoping the problems will disappear, or that questions of unemployment, inequality of opportunity, or the needs of the elderly and the sick will take care of themselves. But, neither should we unquestioningly follow those others who pass the problems along to the Federal government, abdicating their personal responsibility. The problem with that solution is that for every ounce of federal help we get, we surrender an ounce of personal freedom. What is obviously needed is not more government, but better government, seeking a solution to the problems that will not add to the bureaucracy, or unbalance the budget, or further centralize power.

There is no major problem that cannot be resolved by a vigorous and imaginative Federal administration willing to utilize the tremendous potential of our people. We have the greatest concentration of industrial and scientific research facilities of any country. Tens of thousands of successful and highly talented men and women are in our business communities; colleges and universities are rich in possibilities for study and research; charities and philanthropic enterprises are many, and there are innumerable people of creative talent in the professions.

The Federal government cannot substitute for the American people and should recognize that it cannot possibly match the great potential of the people, and thus, must coordinate the creative energies of the people for the good of the whole. Now this isn’t the time for some glorified program for passing the buck and telling people to play Samaritan and solve the problems on their own, while government stands by to hand out Good Conduct ribbons. There is a definite and active role for government, but the idea of an economy planned and controlled by government just doesn’t make sense. No matter how talented the government is, it is incapable of making the multiple decisions that must be made every day in the market place and in our community living.

The present administration’s approach to our deteriorating business climate is always another pill out of the same old bottle. Build another bureau, add another tax, and put the unemployed on the public payroll. We need to turn to those who truly have the capacity to create jobs and prosperity. Ask the best brains of industry and the community: What is needed to make America once again attractive to industry? Ask them to evolve the plans for creating job opportunities and on-the-job training—because employment and prosperity are the function and responsibility of private enterprise. It is government’s responsibility to end the harassment, roadblocks, regressive taxation and to offer wherever practical, tax incentives that will help to provide jobs and a friendly business climate.

No small part of the heavy tax load that is borne by the working men and women of our country is a welfare load, which is now increasing faster than our spending on education. Those who administer Federal programs have their hands tied by excessive regulations and red tape imposed by Congress and the Senate. We need to call upon the thinking of campus researchers and the experienced in public service to make a study to establish that we are doing all we can, first of all, for those who are disabled, aged and who, through no fault of their own, must depend on the rest of us. Our goal should be not only to provide the necessities of life, but those comforts such as we can afford that will make their life worth living.

We then must turn to that part having to do with those who need temporary help—who are being helped through an emergency period only until they can again play a productive role. We must determine that this is still our purpose and that we have not, instead, settled on a program of perpetuating poverty with a permanent dole. The 11th century Hebrew physician and philosopher, Maimonides, said there are eight steps in helping the needy. The lowest of these is a handout; the highest is to teach them to help themselves. By contrast Obama’s guiding philosophy is the redistribution of income. Well, this is a reversal of the carrot and stick philosophy, penalizing the industrious and rewarding the unproductive.

Redistributing income does not increase purchasing power or prosperity—only increased productivity can accomplish that. Have we in America forgotten our own accomplishments? For over 200 years we’ve been fighting the most successful war on poverty the world has ever seen. We simply need to return to the people the privilege of self-government, as well as a pledge for a more efficient representative government—citizens of proven ability in their fields, serving where their experience qualifies them, proposing common sense answers for our problems, reviewing governmental structure itself and bringing it into line with the most advanced, modern business practices.

The theme that Ronald Reagan spoke of is even more relevant today than then.

The leadership of our United States Congress is guilty of ignorant, arrogant and immoral decision and policy making. The Republican Party is the party of the individual and not the group. We are individuals working within a political framework called the Constitution of the United States. Congress should never forget we will fight against the suppressive controls of a totalitarian government.

Our country is measured in two categories; the first is the size and health of our middle class. Every economist will agree that our middle class is under attack and so is the health of our economy.

The second category that measures the health of our country is the way in which we take care of our elders and our children. Everyone knows what our politicians have done to Social Security and Medicaid. I want to address in short our children; our news broadcast will expose once in a while the number of predators waiting in the dark to scar our children for life. However, the unspoken shame is the endless bureaucracy they need to endure to get help.

I am 52 years old, I have three children, 30-28-26 and in the eyes of my parents I am still a child. At 86 years of age they still feel my pains and share in my joys of life. This fact of life will never change. Just as society shares in the pains and joys of life of the community’s children. Our boys and girls who enlist in our military are trained to do the jobs of men and women. Our children who go to war come back as men and women. Some with physical scars, all with emotional scars, scars that only another Veteran can understand.

In the beginning of this country the American Indian was at war with the Department of War in defense of their home land and way of life. We now fight side by side with the Department of Defense to defend our home land and our ways of life. These freedoms have been paid for in blood and should never be taken for granted.

What you claim to be yours is only yours if you can defend it.

We all owe our way of life to the warriors who have fought and died for the preservation of our freedom. The number one priority of Congress should be to make it as easy to obtain physical and mental health care as easy as it was to enlist.

Let us not forget the past. Let us embrace our personal responsibility for our future.

Once again I will use the wise closing remarks of Ronald Reagan for my closing remarks.

To those who talk of complex problems, requiring more government planning and more control, you are in reality taking us back in time to the acceptance of rule of the many by the few. It is time to look to the future. We’ve had enough talk – disruptive talk – in America of left and right, dividing us down the center. There is really no such choice facing us. The only choice we have is up or down – up, to the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down, to the deadly dullness of totalitarianism.

Do we still have the courage and the capacity to dream? If so, I wish you’d join me in a dream. Join me in a dream of a government that isn’t characterized by political hacks and cronies and relatives – an administration that doesn’t make its decisions based on political expediency but on moral truth.

Together, let us find men and women to watch our mountains. We can have a government administered by men and women who are appointed on the basis of ability and dedication – not as a reward for political favors. If we must have a double standard of morality, then let it be one, which demands more of those in government, not less.

This is a practical dream – it’s a dream you can believe in—it’s a dream worthy of America’s founding principles. Better yet, it’s a dream that can come true and all we have to do is want it badly enough. This is why I am running for congress; help me help you make this dream come true. Join my campaign as a volunteer or with a campaign contribution.

Thank you.

Mark Reed
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE U.S. CONGRESS 27th DISTRICT 2010

Born, August 11, 1957, he is a descendant of the Mohawk and Apache, mixed with German, English, Spanish and French. Reed is a successful actor, activist and small businessman.

MarkReedForCongress.com
MrCongress.com

What will YOU do for freedom? Here's what THEY did...




More at Atlas Shrugs

Journalist threatened for exposing cover-up

A journalist who has uncovered evidence of al-Qaeda involvement in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 has been threatened with a lawsuit by powerful U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Three Dirty Little Secrets in the Public Health-Care Plan

HAT TIP: HotAir.com

I just grabbed three sections to illustrate the three main "secrets"...

1)
First dirty secret of a public plan: Any plan has to involve administration costs, even if it operates on a non-profit basis. The obvious examples here are Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration plans. Costs have skyrocketed under both government-run plans while cutting back on the benefits both afford their patients, thanks to miles of red tape handled by legions of bureaucrats. Doctors get paid less and have to spend more to invoice for their services in Medicare and Medicaid, which has more of them refusing to take new patients under either plan.

However, a government-run plan can hide those costs by simply hiding them elsewhere, in the short term. Sebelius and Obama will juggle the books to make a show of solvency while they undercut the private market insurers, who have to pay their employees to process claims, handle member services, ensure compliance with miles of existing government regulations, and in some cases offer a small margin of return to their investors, who put up the money and risk for the insurance plans in the first place.
2)
Instead of having a robust health-care system that rewards providers and insurers for their work, the public plan and its inevitable market-killing characteristics will create an artificial shortage of health-care providers. Everyone will have coverage, but it may take months or years to get treatments, if at all. That is not a worst-case, hypothetical scenario, either; single-payer systems around the world share this commonplace result.
3)
When the administration talks about cost control via public plans, they really have no idea of the real costs of health care, and the real contribution a free market makes. In this case, they're about to kill the golden goose, and they're completely unaware of it. And that's the third dirty secret of Obama's public plan.
Read the whole thing

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Twitter and Iran: Did it or didn't it?

A little o' dis? Twitter kicks CNN butt on Iran

Or a little o' dat? Why there's no Twitter revolution in Iran

Magick: Aleister Crowley in The White House?

One big difference: Alistair Crowley didn't need THE PRESS (L.A. Times, New York Times, Washington Post)!
...what Obama is doing is paving a one-way street to a socialized medicine while expressly denying he is doing so -- and while accusing those who point out what he is doing of being untruthful. Some in the liberal press are helping Obama perpetrate this big lie. The coverage of his AMA speech provides a stunning example specifically related to Obama's declaration that single-payer health care systems have worked "pretty well."
Read the whole thing

PS: Wonder if Ben Mack has changed his diapers yet?

The ugly truth about Canada's healthcare system...and how it will be our system if we don't stop the Democrats right now

Pesky Emotional Republican has compiled some extremely compelling sources that prove, without a doubt, why everyone should fight Obama's national health care agenda. Only a brain-dead Democrat could still want it after reading the following:

Reasons why we shouldn’t fix our health care to look like the Canadian model

Canadian national health plan would not satisfy the American consumer

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Obama Presidential Eligibility - An Introductory Primer

Last revised: June 5, 2009

Abstract

Despite the mainstream news media's silence regarding this matter, an increasing number of Americans are concerned that Barack Obama might not be eligible, under the Constitution, to serve as President.

According to the U.S. Constitution, an individual born after 1787 cannot legally or legitimately serve as U.S. President unless he or she is a "natural born citizen" of the United States.

Among members of Congress and the mainstream news media, the consensus of opinion is that anyone born in the United States is a "natural born citizen". However, when we researched this issue a bit more carefully, we found that the consensus opinion is not consistent with American history.

In Minor v. Happersett (1874), the Supreme Court said that, if you were born in the United States and both of your parents were U.S. citizens at the time of your birth, you are, without doubt, a natural born citizen. In the same case, the Supreme Court also said that, if you were born in the United States and one of your parents was not a U.S. citizen when you were born, your natural born citizenship is in doubt. So far, the Supreme Court has not resolved this doubt because, until now, there has never been any need to do so.

With only two exceptions, every American President, who was born after 1787, was born in the United States, to parents who were both U.S. citizens. The two exceptions were Chester Arthur and Barack Obama. When Chester Arthur ran for office, the public did not know about his eligibility problem. Only recently did historians learn that, when Arthur was born, his father was not a U.S. citizen. The 2008 election was the first time in history that the United States knowingly elected a President who was born after 1787 and whose parents were not both U.S. citizens.

Barack Obama publicly admits that his father was not a U.S. citizen. According to Minor v. Happersett, there is unresolved doubt as to whether the child of a non-citizen parent is a natural born citizen. This doubt is not based on the imaginings of some tin-foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorists on the lunatic fringe of society. This doubt comes from what the Supreme Court has actually said, as well as a variety of other historical and legal sources which are presented and discussed here.

This Primer introduces and explains the Obama Eligibility Controversy, in question-and-answer format, for a non-technical general audience. We've double-checked the facts presented here, and we've cited the sources of each fact.

Questions & Answers

Pakistani Federal Minister Monday said that militants were using kidnapped children as suicide bombers across the country

When you think they can't get any lower: Taliban Buying Up Children For Suicide Bombings

Monday, June 15, 2009

Presidential wishful thinking has crashed head-on into Islamofascist reality

Thanks to China Confidential for the following:

Helping Mahmoud

Iran's election result proves President Obama's formula in the Middle East is not working

Obama responds to Iran: Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)

Obama knows about voter fraud (think "ACORN") so I guess he doesn't really like having to take a stand on the same thing going on in Iran...especially after his Attorney General Eric Holder just dismissed a blatant case of voter intimidation against the Black Panthers!

Shame! Obama's Response to Iranian Violence-- Mush (Video)

Obama's newest trick: he breaks his own law (the one he co-sponsored in the Senate)!

Hope and change! It looks very suspicious. The administration has overtly interfered with the IG in his investigation, and now has tried to fire him, apparently for reporting to Congress. If so, then the White House has abused its power on behalf of a campaign contributor and political ally — an act that would make Richard Nixon blush. I doubt this Congress will hold Obama accountable for it, but kudos to Senator Grassley for not letting it go.
The curious firing of Gerald Walpin gets … curiouser

Obamacare: Naive, Hypocritical and Dishonest

By Robert Samuelson

WASHINGTON -- It's hard to know whether President Obama's health care "reform" is naive, hypocritical or simply dishonest. Probably all three. The president keeps saying it's imperative to control runaway health spending. He's right. The trouble is that what's being promoted as health care "reform" almost certainly won't suppress spending and, quite probably, will do the opposite.
Read more

Sunday, June 14, 2009

SCARY DEVELOPMENT FOR ALL FILMMAKERS

SINS OF COMMISSION, an award winning documentary film by Southern California filmmaker Richard Oshen, is facing legal action by the California Coastal Commission, which has in fact just served Mr. Oshen with a subpoena in order to obtain a copy of the film.

The revealing expose follows ordinary citizens who have come up against the unelected Commission’s autocratic actions wielded, surprisingly, without accountability or oversight.

The California Coastal Commission may try to silence the film because it reveals strong links between California’s increasingly catastrophic wildfires and the Coastal Commission’s prohibition of critical brush clearance.

-Richard Oshen,writer, director, SINS OF COMMISSION
Read more

Rise Up: Reclaiming the American Dream

The Question and Answer

Social Security was created in the 1930’s to help elderly Americans fund their retirement. But now we're left with this question – is the way they decided to fund it the best way to do it today? Social Security and Medicare are both technically bankrupt. With the pay-as-you-go method, there won't be enough working people to pay for the system. It's unsustainable.

Welcome to the Rise Up initiative; no new taxes, no cut benefits, no temporary fixes. Rise Up will maintain benefits for retirees, greatly increase retirement benefits for the future, slash taxes, put money back into everyone's hands for they and their children's futures, and eliminate the $58 trillion unfunded Social Security and Medicare liability.

This Plan Will...

• Generate the biggest tax cut in history
• Reduce the size of government by half
• Alleviate poverty and economically emancipate lower class citizens
• Infuse enormous sums directly into the economy and accelerate growth
• Eliminate the need for government pensions and Medicare
• Pay off all $58 trillion of unfunded Medicare liabilities
• Give back to Americans the money that they earn
• Increase the economic opportunities of all Americans

Why It Isn't Working

When Social Security and Medicare were originally set up, they were intended as retirement programs and never designed as safety nets. Contrary to popular belief, the programs are not a fund that you pay into as you work and draw on when you retire. It's pay-as-you-go, with taxes from those working paying for the benefits of those retired. When the system was first set up under FDR, the program was small enough and the number of people working large enough to fund it, but since that time both the coverage of the program and the percentage of people retiring have increased, making the burden heavier and now unsustainable. As of today, future benefits to be paid out will exceed anticipated payroll taxes by $58 trillion. That's a debt of $188,000 for every man, woman and child in America or over $500,000 for every household.

Unfortunately politicians haven't addressed the problem, preferring to kick the can down the street to future generations. In the next few years the anticipated benefits will outstrip what payroll taxes can fund, which means we either impose new taxes on workers or we reduce the benefits everyone receives at retirement. But there's another option: Rise Up will let us climb out of the hole we've dug ourselves into, substantially increase benefits and dramatically reduce taxes.

How This Works

Rise Up redirects the 15.3% payroll tax paid by individuals (and in the case of employees, their employers too) into a personally-owned investment account that will grow over their working life. The funds are invested in safe indexed stock funds that have historically been growing at over a 10% rate since 1911. It will not affect current checks for retirees - the enacting legislation guarantees zero reduction in benefits and those benefits will be backed by the government. In fact, those benefits may be increased over present levels. Seven important principles make Rise Up work:

I. Convenience: For those people who can’t manage their own money, contributing to the capital pool for investment is automatic.

II. Constancy: It won't cost the taxpayer one dime more than it does now – it will be the same 15% deducted for payroll taxes now paid for by the taxpayer and his employer or just the taxpayer if he is self-employed.

III. Security: The taxpayer’s funds are are unreachable by politicians, Congress, taxes, courts, or anyone else. No one, no entity, can invade the taxpayer’s personal account during his working life, giving it the opportunity and time to grow.

IV. Stability: As a minimum all present and future retirees without the time to accumulate their nest eggs are guaranteed to receive from the government the same present benefits paid under Social Security, Disability and Medicare for the rest of their lives.

V. Neutrality: The taxpayer’s funds will not be managed by stock brokers or investment houses; the trust will merely invest in already existing stock indexed funds directly bypassing the cost of Wall Street advice, management and tricks.

VI. Choice: The taxpayer will control which stock funds his or her money is invested in during their working life. These funds will track the steady upward movement of the market and grow with our economy.

VII. Safety: The funds will not be invested in risky stocks funds They will contain hundreds of quality stocks and avoid having one or two or even a group of them crash the whole account.

Balancing the Present and Future

Rise Up will direct Federal payroll taxes to be placed in the Personal Pension Investment accounts (PPA) of each particular taxpayer while also providing for the funding of all benefits of existing Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries. How is this done?

A dollar a year invested for 40 years compounds into $442 at a rate of 10% per year, whereas printing 40 dollars over 40 years generates only a $40 currency dilution, or $40 more dollars put into the total money supply, making each dollar worth less. The PPAs will grow over time to the point where in 40 years they will be 11 times greater than the actual currency dilution if all benefits had been paid for 40 years by printing money.

In the short term, the infusion of massive amounts of new capital into the stock market will substantially increase economic activity and double Federal income tax revenue within three to five years. This increase can be used to pay the benefits due under the old entitlement plans and reduce the need to use printed money.

There are also numerous other ways to fund the old entitlement benefits other than printing money or using taxes, such as privatizing public lands, buildings and other government facilities. As older participants pass out of the system, the old entitlement liabilities extinguish themselves. And depending on growth patterns, the PPA will be sufficient after 15 to 25 years to fund benefits equivalent to those guaranteed under the old plans, taking away the need for calculation of unfunded liabilities.

Our Economy

A free market relies on an ever-increasing pool of capital with which to grow and prosper. Unfortunately, punishing taxation, suffocating regulations and artificial "stimulus" packages funded by government debt, borrowing, and future taxes puts a drain that capital, stunting economic growth. The money infusion by PPAs represents the investment necessary to rapidly grow the economy.

PPAs, by investing in stocks, will add $100 billion a month to the economy, or $1.2 trillion a year, with no new taxes, government spending, or more borrowing to pay for that spending. That's $1.2 trillion a year of new investments, new businesses and new jobs. The multiplier factor will take that annual $1.2 trillion and create a least $6 trillion of new GDP and millions of new jobs, throwing the economy into over-drive. And every working person, from the richest to the poorest, will be able to put away money. But what will that look like?

Average Americans

In recent years the average American has not been saving but spending all their income just to stay afloat. With Rise Up, that all changes.

The average American household makes over $50,000 a year and pays over $7,500 in payroll taxes. In plain math, that $7,500 invested each year in the stock market, earning 10% a year over 40 years, will generate a $4 million nest egg that throws off a $33,000 a month retirement check without touching the trust, which can be passed on to his or her heirs. After 40 years, a janitor making $20,000 a year can expect $1.6 million, a technician making $40,000 can expect $3.2 million and a truck driver making $60,000 can expect $4.8 million. That's the real math. Compare that to current programs, with no nest egg at all and only a paltry monthly check. Rise Up takes money out of the hands of government, so that hard-working Americans can fully realize the American Dream.

Rise Up America