The Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movements (i.e., the Red-Green Alliance)

 From a friend--we can all benefit from his hard work and dedication.

Here are a number of links/articles I have collected and aggregated on the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movements, i.e., the Red-Green Alliance. You have probably received most of this from me in the past, but I have compiled it all together, since many people I talk to on Facebook haven't connected the dots. --Kurt Vangsness

Obama NSC meets with Egypt democracy advocates
November 02, 2010
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1110/Obama_NSC_meets_with_Egypt_prodemocracy_advocates.html

Excerpt:

"Top Obama National Security Council officials met Tuesday with a bipartisan group of Washington foreign policy experts who advocate that the United States push for more free and fair Egyptian elections.

The National Security Council’s top two senior Middle East officials Dennis Ross and Dan Shapiro, as well as the NSC’s top human rights and development/democracy officials Samantha Power and Gayle Smith attended the meeting on the Obama administration side, meeting attendees told POLITICO.

Representing the bipartisan Egypt working group at the NSC meeting Tuesday were its two co-founders, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution and Michele Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as well as the Project on Middle East Democracy’s Andrew Albertson, former Bush NSC Middle East and democracy official Elliott Abrams, Human Rights Watch’s Tom Malinowski, the Center for American Progress's Brian Katulis, and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Robert Satloff."


The Egyptian April 6th movement was backed by elements in the US as well as George Soros and CAP.

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising
The American government secretly backed leading figures behind theEgyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289686/Egypt-protests-Americas-secret-backing-for-rebel-leaders-behind-uprising.html

INAUGURAL AYM SUMMIT AND EGYPT’S SHABAB APRIL 6 MOVEMENT
http://www.movements.org/blog/entry/first-aym-summit/

The Shabab April 6 Movement, which was at the inaugural summit in 2008, is one of the grassroots groups that has played a role in this network of activists. As is mentioned in a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks and cited this week at The Nation, Newsweek, the New York Post and ABC News, April 6 was able to connect with other grassroots activists - who they remain connected to - at this event. That gets at the real value (hopefully!) of this website and the annual summit: helping activists to learn from each other by providing a platform and offline events that facilitate information sharing.

Maajid Nawaz
AYM Ambassador DELEGATE YEARS: 2008, 2009, 2010
http://www.movements.org/pages/174/

AYM '10 - Maajid Nawaz Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X7wrfNkNWA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maajid_Nawaz

Nawaz entered the spotlight in 2002 when, as part of a compulsory year abroad as part of his university degree, he travelled to Egypt and was jailed in Alexandria with two others, Ian Nisbet and Reza Pankhurst, for belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir, a banned organization in Egypt.

During his time in the same prison he spoke at length with the Muslim Brotherhood leadership such as with Mohammed al-Badee’, who in his youth personally smuggled Qutb’s Milestones out from prison, and their spokesman Dr Essam el-Erian. He also befriended Dr Sa'ad al-Din Ibrahim and the imprisoned runner-up to Egypt's 2006 presidential elections, liberal head of the Tomorrow Party, Ayman Nur. Throughout this time, Maajid continued his studies, sitting with graduates of Cairo's al-Azhar University and Dar al-'Ulum. He specialised in the Arabic language whilst studying historical Muslim scholastics, sources of Islamic jurisprudence, Hadith historiography and the art of Qur'an recitation. He also committed half of the Qur'an to memory.

During his imprisonment in Egypt, Maajid was tortured along with his fellow prisoners. During his trial, Maajid Nawaz was adopted by Amnesty International as a "Prisoner of Conscience".

Reasons for Nawaz’s departure from Hizb ut-Tahrir were due to profound doubts. As he describes in his own words: "My journey from prison was not an easy one to make. After all, there were many reasons for why I should not leave, and very few for why I should. The one reason that I could not ignore, the one reason that grew deep inside me till it consumed me with guilt was the realisation that I was abusing my faith for a mere political project. After learning through my studies in prison that Islamism was not the religion of Islam, but rather a modern political ideology, I no longer felt guilty simply for criticising a political system inspired by 7th century norms."

The April 6 Youth Movement
http://egyptelections.carnegieendowment.org/2010/09/22/the-april-6-youth-movement

In April 2009, the April 6 Youth Movement played an instrumental role in the formation of the Egyptian Coalition for Change, which called for the abrogation of all emergency laws, the drafting of a new constitution, and the annulment of the Camp David Accords (which normalized relations between Egypt and Israel in 1978). Other members of the coalition included the Kifaya movement, al-Karama, al-Wasat, and individual members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Founder Of Egypt's April 6 Movement Weighs In
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133756340/Founder-Of-Egypts-April-6-Movement-Weighs-In

The protests that brought about the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak were by no means spontaneous. They were weeks, months, even years in the making, says Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old civil engineer who helped organize the April 6th Youth Movement as well as the demonstrations that toppled the Mubarak regime.

Building a Global Movement for Khilafah
http://www.khilafah.com/

Hizb ut-Tahrir to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces: the second Camp David protector has fallen!
http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/analysis/middle-east/11249-hizb-ut-tahrir-to-the-supreme-council-of-the-egyptian-armed-forces-the-second-camp-david-protector-has-fallen

Caliphate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate
("Khilafat" and "Khilafah" redirect here. For the South Asian movement, see Khilafat Movement.)

The term caliphate "dominion of a caliph ('successor,')," (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa, Turkish: Halife ) refers to the first system of government established in Islam, and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation). In theory, it is a constitutional republic[1] (see Constitution of Medina), meaning that the head of state (the Caliph) and other officials are dicate to the people according to Islamic law, which exercises power over their citizens. It was initially led by Muhammad's disciples as a continuation of the political system the prophet established, known as the 'rashidun caliphates'. It represented the political unity, not the theological unity of Muslims as theology was a personal matter. A "caliphate" is also a state which implements such a governmental system.

Sunni Islam dictates that the head of state, the caliph, should be selected by Shura – elected by Muslims or their representatives.[2]Followers of Shia Islam believe the caliph should be an imam descended in a line from the Ahl al-Bayt. After the Rashidun period until 1924, caliphates, sometimes two at a single time, real and illusory, were ruled by dynasties. The first dynasty was theUmayyad. This was followed by the Abbasid, the Fatimid, and finally the Ottoman Dynasty.

Hizb ut-Tahrir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-Tahrir

http://www.khilafat.org/index.php

Opening Statement (Part 1) Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea3YzthWbnM

Session 1 | Capitalism is Doomed to Fail (Part 2) Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcdAsbtdTro

Session 1 | The Suffering under Capitalism (Part 3) Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKgebj1A5Is

Session 2 | Islamic Economic System (Part 4) Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=httaZ8EJzmA

Session 2 | Ownership & Distribution of Wealth Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmuh2PGOnl8

Khilafah Conference - Rise of Islam - Session 3 Intro Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijGaMyOgjRU

Session 3 | The Global Rise of Islam (Part 6) Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPTHU8HWeX8

Session 3 | Role of Muslims in America (Part 7) Khilafah Conference - Hizb ut-Tahrir America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8LEver7iOk


Mapping the Organizational Sources of the Global Delegitimization Campaign against Israel in the UK
by Ehud Rosen, Jerusalem Center for Public Affair
http://www.jcpa.org/text/Mapping_Delegitimization.pdf

The Obama Administration Opens Formal Contacts With the Muslim Brotherhood
By Andrew C. McCarthy
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/270864/obama-administration-opens-formal-contacts-muslim-brotherhood-andrew-c-mccarthy

Excerpt:

"Since Mubarak’s fall, the Brotherhood has worked toward formally reestablishing Egypt’s ties with Iran and for ending the peace agreement with Israel. The Brotherhood is also behind the “Peace Flotilla” expeditions in which Islamists and Leftists join together in efforts to break Israel’s blockade against Hamas in Gaza — the American part of the effort is being spearheaded by such old Obama friends former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi, Code Pink founder Jodi Evans, and Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn — and the planned U.S. ship is called, yes, The Audacity of Hope. "

U.S. 'days of rage' heat up in NYC
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/u-s-days-of-rage-heat-up-nyc

The "Free Gaza" movement is backed by Noam Chomsky and Norman Finklestein (who "Asserts that the Holocaust has been exaggerated and exploited by Jews to justify Israeli human rights violations and crimes against humanity"), as well as Code Pink.

Ayers, Dohrn helped organize flotilla group
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/ayers-dohrn-helped-organize-flotilla-group

All aboard! Obama pals back violent Gaza flotilla
Activists from president's circle of friends top supporters of anti-Israel protest ships
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=160661

Code Pink: flying home soon from flotilla - Greeks stopped them
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=53091

Ayers, Dohrn helped organize flotilla group
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/ayers-dohrn-helped-organize-flotilla-group-95435639.html

IDF: Flotilla, Hamas Have Similar Funding
http://www.israelnationalnews.com//News/News.aspx/145361


Frances Fox Piven and Fellow Professors Indoctrinating College Students at CUNY To Get Involved and Be Ready for Violent Street Battles & Breaking Down Capitalism
http://youtu.be/lSnzKNbCw74

Wall Street Protest - Russell Simmon and Frances Fox Piven
http://youtu.be/Pjclxi2Bty0

One on One with Lisa Fithian @ Occupy Chicago
http://youtu.be/kwlctX9livk
Infamous anarchist, Lisa Fithian led Thursday's events, attempting to disrupt the Mortgage Bankers conference at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. The protest was one of 5 feeder allies that eventually led to the Art Institute, where protesters threw vulgar comments and screams at families entering the Art Institute.

Meet The Anarchist Leaders Behind The ‘Leaderless’ #Occupy Movement – Part One: Lisa Fithian
http://biggovernment.com/lstranahan/2011/10/10/meet-the-anarchist-leaders-behind-the-leaderless-occupy-movement-part-one-lisa-fithian/

FIGHT TO HOLD WALLSTREET ACCOUNTABLE NOW! MAKE A DIFFERNENCE GET PAID!
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/gov/2618821815.html

Excerpt:

"The Working Families Party (WFP) (www.workingfamiliesparty.org) is New York's most energetic, independent and progressive political party. Formed in 1998 by a grassroots coalition of community organizations, neighborhood activists, and labor unions, we came together to build a society that works for all of us, not just Wall Street CEOs and the well-connected."

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY (WFP)
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6965

Excerpts:

"Currently composed of some 30,000 members, the Working Families Party (WFP) is a front group for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). WFP functions as a political party in New York State and Connecticut, promoting ACORN-friendly candidates."

...

"In the 2004 election cycle, a new force entered New York politics: billionaire financier George Soros. The Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance -- a drug legalization lobby through which Soros often funnels political contributions -- gave $81,500 to the Albany County District Attorney campaign of Democrat David Soares. Instead of donating the money directly, however, the Drug Policy Alliance laundered Soros' contribution through the Working Families Party -- an illegal act according to New York State law. "

Occupy Chicago Joins Destroy Israel Anti-war Peace March
http://youtu.be/8mkFKOCxeHk

Allies in War
By: David Horowitz
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=24446

WSJ.com: Unreported Soros Event Aims to Remake Entire Global Economy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471904576229023536424418.html

Al-Jazeera Forum featured leaders of Hamas, CAIR, Soros organizations
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/ss_media0289_03_16.asp

Excerpt:

"With much of the world in shock over the brutal Palestinian murders on March 12 of five members of an Israeli family, the Al-Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, featured Osama Hamdan, a top member of the political bureau of Hamas, a group that considers Israeli settlers and civilians legitimate military targets.

Americans attending this event, held March 12-14, included Steve Clemons of the George Soros-funded New America Foundation."

Steve Clemons from the New America foundation speaks to Al Jazeera
March 12, 2011
http://youtu.be/UUPv9w7zg84

The Sixth Al Jazeera
http://www.youtube.com/user/aljazeeraforum#p/u
(Features Ahmed Maher who is one of the co-founders of the April 6 Youth Movement and a prominent participant in the anti-Mubarak demonstrations in Egypt in 2011.)


Egypt’s Top ‘Facebook Revolutionary’ Now Advising Occupy Wall Street
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/egypt-occupy-wall-street/

The April 6 Youth Movement
http://egyptelections.carnegieendowment.org/2010/09/22/the-april-6-youth-movement

Excerpt:

"In April 2009, the April 6 Youth Movement played an instrumental role in the formation of the Egyptian Coalition for Change, which called for the abrogation of all emergency laws, the drafting of a new constitution, and the annulment of the Camp David Accords (which normalized relations between Egypt and Israel in 1978). Other members of the coalition included the Kifaya movement, al-Karama, al-Wasat, and individual members of the Muslim Brotherhood."

Ahmed Maher at the 6th annual Al Jazeera Forum
http://youtu.be/-MqBiBKzEqI

"Ahmed Maher is one of the co-founders of the April 6 Youth Movement and a prominent participant in the anti-Mubarak demonstrations in Egypt in 2011. Bilal Randeree caught up with him at the sixth Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, March 2011."

Look who's behind uprising in Orlando
Who'da thunk this group would be pulling strings?
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=358141

Excerpt:

"A lawyer linked through the Council on American Islamic Relations to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood has been identified as the driving force behind the Occupy Orlando protests that have been staged in Johnson Park, according to a video report from Tom Trento of the Florida Security Council and The United West."


CAIR Joins Occupy Wall Street, Will Hold Friday Prayers in Zuccotti Park
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/cair-joins-occupy-wall-street-will-hold-friday-prayers-in-zuccotti-park/


Barack Obama Led #OccupyChicago - Circa 1988

It turns out that the top 10 CEOs have an average salary of $43 million, which pales in comparison with America's top 10 celebrities, who earn an average salary of $100 million

Walter E. Williams: Pitting Us Against Each Other

Don't you wonder why so many celebrities cozy up to Obama?

Halloween: There is stuff going on out there that is absolutely unimaginable

The American Dream: The Dark Side Of Halloween: The Kind Of Stuff That Real Life Nightmares Are Made Of

Stealth: Is this why the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is behind the Occupy Orlando group?

The Neville Awards:

One of the main issues of the Occupy Movement is college loans and student debt. One of the core laws of Sharia is not allowing interest on loans. Could this be another stealth effort to recruit unwitting college students to Islam by promising to forgive all loans once Sharia is established?

One can only imagine these gullible leftist students converting in droves to have loans and interest forgiven. The price of debt forgiveness is enslavement to Sharia.

"Arab Spring" Update -- Sharia's Bustin' Out All Over

How long are the American people going to tolerate the willful defiance of U.S. laws by our current administration and government officials?

The president of the union that represents officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Chris Crane, testified before members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration that ICE officers have been ordered not arrest any illegals that have been previously arrested, deported and then re-enter the US illegally again, even though that constitutes a federal felony. Furthermore, they have been instructed to not arrest any illegal that is a fugitive from court ordered deportation if they have no other prior criminal convictions.

What is the difference between this and a police officer being told not to arrest someone for committing a felony if they had no prior conviction? Or what about a police officer who was told to ignore a judge’s order to detain someone just because they had no priors? If this was the case, anyone with a clean record could commit any crime they wanted and not be arrested for it because they had a clean record to begin with. It wouldn’t take long for the crime rates to shoot through the ceiling.

Additionally, since when does any person, especially a government official, have any right to decide for themselves what laws they are going to enforce and what ones they won’t?

Immigration Agents Ordered to Defy Court Orders

Unprecedented in U.S. history: 11/09/11 is final phase of Obama’s testing of his ability to seize communications in the USA at will

Obama has decided that he will confiscate ALL television and Radio broadcasts for a supposed “test” of the EAS (Emergency Alert System). Communication for both US television and Radio will be cut off on 9 November 2011 for at least 3-4 minutes. This is both unprecedented in our history and constitutes the final phase of Obama’s testing of his ability to seize communications in the USA at will. In the past, real Presidents of the USA have asked for time from the various broadcast networks when there was an emergency and they needed to speak. No more. We are now firmly in the bowels of the Obama dictatorship and said tyrant is violating each and every principle and law contained with the US Constitution.

ALERT: Final Implementation Phase of Obama Formal Dictatorship has Begun

Further weakening of the image of American power is a process with dangerous and perhaps irreversible consequences

The Day after the US Withdrawal from Iraq

Karl Marx Mind Map

Special Report: 25 Years After Tax Reform, What Comes Next?

On Oct. 22, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law a widely praised and sweeping bipartisan tax reform. It curbed special deductions, exclusions and breaks (tax expenditures, in tax speak) and chopped the top individual income tax rate from 50% to 28% and the top corporate rate from 46% to 34%. Twenty-five years later, the country is in a deep fiscal hole, the tax code has suffered through years of tax “deform” and a ticking time bomb left in the 1986 Act (the alternative minimum tax) has yet to be defused. So there’s wide agreement that another overhaul is in order. But there’s no consensus on what a rebuilt tax system should look like, how much revenue it should raise, or whether the tax burden should be left as it is, shifted up to millionaires and billionaires or pushed down to middle and working class folks, as in Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan.

In this special report, noted academics, front-line tax practitioners and journalists look back and forward. Among the many must-reads: Michael Graetz details his proposal to free 150 million Americans from the IRS; Laurence Kotlikoff describes his 15-15-15 plan; Len Burman looks at the need and prospects for tax reform; Howard Gleckman distills five lessons from 1986 that could help policy makers today; and Kelly Phillips Erb suggests that all of us, unwilling to give up our tax goodies, are a roadblock to tax reform. Finally, several contributors conclude that no matter what happens, there will still be lots of work for the tax accountants and lawyers. What a relief.

FORBES: SPECIAL REPORT

The video that was banned in the United States

Congress refused to listen, along with the arrogant Congressman Barney Frank (and also Sen. Chuck Schumer). This video says it all. The liberal media reportedly did not want this video on YouTube and it was taken off.

This link is of the same video, but is routed through Canada. Everyone in America needs to see this before it is yanked off the Internet again!

Let's see how far we can spread it before it's pulled off the Canadian site.

VIDEO

NFC: Near Field Communication

NFC Technology: 6 Ways It Could Change Our Daily Lives

1. Contactless payment
   
   
2. Transportation
   
   
3. Health Care
   
   
4. Easy of Use
   
   
5. Smart Objects
   
   
6. Social Media

Near Field Communications World

NFC-Forum

The sex question (it always pops up)

InstaPundit

Seriously, when you’re a "pent up" guy waiting for an opportunity for sex, you’re basically existing in dog years. Every hour feels like half a waking day; every day without sex feels like a week; and every week is like a long, frustrating month-and-a-half. Think of it as the "Male Dog Sex Ratio."

“How Much Sex Do Guys Really Need?”.

Time Magazine calls Herman Cain a "black clown"

...as a Black person, the Hermanator experience has been as distasteful as rancid, spoiled, stinky, curdled milk.

Time Magazine Columnist Accuses Herman Cain of Being ‘Black Clown’ to Appease White Conservatives

THE JUSTIA CONSPIRACY - UPDATED

Justia swapped their tampered versions of the cases for the actual Supreme Court opinions and then pawned them off as if the tampered versions contained the "Full Text" of the Supreme Court's opinions.

Minor v. Happersett defined the one specific term which Barack Obama could not overcome with “Hope and Change” though he could ‘hope’ someone would ‘change’ the cases which help define the term “Natural Born Citizen,”. This case, if it had been sufficiently known to the public and media, and sufficiently documented by supporting citations, might have eliminated the possibility of Obama's nomination and/or election. Either Obama got lucky in this regard, or the “constitutional law professor” and former editor of the Harvard Law Review had some hand in directing the efforts to erase the very citations in law which define him as a citizen, and at the same time rule him out as a constitutional candidate for President of the United States.

UPDATE

CERTIFIGATE: Online Supreme Court opinions scrubbed in 2008 election runup - 1875 court definition of eligibility deleted from 25 cases at Justia.com

UPDATE #2:
10/29/11 - Conspiracies, Lies, and Justiagate

10/31/11 - JustiaGate: The Cover-Up Continues

This time, it DOES take a rocket scientist!

There’s always the possibly that one of the “out” candidates -- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Rep. Paul Ryan, even Sarah Palin -- steps back into the ring

New York Post: Stopping ‘Mitt the inevitable’

Look who's behind uprising in Orlando

Who'da thunk this group would be pulling strings?

Two Vans Hit Chinese Toddler…18 Passers-by Ignore Her Suffering

This will make you sick...and liberals think China is an example of what America should become!

HillBuzz: CNN Western GOP Debate Live Blog Transcript

Apparently, from advance reports featured across Drudge, the goal tonight for Mittens Romneycare and CNN is to attack Herman Cain

What does a Cain presidency mean to liberals?

1. Eligibility Begets Legitimacy
2. The End of Accusing Republicans of "Racism"
3. Capitalism In The White House
4. Cain Actually Held the Title of Chief Executive Before Becoming President
5. Cain Is Everything Liberals Want...But Can Never Have
6. Cain is the First True Role Model for Minorities in America
7. Cain Does Not Need to Lie About His Past
8. Cain's Transgressions are Forgivable
9. Cain is Not Afraid to Promote a Plan for Recovery
10. Cain is Blacker Than Obama

CAIN'S ELIGIBILITY BRINGS OBOTS TO THEIR MOST FEARED APOCALYPSE

NPR map: Mexican Drug Cartels In The U.S.

The presence of Mexican drug cartels in U.S. cities is expanding. Mexican cartels have long had links to marijuana-growing farms in California, and are widening their reach into the Pacific Northwest and the Eastern United States. They also are involved in producing methamphetamines in the United States. The FBI has reported that the Mexican cartels deal only in wholesale distribution in the U.S. -- and farm out street sales to various U.S. gangs. This map shows locations of cartel activity in the United States.

Click on the state names in the list below to see which cities and towns have cartel presence.

Halloween I

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o'-lantern by it's diameter? - Pumpkin pi.



What streets do zombies like the best? - Dead ends.



What do you call two witches that live together? - Broom-mates.



When do cannibals leave the table? -When everyone’s eaten.



Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road? - He didn't have the guts!



Who won the skeleton beauty contest? - Nobody.



What do witches put on their hair? - Scare spray.



What do birds say on Halloween? - "Trick-or-tweet!”



Why do witches fly on brooms? – Vacuum cleaner cords aren't long enough!



What do you call a ghost with a broken leg? – A hobblin’ goblin.


And,


What did the skeleton play in the band? - The trom-bone.

A BEAUTIFUL THING

Nurses wheeled Dottie down the hallway to her mother …
They placed the baby on her mother’s chest. Mother and child gazed into each other’s eyes for several minutes. She smiled at the baby who at last lay in her arms.


No one said a word. No one had a dry eye.


Stacie Crimm died three days later.

VIDEO

Occupy: who's bed are YOU in?

SLEEPING WITH LIBERALS

FATAL ERROR

IRAN180

HUMAN RIGHTS. NOT NUCLEAR RIGHTS.

www.iran180.org

(Just added to "Terrorism & International Affairs" in the right panel--scroll way down.)

HEARTBREAK IN AMERICA

After four days, I found that I could not hold back the tears any longer. On a trip to the bank to file a change of address, I burst into tears in front of the teller, crying uncontrollably from the pit of my stomach. I cried for the old farmhouse which had so much potential, was almost finished and which the bank cared nothing about. I cried for the gazebo and barn which would never be fixed and the waste of a beautiful property which had blossomed under our stewardship. I cried for the tens of thousands of dollars which we had lost in this one building alone, and the half-million-d0llar retirement package we had worked so hard to create for ourselves and lost due to the most horrendous financial collapse since 1929. We have no pensions to claim at retirement age, which my husband has already reached. To me, the collapse was engineered by a commandeering and meddling Congress not envisioned by the Founding Fathers as well as complicit bankers looking for easy wealth through schemes and stealth practices.

CAN THE AMERICAN DREAM SURVIVE?

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF 9/11

The spirit of the elite forces who rode on that dangerous and unprecedented mission in Afghanistan — the men depicted in this short film — was the monument’s inspiration. War reporter Alex Quade tracked down some of those courageous American commandos. She obtained their permission, and that of their commanding officers, to share their personal stories, their names, their faces, and their mission photos. This footage and most of these photos have never been seen before.

Secret mission: The Horse Soldiers of 9/11


HAT TIP: ATLAS SHRUGS

"_____" like an American

Well, after watching this ad for Norwegian Cruise Line, I'm feeling a little left out!
 
I mean, I thought that at LEAST we'd get a thumbs up for the shopping--you remember when Michelle went to Spain--but NO! Nada. Zip. Zilch.
 
People must've thought we'd get SOME creds with Obama as prez because they were fainting and everything.
 
Jeez!
 
What the hell good is he anyway???

Trading Places

Obama administration-approved black ops in Mexico more extensive than known

All the focus has been on Agent Brian Terry until now.

Mr. Issa’s subpoena demands all Justice Department documents “referring or relating to the murder of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, including any correspondence outlining the details of Zapata’s mission at the time he was murdered.”

Zapata’s assassination didn’t receive nearly the publicity afforded U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry - despite the fact that both men died at the hands of drug thugs wielding ATF-enabled weapons. But Zapata’s case is the more potentially revealing of the two.

How deep does this go?

According to sworn testimony, the Gunwalker scandal involves an entire alphabet soup of federal agencies: the ATF, FBI, DOJ (Department of Justice), DHS (Department of Homeland Security), ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and IRS (Internal Revenue Service), not to mention the State Department and White House.

In short, like Watergate, the Gunwalker scandal is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. It’s just getting started.

Read the whole thing:
FARAGO: Gunwalker is only the tip of a scandal iceberg

CBS: "Grenade-walking" part of "Gunwalker" scandal

When the mainstream media takes over, it's Watergate time.

(CBS News) There's a new twist in the government's "gunwalking" scandal involving an even more dangerous weapon: grenades.

The real truth about Herman Cain

This does make Cain’s “simplicity” argument more supportable, considering all of the gyrations it takes now to get to the math. My objection is less about this and more about adding a federal sales tax while still taxing income, though.

Uh oh: The kids want your money.

The Post & Email

IFLRY: We are the Young Liberals of the world...and we want your money!

As liberals and radicals we are in favour of a market economy operating within the limits of a fair distribution of wealth and ecological sustainability. To reach the goal of equal opportunities distribution of wealth has to take place within the states as well as between them.

The current incarnation of this cabal started in Denmark in 1979--but it really goes all the way back to 1947.

According to their Facebook page, they have "close to 100 Member Organizations all over the world, representing 2,5 million young liberals across the globe."

Wonder what happens to all the old hippies, er, IFLRYs? (Can't help remembering Logan's Run.)

BTW, what is happening on October 15th??? ("Occupy the World" -- check out the black stripes painted over the American flag.)

Interesting that any and all policies that would "distribute wealth" would have to come from a government big enough to enforce it. Since that is the opposite of what the Founding Fathers created here in America, any and all such movements that support distribution-of-wealth schemes are, by nature, anti-American.

Not only that, but the forced distribution of wealth requires the abolishment of property rights which is the foundation of all civilation. No one would ever invest in any type of development, invention, building, business or venture that did not give them ownership--period. That is why all primitive societies did not advance until those rights were possible.

But getting back to IFLRY...

They've made it clear that they are about the money. Specifically, YOUR money.

Talk about greed!

Their entire mission statement is about how to get other people's money. And they seem to feel morally entitled to it.

By what right?

It all comes down to violence which is always what the leeches of the world intend and intimate when they try to con you out of the fruits of YOUR labor.

Let's be clear (as faux President Obama tends to repeat): When they can't make you feel guilty enough to give them your money, they WILL find a way to take it from you.

When they go after your guns, you know they are getting impatient.

Republican debate roundup from 5 bloggers

PowerLine: Impressions of tonight's debate

HotAir: Open thread: The “Perry’s last chance” debate

GatewayPundit: Cain & Able?…. Open Debate Thread – Will Cain Pull It Off?

Patterico: GOP Roundtable Open Thread

Legal Insurrection: Republican New Hampshire Debate – 10-11-2011

The role of judges under our constitution

Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the role of the Judicial Branch in America. U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer testified, answering the Senators’ questions for over two hours. You can see the entire hearing HERE.

The organization (WFP) run by current White House political director Patrick Gaspard is paying far left activists to continue the protests against Wall Street

No wonder Barack Obama supports the far left protest movement!

Shocker. Obama’s Top Political Advisor Directly Linked to Occupy Wall Street Protests

Do we really want a president who helps pay for people to defecate on police cars?

Supreme Court: Proof that Obama is not eligible to be president

Multiple Instances Of Historical Scholarship Conclusively Establish The Supreme Court’s Holding In Minor v. Happersett As Standing Precedent On Citizenship – Obama Not Eligible.

TAXES and the RICH

Help someone

Please help a fellow blogger-in-freedom who desperately needs some help:

ZILLA OF THE RESISTANCE

Just a $1 or $10 or more--anything you can spare. I remember someone who helped me out when I had to choose between fixing my car (and I live in the Los Angeles area where it's really necessary) or fixing my teeth...I was able to do both because of a friend.

We are all friends in this movement to take our country back. As Glenn Beck says: help one another.

Epitaph for California? Epitaph for America!

From HillBuzz: GREAT MERCIFUL ZEUS: You must read Rep. Tom McClintock’s “America will go as California goes” speech regarding an Obama second term

When my parents came to California in the 1960’s looking for a better future, they found it here. The state government consumed about half of what it does today after adjusting for both inflation and population. HALF. We had the finest highway system in the world and the finest public school system in the country. California offered a FREE university education to every Californian who wanted one. We produced water and electricity so cheaply that some communities didn’t bother to meter the stuff. Our unemployment rate consistently ran well below the national rate and our diversified economy was nearly recession-proof.

One thing – and one thing only – changed in those years: public policy. The political Left gradually gained dominance over California’s government and has imposed a disastrous agenda of radical and retrograde policies that have destroyed the quality of life that Californians once took for granted.

October 8, 2011

A Second Term for Obama Would Make the United States Go as California Has Gone
By Rep. Tom McClintock

Note: Congressman Tom McClintock delivered the following speech to the Council for National Policy:

I want to welcome this groundbreaking scientific expedition to the savage lands of the Left Coast. You are here in California to answer an important theoretical question and now you have your answer.

Yes, this is what Barack Obama’s second term would look like.

Study it. Fear it. And then go home and make sure that it never happens to the rest of the country.

Of course, in spite of all of its problems, California is still one of the best places in the country to build a successful small business. All you have to do is start with a successful large business.

Laugh if you will, but as you whistle past this cemetery, do heed the medieval epitaph: “Remember man as you walk by, as you are now so once was I; as I am now so you will be.”

Mark that well, because if we lose this struggle for the future of our country, you too someday will live in a California – only without the nice climate.

Bad policies. Bad process. Bad politics. Those are the three acts in a Greek tragedy that tell the tale of how, in the span of a single generation, the most prosperous and golden state in the nation became an economic basket case.

When my parents came to California in the 1960’s looking for a better future, they found it here. The state government consumed about half of what it does today after adjusting for both inflation and population. HALF. We had the finest highway system in the world and the finest public school system in the country. California offered a FREE university education to every Californian who wanted one. We produced water and electricity so cheaply that some communities didn’t bother to meter the stuff. Our unemployment rate consistently ran well below the national rate and our diversified economy was nearly recession-proof.

One thing – and one thing only – changed in those years: public policy. The political Left gradually gained dominance over California’s government and has imposed a disastrous agenda of radical and retrograde policies that have destroyed the quality of life that Californians once took for granted.

The Census bureau has reported for the better part of the decade that California is undergoing the biggest population exodus in its history, with many fleeing to such garden spots as Nevada, Arizona and Texas. Think about that. California is blessed with the most equitable climate in the entire Western Hemisphere; it has the most bountiful resources anywhere in the continental United States; it is poised on the Pacific Rim in a position to dominate world trade for the next century, and yet people are finding a better place to live and work and raise their families in the middle of the Nevada Nuclear Test Range.

I submit to you that no conceivable act of God could wreak such devastation. Only acts of government can do that. And they have.

We conservatives espouse principles of individual liberty, free markets, constitutionally limited government, fiscal responsibility, the protection of natural rights – not out of some slavish devotion to ideology, but because all human experience has shown these principles to be the most certain means to achieve a prosperous and happy society. If you want to see the opposite of that – come to California.

James Madison said the trickiest question the Constitutional convention confronted was how to oblige a government to control itself. History records not a single example of a nation that spent, borrowed and taxed its way to prosperity; but it offers us many, many examples of nations that spent and borrowed and taxed their way to economic ruin and bankruptcy. And history is screaming this warning at us: that nations that bankrupt themselves aren’t around very long, because before you can provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty – you have to be able to pay for it.

California may not have invented deficit spending but we certainly refined it into a science. Before the crash of 2008, when California was taking in more money than ever in its history, it was already running a nine billion dollar deficit, under a Republican governor elected on the pledge to “cut up the credit cards.”

Federal spending increased 26 percent in the last three years literally consuming and squandering the wealth of the nation at the worst possible time. Yet consider this: from July of 2005 to July of 2008, California increased its spending by 31 percent, under a Republican governor elected on the pledge to “stop the crazy deficit spending”. You can see how well that’s worked for us.

If stimulus spending, massive deficits and burgeoning government bureaucracies were the path to economic prosperity, California should be leading the nation from the top rather than from the bottom. After we lost the nation’s triple-A credit rating this summer specifically because of chronic deficit spending, it should surprise no one that California suffers the lowest bond rating in the nation for precisely the same reason.


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Our regulatory burdens are also years ahead of the rest of the nation – we’ve had our own version of Cap and Trade on the books for five years now, and even though the bulk of these restrictions yet to take effect, investors make decisions every day anticipating their impact.

This has already proven utterly devastating to energy generation, cargo and passenger transportation, cement production, construction, wine making, agriculture and manufacturing. When he signed this legislation, Gov. Schwarzenegger promised that this would produce a cornucopia of new green jobs.

How’s that working out? Up until the autumn of 2006, California’s unemployment rate tracked fairly steadily with the national unemployment numbers. But beginning in that quarter, California’s unemployment rate moved steadily beyond the national numbers. Today it stands at 12.1 percent – three full points above the national rate. You can’t blame the national economy for that – you have to find something specific to California that occurred in the autumn of 2006 to explain this divergence. I submit that the only significant event in that period was the signing of AB 32.

And I should note that although we’ve devastated California’s once recession-proof economy with these ridiculous regulations, the Earth stubbornly continues to warm and cool as it has for billions of years.

I mentioned water and electricity so cheap that some communities didn’t meter the stuff. There’s a reason for that: California had embarked on an aggressive program of hydroelectric and nuclear power construction that promised an era of clean, cheap and abundant electricity. But beginning with the first “small is beautiful” administration of Jerry Brown, these programs were abandoned in favor of “green energy.” We now have the most stringent renewable energy requirements in the nation.

Which helps explain why California is the home to such stunning green energy success stories as Solyndra. We have among the highest electricity prices in the continental United States. We have the lowest per-capita electricity consumption in the nation as well. And every day, our government spends part of our sky-high electricity bills to lecture us to conserve more.

We completed our last major dam in 1979. Last year, environmentalists diverted 200 billion gallons of water from central valley agriculture for the enjoyment and amusement of the Delta Smelt – a three-inch long minnow that has become the environmental left’s pet cause. This single action destroyed thousands of jobs and laid waste to a half million acres of the most fertile farmland in America. It is no coincidence that four of the ten metropolitan areas suffering the highest unemployment rate in the country are all in California’s Central Valley.

Meanwhile, up north on the Klamath River, California has found a new partnership with the Obama administration as they proceed to tear down four perfectly good hydroelectric dams capable of producing 155 megawatts of the cleanest and cheapest electricity on the planet — enough to power 155,000 homes. This is due, we are told, to the decline of the salmon population. The Iron Gate Fish Hatchery on the Klamath produces 5 million salmon smolts each year – 17,000 of which return as fully-grown adults to spawn – but they don’t include them in the population count. To add insult to insanity, when the Iron Gate Dam is destroyed, we will lose the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery.

We have the most aggressive mass transit program in the country – although we have not added significant capacity to our highway system in a generation. Californians consistently pay among the highest taxes per gallon of gasoline in the country and yet make among the lowest per capita expenditures on our roads. And what a surprise: we also have among the highest congestion rates in the country.

We have the largest population of illegal aliens in the country, consuming somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 billion in direct state expenditures. A few years ago, the Los Angeles County Sheriff reported that fully 25 percent of the jail inmates were illegal aliens. For years, California has provided in-state tuition for illegal aliens at the expense of California taxpayers – and with the signing of the California Dream Act four days ago, they will also have access to taxpayer-financed grants. Meanwhile, CSU has increased tuition 22 percent in just two years.

I’ve noticed a few of you on your cell phones no doubt checking to be sure that your return reservations are confirmed.

But I need to remind you that the Obama administration is pursuing exactly the same policies nationally – and so far with the same results. When you step off the plane back in your home state, just remember that all your plane trip will buy you is a couple of years if we lose the fight in 2012.

The second act of this morality tale is how bad process accommodated and amplified bad policy.

The Left loves to throw the term “dysfunctional” at our governing institutions. In the last week, the Democratic governor of North Carolina seriously opined that we ought to postpone congressional elections so that congressmen would “do the right thing.” Peter Orzag this week wrote of wanting to shift even more decision-making from our elected representatives to elitist boards appointed by our betters.

We have reached this point not because of a failure of our republican institutions, but because of a failure to respect those institutions.


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Again, California is a pioneer, but the rest of the country is fast catching up. In the 1960’s, California’s legislature was respected throughout the country as the model for others to follow. It was professional, it respected process, and it worked. It did a few things, but it did them exceedingly well. It left local schools, local governments and local revenues in local hands. But beginning in the 1970’s this began to break down.

The humility that kept Sacramento from sticking its nose into the business of local governments gave way to the hubris that the state knew better what was important to local communities than those communities themselves. The appalling breakdown of federalist principles at the national level now geometrically compounds this problem.

But at the core of this breakdown was the abandonment of our basic republican structure of government – and it began right here.

Our parliamentary institutions have evolved over centuries to distill diverse viewpoints to a common direction within constitutional boundaries. When this process is applied, it works extremely well.

For a quarter of a century, I watched as these brilliant checks and balances that had produced reasonably punctual and reasonably balanced budgets for over a century, and nurtured the most prosperous economy in the nation, were gradually abandoned in the name of liberal efficiency.

Slowly, inexorably, decision-making that had been done broadly and independently by the two houses of the legislature — involving the active participation of every elected representative — was usurped by an extra-constitutional abomination called the “Big Five.”

See if any of this sounds familiar: The “Big Five” is essentially a super-committee that meets behind closed doors outside the scrutiny of the public, sidelining the legislature, short-circuiting the independent judgment of the two houses, and then in the eleventh hour drops its decision into the laps of the legislature for a take-it–or-leave it vote that cannot even be amended.

I know I don’t have to connect the dots for anybody here. Ladies and gentlemen, it does not work. California’s plague of chronically late and chronically unbalanced budgets coincides quite clearly with the disintegration of the legislative process and the replacement of parliamentary institutions with handpicked super-committees.

Which brings me to the third act of this Greek Tragedy – bad politics.

Last November, while the rest of the country was celebrating historic Republican gains (including a shift of 63 U.S. House Seats, six U.S. Senate Seats, 680 state legislative seats, 19 state legislatures and six governors), the statewide Republican ticket in California – despite massively outspending the Democrats in the best Republican year since 1938 – lost every statewide race and even lost ground in the state legislature.

Republicans nationally now hold more state legislative seats than in any year since 1928. In California, they hold fewer than at any time since 1978!

That is not because the voting population of California has lost its collective mind and it is not because the state is divinely ordained to be run by morons.

It happened because Dick Armey is right: “When we act like us we win, and when we act like them we lose.”

Republicans lost the 2006 and 2008 elections not because voters abandoned Republican principles, but because they looked at the Republicans and concluded that the Republicans had abandoned Republican principles.

During the Bush years, Republicans had increased federal spending at twice the rate of Bill Clinton; they left our borders wide open; they approved the biggest increase in entitlement spending since the Great Society and that turned record budget surpluses into record deficits to launch this brave new era of stimulus spending.

I last visited with the CNP in Washington in May of 2009. What a depressing meeting that was! Obama enjoyed 66 percent public approval. The week before, a conference of self-appointed Republican leaders had concluded that “we had to put the Reagan era behind us” and we had to be “mindful and respectful that the other side has something and that we have nothing and you can’t beat something with nothing.” (I won’t mention names, but his initials were Jeb Bush.)

Thank God House Republicans didn’t take that approach.

In the aftermath of that debacle, House Republican leaders resolved to restore traditional Republican principles as the policy and political focus of the party and they achieved something no one at the time thought possible: they united House Republicans as a determined voice of opposition to the Left and they rallied the American people.

Republicans rediscovered why we were Republicans, and Republican leaders rediscovered Reagan’s advice to paint our positions in bold colors and not hide them in pale pastels.

The result was one of the most dramatic watershed elections in American history.

California Republicans did exactly the opposite, and ended up replaying the disaster of 2008 while the rest of the country was enjoying one of the greatest Republican landslides ever recorded.

In California, the Democrats attacked Republicans for imposing the biggest state tax increase in American history. The Democrats attacked Republicans for obstructing pension reform to protect the prison guards union. These attacks had the unfortunate element of being true.

Meanwhile, the Republican ticket attacked Arizona’s immigration law. Republicans attacked the Proposition that would have stopped AB 32 – California’s version of Cap and Trade.

The sad truth is that we were more like the Democrats than the Democrats.

A few days after the election, a Republican leader whose mission in life has been to redefine the Republican Party in the image of Arnold Schwarzenegger said he just couldn’t explain the results.

I can. We didn’t need to redefine our principles. We needed to return to them. House Republicans did. California Republicans did not. Any questions?

Great parties are built upon great principles and they are judged by their devotion to those principles. Since its inception, the central principle of the Republican Party can be summed up in a single word, Freedom.

The closer we have hewn to that principle, the better we have done. The farther we have strayed from that principle, the worse we have done.

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln warned the nation that two incompatible and irreconcilable philosophies, freedom and slavery, competed for our future and reminded us that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” “I do not believe the house will fall,” he said, “but I do believe that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

Today two incompatible and irreconcilable philosophies — freedom and socialism — compete for our nation’s future and the stage is set for one of the greatest debates in the history of the American Republic.

We are winning that debate. But we have to stand firm.

What has happened to California and now is threatening our country is the inevitable consequence of bad policy, bad process and bad politics – and the good news is, that’s all within our power as a people to change.

I believe that if Californians rediscover these self-evident truths, Jerry Brown will be to California what Barack Obama has been to the rest of the country – a giant wake-up call. And if Americans rally behind these truths, together, we will write the next great chapter of the American Republic: that just when it looked like America would fade into history as just another failed socialist state, this generation of Americans rediscovered, revived and restored those uniquely American principles of individual liberty and constitutionally limited government, rallied under a bold banner held high by the traditional party of freedom, and from that moment America began her next great era of expansion, prosperity and influence.

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Tom McClintock is the U.S. Representative for California's 4th congressional district.

Page Printed from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/10/08/a_second_term_for_obama_would_make_the_united_states_go_as_california_has_gone_111620-full.html at October 09, 2011 - 01:37:29 PM PDT

Fast and Furious: timeline

The following is a timeline of events surrounding Holder and Congress’ dealings with Operation Fast and Furious:

2009 — Operation Fast and Furious is launched under the supervision of the ATF's Group VII, based out of Phoenix.

March 12, 2010 — Group VII Supervisor David Roth sends an email to the group acknowledging a “schism” in the attitudes of the agents. ATF agents in the group would later testify they were conflicted over the tactics being used. “Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case,” wrote Roth.

July 2010 — Michael Walther, the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), wrote three memos to Holder in which he mentions Operation Fast and Furious. In one memo, Walther advises Holder that NDIC and a Phoenix drug enforcement task force would assist the ATF with an investigation of a suspected gun trafficker, Manuel Celis-Acosta, being run under Operation Fast and Furious.

“This investigation, initiated in September 2009 in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Phoenix police department, involves a Phoenix-based firearms trafficking ring Manuel Celis-Acosta,” the memo states. “Celis-Acosta and [redacted] straw purchasers are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

Nov. 2010 — Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer sent a weekly memo to Holder notifying him of a sealed indictment against alleged gun traffickers in Arizona by the DOJ’s organized crime and gang section. Breuer wrote that the indictment would remain sealed “until another investigation, Phoenix-based ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’ is ready for takedown.”

Nov. – Dec. 2010 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is contacted by whistleblowers within ATF about the tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious.

Dec. 15, 2010 — Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is killed in a firefight in Arizona. Two of the guns found at the scene were sold to suspected straw buyers under the operation.

Jan. 2011 — Grassley meets with Holder and DOJ officials to discuss the whistleblower allegations.

Feb. 2011 — DOJ sends a letter to Grassley denying that the ATF would knowingly sell assault weapons to straw purchasers and that the agency makes every effort to prevent weapons from going to Mexico.

March 2011 — Holder asks the DOJ’s Inspector General to investigate Operation Fast and Furious.

March 8, 2011 — Eleven people are federally indicted for alleged weapons trafficking crimes in connection with Fast and Furious.

March 16, 2011 — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sends his first letter to ATF’s acting-director Kenneth Melson requesting documents pertaining to the origin of Fast and Furious and who authorized it.

March 31, 2011 — Issa issues first subpoena on Fast and Furious to DOJ for documents he requested in March.

May 3, 2011 — Holder testifies before the House Judiciary Committee saying, “I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

June 15, 2011 — Issa holds his first hearing on Fast and Furious where former and current ATF agents testified about the controversial tactics employed under the operation and their efforts to stop them. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, who operates as a legislative liaison to Congress, also testifies that the DOJ was doing everything in its power to assist Issa with his investigation. Republicans have said the DOJ is “stonewalling” their efforts to get information about the operation.

June 29, 2011 — Obama says he will not comment on Fast and Furious further until the IG investigation is complete. “My attorney general has made clear that he certainly would not have ordered gun running to be able to pass through into Mexico,” said Obama. “I'm not going to comment on a current investigation. I've made very clear my views that that would not be an appropriate step by the ATF, and we've got to find out how that happened.”

July 4, 2011 — Melson testifies in a closed setting before Issa and Grassley’s investigators. Melson acknowledges that Fast and Furious was under the jurisdiction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office.

August 30, 2011 — Holder transfers Melson out of his position as acting director and Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke resigns.

Fast and Furious fallout puts Holder on collision course with Congress

Herman Cain brings the house down at Values Voter Summit

The Right Scoop, Oct 7, 2011

This is a great speech from Herman Cain at the Values Voter Summit. As someone on twitter said, they lost count of how many standing ovations Cain got during the speech.

VIDEO

Which tax bracket are you in?

Currently a millionaire’s tax rate is 35%.
Bus drivers and plumbers pay a tax rate around 25%.

Obama Weekly Address: Millionaires Need to Pay the Same Tax Rate as Plumbers or Bus Drivers (Video)

Hillary Clinton connected to Fast and Furious/Gunwalker scandal

Breaking new information on the Project Gunwalker scandal, reported last evening by investigative citizen journalist Mike Vanderboegh, indicates that the connection between the Hillary Clinton State Department to the illegal operation is much more extensive than previously reported.

Gunwalker part 2--the State Department connection

UPDATE:

A source told Mike Vanderboegh that she is livid over the relevations concerning her involvement, so much so that she personally read Vanderboegh's 2 articles on the State Department and the Secretary of State in the Gunwalker scheme.

Hillary's enemies list now includes Gunwalker reporters

Why Sarah Palin will still be with us

Investor's Business Daily: Palin: 5 Reasons She Will Remain Relevant

On Wednesday (10/5) I went to a private screening of "UNDEFEATED". There are so many moments in this film where you realize just what the Democrats have so rabidly and viciously gone after: a very nice, competent, and passionately conservative women of great tenacity and ability. Is it any wonder the country is in the state it's in?

Perhaps what they all hate so much is her absolute intolerance for corruption and unwillingness to back down from confrontation.

It was a pleasure to meet and hear Mr. Bannon speak before the film (he would have spoken afterwards except for having to catch a plane). In his bio below you will see that he is also a co-founder of the National Tea Party Federation. Sarah had just announced she would not run for President and he said she was aware we would all be watching this film...we were all thrilled to watch, cheered and clapped at times, and some (like me) felt a few tears welling up as we all realized what America had lost.

Hollywood Congress of Republicans: Film Screening & Q&A w/ Steve Bannon:

Stephen K. Bannon is an award-winning conservative filmmaker who has written and directed such films as; In The Face of Evil, Generation Zero, Fire From the Heartland, Battle for America and Still Point in a Turning World: Ronald Reagan and His Ranch the official film of the Reagan 100 Celebration at the Reagan Ranch Center. In addition he has executive produced The Last 600 Meters, Titus Andronicus, and The Indian Runner.

The latest film written and directed by Mr. Bannon The Undefeated premiered to critical acclaim in Pella Iowa Wednesday June 28th. The Undefeated chronicles the rise from obscurity of one of America’s new generation of leaders: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Taking on both the right and the left, The Undefeated takes an unflinching look at the state of discourse in contemporary American electoral politics. The Undefeated opened in limited release around the country on July 15, 2011.

KABC AM 790 Talk Radio Los Angeles recently premiered The Victory Sessions hosted by Mr. Bannon immediately following Dodger baseball every Sunday. The Victory Sessions is broadcast live nationally and focuses on Culture, Economics, Politics, and War.

Mr. Bannon is a former Surface Warfare Officer who served aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Paul F. Foster (DD964) with the Pacific Fleet. In addition, he is an honors graduate of the Harvard Business School and has a Masters Degree from Georgetown University. Mr. Bannon is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker. Mr. Bannon has been a financier and entrepreneur in the entertainment business for 25 years. He is currently the Chairman/CEO of Affinity Media.

Mr. Bannon is the co-founder of the National Tea Party Federation and has been a frequent speaker at Tea Party conventions and rallies throughout the country.

Mr. Bannon is a native of Virginia who now resides in Laguna Beach. His daughter Maureen graduated from The United States Military Academy at West Point in 2010 and is currently a Logistics Officer serving with a Combat Engineering Battalion with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.

DOWN WITH EVIL CORPORATIONS!

Wide Receiver

Wide Receiver was [a] botched law enforcement, while the gun-walking programs of the Obama administration were intentionally criminal — and arguably terrorist — acts, arming violent narco-terrorists waging war on a U.S. ally

Gunwalker: Gunning Down the ‘Bush Did It, Too’ Lie

White House silences CBS reporter

Suddenly unavailable...

The first secret president

WHY would Democrats do this?

Just added

Under "Join the Second American Revolution" (right panel) - Economic Freedom

(Charles Koch Institute :-)

Obama's Watergate

Fast And Furious: 22 Shocking Facts About The Scandal That Could Bring Down The Obama Administration

Thirteen Obstacles to Becoming a Better Person

Dennis Prager:

This week, for the fourth consecutive year, I am conducting Jewish High Holiday services. Though not a rabbi, I spent 12 years studying in yeshivas and 35 years teaching and writing on Judaism. The following is a summary of the Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) sermon that I gave this past Wednesday night.

The purpose of the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) is moral introspection: What kind of person am I, and what kind of person can I become? So, every year, Jews meditate on the issue of becoming a better person.

But how many of us do become better people the next year?

This question has bothered me for many years, and I have decided to finally address it. Why is it so hard to become a better person?

I have -- unfortunately -- come up with 13 reasons. . .

Read more

Another perspective.

This is what good journalism looks like

Poor Colleen Long. She works for the Associated Press. And she just doesn't understand what's going on with that 'Occupy Wall Street' protest.

Occupy Wall Street Protests -- This Is What Stupidity Looks Like

How many Apples has abortion killed?

Deacon Greg Kandra

Since this is Respect Life Sunday, and the beginning of Respect Life month, I wanted to talk about one woman who did respect life – and her choice has made a difference in the life of virtually every person in this church.

Her name is Joanne Schiebel. In 1954, she was a young unmarried college student who discovered that she was pregnant. In the 1950s, her options were limited. She could have had an abortion – but the procedure was both dangerous and illegal. She could have gotten married, but she wasn’t ready and didn’t want to interrupt her education. Joanne opted, instead, to give birth to the baby and put it up for adoption.

And so it was that in 1955, a California couple named Paul and Clara Jobs adopted a baby boy, born out of wedlock, that they named Steven. We know him today…as Steve Jobs.

It would not be overstating things to say that Steve Jobs is my generation’s Thomas Edison. As one observer put it, he knew what the world wanted before the world knew that it wanted it.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad or an iPod, or anything remotely resembling them, you can thank Steve Jobs. If your world has been transformed by the ability to hear a symphony, send a letter, pay a bill, deposit a check, read a book and then buy theater tickets on something roughly the size of a credit card…you can thank Steve Jobs.

And: you can thank Joanne Schiebel.

If you want to know how much one life can matter, there is just one example.

But: imagine if that life had never happened.

Homily for October 2, 2011: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

HAT TIP: The Anchoress

1955 - 2011

The truth about homosexuality

"It's the economy, stupid" was a phrase in American politics widely used during Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush.

"It's the statistics, stupid" is a blunt way of communicating some facts that I'll bet you never heard of...read 'em!

Health insurance premiums rose in 2011 to more than $15,000 per family for the first time in American history

Growing list of health care lies plagues president’s overhaul

12 Shocking Quotes From Insiders About The Horrific Economic Crisis That Is Almost Here

The Economic Collapse blog included Ann Barnhardt among the twelve.

#11 Ann Barnhardt, head of Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc.: "It's over. There is no coming back from this. The only thing that can happen is a total and complete collapse of EVERYTHING we now know, and humanity starts from scratch. And if you think that this collapse is going to play out without one hell of a big hot war, you are sadly, sadly mistaken."

I've reproduced her particlar post below (she was #11 in the story on the Economic Collapse blog) since she does not permalink her posts and they do eventually disappear. Ms. Barnhardt has given permission for anyone to copy and share her posts.

barnhardt.biz

Please watch the video at the end:

There's no way in hell we're making it to Nov 2012
Posted by Ann Barnhardt - September 26, AD 2011 9:09 PM MST

Here is a piece from ZeroHedge.com that hopefully will make you all understand, once and for all, that this ain't the 1930's, and that there is absolutely no way in hell that this Republic is going to make it to November 2012.
HERE IT IS.

Summary: The five largest banks in the U.S. (JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and HSBC) are carrying $238 TRILLION dollars in derivative exposure. JP Morgan alone is carrying $78 TRILLION in derivative exposure BY ITSELF.

Okay, what the hell is derivative exposure? What this is referring to are over-the-counter non-exchange traded forward delivery (or "futures") contracts of various kinds. I am a futures broker, but I only execute futures contracts on the futures exchanges, namely the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. About ten years ago a new "novelty" emerged in the futures business - the so-called "over-the-counter" contracts. There was a kid in the office I worked in who got wind of this and had all kinds of stars in his eyes about making a killing off of these "OTC" contracts because the brokers' commissions were not a flat fee but a percent of the contract value. Here's the problem with OTC contracts: there is no exchange standing between the buyer and seller as a guarantor.

In my business, when a customer executes a trade on a futures or options contract, it makes no difference who the other guy is on the other side of the trade, be it executed electronically or in the pit. None of us have to worry for a second about the counterparty on our executions because the EXCHANGE ITSELF stands between ALL transactions as the ultimate guarantor. The exchange then enforces the financial requirement rules with the Clearing Houses, the Clearing Houses enforce the financial requirement rules with the brokers, and the brokers enforce the financial requirement rules with the customers. That is the chain of financial responsibility. So, even if a customer bugs out and fails to financially perform on a contract, the contract WILL BE MADE GOOD by extracting the money from the broker, then the Clearing House and finally the Exchange. This massive enforcement buffering is what gives the system integrity.

OTC contracts have no exchange. They are a flipping free-for-all. If someone bugs out on a contract, the poop hits the fan. The counterparty has their pants around their ankles and the broker is caught in the middle. That's why when that kid in my office years ago got all starry-eyed, I thought to myself, "I wouldn't do that OTC crap if you put a gun to my head - no matter what the commissions were. It would be Russian Roulette. Eventually someone would default and it would financially destroy the broker instantly, and perhaps the counterparty as well."

Let's take my business - cattle futures. One contract is 40,000 pounds of live cattle. The spot contract settled at $119.725 per hundred pounds today. So, 40,000 pounds X $1.19725 (shift the decimal) = $47,890 total value of the contract. Since this is an exchange traded instrument, the customer doesn't really don't have to worry about default and can go ahead and book that $47,890 today, and it will be offset at a later time, and the net of the entry and exit will be the P&L. The contract isn't going to default, so the derivative exposure is limited.

Okay. These banks are carrying these OTC futures contracts with NO exchange to guarantee anything. And they are carrying these contracts largely WITH EACH OTHER. So JP Morgan might be the long and Goldman Sachs, or some insolvent bank in Europe is the short on the other side. If these banks default, which is now a mathematical certainty because they are not only insolvent, but insolvent multiple times over and there isn't enough money in the world to bail them out, there is going to be a cascading default on all of these OTC contracts.

Now look at the value and exposure of these OTC derivatives again: the top 5 banks in the US alone have exposure of $238 TRILLION dollars.

The total GDP of the United States is $14.5 Trillion.

The total GDP of China is $6 Trillion.

The total land mass on earth is 36.8 billion acres. If every acre of land on earth was "sold" for $6467 per acre, that would total $238 Trillion.

JP Morgan BY ITSELF has derivative exposure equal to over FIVE TIMES the value of the entire US GDP.

And no, there will not be a 1:1 offsetting in a collapse, because the collapse will be asymmetrical, and the bankrupt party will first pursue FULL payment on its "longs" (think of these as accounts receivables) while its "shorts" (accounts payable) will only pay out 20 cents on the dollar OR LESS. In other words, these entities will tear each other apart in a mad dogfight and this dogfight will take the entire world down with it.

TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT TRILLION DOLLARS.

AND THAT IS JUST FIVE BANKS.

AND THE MASSIVELY CORRUPT AND INCOMPETENT SECURITIES REGULATORS, BOTH GOVERNMENTAL AND PRIVATE, SAT BY AND WATCHED THIS HAPPEN. That is what happens when you let a group of criminals run a bureaucracy of affirmative action hires to "audit" the financial industry. Scroll down and read my post titled "There Must Be A Reckoning."

It's over. There is no coming back from this. The only thing that can happen is a total and complete collapse of EVERYTHING we now know, and humanity starts from scratch. And if you think that this collapse is going to play out without one hell of a big hot war, you are sadly, sadly mistaken.

Here is an intellectually honest trader who was interviewed this morning by the BBC. As much as you may not want to believe it, what this guy says is correct. This iteration of human civilization is approaching an end.

Virus in the White House

It took a personal computer disaster for me to realize this analogy: President Obama is a virus (or trojan) in the seat of our government with all the corresponding problems, headaches, heartaches and loss that this situation entails.

I've been through these things before off and on, but never to the degree as I have during the last week. Even though I am vigilant about protection, some things slipped through the cracks and I was too busy to acknowledge many of the signs (although with this specific situation, that may not have changed the outcome).

I am going to be dealing with trying to reconstruct some things even though I do have a program that restored a lot (except for the programs). And I was just treading water with my emails which I didn't get to check for most of the week.

Anyway, I can't think of a better explanation of what this country is going through right now. It is just as destructive, time-killing, and so very unnecessary in the sense that all of us would be able to spend our time creating prosperity and building relationships instead of fighting off infection and trying to manage the destruction that follows in the wake of all such disasters.

Obama has infected the White House and will destroy the country if we don't vote him out. If the damage he and his ilk have created has gone too far, we may have to wipe the drive. That is called a crash. And no matter how many ignorant dolts pee in McDonald's so they can camp in New York City and protest in Wall Street, they WILL NOT like the results they are seeking.