Obama is a lying cocksucker. His time in the Senate, he voted right along with Bush 80% of the time. He helped cause the imaginary mess he whines about. The first 6 years of Bushes presidency were humming along pretty well until the last 2 years, when the dims took control of congress. Soon after we went down hill. And Obama tosses gasoline on a fire hoping it will make things better. The man, I use that term loosely with Obama, is totally clueless. Unless his true motive is to ruin this nation. Most think he has set out to do just that. His actions are proving it also. We are fucked. I'm betting nothing short of a reset of the nation. meaning an uprising of the masses, will be the only way to put this nation right again.
But let's be clear: The temperament affording my disagreeance without being disagreeable is only one thing we have in common. Our opposition to latter-day American military adventurism may be another thing. But together, these don't amount to "a lot." Whether or not there's more, only further postings will tell. I look forward to the discovery, provided you're bold enough to account for your words.
While it may be frustrating to have your handle appropriated by irreputable individuals, I recommend a clearly identifiable posting style as a way to discourage such shenanigans. For instance, I do not italicize, CAPS LOCK or make bold any words in my postings, nor do I ever include pictures or curse words. Insofar as such flourishes are common amongst posters, I earnestly hope the typographical simplicity and adherence to generally accepted publishing standards, along with my unique verbiage, will be sufficient to discourage, if not clearly identify, such impersonators. The few postings of yours that I've read, and understood to be your own, also have certain elements unique to them, and I encourage you to make these explicit and reclaim the handle of "arc/mat", if only because it would help me identify you within a crowd.
Hi there Mr. Tool Day. I've read some of your posts and find you to be level headed and genuinely honest in your approach. However...first impressions are often the litmus by which we are judged. You came onto this forum - on Veteran's Day - and hurled invectives at our men and women in uniform. Albeit, while there are many "tools" who have enlisted, MOST of our military is comprised of good Americans who love their country. I don't know of any (in my personal experience) who elect to join strictly on altruism. Most want to use the experience as a stepping stone to other career opportunities in the private sector, or military. And many want to take advantage of the G.I. Bill - especially those who cannot afford an education.
I agree with you in the respect that America has not always operated in the best interests of other nations and has had ulterior motives for war. Let's not forget who is behind the Military-Industrial complex: The big corporate banksters. They have manipulated us into wars for the past 100 years with their clandestine profiteering subterfuge. You can direct your anger at the MI Complex and the elitists who promulgate their globalist agendas. Please do not disparage the men and women in uniform who are also victims of the evil MIC. How many millions of American lives have been lost to the globalist agenda in the 100 years?? Are they "tools?" My grandfather died in Normandy, fighting Nazis. Was he a "tool?" My cousin got shot up in Iraq, because of his marching orders. Was he a "tool?" He enlisted in the Army to do right by his country, as well as to take advantage of the G.I. Bill. He has gone on to college and is earning a degree.
What is your opinion of police? Do you think ALL people in law enforcement are "tools" as well? There are definitely people who become cops for the wrong reasons. Heh....go back east - especially New York and New Jersey - and you'll see what "tools" become police officers there. The cops are tame out here by comparison. However, I've experienced some A-hole cops out here as well, strung out on their own personal power trips. That being said...I do not disparage the police, because I know it is a very difficult job and not having a body of law enforcement would be tantamount to anarchy.
I would also like to correct a few counts of hyperbole being disseminated by our resident troll, that you've come to know as "arc/mat." Just look at all of the vexing and acerbic posts just in the last 24 hours aimed at her. True, it doesn't take Jethro and his cohorts much to become bellicose, engaging in expletives and epithets. However, Miss Arc of Snark and her sycophant Liberal and Proud take great delight initiating the first "sucker punch" if you will. Their incendiary and inflammatory bomb throwing has been going on here for some time. They are like the guy in the bar who starts a fight, and then runs outside to watch the ensuing fracas from the safety of his car. Miss arc/mat had to change her "pseudonym" because it became associated with a seriously delusional malcontent, who engaged in serious revisionist history - as seen through the eyes of Google, Wikipedia, and (gasp) Snopes. She's made a fool of herself for the past year, being shut down by the most elementary of debaters and posters, who habitually call her out on fallacies and knee-jerk sound bites, as well as outright obfuscation. The truth is, she is ashamed to use that moniker at this point, because it is associated with revisionism, obfuscation and just plain absurdity. Now, she chooses to "shout us down" with obnoxiously large fonts, instead of that ridiculous acronym/pseudonym/moniker. Anything she posts in brackets [] is usually a snarky, condescending afterthought meant to incite her target audience.
You'll see for yourself, as you make more posts on here. I DO use caps and italics for the purpose of emphasis only. I also enjoy posting pictures to buttress my point and add a modicum of levity to the subject.
Anyway...I would consider changing your moniker to something other than "tool day." I approach you with some trepidation because of the genesis of the name. Maybe Tool Time? Or....(heh) Tim Taylor? Just a thought.
"The cruel paradox is that within a global economy, what really kills companies is inefficiency and lack of competition. Therefore protectionism is killing North American companies," he said in a speech in Singapore.
"So I think this has to do with the fact that the US government is under strong political pressure that really is not being counteracted from the political perspective" of the Obama administration.
Extremely well. We are undoubtedly moving in the right direction. 37%
Fairly well. There's still a long way to go. 2%
Not well at all. His plans are hurting more than helping. 60%
Not sure/No opinion. 0%
But let's be clear: The temperament affording my disagreeance without being disagreeable is only one thing we have in common. Our opposition to latter-day American military adventurism may be another thing. But together, these don't amount to "a lot." Whether or not there's more, only further postings will tell. I look forward to the discovery, provided you're bold enough to account for your words.
As someone else pointed out, whether discussing abortion or affirmative action, absolutist positions leave little room for dialogue. So why quarrel with the ''seekers'' after truth when it's the ''finders'' who are the ones ya gotta watch out for?
In fact, the first Gulf War was my earliest opportunity to appreciate the economic nature of American military interest. I graduated from high school about six weeks prior to Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and was instantly fascinated by the world community's response. It was as if rewriting the borders created by the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 was tantamount to Germany invading Poland. Today, upwards of 300,000 people can be slaughtered in Darfur without much more than an official condemnation. But in 1990, a thousand dead Kuwaitis was the ostensible factor in uniting 34 different countries toward a military intervention. Why do you suppose that is?
Bush the Elder argued that we had an obligation to uphold the international order and defend the "self-determination" of nations, a claim made laughable by the United States disregard for nations whose self-determination runs contrary to its interests. Bush promised military action would ensure "peace" and that we were fighting for Kuwait's "freedom." But Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were hardly "free" in the first place, being well know at the time as two of the most politically and socially repressive regimes in the world. Bush's words seemed to be transparent Orwellian doublespeak: War is peace, slavery is freedom. Whenever paradoxes like that are juxtaposed in such a manner, I recommend being suspicious.
Why was it necessary to hire a propaganda team, the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, to convince Congress that our involvement was needed in what was clearly an internal Arab affair? Why were so many of the coalition nations reluctant to join, persuaded by debt forgiveness or offers of economic aid and threats to withhold aid? Could it be that the Gulf War, like many before it and since, was an elective war, fought for reasons far more cynical and material than those presented in press conferences and official documents?
Certainly, as far as military campaigns go, the first Gulf War was a resounding success. But I don't think examples such as this go very far toward demonstrating that the American military isn't a tool of multi-national corporate interests.
But, look, as long as we're throwing the rules out of here, we're conferring constitutional rights on noncitizens, why the hell do the jurors have to come from New York? Let's put Bill Ayers on the jury. Let's put his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, on the jury. Let's put Jeremiah Wright on the jury. Let's go get Saul Alinsky's son, I think he lives in Boston, put him on the jury. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann. We're talking about a jury of peers of these terrorists who hated this country so much they wanted to blow up the World Trade Center and did. And Cindy Sheehan as the judge? Oh. Put Harry Reid on the jury. "This war is lost." And get Senator Durbin. Senator Durbin sides with these guys. Get Sestak. Durbin says that our interrogators were nothing more than Pol Pot's renegades and Nazis and the Soviet gulags and so forth. So, yeah, we got Dick Durbin, John Kerry, who served in Vietnam. Oh, look at the jury we could impanel here.
P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their constituents pay their taxes...If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know. If not, please disregard.
AND, Mr. President...while you're at it...make congress retire on Social Security and Medicare...I'll bet both programs would be fixed...pronto!
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan called himself a "soldier of Allah" on business cards found in his apartment after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood in which he is accused of murdering 13 people.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, reportedly obtained the business cards over the Internet. In addition to listing his profession and contact information, the cards contain a discrete reference to his religion: "SoA(SWT)."
Watchdogs say the first letters are shorthand among militant Muslims to "soldier of Allah." The last letters refer to "Subhanahu Wa Ta'all," which means "glory to God."
The business cards were among numerous discoveries in Hasan's apartment of interest to investigators, who also are looking into whether Hasan wired money to Pakistan before last week's massacre.
Reporters including Fox News camera crews were shown inside Hasan's sparse one-bedroom apartment. Hasan, 39, who was wounded in the Nov. 5 massacre and has been talking to investigators since he regained consciousness in the hospital, was charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder.
SLIDESHOW: Inside the Fort Hood Suspect's Apartment
Although it isn't my profession, my training points more toward art critic than political analyst, which is really the reason my commentary reads more like a review ("juvenile, lowbrow, asinine") than an editorial ("insensitive, offensive, racist"). I frequently enjoy many things which "liberals" find offensive, if only because they're quite good, aesthetically speaking. But let's face it, there's no accounting for taste.
Actually, Mr. Natural's one of several here fond of that particular epithet. Directed toward the President, no less. And the only one, to my knowledge, to actually make excuses for it.
I used to post using the acronym 'arc/mat'--- until cretins like this [http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/pol/1465191787.html] attached it to objectionable posts, vile pictures and gay porn. I no longer post under that, or any other, pseudonym.
Right on, brother! Hey, maybe Liberal and Loud will come down to the Tea Party with his band and play some Lee Greenwood covers? He can bring his circus side show girlfriend - Miss Arc of Snark - and entertain us!! She could learn the Boot Scoot Boogy and line dance to some Alan Jackson covers!! We could dress her in a Tina Turner costume while she shakes her "groove thang" - as long as she promises not to drop any "N" bombs. (laughs loudly)
It's Friday the 13th and lo and behold...he/she/it APPEARS!!!
Yet another bomb thrown from the depths of the cellars, where the cock roaches and rats dwell. Our resident troll and sexually confused transgender malcontent rears her ugly head! What....no parades to attend? No good musicals playing downtown? Surely there's some action waiting down in Hillcrest. I mean, come one already. Surely a social butterfly like you has some big plans tonight. Who knows...maybe your waiting for WD to come on here and give you some punishment. Get your lube and tissues ready...I'm sure he won't disappoint. (laughs hard)
I was born in one country, raised in another. My father was
born in another country. I was not his only child. He
fathered several children with numerous women.
I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no
interest in me. My mother died at an early age from cancer.
Later in life, questions arose over my real name.
My birth records were sketchy and no one was able to
produce a legitimate, reliable birth certificate.
I grew up practicing one faith but converted to
Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my country, but I
practiced non-traditional beliefs & didn't follow
Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny.
I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young
adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about
them.
That was before I decided it was time to get serious about
my life and I embarked on a new career.
I wrote a book about my struggles growing up. It was clear
to those who read my memoirs that I had difficulties
accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.
I became active in local politics in my 30's then with
help behind the scenes, I literally burst onto the scene as
a candidate for national office in my 40s. They said I had
a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything.
I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history,
and no experience in leading a single organization. Yet I
was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to me as
though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks.
I drew incredibly large crowds during my public
appearances. This bolstered my ego.
At first, my political campaign focused on my country's
foreign policy...... I was very critical of my country in
the last war and seized every opportunity to bash my
country.
But what launched my rise to national prominence were my
views on the country's economy. I pretended to have a
really good plan on how we could do better and every poor
person would be fed & housed for free.
I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this
mess. It was the free market, banks & corporations. I
decided to start making citizens hate them and if they were
envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.
I called mine "A People's Campaign" and that
sounded good to all people.
I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside
the traditional path of politics & was able to gain
widespread popular support.
I knew that, if I merely offered the people 'hope',
together we could change our country and the world.
So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on
behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant to include
"persecuted minorities". My true views were not
widely known & I kept them unknown, until after I became
my nation's leader.
I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have
easily found out what I really believed, if they had simply
read my writings and examined those people I associated
with.
I'm glad they didn't. Then I became the most powerful
man in the world; And the world learned the truth!
WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time. Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.
Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush — a package she seemed to support at the time.
A look at some of her statements in "Going Rogue," obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Tuesday:
PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.
THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.
PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.
THE FACTS: Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC.
Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees.
She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife and $30 from a state representative in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she gave a comparative sum to charity.
PALIN: Rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."
THE FACTS: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan — a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts — and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.
Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."
During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."
PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."
THE FACTS: The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.
Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.
PALIN: She says her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.
THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
PALIN: Criticizes an aide to her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, for a conflict of interest because the aide represented the state in negotiations over a gas pipeline and then left to work as a handsomely paid lobbyist for ExxonMobil. Palin asserts her administration ended all such arrangements, shoving a wedge in the revolving door between special interests and the state capital.
THE FACTS: Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.
PALIN: Writes about a city councilman in Wasilla, Alaska, who owned a garbage truck company and tried to push through an ordinance requiring residents of new subdivisions to pay for trash removal instead of taking it to the dump for free — this to illustrate conflicts of interest she stood against as a public servant.
THE FACTS: As Wasilla mayor, Palin pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house, then did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property.
She asked the city council to loosen rules for snow machine races when she and her husband owned a snow machine store, and cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one. But she stepped away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.
PALIN: Says Obama has admitted that the climate change policy he seeks will cause people's electricity bills to "skyrocket."
THE FACTS: She correctly quotes a comment attributed to Obama in January 2008, when he told San Francisco Chronicle editors that under his cap-and-trade climate proposal, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" as utilities are forced to retrofit coal burning power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Obama has argued since then that climate legislation can blunt the cost to consumers. Democratic legislation now before Congress calls for a variety of measures aimed at mitigating consumer costs. Several studies predict average household costs probably would be $100 to $145 a year.
PALIN: Welcomes last year's Supreme Court decision deciding punitive damages for victims of the nation's largest oil spill tragedy, the Exxon Valdez disaster, stating it had taken 20 years to achieve victory. As governor, she says, she'd had the state argue in favor of the victims, and she says the court's ruling went "in favor of the people." Finally, she writes, Alaskans could recover some of their losses.
THE FACTS: That response is at odds with her reaction at the time to the ruling, which resolved the long-running case by reducing punitive damages for victims to $500 million from $2.5 billion. Environmentalists and plaintiffs' lawyers decried the ruling as a slap at the victims and Palin herself said she was "extremely disappointed." She said the justices had gutted a jury decision favoring higher damage awards, the Anchorage Daily News reported. "It's tragic that so many Alaska fishermen and their families have had their lives put on hold waiting for this decision," she said, noting many had died "while waiting for justice."
PALIN: Describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies.
THE FACTS: Alaska is also one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.
PALIN: Says she tried to talk about national security and energy independence in her interview with Vogue magazine but the interviewer wanted her to pivot from hydropower to high fashion.
THE FACTS are somewhat in dispute. Vogue contributing editor Rebecca Johnson said Palin did not go on about hydropower. "She just kept talking about drilling for oil."
PALIN: "Was it ambition? I didn't think so. Ambition drives; purpose beckons." Throughout the book, Palin cites altruistic reasons for running for office, and for leaving early as Alaska governor.
THE FACTS: Few politicians own up to wanting high office for the power and prestige of it, and in this respect, Palin fits the conventional mold. But "Going Rogue" has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto, the requisite autobiography of the future candidate.
I never served in the military in fact my birthdate was ranked as 152 in the Vietnam War draft lottery. No one was drafted above 125. I was classified as "1-Y" (later reclassified "4-F") due to either a football knee injury or a diagnosis of Pilonidal disease. (Bullshit)
(2003) I admitted on the air that I was addicted to painkillers -- only after the press reported I was caught trying to illegally obtain prescription narcotics.
I spent five weeks in a drug rehabilitation center and returned to the airwaves in November 2003. After a three-year investigation by Florida authorities, I agreed to a deal in 2006 that resulted in a $30,000 fine and 18 months of treatment.
I have been married three times. Hmmmmmmmm
In June 27, 2006, I was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in my possession without a prescription."
I was returning from the Dominican Republic at the time which, leaves a big, gaping hole in the story.
What was I doing in the Dominican Republic? I was returning from a country known for its thriving sex trade, with a bottle of Viagra that didn’t have my name on it so what? The Dominican Republic is one of the biggest sex tourism destinations in the world, thanks in part to Internet sites that extol the country as a "single man's paradise." "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."
I too refuse to give them my phone number, so if I disappear, you'll know why as well. This forum will only then consist of a bunch of godless, military bashing Obamabots that can sit around and tell each other how great things are now that "Team Neocon" has been ostracized.
there is a work around, but I don't want to publish it. Those savvy enough to figure it out will do so. I'm sure the censor/control freaks that run this site will figure it out as well. Oh well. I'll stay whilst I can!
If I suddenly disappear from this forum, you'll know it's because Craig decided my phone number was more important than my continued patronage of his site.
Oh. By the way, weren't those terrorists Saudis? You know, Bush's hand holding buddies.
And didn't Osama say his reason for going after the USA was 1) support of Israel 2) Infidels in Mecca and?
Bet you wouldn't mind a bunch of Muslims hanging around at Bob Jones University, right?
Lastly, the result of this goofball moronic venture known as "the Iraq invasion/war on terror"...has been to put a bunch of pro-Iranian, Shite Muslims in power. Nice!
A nice exercise in how to raise the price of oil sky high (Bush came in it was $18 a barrel) and help Exxon and Halliburton rape the world economy of several Trillion.
And you two "liberals" are no better. What do you expect when you poke the bear? I think you rather enjoy the vituperative and scathing responses to your goading posts. C'est la vie.
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Posted by Bobby Eberle
Remember the Republican Party? The party that the media and political pundits wrote off? They said the Republican Party was dead... that conservatism was dead.
In their rush to kiss Barack Obama's feet and proclaim that the United States is not a socialist country, the Democrats and members of the media forgot one thing: America is a conservative country. Americans simply want lower taxes, smaller deficits, more freedom, less spending, and less government control. Simple concepts, right? Well, last night, the message was heard around the country. In stunning election victories, Republicans picked up the governorships in both New Jersey and Virginia. The stage is certainly set for 2010 if the Republican leadership can learn from the results of Tuesday night.
First, the most stunning news of the night. Republican challenger Chris Christi ousted incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine in the New Jersey governor's race. Obama flew in for multiple events in the state. VP Joe Biden also made an appearance. When it was all said and done, Christi emerged with 48% of the vote to Corzine's 44%.
As FOXNews.com points out, in the exit polling, conservatives went strongly for Christie 82% to 15%. Republicans stood by their candidate 91% to 6%. The long cherished "independent" vote went for Christie 60% to 30%. In other words, those same people who were frustrated with the way the country was going and turned to Obama, are the ones who realized the state of New Jersey and the country in general is getting worse. They threw out Corzine and embraced a candidate who wants to build up private sector jobs (not government jobs) and who wants to lower taxes. Less government and more freedom... that is a winning message!
In Virginia, Republican Robert McDonnell soundly defeated his Democrat opponent, Creigh Deeds, 58% to 41%. Voters in Virginia went for Obama in 2008 by a narrow margin. One year later, they turned to the Republican by a landslide.
Exiting polling as noted by FOXNews.com showed that the electorate was significantly different than last year:
Young people and Democrats made up a smaller portion of today's voters than in 2008, while more Republicans and conservatives went to the polls - and it made a difference.
Last year, about one of five voters - 21 percent of the electorate - was under age 30, while today that dropped to 10 percent. And Deeds received only 44 percent of the vote among young voters, while last year Barack Obama received 60 percent of the vote. A 54-percent majority of young voters went for McDonnell.
And while party loyalty was fairly even, with both candidates capturing more than 9 of 10 of their party's vote, Republicans made up a larger segment today. Some 37 percent of voters today self-identify as Republican, up from 33 percent last year. Democrats made up 33 percent of the electorate today, down from 39 percent.
Voters who said taxes was their number one issue went for McDonnell 84% to 16%. Voters who said the economy was their number one issue went for McDonnell 57% to 42%.
Make no mistake. The story of Tuesday night was the gubernatorial wins in New Jersey (especially) and Virginia. Those two both mark a slap in the face to Obama and the Democrats who are bent on "transforming" America into a socialist nation. However, there was another race Tuesday night which caught the attention of conservatives.
In the special election for New York's 23rd congressional district, Democrat Bill Owens topped Conservative Doug Hoffman 49% to 45%. Conservatives such as myself are clearly disappointed with the result, but it is not all gloom and doom. Whenever a race gets thrown into chaos, anything can happen. Just look at what happened to Tom DeLay's district in Texas when the Republican candidate had to be "written in." The district went for the Democrat. One election later, it was back to being represented by a Republican.
The reason Owens won was because "Republican" candidate Scozzafava, who withdrew, still pulled 5.5% of the vote. Had this vote been consolidated around the one, true Republican candidate, Hoffman would have won. This is what happens when a few folks get together to choose a nominee. Have a full-blown primary, and let the voters decide. Had this occurred, Hoffman would soon be a congressman.
The loss also shows that the two major parties still lead in the organization department. Had Hoffman been the Republican nominee, he would have had the resources and organizational infrastructure of the party. Owens had the unions and ACORN backing him up. The Republican machine came in too late, and Hoffman was done.
The race does show that Republican voters have a set standard as to what they think a "Republican" candidate should represent. Scozzafava was not that candidate. In addition, the national party should still receive the same message regardless of whether Hoffman won or lost. He pulled enough votes combined with the Republican to have won. The message is that Republicans want and need conservatives as their candidates. When a solid conservative message is presented, Republicans win. Just look at New Jersey and Virginia. Great job!
Against the backdrop of high unemployment and a public revolt against a Democratic health-care bill -- which would significantly increase taxes, slash Medicare spending, and massively raise health-care spending elsewhere in a government takeover of our leading growth sector -- the Republicans swept the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.
It's interesting that early signs of economic recovery are not helping the Obama Democrats. This is largely because of the 9.8 percent unemployment rate, which is expected to move higher. Even the crazy jobs-saved-or-created campaign is having no discernable impact while the Obamacons try to fight the unemployment rate.
If you go to recovery.gov, the official stimulus website, you'll find that there has been $207 billion in stimulus spending through Oct. 30, 2009 -- including $84 billion in tax benefits, $52 billion in contract grants and loans, and $71 billion in entitlements. So even if we give my friend Jared Bernstein his highly flawed "1 million jobs saved or created," that's $207,000 per job in an economy where the average wage is about $46,000. Not good. Wasteful and ineffectual spending. (In reality, tax credits are spending. For incentivizing, you need marginal tax-rate cuts.)
Mike Flynn of Breitbart's biggovernment.com notes that the government pumped $170 billion into the third-quarter economy. But gross domestic product grew by only $150 billion. As I said, ineffectual spending.
That doesn't meant the economy isn't rebounding. It is. Glitches and all, third-quarter GDP popped up 3.5 percent at an annual rate after inflation. Statistically, the recession is over. That's good. And it corroborates the big stock market rally over the past seven months. This is going to be a business-led recovery as self-correcting firms build profits on top of huge cash flows.
Yesterday's ISM manufacturing report for October also confirms the growth trend with a recovery reading of 55.7, the strongest since April 2006. And this morning's factory orders for September also show a stronger-than-expected gain. Even car sales are expected to rise in October by more than 10 million, at least 1 million better than September. Ford, which refused to take TARP bailout money, reported a surprise increase in profits.
But the depreciating dollar remains a storm cloud over recovery. So are scheduled tax-rate increases and health care legislation that will slam individuals and firms with higher tax burdens and higher tax costs for job creation.
And then there's the Federal Reserve. With gold up another $25 -- setting a new nominal record of $1,079 -- the Fed released a policy statement Wednesday that continues a program of massive money-pumping and a zero interest rate.
This whole Obama policy mix of huge government spending and a depreciating greenback is all wrong. It's pro-inflation, not pro-growth. For a true economic recovery, we need a stable King Dollar and lower marginal tax rates to incentivize job creation.
Jimmy Pethokoukis and others have noted that the first recovery quarter under Ronald Reagan was better than 8 percent, not 3.5 percent. In fact, the average real GDP growth rate for the first quarter of the 10 postwar recoveries is 7.3 percent.
So the economic-recovery story, and even the stock market rally, won't bail out the Obamacons today, although it remains to be seen whether a free-market, anti-tax-and-spend message will emerge from the election sweep by the GOP. If so, it could doom the so-called health care reform that has become a symbol of the leftward-tilting, big-government, economic-control policies emanating from Washington.
Posted by Bobby Eberle
November 10, 2009 at 9:07 am
Just when you think that all is fine and dandy over at the Republican National Committee (RNC), GOP Chairman Michael Steele says something that really makes your head spin.
Remember when he was first elected? He did nothing for bringing Republicans together with his cheap shots against the conservative base or his comments directed at Rush Limbaugh. Then, this past week, following stunning election victories in New Jersey and Virginia, Steele talked about going after RINOs. I was impressed. Now, he's taken a step back again with yet another racial comment that makes Republicans cringe and wonder, "What is this guy thinking?"
Elected in January of this year, Steele soon found himself in the hot seat for comments that appeared to undermine the Republican Party and cast it in a racist light. On the D.L. Hughley show back in early March, Hughley described the Republican National Convention as looking like "Nazi Germany." Steele's initial comment was, "Yes." He then went on to say that Republicans are not doing enough to reach out to the black community.
If Steele wants more outreach, that's fine. But in the process the last thing you do is let a "Nazi Germany" quote go unchallenged. Most Americans are not racist, Mr. Steele, and that includes members of the political party you were elected to represent.
This past weekend, Steele appeared on the Washington Watch program with Roland Martin. During the interview, Martin said that "white Republicans have been scared of black folks."
Click on image to see the comments
Steele's reply? Here it is:
"You're absolutely right. I mean... I've been in the room, and they've been scared of me."
Lovely. Nice job. Once again Steele paints the Republican Party as the racist party. Every time we engage in anything from doing away with minimum wage laws to trying to secure our borders and end illegal immigration, Democrats and the media call Republicans racists. Our own RNC chairman should NOT be adding fuel to the fire!
Once again, if the point is to say that Republicans need to do a better job of outreach, then that's one thing. But you don't make that point by first agreeing that white Republicans are scared of black people. Steele didn't even say "some" white Republicans. He just flat out agreed with Martin's statement that all white Republicans are like that.
Blacks consistently vote 90% Democrat. So, for Obama to pull in 95% of black voters is no miracle or anomaly. Steele should have acknowledged the playing field and spoke about the challenges facing the Republican Party and how conservative policies are what's best for the ENTIRE COUNTRY... not this race or that race or this ethnic group or that one... the entire country!
In order to move forward, we can't have our leadership hacking away at us. You want to bridge the racial divide? Use a bridge, not a chainsaw. Republicans get attacked enough by the left. We don't need our national spokesman to play into that picture.
The violence at Fort Hood, President Obama told mourners on Tuesday, was "incomprehensible." The "twisted logic that led to the tragedy," he reiterated, may be "too hard to comprehend." If the Bush administration suffered a systemic failure of imagination on homeland security, the Obama administration is suffering a willful failure of comprehension.
What exactly is so hard to comprehend? Fort Hood jihadist Maj. Nidal Hasan made his means, motives and inspiration all too clear for those willing to see and hear. In his 2007 slide presentation to fellow Army doctors on "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the Military," Hasan spelled it out: "We love death more then (sic) you love life!"
Hasan exposed the deadly tension between his adherence to Islam and his service in the U.S. military. Slide 11 stated: "It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims." Slide 12 cited Koranic sanctions for killing fellow believers. And Hasan made clear he wasn't alone among Muslim soldiers who "should not serve in any capacity that renders them at risk to hurting/killing believers unjustly."
Slide 13 ominously listed "adverse events" involving Muslim soldiers -- including the fatal 2003 fragging attack on American soldiers in Kuwait by Sgt. Hasan Akbar (who was sentenced to death but remains alive while his case is on appeal); the desertion case of Lebanon-born Muslim Marine Wassef Ali Hassoun; and the espionage case of Muslim chaplain James Yee (the charges were dropped, but the case raised lingering security concerns about Muslim chaplains at Gitmo and elsewhere trained by terror-linked Saudi-subsidized institutes).
Hasan missed a few "adverse events" that have faded from public memory in our reflexive age of "Islam is peace" emotionalism-over-comprehension:
-- John Muhammad, the Beltway jihadist put to death Tuesday night, was a member of the Army's 84th Engineering Company. As I've reported previously, Muhammad was suspected of throwing a thermite grenade into a tent housing 16 of his fellow soldiers as they slept before the ground-attack phase of Gulf War I in 1991. Muhammad was admitted to the Army despite being court-martialed while serving in the Louisiana National Guard for willfully disobeying orders, striking another noncommissioned officer, wrongfully taking property and being absent without leave.
Although Muhammad was led away in handcuffs and transferred to another company pending charges for the grenade attack, an indictment never materialized. Muhammad was honorably discharged from the Army in 1994. He later brainwashed young Lee Malvo in black nationalism and jihad -- and the two carried out the three-week killing spree that left 10 dead in 2002 in the name of Allah.
-- Muslim American soldier Hasan Abujihaad was convicted last year on espionage and material terrorism support charges after serving aboard the USS Benfold and sharing classified information with al-Qaida financiers, including movements of U.S. ships just six months after al-Qaida operatives had killed 17 Americans aboard the USS Cole in the port of Yemen.
-- Jeffrey Leon Battle was a former Army reservist, convicted of conspiring to levy war against the United States and "enlisting in the Reserves to receive military training to use against America." He had planned to wage war against American soldiers in Afghanistan.
-- Egyptian Ali A. Mohamed joined the U.S. Army while a resident alien despite being on a State Department terrorist watch list before securing his visa. An avowed Islamist, he taught classes on Muslim culture to U.S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg, N.C., and obtained classified military documents. He was granted U.S. citizenship over the objections of the CIA. Honorably discharged from the Army in 1989, Mohamed then hooked up with Osama bin Laden as an escort, trainer, bagman and messenger. Mohamed used his U.S. passport to conduct surveillance at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. He later pleaded guilty to conspiring with bin Laden and admitted his role in the 1998 African embassy bombings that killed more than 200 people, including a dozen Americans.
Political correctness is a gangrenous infection. My generation has submitted to a toxic diet of multiculturalism, identity politics, anti-Americanism and entitlement. The problem festered under the Bush administration. Despite 9/11, government at all levels refused to screen out jihadi-apologizing influences in our military, at the FBI, in prisons and even fire departments. Despite the bloody consequences of open borders, the Bush Pentagon allowed illegal aliens to enter the military. The grievance lobby has plied the Muslim jihadist-as-victim narrative for nearly a decade now.
They prevail. In June, Muslim domestic terror suspect Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad went on another shooting spree at an Arkansas recruiting station that left one serviceman dead. The Obama Justice Department response: to redouble its efforts to use "criminal and civil rights laws to protect Muslim Americans."
Next week, Attorney General Eric Holder will speak at a banquet featuring the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorism financing case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
How did Fort Hood happen, obtuse Washington asks. Simple: Blind diversity equals death.
---
Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies" (Regnery 2009). COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM
I'm sure you were as dismayed as I was to see the House pass the 2,000-page Obama-Pelosi government takeover of health care bill 220-to-215.
We could have stopped this government takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy with a change of just three votes.
The devastating defeats suffered by Obama-backed candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia made the vote close. Many so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats are scared to death of a backlash at the polls in 2010. Pelosi reportedly had to trade earmarks and amendments to win this razor-thin victory----humiliating for a Speaker with an 80-seat advantage.
Unless you act NOW, Obamacare will become the law of the land, leading to the rationing of care, MASSIVE tax increases, a new 8% payroll tax, HUGE job losses, and $500 BILLION cuts in Medicare for our seniors.
But we still have another chance to stop this Socialist takeover of America's health care system.
We can stop it in the U.S. Senate.
Stopping this bill in the House was always a long shot -- as Democrats can cut off debate and manipulate House rules to their advantage.
It's amazing we did as well as we did -- falling short by just 3 votes.
Our best chance to stop Obamacare has always been the Senate. Some analysts say passing the health care power grab in the Senate will be like climbing Mt. Everest.
That's where we must take our stand to save freedom in America -- which is why it's so urgently important to bury the Senate with thousands of FaxGrams demanding a "No" vote on Obamacare.
[Go Here to Authorize Us to Deliver Your FaxGrams of Protest to Your Two U.S. Senators]
My name is Ralph Reed.
I am the Chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition -- a new organization set up specifically to mobilize tens of millions of Americans to OPPOSE and DEFEAT President Obama's far-left agenda for America.
MISSION #1 right now: Defeat "Obamacare."
Over the next 3 days we are aiming to bury the U.S. Senate with thousands of FaxGrams of Protest against "Obamacare."
If we can do that, I believe we have a very real chance to shock the Senate with the intensity of public opposition to having government take over your health care.
The crushing liberal defeats in the elections in New Jersey and Virginia have many Democrats in the Senate rocked back on their heels -- especially Democrats who represent conservative states.
In addition, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut has already announced his plans to join the Republicans in a filibuster to defeat "Obamacare."
It will require 60 votes for the Left to overcome a Republican-led filibuster.
So we still have a good chance to DEFEAT Obamacare if every American who values freedom makes their views known to their U.S. Senators.
Here's the reality . . .
If we can defeat Obamacare in the Senate, this will effectively end the Obama Presidency -- as he will be an immediate "lame duck."
On the other hand, if President Obama manages to ram this disastrous government-run health care plan through the Senate -- that will set the stage for his remaking of America into his vision of a Socialistic state.
It will be the end of America as the "Land of the Free."
Congresswoman Michele Bachman was exactly right when she called Obamcare the "Crown Jewel" of President Obama's Socialist Agenda for our great country.
If we lose this battle, there's probably no stopping the rest of Obama's Far-Left agenda.
The vote in the Senate is right now very close.
[Go Here to Authorize Us to Deliver Your FaxGrams of Protest to Your Two U.S. Senators]
Seven Democrat Senators have already expressed their reservations about "Obamacare."
But you can be sure President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will do everything in their power to bribe, threaten, bully and intimidate these fence-sitting Democrat Senators to vote their way.
Plus, we can't be sure how the liberal Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, will vote.
In other words, the survival of freedom in America hangs now by one or two votes in the Senate.
That's why it's so important for every member of the U.S. Senate to hear right now from hundreds of thousands of Americans who care about freedom. And that's why it's so important for you, right now, to . .
[Go Here to Authorize Us to Deliver Your FaxGrams of Protest to Your Two U.S. Senators]
You and I know that "Obamacare" really has nothing to do with fixing America's health care system.
It's all about government and the left seizing control of your life.
What better way to seize control over your life than seizing control over the decision as to whether you get medical treatment or not -- or even over whether you live or die?
Do you think your political party registration, for example, might eventually play into the decision on whether you get the life-saving medical treatment you need?
Do you think donors to President Obama's Presidential campaigns just might get preferred treatment -- magically pushed to the front of the line?
That's what always happens when politicians are in charge of anything.
They use their power to reward their friends and punish their foes.
Why should health care be any different?
Most of the problems with America's health care system are caused by government.
We could easily bring down the cost of health care in America by making a few simple reforms -- reforms Obama and the Left oppose. For example . . .
Allow citizens to take their health insurance with them if they change jobs.
End frivolous lawsuits against doctors by requiring losers in suits to pay all legal costs and cap lawsuit awards.
Allow citizens to buy health insurance across state lines (to create more competition between insurance companies by giving more choices to citizens).
Make all health insurance and medical costs tax-deductible to individuals.
Expand Health Savings Account IRAs.
Make it illegal for insurance companies to drop you if you get sick.
Just these reforms alone, say experts, would quickly cut the cost of health care in America by 30-40%.
President Obama is flat-out lying when he says conservatives don't have a health care reform plan.
[Go Here to Authorize Us to Deliver Your FaxGrams of Protest to Your Two U.S. Senators]
It's very clear that "Obamacare" has nothing to do with saving money or improving health care -- but everything to do with seizing control over just about the most important area of your life -- the decision-making over whether your get the medical treatment you need or not -- even control over whether you live or die.
What decisions are more important or personal than that?
That's why we must STOP this disaster for America.
And that's why Faith & Freedom Coalition has launched this Emergency Campaign to bury the U.S. Senate with thousands of FaxGrams over the next 3 days.
Our goal: To shock the U.S. Senate into voting "NO" "Obamacare" (which will also effectively end the Obama Presidency and save freedom in America).
A big key to victory on this is our ability to generate thousands of FaxGrams of protest to Congress in the next three days.
Will you give me permission to put your name on FaxGrams to every member of Congress -- including your Congressman and two U.S. Senators -- saying "NO" to "Obamacare"?
Thanks to your efforts, our pro-illegal alien opposition is already falling back! President Obama and the pro-Amnesty U.S. Senators have already fallen back into the 2010 timetable for their legislation to grant Amnesty and voting rights to 15 million illegal aliens.
In the U.S Congress, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) has fallen back past his earlier promise to file an Amnesty bill by the end of October. With the news reports coming out of D.C., it appears that House Democrats in swing districts are begging their leadership NOT TO PURSUE this legislation at all.
Gutierrez's latest move is to plan a big announcement AFTER our protests. He has notified his illegal alien child army of volunteers to tune in for a big meeting or press conference on November 19! Traitor Gutierrez knows that each day he falls back the chances that Americans will defeat his Amnesty plans go up!
LET'S KEEP PUSHING THEM BACK!
We only have three days left to do our very best with the historic protests against Amnesty and illegal immigration set up across America for you on Saturday, Nov. 14.
ALIPAC supporters told us they wanted these and we have delivered!
Now it is up to you to make this effort a success.
Please consider the following steps.
1. Locate the Tea Parties Against Amnesty & Illegal Immigration (TPAA) protest nearest you and make plans to attend this Nov. 14. Full details of each event are at www.AgainstAmnesty.com
2. Check the details at www.againstamnesty.com as some locations and times may shift. We plan to provide you with more details on each event soon. Some events are simple sign and flag gatherings and others have guest speakers.
3. Use your e-mail contact lists, the "Tell Others Feature", and your Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace accounts to spread the word about www.AgainstAmnesty.com and get people to sign up. Pay close attention to the number of people signed up on the site. WE WANT THAT NUMBER ABOVE 5,000 by SAT. NOV. 14. It is up to you to decide if we make that goal.
4. Try to persuade friends, family members, and neighbors to accompany you to the nearest TPAA.
5. The most important thing is to be physically present at one of these events. If you can, bring American flags, state flags, or other appropriate flags and signs. If you are looking for sign ideas and online resources to help you print signs, please visit this link where our activists will be gathering and updating sign suggestions for you over the next three days...
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-177663.html
6. Get the word out on talk radio by calling into shows. ALIPAC is trying hard to get national media exposure for these historic events but despite numerous press releases, no response yet from the MSM. If you have the time, please contact these sources with a note asking them to please COVER THE TEA PARTIES AGAINST AMNESTY AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION BEFORE NOV. 14. Perhaps if a few hundred of you contact them they will listen and respond?
7. Please take cameras and video recorders to these events. We will form a collection point online where you can share your pictures and videos with others around the nation.
8. Please thank the event organizers when you go. You can reach them to offer your support beforehand using CONTACT ORGANIZER on the Events Location page at www.AgainstAmnesty.com These people are working hard to provide these events for you and they deserve a lot of thanks and support.
9. Remember that some of these events will be well attended and some will be smaller gatherings. Please make sure everyone knows that these November 14, 2009 events are a prelude to much larger scale operations in the Spring of 2010, when this will be the top topic of discussion in America. Please make sure everyone you see at these events knows they need to sign up to support ALIPAC and NumbersUSA and the other supporting groups to help us lobby against Amnesty and illegal immigration NEXT WEEK! We will try to get a flier together to help you do this.
10. Our Tea Parties Against Amnesty and Illegal Immigration are for all Americans of every race, political party, and faith that make up the 80% of Americans who oppose Amnesty. Any racist or radical groups such as the National Council of La Raza (The Race), MS-13, the KKK, Neo Nazis, MALDEF, LULAC, or Brown Berets are NOT WELCOME. If you see any person, literature, or signs that are indicative of these racist groups, notify the event organizer so they can be removed quickly by police.
Below is our most current list of events, times, and location. Please get everyone you can signed up at www.AgainstAmnesty.com and check back there often for the latest updates, news, and event information.
http://www.againstamnesty.com/event_locations.html
FINAL DEADLINE TO ADD EVENTS IS 10pm Eastern Time TONIGHT November 11. If you want to add an event location BEFORE THE DEADLINE e-mail your intended location and times along with your contact info to info@againstamnesty.com or call (866) 703-0864
ALABAMA
City: Snead, AL
Street Location: 87127 Hwy 278 'The Jet Pep Store'
Times: 4pm - 6pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: James Snyder
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
ALASKA
City: Anchorage, AK
Street Location: Northern Lights Blvd. and New Seward hwy 'Intersection protest near Sears Mall'
Times: 12 Noon - 4pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Dave Ashcraft
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
ARIZONA
City: Phoenix, AZ
Street Location: 1700 W. Washington St. State Capitol Grounds
Times: 10am - 1pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Anna Gaines
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
ARKANSAS
No organizers stepped forward
CALIFORNIA
City: Big Bear Lake, CA
Street Location: Stanfield Cutoff and Big Bear Blvd
Times: 11am - 2pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Ernie McLean
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
City: Los Banos, CA
Street Location: 903 East Pacheco Blvd. 'Sidwalk near Los Banos County Park'
Times: 11AM - 1PM
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Barry Kelley
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
City: Modesto, CA
Street Location: Briggsmore Ave. and McHenry Ave. 'Intersection Protest'
Times: 10 am - 2pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Matt Sterling
Phone: 209-568-3310
Email: Click to Connect
City: Pasadena, CA
Street Location: 100 N. Garfield Ave. 'City Hall'
Times: 10am - 12 Noon
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Tracy Alison
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
City: Redding, CA
Street Location: Churn Creek and Cypress Avenue 'Street Corner Protest'
Times: 1pm-3pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Suann Prigmore
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
City: Riverside, CA
Street Location: 2601 Fairmount Blvd. 'Fairmount Park'
Times: 12 Noon - 2pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: William Taylor
Phone: 951-742-2471
Email: Click to Connect
City: Sacramento, CA
Street Location: 11 & N Street 'State Capitol (south steps)'
Times: 12 Noon - 3pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Edward C Noonan
Phone: (530) 743-6878
Email: Click to Connect
City: Salinas, CA
Street Location: 420 Central Ave 'Central Park'
Times: 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Bill Carrothers
Phone: (831) 754-3697
Email: Click to Connect
City: San Diego, CA
Street Location: 50 Tuna Lane 'Tuna Harbor Park across from the USS Midway'
Times: 11am - 1pm
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Mari Hayden
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
City: San Francisco, CA
Street Location: Fisherman's Wharf Pier 39
Times: 11 AM - 2 PM
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Mari Hayden
Phone: N/A
Email: Click to Connect
City: Santa Maria, CA
Street Location: Bradley Rd. & Betteravia Rd. 'Sidewalk In Front of Crossroads Shopping Center'
Times: 11am - 12 noon
Organizer Contact Info
Organizer: Paula James
Phone: 805-937-7021
Email: Click to Connect
Sen. Harry Reid Clears Path for Anti-Jesus Pro-Allah Judge: Vote Monday?
Make the 17 phone calls listed below, today, to these key "undecided" Senators.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a floor statement Monday that he will likely file a procedural motion to clear the nomination of David Hamilton, an Indiana native nominated to serve on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. You may remember Hamilton as the Judge who ruled it's illegal to pray "in Jesus name" but totally legal to pray to Allah on the floor of the Indiana Legislature. His foolish ruling in Hinrichs v. Bosma was overturned (thanks in part to our legal aid to the Indiana Attorney General). He also ruled to hasten the abortion of unborn children, but that bad ruling was also overturned. Now Obama wants to reward Hamilton's anti-life anti-Jesus prejudice with promotion to the same appeals court that overruled him.
“Monday, a week from today, we’ll have votes in the morning. We have to do that,” Reid said, giving us more time to auto-fax all 100 Senators to filibuster Hamilton. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) wrote a letter to all Republicans on 30 Oct, asking for help in opposing Hamilton, who the Seventh Circuit Court rebuked for repeatedly "abusing his discretion," and for a speech Hamilton gave saying the judge's primary job is "write footnotes in the Constitution" for his own activist causes. To support Sessions and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) who called for a filibuster, back in April & May 2009 we sent nearly 700,000 fax petitions to the full Senate against Hamilton, and we successfully persuaded all Republicans to unite against Hamilton, earning all 7 minority votes to block him in the Judiciary Committee. But all 12 committee majority Democrats voted against Jesus-prayers, and so forwarded Hamilton to the full Senate, where his nomination sat quietly without action for seven months, until now...
SO PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 100 U.S. SENATORS, OPPOSING THE ANTI-LIFE, ANTI-CHRISTIAN JUDGE DAVID HAMILTON.
On 4 June 09, the Judiciary committee voted 12-7 along strict party lines, to forward the nomination of Judge David Hamilton, the anti-Jesus Judge, the same judge who issued controversial rulings banning public prayers offered "in Jesus name," (but allowing prayers to Allah), and hastening the abortion of unborn children. This vote came after we'd already sent nearly 600,000 faxes to the entire Senate opposing Hamilton, proving some Republicans listen to the voice of the people, and some Democrats remain deaf to our petitions. Now this anti-Jesus Judge Hamilton will face the full Senate, and the threat of filibuster by the pro-faith, pro-family Senator James Inhofe (R-OK).
To stop Hamilton, we need 40 strong Senate votes to stand with Senator Inhofe, to uphold his filibuster. If we fail, Hamilton will be promoted to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that overruled his aggressive, anti-life, anti-liberty decisions for years. So we've identified 17 key undecided Senators, from which we need just 7 votes to successfully defeat Hamilton's nomination, (see list below).
To support Senators Inhofe and Sessions, and stop Hamilton, we first 40 solid votes by any good conservatives or moderates, so please call both of YOUR STATE Senators, whom you might call to ask him to OPPOSE AND FILIBUSTER Judge David Hamilton, at 202-225-3121. We have carefully identified 17 undecided Senators, who should especially receive your blast-faxes in the coming days.
WE MUST TAKE ACTION TODAY. So please sign our fax-petition (even if you already signed it before), but then PLEASE MAKE 17 PHONE CALLS TODAY to each of the undecided Senate votes here, asking to oppose and filibuster Judge David Hamilton, because he ruled it's illegal to pray in Jesus name, but legal to pray to Allah:
x Ben Nelson, D-NE 202-224-6551 y George Voinovich, R-OH 202-224-3353
x Bill Nelson, D-FL 202-224-5274 y Judd Gregg, R-NH 202-224-3324
x Kay Hagan, D-NC 202-224-6342 y Richard Lugar, R-IN 202-224-4814
x Mark Pryor, D-AR 202-224-2353 y Olympia Snowe, R-ME 202-224-5344
xz Blanche Lincoln, D-AR 202-224-4843 y Susan Collins, R-ME 202-224-2523
z Chris Dodd, D-CT 202-224-2823 xy Kit Bond, R-MO 202-224-5721
z Barbara Boxer, D-CA 202-224-3553
z Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY 202-224-4451 z Michael Bennet, D-CO 202-224-5852
z Roland Burris, D-IL 202-224-2854 z Byron Dorgan, D-ND 202-224-2551
(x = Lives in the South. y = Voted for Sebelius. z = Facing re-election in 2010.)
But remember, 100 emails = 10 phone calls = 1 fax in political capital, since the Senate staffers must handle each paper and usually write a reply. So please join our automated fax-petition campaign first, WE WILL ESPECIALLY FAX THE 17 ABOVE. Then please forward this email to your friends in the states with Senators listed above, and to all pastors in all 50 states.
SO PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 100 U.S. SENATORS, OPPOSING THE ANTI-LIFE, ANTI-CHRISTIAN JUDGE DAVID HAMILTON.
ANTI-JESUS, BUT PRO-ALLAH?
Judge Hamilton wrote: "The injunction orders the Speaker...that the prayers should not use Christ's name or title or any other denominational appeal...If those offering prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives choose to use the Arabic 'Allah'...the court sees little risk that the choice of language would advance a particular religion or disparage others."
In other words, Judge Hamilton ruled the words "Jesus" or "Christ" or "Savior" are illegal words, prohibited for public speech, banned by the First Amendment, which somehow prohibits freedom of religious expression, and makes Christian prayers ILLEGAL, but prayers to Allah are TOTALLY LEGAL in a public forum. (What crazy version of the First Amendment is he reading?)
Thank God, we took action in 2007 and provided legal arguments to the Indiana Attorney General who appealed to the 7th Circuit Court and WE WON a 2-1 decision overruling Hamilton, restoring the right to pray "in Jesus name" in Indiana. But if President Obama succeeds in promoting Hamilton to the same court that overruled him, that good reversal will be in jeopardy.
We're now the leading national voice against Hamilton, and we're getting traction toward a successful Senate filibuster that can stop Hamilton's confirmation, much to the horror of many liberal groups (including the National Abortion Rights Action League who is actively campaigning FOR Hamilton). But together, we can be a louder voice.
SO PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 100 U.S. SENATORS, OPPOSING THE ANTI-LIFE, ANTI-CHRISTIAN JUDGE DAVID HAMILTON.
Judge Hamilton is the worst of Obama's 15 new liberal appeals court appointees. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals covers Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. Since most cases never reach the Supreme Court, the federal appellate circuits often provide the last word on cases affecting life and liberty.
READ THE FACTS:
The Judicial Confirmation Network quickly opposed Hamilton's nomination, stating that "President Obama's first nominee to the federal appeals courts -- specifically the appeals court based in Chicago -- is an ultra-liberal named David Hamilton who is a former fundraiser for ACORN and former leader of the Indiana chapter of the ACLU. He was nominated to the district court bench by President Clinton even though he had no judicial experience and was rated as 'not qualified' by the American Bar Association."
Now newly promoted Judiciary Committee ranking minority Member Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), agrees with pro-faith Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), that we should oppose and filibuster Hamilton's nomination to the 7th Circuit. Thanks in part to our public pressure, the Republicans and Sessions have twice succeeded in delaying Hamilton's committee votes, saying "This a complex area of the law, I'll admit, but it's time for the federal court to get their heads straight on proper separation of church and state issues."
PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 100 U.S. SENATORS, OPPOSING THE ANTI-LIFE, ANTI-CHRISTIAN JUDGE DAVID HAMILTON.
ANTI-LIFE BUT PRO-ABORTION?
In 2003, Judge Hamilton struck down part of an Indiana law on abortion. The reasonable law had required abortion clinics to simply give women information about alternatives to abortion in the presence of a physician or nurse, 18 hours before the procedure, until Hamilton ruled to hasten abortions. But thank God, the 7th Circuit Court also reversed Hamilton's bad decision in that case.
If confirmed now Hamilton will sit on that 7th Circuit Court (the same court that frequently overruled him) with tyrannical power to rule the heartland of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin with his anti-life, anti-liberty, anti-Christian agenda.
WE CAN WIN THIS BATTLE!
We've already sent nearly 700,000 faxes to the full Senate, and we're getting results! On April 1st and again on April 29th, Senator Orrin Hatch led all Republicans to walk out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in protest against the Democrat "rush job" to confirm Judge Hamilton. Senator Jeff Sessions said he was troubled by Hamilton's ruling against a sectarian prayer to open the Indiana House of Representatives. Even Senator Arlen Specter expressed concern about Hamilton while serving as a Republican, but after switching parties he broke his promise to not become a "rubber stamp" for the Obama Administration, and voted to confirm Hamilton anyway. But will any Democrats oppose the anti-Jesus Hamilton?
But first, take action right now! I pray you will not hesitate, but sign the petition and WE WILL FAX your petition right away, automatically to all 100 U.S. Senators.
PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 100 U.S. SENATORS, OPPOSING THE ANTI-LIFE, ANTI-CHRISTIAN JUDGE DAVID HAMILTON.
God Bless you, in Jesus' name,
Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt
P.S. Time is urgent! The full Senate will vote on Hamilton soon. Select and sign today, & we will forward your name immediately. Please don't wait another minute. Life, Liberty, and Jesus are too important to be banned by one extremist judge.
Thankfully there is now a way to protect your family from this dreaded disease. It’s called the Mpower Box. And it lets you control the television and Internet content that comes into your home, according to your values.
With the Mpower Box, you can automatically skip any scene you don't want, according to your own values, by selecting levels of sex, violence, and language that are appropriate for your family.
Skip a single curse word, an objectionable scene (like the sex scenes in top-rated TV shows), or even offensive commercials, but leave the rest of the movie or TV program untouched.
The Mpower Box also blocks offensive Internet content--including pornography--on all computers in your home! It's the only product that covers both TV and the Internet.
Millions of dollars have already been spent developing the technology that has made the Mpower Box possible. But before it’s made available this summer, the developers of this breakthrough technology want to hear from parents and grandparents like us who are deeply concerned about the dangers television and Internet content poses to our children.
So I am asking all concerned parents to help make the Mpower Box available as soon as possible by taking part in a national online poll.
By participating in this important national poll, you will be among the very first to be notified when the Mpower Box becomes available.
To see a short video of just how seamlessly the Mpower Box works, click on this link: survey.mympowerbox.com/santorum. After watching, please don’t forget to answer the poll questions. I’m very anxious to receive your opinions today.
Yours for stronger families,
Rick Santorum
Former U. S. Senator
P.S. I’m very anxious to receive your opinions today. Remember, The Mpower Box is not yet available to the general public and taking part in this short, four-question opinion poll does not commit you to a purchase of any kind. But, you will be among the first to be informed when this breakthrough technology becomes available this summer.
Mpower Media
Corporate Headquarters
1800 Robert Fulton Drive
Suite 200
Reston, VA 20191
www.mympowerbox.com
Anniversaries are opportunities to reflect on the past and on what it might mean for the future. Monday saw the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, even if Barack Obama could not find time to travel once again to Berlin to attend the commemoration there. And Wednesday was the 91st anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.
The two events being remembered can be seen as bookends: the beginning and end of the history of a Short Twentieth Century. Until 1914, the world had seemed to be on a march toward democracy, liberty, economic growth and globalization, under the leadership of Western Europe and its offspring America.
Then the horrific slaughter and seeming pointlessness of World War I delegitimized Western values for intellectuals and artists, but also for statesmen and politicians and ordinary people. World War I gave birth to communism in Russia and made the ground of Italy and Germany fertile for fascism and Nazism. The latter two were utterly defeated in 1945. Communism persisted for four and a half decades more.
The triumph of Western values was not inevitable. In the 1930s, Anne Morrow Lindbergh saw totalitarianism as "the wave of the future," and in the 1950s Whittaker Chambers believed that when he turned his back on communism he was choosing "the losing side."
The determination of heroic leaders made an amazing difference. Franklin Roosevelt standing with Winston Churchill in 1940 when Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were allies. Harry Truman's response in 1948 to the Soviet blockade: "We're not leaving Berlin." Pope John Paul II's open-air sermons to millions in Poland in 1979: "Be not afraid." Ronald Reagan's defense buildup and his speech before the Brandenburg Gate in 1987: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
But these leaders could not have prevailed without the support, through many difficult times, of millions of ordinary people in America and other Western nations.
The fall of communism should have produced increasing confidence in Western values of democracy, liberty, tolerance and market capitalism, and to some degree it has. When the rulers of China defended their communist dictatorship in 1989, they were already unleashing the capitalism that has produced huge economic growth. In the 20 years since 1989, a higher proportion of the world's population than at any other time in history have climbed out of poverty -- in China, in India, in Latin America, in the former Soviet bloc, even in Africa.
Our current economic distress, like the Depression of the 1930s, has been hailed by some as definitive proof that market capitalism has failed. But that is not the conclusion of most leaders and most voters around the world. Rather, elections here last week and in Europe earlier this year revealed a recoil against job-killing, big-government policies, even if the House defied public opinion by passing late Saturday a government-run health care bill.
1989 removed the threat of totalitarian communism, but other threats remain, as we learned on Sept. 11, 2001. Islamist terrorists despise our tolerance and freedom, and work to inflict as much damage as they can on Western society.
But Obama and his administration, eager to placate our enemies and ever ready to disrespect our friends, tend to downplay this threat. The president has been mulling his course on Afghanistan and declaring his slavish respect for the mullah regime in Iran.
In response to Maj. Nidal Hassan's mass murders at Ft. Hood, Obama and top officials -- Gen. George Casey and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano -- seem less worried about whether military and civilian officials ignored clear signs that this man was an Islamist terrorist and more worried about whether ordinary Americans might indiscriminately stage mass attacks on Muslims.
This carries our virtue of tolerance to a ridiculous extreme and makes our system of laws, in Justice Robert Jackson's words, "a suicide pact." If our enemies today seem less formidable than our enemies before 1989, they are nonetheless dangerous. If the process of distinguishing Islamist terrorists from ordinary Muslims is difficult, so was the process of distinguishing communists from social democrats.
Our earlier leaders had faith in the ability of ordinary Americans to make such distinctions and to behave tolerantly even while aggressively fighting evildoers. And they had confidence, even in that Short Twentieth Century, of the basic goodness of our system. Does Obama have that faith and that confidence?
---
Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner.
Is it possible for Republicans to make significant political headway in the 2010 mid-term elections, and thereby put the brakes on the Obama/Reid/Pelosi program of dismantling the greatness of America? Even a cursory examination of last week's off-year elections in Virginia and New Jersey render a resounding "yes." However, the special congressional election in New York district 23 adds the sobering reminder that the GOP can certainly blow this opportunity if it resorts to its past pathetic pattern of dithering and posturing.
Naturally, the Democrat leadership is trumpeting the win by Bill Owens in the New York race as a defining characteristic of the current political landscape, validating everything from the budget-busting "stimulus" bill to the Democrat push for socialized health care. Yet Owens typifies the fraudulent nature of such a claim, having perpetrated a complete flip-flop of his professed opposition to the "public option" once he had achieved a victory at the ballot box. In typical liberal fashion, upon securing victory he abandoned every conservative principle that he had touted during his campaign, and now supports the worst aspects of Obamacare.
Nevertheless, he won. If his rambling trek to the halls of Congress represents the manner in which Democrats can maintain their hold on power, so be it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA) will gladly accept the presence of such minions if that is how she is to remain at the top of the heap.
It therefore behooves the Republican Party, if its leaders have any expectation of regaining their former political clout, to contemplate the situation in New York with uncharacteristic objectivity and immediately set about to fix the horrendous mistakes made there, in order to ensure that such foolishness is not repeated. For if the GOP once again ignores the glaring evidence and reverts again to its recent abysmal tactic of attempted pandering to the "middle," a series of repeats of the New York 23 outcome will just as inevitably follow, and the Democrats will retain or perhaps fortify their hold on power in Washington. At this critical juncture, America simply cannot afford such a fate.
Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, lost to Owens by four percent, which is hardly a poor showing considering how severely the deck was stacked against him. The Republican Party began its foolhardy endeavor in this election by selecting Diedre Scozzafava, an ultra-liberal candidate with connections to the party inner circles as well as major leftist political players. Instead of focusing, as they should have, on what was wrong with Owens, the clueless Republican Party then dumped nearly a million dollars into Scozzafava's campaign, often running political ads against Hoffman on the very basis of his conservatism.
Once it became apparent that the liberal Scozzafava was going to be blown out in the general election, she dropped out of the race. But the malignancy of her liberalism was not yet fully manifested. While hapless Republicans lauded her for the noble deed of abandoning a bid that would have proven to be an embarrassing and resounding loss, and extolled her as a great member of their party, she proceeded to endorse Owens, the Democrat candidate.
Against such a backdrop of delusion and confusion, the conservative Hoffman plugged along, maintaining his message of traditional values and true fiscal stewardship of taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, his effort was not sufficient to overcome the obstacles thrown in his path by both major parties. Yet he managed to display a coherent message that generated an amazing degree of momentum in a short period of time. Had he been properly supported from the outset of the race, and had Owens been exposed for the disingenuous fraud that he is, the end result could well have been completely different.
So where does this misbegotten profusion of errors leave the GOP and its prospects for significant gains in next year's races? The lesson is simple and unchanged from times past. If the party establishes and adheres to a goal of truly advancing the conservative agenda (a move which should be undertaken immediately), it can benefit greatly from every devious liberal effort to unravel the fabric of America that the Democrats pursue between now and Election Day 2010.
On the other hand, if liberal Republicans repeat their double-minded attempts to find politically "safe" ground that bears outward commonality with that of the Democrats, they can expect to be relegated to the political outback for the foreseeable future.
Real America has roared in the past several years, and in particular since the advent of the Obama regime. The grassroots protests, "Tea Parties," and Town Hall confrontations are merely reflections of an electorate that has no intention of seeing its country and its heritage mutated beyond recognition, from a free and prosperous society into one of subservience and repression.
Such sentiments are aimed primarily at those Democrats bent on perpetrating this transformation, but also at Republicans who, out of stupidity, cowardice, or some misbegotten devotion to "bipartisanship," refuse to appropriately confront the liberal threat and effectively neutralize it.
Contrary to the propaganda regularly offered as "analysis" by the liberal media/Democrat Party Axis, the backlash against Republicans in 2006 and 2008 was by no means an embrace of the mindset of the political left. The American people overwhelmingly identify with conservatism, but no longer with Republicans, who all too often disavow any loyalty to it. Having vainly attempted to ingratiate themselves with the political "center," GOP "moderates" lost touch with the conservative base.
America is ripe for a reestablishment of those former ties. But it remains to be seen whether the Republican Party will recognize and seize this opportunity to return to its roots and return to power. It would be a welcome change.
---
Christopher G. Adamo has been active in Wyoming politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets American made products including the incomparable Abigail Adams Bedspread Set from Bates Mills. Contact information for Chris Adamo, and his archives, can be found at www.chrisadamo.com
Agencies could see budgets frozen or cut in effort to stem deficit
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has alerted domestic agencies to plan for a freeze or even a 5 percent cut in their budgets, part of an election-year push to rein in record deficits that threaten the economy and Democrats' political prospects next fall.
The deficit-cutting drive comes as President Barack Obama traveled to Asia where several nations, especially China, have expressed concerns about the size of U.S. deficits. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities and policymakers worry that alarm over deficits could push foreigners into cutting back on their purchases of Treasury debt.
White House budget director Peter Orszagsaid Friday that it is imperative to start curbing the flow of red ink in coming years so as not to erode the fledgling economic recovery and raise interest rates. But he called it a balancing act and said acting too fast could undercut the recovery.
More sour grapes from idiot and cretin Levi Johnson. Are you morons pay attention to him??? WOW.
Give him "props" will ya??
1. Make Government Open and Transparent FAILURE
2. Make it “Impossible” for Congressmen to slip in Pork Barrel Projects FAILURE
3. Meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public FAILURE
4. No more secrecy FAILURE
5. Public will have 5 days to look at a Bill FAILURE
7. We will put every pork barrel project online FAILURE
8. Windfall profits taxes for oil companies FAILURE
9. 16-month Iraq pullout FAILURE
10. Investigating the Bush Admin. on day 1 FAILURE
11. Removing tax loopholes for the rich FAILURE
12. Will not allow lobbyists to work for the government. FAILURE
13. Closing of Gitmo FAILURE
14. Bring the troops home and end the wars overseas. FAILURE
and on, and on, and on, and on...............................................................
Oh boo fucking hoo. Nice revisionist portrayal with carefully reconstructed and specially selected recounts of history. In yet another attempt to demonize GWB, and the GOP - some left-wing zealot is actually trying to portray Saddam Hussein as some kind of victim?? Wow. A new low for the Bush haters. '
As unemployment numbers continue to rise, and job losses mount, President Obama announced that he has assigned Senator John Kerry to go on a swift boat mission to find the missing jobs.
“I am honored to be selected for this task,” said Kerry. “As a Vietnam veteran and swift boat commander, I am the right man for the job. Senator Kerry, reporting for duty! I can remember clearly on Christmas day in 2008 listening to the radio while sitting in Canada and hearing President Bush say we weren’t losing jobs in Boston. Well, I was there. I could see the jobs we had already lost in Boston and knew he was lying. Not everyone will come back alive from this mission. We’ll be in dangerous areas like Detroit and Miami trying to recover these lost jobs. But we’ll find those jobs. We spent almost a trillion dollars and still have fewer jobs than before we spent the money. The jobs are there. Somewhere. And employers will have to pay for what they have done to those jobs. Employers I spoke to told stories at times about how they had personally raped the environment, cut off benefits, cut off department heads, taped wires from Blackberries to manager genitals and turned up the vibrate mode, cut off lunch breaks, blown up computers, randomly shot at employees, razed company divisions in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot middle managers and secretaries for fun, poisoned cafeteria food, and generally ravaged the company in addition to the normal ravage of business, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied business power of these companies.”
Laying out the administration’s bottom line, she said it will argue for a “three-legged stool” that includes tougher enforcement laws against illegal immigrants and the people who hire them and streamlining the system for legal immigration, but also what she called a “tough and fair pathway to earned legal status.”
With unemployment surging over 10 percent and Congress wrestling with health care, advocates on all sides of the immigration debate had started to doubt that President Obama would keep to his pledge to take on the divisive issue of illegal immigration in the first months of 2010.
Congress should be ready to move forward on immigration, Ms. Napolitano said, because the administration had made a “fundamental change” in security at the border and in cracking down on employers hiring illegal immigrants. She said the Border Patrol had increased its forces by more than 20,000 officers and more than 600 miles of border fence were completed, both milestones set by Congress.
“Let me emphasize this,” she said. “We will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows.”
"When they withhold information, you always start asking questions," Hoekstra told Fox News. "That's what raises red flags. What do they know that they don't want us to know?"
"It is a political correctness that is making it unable for us to identify the real threat of homegrown terrorism," he alleged.
This comment reflects the kind of thought I was trying to tap into with my Lou Dobbs post yesterday (http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/pol/1462999928.html). Rush Limbaugh resigned from ESPN in late 2003 over an offhand remark that Donavan McNabb was overrated, and that he was considered such a great player partly because he was black. This kind of analysis is clearly one of the unintended consequences of affirmative action. And Rush Limbaugh's punishment for having said it is one of the consequences of a ridiculously oversensitive culture in regards to matters of race. Limbaugh didn't say McNabb was a bad quarterback because he was black, and neither did Specter in his interview with the Delaware County Daily Times. But of the two of them, Limbaugh was the only one astute enough to suggest why this otherwise barely mediocre quarterback had been receiving such praise. No, Specter won't be labeled a racist, but Limbaugh and anyone else who dares to even mention the topic without glowing praise for the disadvantaged minorities among us will.
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
--President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
--Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
--Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton, signed by:
-- Democratic Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, Oct. 9, 1998
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
-Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
-- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999
"There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies."
Letter to President Bush, Signed by:
-- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), and others, Dec 5, 2001
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them."
-- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
-- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
-- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
-- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
-- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."
-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002
"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do"
-- Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
-- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."
-- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002
NEW YORK – Sarah Palin's new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her grandson, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.
In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford — preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla.
The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her."
While the book — which contains 68 color photos but no index — stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign.
Confirming that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain's, Palin bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she'd been kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.
The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring. The Associated Press was able to purchase a copy Thursday.
While the book follows her life from her birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely-panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.
She describes Couric as condescending, biased and "badgering." She contends the anchor chose "gotcha" moments while leaving the candidate's more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.
Palin takes another dig at Couric while asserting her expertise on energy matters. She writes that she was shocked Couric had asked her which newspapers and magazines she read; given what she called Couric's lack of knowledge about energy issues, Palin wondered whether she should have asked the news anchor what she read.
The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Quoting another campaign official, she writes that Schmidt felt she wasn't preparing enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome.
She says Schmidt also was upset if anyone in her personal circle tried to correct — without approval from the McCain camp — what they perceived to be incorrect portrayals of Palin's record as Alaska governor.
Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says nobody ever informed her that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process, and jokes that if she'd known she was going to get stuck with the bill, she would have given shorter responses.
According to the book, Palin asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially. She says she was told that if McCain had won, the bills would have been paid, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.
Trevor Potter, the McCain campaign's general counsel, told the AP the campaign never asked Palin to pay a legal bill.
"To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process," Potter said.
If Palin's lawyer billed her for work related to her vetting, the McCain campaign never knew about it, Potter said.
Written with Lynn Vincent, "Going Rogue" is folksy in tone and homespun. For example, Palin says her efforts to award a license for a massive natural gas transmission line was turning a pipe dream into a pipeline. She writes in awe about how the McCain campaign had hired a New York stylist who also had worked with Couric.
Taken aback by the fussing, she wondered who was paying for the $150,000 worth of clothes the campaign gave to her and her family. Also, Palin did not like the forced makeover and said she wondered at the time if she and her clan came across as "that" unpresentable.
Family members were told the costs were being taken care of, or were "part of the convention." The designer clothing, hairstyling and accessories later grew into a controversy.
Palin shares behind-the-scene moments when the nation learned her teen daughter Bristol was pregnant, how she rewrote the statement prepared for her by the McCain campaign — only to watch in horror as a TV news anchor read the original McCain camp statement, which, in Palin's view, glamorized and endorsed her daughter's situation.
She writes that the incident made it clear to her that McCain headquarters was in charge of her message. She said when she tried to find out what the McCain camp would and would not allow her to say, Schmidt told her to simply "stick with the script."
Palin laments that she wasn't allowed to bring up loads of family members to the stage while McCain gave his election night concession speech, having found out minutes earlier that she wouldn't be permitted to give her own speech.
Interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters will be televised next week in conjunction with the book's release. Her tour begins next week in Grand Rapids, Mich., and will skip major cities in favor of smaller localities.
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