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Monday 3-4pm "Bordering on Insanity" - Dan Baltes and Dave Gibson

Tuesday 3-4pm "American Freedom Watch" - Karen Schoen with John Estabrooks and Mike Lawson

Wednesday 3-4pm "Patriots Watch" - Michael "JB" Schaffner and Adrianne Knobloch

Thursday 3-4pm "America's Black Shield" - Ted Hayes and Terrance Lang

Friday 10-11 "Veterans' Weekly Forum" - Ed Rosen and Bob Rosebrock

Saturday 5:30-6:30pm "We Say, No Se Puede!" ("No You Cannot!") - Rita Bonilla and Alice Novoa

April 2, 2011     Dear Members and Friends,   The White House has announced a Presidential visit to the Gamesa wind power manufacturing plant in Fairless Hills, PA, this Wednesday, April 6, at 2 PM.   President Obama will tout his renewable energy platform which ignores the necessity to drill for oil in our vast national reserves.   The Association is calling for a 12 noon "Drill, Baby, Drill" Press Conference/Rally at a Fairless Hills location (TBA) featuring speakers with Energy Policy knowledge and expertise!   With the ever-expanding Middle East crisis looming over us, we can no longer allow our nation's energy needs to be held hostage to foreign powers.   We must finally declare our energy independence by supporting the development of all energy resources--not just "renewable" and "green" energy!   We will follow Wednesday's  Press Conference/Rally with the Association's "Energy Independence Day" Tea Party to be held July 4, 2011, on Independence Mall.   Mark your calendars!   This year marks the 235th Anniversary of American Independence.   Drill Baby Drill Press Conference When:  Wednesday, April 6, 12-12:30 PM Where:  Fairless Hills, PA -- exact location TBA   Press Conference to be immediately followed by the Drill Baby Drill Rally.     Energy Independence Day Tea Party When:  Monday, July 4th, 2011, Afternoon (TBA) Where:  Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA   After Party details to follow.   Hope to see you this Wednesday and July 4th!   On behalf of the Association, Teri Adams, President   The Independence Hall Tea Party Association is a regional, tri-state (DE, PA,NJ) grassroots organization formed in May, 2009.  Its mission is to educate the general public regarding the principles of limited government as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.  Visit us @ www.IHTPA.org.

 READ ABOUT OBAMA'S VISIT HERE:

* * * Announcement * * *

CUT SPENDING NOW RALLY  

Cut Spending Now Event at the Capitol

We cannot continue to spend our way out of debt. We need to take the first step toward financial stability and Cut Spending Now. Hardworking taxpayers like you already feel the burden of "spend now, pay later" politics. It's time that spend-crazed politicians in Washington feel the pressure too.

Join us Wednesday, April 6^th in Washington, DC to tell the Budget Committee to Cut Spending Now. They need to hear from you as they crunch numbers and grapple with this year's budget. You've had to tighten your family budget in this struggling economy. They should have to tighten the national budget too.

Confirmed Speakers:

Michele Bachmann

*food will be provided

Will be joined by AFP President Tim Phillips at noon.

The cost is only $10 per person.

Bus Stop
 King of Prussia, PA
 
7:45am pick up at the Wachovia Bank, Route 202 & Mall Blvd.  Park in the large parking Lot next to the Wachovia Bank.

Click HERE or on the "Cut Spending Now" graphic above to get a seat!!

Not a lot of seats, so do it NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

The organization sponsoring Nonie Darwish's appearance is the student organization, Temple University Purpose.

On Tuesday, April 12th (7:00 PM), we are having a very important, urgent event on the-oppressive and lagging human rights-women, homosexuals, minorities, non-Islamic religions-under Shari'a Law both abroad and here in United States.  We recognize that part of what adds to the conflict is that in Islamic countries there is no separation mosque and state.  Of course, therein lays the problem because to question any Government entity is to question Allah and that is a crime punishable in various ways, depending on who you are.  This ultimately suppresses freedom of speech and encourages and perpetuates a torturous cycle of suppression of thought and expression.

There will be a Q&A at the end. 

The event is meant to raise awareness of the horrific human crimes/conditions of persons both abroad and in America under Shari'a Law.

You can also find our Facebook event page here where you can confirm and through which you can invite as many persons as you'd like: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198614740160991

 If you aren't familiar with our organization Temple University Purpose, we are an aggressive, inclusive Political/Advocacy student organization that does not subscribe to political correctness.  We are neither politically nor religiously affiliated.  However, one shouldn't mistake us as a neutral organization because that implies that one stands for nothing - we, however, stand for a lot.  And, in this particular case, we stand for the human rights of all. 

We pride ourselves in introducing conversations and creating a dialogue and debates on issues that otherwise would be omitted from the Temple University arena of thought and debate.


You can find our entire mission on our Facebook page here: tinyurl.com/tupurpose

Go here for a map of the campus to make it easier for those driving  (and walking) to find parking and their way to the building: http://www.temple.edu/maps/documents/TUMain_map.pdf

Heritage Hotsheet

Experts on the Day's Hottest News

Items for April 4, 2011 

U.S. Shifts to Seek Removal of Yemen's Leader, an Ally
The New York Times
 
GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion
The Wall Street Journal
 
BP to resume drilling in Gulf of Mexico
Financial Times
 
Japan Nuke Plant Operator to Dump Radioactive Water Into Ocean
FoxNews.com
 
NATO to U.S.: We Need More Strikes in Libya
ABCNews.com 
  

Latest Heritage Research:

Obama Wrongly Adopts U.N. "Responsibility to Protect" to Justify Libya Intervention

Penn State College Professors Do Not See the World with the Eyes of  The Forgotten Taxpayer

The Profitable Nonprofit

"According to Penn State-supplied numbers, the proposal would mean a decline of $182 million from current state funding levels for the university. Corbett, in his budget address Tuesday, called for shared sacrifice as the state tries to control its spending and cope with a $4 billion deficit."

The Non-Elitist¹ Graham Spanier 

Total University  $4,016,443,000 (Penn State University Fact Book)   FYI $182 Million is 4.5% of Profitable Nonprofit Penn State University's total budget

Penn State Administration and Faculty Salaries

(note on compensation comparisons, there is no per hour calculation that I have found.)

"Penn State University President Graham Spanier's total compensation last year was $642,760, putting him among the Top 20 of the nation's highest compensated public university presidents, according to a salary survey published by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Spanier's salary was $620,000, and supplemented by $22,760 in retirement pay, plus a house, a car and club dues." (Jan Murphy Harrisburg Patriot News January 19, 2011 )

"In 2000, the average nine-month salary for a professor in the State System of Higher Education was $80,010. In 2008, the average nine-month salary was $96,873, a 21 percent increase. Associate professors in 2000 made, on average, $64,245 for nine months. In 2008, the average salaries jumped to $77,313 for nine months, a 20.3 percent increase." (Darwynn Deyo Pennsylvania Independent March 12, 2011)

Penn State Tuition.  Between 2000-01 and 2010-11, it received nearly $3.5 billion from Pennsylvania taxpayers in the form of state appropriations.  And even though its leaders are saying that more state appropriations mean lower tuition, in-state tuition and mandatory fees more than doubled over that period, from $6,852 in 2000-01 to $15,250 this year, growth that is far over inflation.

College Graduation Rate 2009  Penn State University

Almost 45 percent of the students at Penn State's branch campuses do not graduate from those institutions within six years, and even at the flagship campus, nearly 35 percent of the students cannot finish within the expected four years.  

Penn State halts construction worth millions ( Bill Schackner Pittsburgh Post-Gazette March 19, 2011)

and Bricks and mortar are going up at unprecedented rates on the Penn State campus while tuition as well as online class enrollment increases. (Voices of Central Pennsylvania David DeIuliis and Suzan Erem December 9, 2010) "This past year, as several extensive construction projects are either scheduled for completion or slated to begin on the University Park campus, Penn State's World Campus has grown by 37 percent and tuition by 5.7 percent. These seeming contradictions raise questions about whether this two-pronged expansion represents healthy growth or needless overgrowth In September, Penn State received an $88 million gift from alumnus Terry Pegula to build a new ice hockey arena and, last week, the Board of Trustees approved plans for the construction of a broadcast facility at Recreation Hall. At the same time, according to the Centre Daily Times, the university has begun an initiative to reduce costs by cutting, consolidating and reorganizing administrative programs and academic departments.."

¹ Spanier opened in part by declaring that "Abraham Lincoln is weeping today," a reference to the Morrill Act of 1862. The act, signed by then-President Lincoln, fostered the creation of land-grant institutions -- including Penn State -- to expand the availability to higher education for the non-elite.

Florida Pastor Burns Koran - Christians Murdered in Pakistan

 READ MORE:

Libyan Rebels Sold Hizballah and Hamas Chemical Shells

DEBKA

Senior Libyan rebel "officers" sold Hizballah and Hamas thousands of chemical shells from the stocks of mustard and nerve gas that fell into rebel hands when they overran Muammar Qaddafi's military facilities in and around Benghazi, debkafile's exclusive military and intelligence sources report.

Word of the capture touched off a scramble in Tehran and among the terrorist groups it sponsors to get hold of their first unconventional weapons.

According to our sources, the rebels offloaded at least 2,000 artillery shells carrying mustard gas and 1,200 nerve gas shells for cash payment amounting to several million dollars.

US and Israeli intelligence agencies have tracked the WMD consignments from eastern Libya as far as Sudan in convoys secured by Iranian agents and Hizballah and Hamas guards. They are not believed to have reached their destinations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, apparently waiting for an opportunity to get their deadly freights through without the US...

Read the whole entry »

By George Jonas, National Post

Impeccable timing: Canada has military jets patrolling Libya as we're about to go to the polls. If our new leader, whoever he turns out to be, needs 10 commandments carved in stone for his breakfast table, here are my suggestions.

1 Don't go to war for any purpose but the defence of your country's vital interests, and only if they cannot be secured any other way. Your responsibility is to protect your country and its military allies. It is not your responsibility to police the world or help your allies embark on military adventures, left-wing or right-wing. The much-vaunted doctrine of "responsibility to protect" (R2P) is bunk.

2 Don't hide behind the first commandment to avoid protecting.Don't hide behind the first comthings that are, in fact, your responsibility to protect. Do go to war, if need be, to defend the vital interests of your country and its military allies. Don't let Western...

Read the whole entry »

[Given the statistics Caroline cites, it is hard to believe that American Jews support for Obama will exceed 50%.]

by Caroline Glick

It can only be hoped that the overwhelming majority of American Jews call and demand that all Jewish Federations stop allowing anti-Israel groups to feed from the communal trough.

Over the past year or so, American Jewish opponents of Israel like writer and activist Peter Beinart have sought to intimidate and demoralize Israelis by telling us that American Jews either no longer support us or will stop supporting us if we don't give in to all the Arabs' demands.

But statistical evidence exposes these threats as utter lies. According to mountainous survey evidence, the American Jewish community writ large remains deeply supportive of Israel.

Two surveys released last year by the American Jewish Committee and Brandeis University's Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies showed that three quarters of American Jews care deeply about...

Read the whole entry »

Obama's Islamist Middle East

By Jeffrey T. Kuhner, The Washington Times

President Obama is presiding over the end of American dominance in the Middle East. Across the region, U.S. power is receding - and radical Islam is filling the void. Mr. Obama has betrayed our allies and emboldened our enemies. He is slowly helping make the Middle East safe for jihadists, thereby undermining America's national security.

Contrary to the spin of the mainstream media, the fever that is sweeping the Middle East is not some long-suppressed desire for political liberty. These are not secular democratic revolutions.

Instead, they represent the fury of subjugated peoples who have been deeply embittered by decades of autocratic rule, corruption and the pro-Western policies of their leaders. Many of the demonstrators despise America and Israel. They want one-man, one-vote democracy only once - to erect a theocratic state based on Shariah law.

Read the whole entry »

Stability, is America's only interest in Libya

By Ted Belman

The Obama administration undermined Mubarak and Qaddafi to the detriment of US interests. I expect that Obama will pay the price for his incompetance come 2012.

Rod Radosh asks Our Libyan War: What Position Should Skeptical Conservatives Take? Unfortunately he takes the wrong position right up front and then doesn't resile from it..

I'm not sure, as is our PJM colleague Victor Davis Hanson, that the war is a bad idea. I think that there were numerous reasons that can be established that make our intervention necessary. These include the distinct possibility that if Qadaffi were to win, he would do as he promised - exact the very retribution he promised against the rebels and the cities in which they were prominent, thereby carrying out a massacre that might only be paralleled by the massacre carried out by the late Syrian dictator Hafez-el Assad in Hama in 1982. And Qadaffi might very well have resumed the kind of terrorist attacks against Western targets...

Read the whole entry »

Mass Media Now Admits It Was Also Wrong About Post-Mubarak Egypt's Foreign Policy

By Barry Rubin, GLORIA Center

Now that the New York Times tells us that the Muslim Brotherhood is really strong, organized, widely supported by the army, and capable of taking over Egypt-all the things I wrote at the time and the mass media denied-the Washington Post confirms every point I made during the revolution about what was going to happen regarding Egyptian foreign policy.

Just read this article and compare it to what we were told during the revolution:

"Egypt's relations with Israel and the U.S. are likely to become more difficult in the months ahead with an infusion of Arab nationalism and skepticism about Egypt's landmark peace treaty with Israel. Many of those who helped oust President Mubarak, including secular democracy activists and Muslim Brotherhood leaders, say the 32-year-old treaty should be respected for now. But they add that when stability is restored, the pact should be submitted to the Egyptian people for approval, through a...

Read the whole entry »

Donald Trump takes hardline position on everything

By Ted Belman

Bill O'Reilly interviewed Donald Trump last night about what he would do if he were elected President.

Trump said he would

1) make sure that Iran doesn't get the bomb.
2) take China on in a way that would return jobs to the us. He mooted the idea of applying a custums duty of 25% until China stops devaluing its currency.
3) have stayed in Iraq after conquering them to keep control of the oil and control OPEC. Bottom line is if you take the trouble to conquer a country, you keep it.
4) not have bombed Libya. But if he did, he would insist that Arab League pay for it.
5) slash spending.

Trump also wants to see Obama's Birth Certificate.

He is getting traction for his positions. The only thing stranger than him becoming President, was Obama becoming President.

Radical Islam on the march
in Nashville

View the explosive video!

 
 On March 10, 2011, Melvin Bledsoe testified at the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the radicalization of Muslims in America.

Bledsoe's son, Carlos, aka Abdulhakim Mohamed, is charged with murdering a Marine private outside an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The short video below is the trailer for an upcoming documentary film produced by Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT). According to a recent APT media release:

 This issue-how our government is deceiving us about the threat of radical Islam-will be the focus of Erick Stakelbeck's presentation at our National Conference & Legislative Briefing. At this event we will also hear from several members of Congress on this and other topics related to radical Islam, terrorism and national security.

We thank APT for its video expose' of radical Islam on the march in Nashville.

 

The Jewish Exponent reports a McLaughlin and Associates poll of Jewish Voters position on President Obama.

In Israel, President Obama's policies are seen, overwhelmingly, as anti-Israel, which they are. Making the Arab War to Destroy the Jewish State, sometimes, incorrectly, called the Arab Israeli conflict, the center piece of Middle East policy is a position that only an out of touch academic could think realistic. In the US,  Democratic Jewish disenchantment may be growing

Not only is the Obama Administration's Middle East policy dangerously incoherent and incompetent, it has now involved us in a third war against Muslims where the President phoned it in from Chile while his Sec. of State was in France and the President  consulted the UN before he consulted US Congress.

it is also becoming subject of dark humor: Mark Steyn on Libya: "Obama is following the Pelosi-Strategy: "We need to bomb to help the rebels, to find out who they are!" "We are currently doing everything we can to bomb, strafe and use missiles to carry the rebels into power in Libya.   Hillary Clinton   

 From the Jewish Exponent "Last year, in a study done of American Jewish voters, McLaughlin and Associates reported that 42 percent of those polled would support President Barack Obama's re-election, while 46 percent indicated that they would support another candidate. Among Orthodox/Chasidic voters, some 69 percent noted that they would likely support someone else, in comparison to 17 percent who expressed support for the president.

Among Conservative-affiliated voters, the proportion was 50 percent to 38 percent. Reform Jews, by a slim majority of 52 percent, supported Obama, while 36 percent indicated they would consider someone else. Fifty percent of the Jewish voters polled in this study expressed support for the president's handling of U.S. relations with Israel. Thirty-nine percent said they disapproved. These numbers become significant when one recalls that the president received approximately 78 percent of the Jewish vote, just two-and-a-half years ago."

Opinion: Is the Jewish Vote Undergoing Some Sort of Significant Shift in Emphasis?March 31, 2011

Steven Windmueller

American Jews are political animals, deeply passionate about politics, as generally more than 80 percent of eligible Jewish voters participate in the electoral process. Throughout American history, Jews have held a special regard for their civic responsibility.

Throughout much of the 20th century, Jews have supported Democratic Party candidates. Over time, there has been a debate about whether "the Jewish vote" remains static, or whether Jews are possibly shifting their party loyalties.

Last year, in a study done of American Jewish voters, McLaughlin and Associates reported that 42 percent of those polled would support President Barack Obama's re-election, while 46 percent indicated that they would support another candidate. Among Orthodox/Chasidic voters, some 69 percent noted that they would likely support someone else, in comparison to 17 percent who expressed support for the president.

Among Conservative-affiliated voters, the proportion was 50 percent to 38 percent. Reform Jews, by a slim majority of 52 percent, supported Obama, while 36 percent indicated they would consider someone else. Fifty percent of the Jewish voters polled in this study expressed support for the president's handling of U.S. relations with Israel. Thirty-nine percent said they disapproved. These numbers become significant when one recalls that the president received approximately 78 percent of the Jewish vote, just two-and-a-half years ago.

Without a significant body of research in hand and absent a national Jewish population study for this decade, there is an increasing interest in examining the political behavior patterns of the Jewish voter. What factors contribute to Jewish voting? Does geography, education, income, age or gender tell us much about political tendencies?

Or are we more likely to see certain issues trigger a higher rate of political activism, such as Israel or specific domestic considerations? Similarly, what is the correlation between involvement and giving to political causes and to candidates and the Jewish vote? This latter area has not been extensively researched and deserves further analysis.

There is some data available to reflect a growing disconnect between voting patterns in national elections, and those related to state and local campaigns. Are Jews increasingly voting their self-interests and pocketbook concerns in the case of the more localized elections, but expressing their ideological beliefs and party loyalties when casting their ballots in national ones?

Maybe more significant to all voters is the role that political parties play within the electoral process. Increasing evidence suggests that among younger voters, including Jews, there has been a significant increase in the class of "independent" voters.

There also appears to be a more general shift in the reshaping of "liberalism" on the part of the Jewish electorate, where moderate positions are replacing the more traditional left-of-center political perspective. This shift seems evident as voters become more selective in identifying with liberal causes and, in turn, are redefining how they interpret the nature of their ideological credentials and voting positions.

I am launching a new study that will seek to confirm or clarify this trend, while also seeking to understand the scope and influence of Jewish conservative politics. This study will provide some early indicators as to how Jews may be viewing the growing list of presidential hopefuls for 2012, and how their interest in and support of particular individuals might play out in the course of the coming election cycle. It should also offer some insights into the issues that engage our constituencies.

Among the emerging areas of interest pertinent to this survey will be an exploration of how Jews see the impact and importance of the Tea Party movement, in addition to other political expressions in this country. Also of special concern will be to evaluate whether or not there are generational and demographic distinctions that have not previously been identified that may signal certain changes in Jewish voting behavior.

No study of this type can be definitive about the "Jewish vote." Nor should we have the ability to project such outcomes, as that in part is the miracle and excitement of elections -- the absence of certainty. At best, this study will offer a snapshot in time about where the Jewish community currently is when it comes to politics.

Steven Windmueller is the Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk Emeritus Professor of Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College's Los Angeles campus. To participate in the survey, log on to: www.alliant.qualtrics. com/SE/?SID=SV_2gTJehzeTsP1Ask

See more articles in: Editorial & Opinion 

Friday, April 1, 2011

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


The New Red Menace

Not that long ago, America faced an existential threat from the Red Menace of Soviet communism. Today, more and more influential leaders are warning that a "new Red Menace" threatens America. This menace does not threaten to destroy us with weapons, but rather with red ink. The threat, of course, is our growing national debt. As we approach April 15th, Tax Day, I thought it would be a good idea to address America's debt menace.

Recently, ten former chairmen of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, including Democrats and Republicans, wrote a joint letter sounding the alarm. They warned:

"...we find ourselves in remarkable unanimity about the long-run federal budget deficit: It is a severe threat that calls for serious and prompt attention. ...The unsustainable long-run budget outlook is a growing threat to our well-being. Further stalemate and inaction would be irresponsible."

The national debt is the sum of money America owes to individuals and foreign countries who buy our Treasury bonds. In recent years, there have not been enough individuals to buy all our debt, so we have sold U.S. Treasury bonds to foreign governments. China is the biggest buyer of U.S. bonds and currently owns more than $1 trillion of our debt. Japan is second with just under $900 billion.

But with the U.S. running annual deficits of $1 trillion or more, many individual and national investors are growing increasingly concerned about the risk of not getting their money back. Would you continue to loan money to a friend or family member who had compulsive spending habits?

If people and foreign governments start doubting that they will get their money back, they will demand a greater return for their investment, meaning higher interest rates. When that happens, interest payments on the debt go up. This will have a ripple effect on the entire economy as interest rates for mortgages, car loans, student loans, business loans and credit cards are tied to the bond markets. This could lead to two negative outcomes.

As more and more money goes to interest payments, there is less and less money available for critical programs. By some estimates, interest payments alone on the debt will explode to more than $700 billion in the next few years.

At those levels, interest payments on the national debt will crowd out spending for Social Security, Medicare, roads, bridges and schools. It will also reduce the money we have available for national defense, and so the debt menace threatens our national security at a time of tremendous unrest around the world.

For rates to stay low there must be enough demand for our debt. But in recent years, U.S. spending has outstripped demand for American debt. So the Federal Reserve has stepped in and is buying Treasury bonds. To many, it seems laughable that one entity of the federal government is buying debt from another entity of the federal government, but that is exactly what is happening.

Just imagine a couple who are deeply in debt. Mr. Smith says to his wife, "We're in trouble and need to raise $100,000." Mrs. Smith says, "Okay, I'll loan you $100,000." Really? If Mrs. Smith had $100,000 they wouldn't be in trouble!

This is a charade, an accounting gimmick that, for the time being, is keeping interest rates low. But for how long? And as the Fed prints more money to buy more debt, it raises the specter of inflation, which would diminish the value of your money. By the way, the traditional "cure" for inflation has been higher interest rates to pull money out of the economy. It seems like a vicious cycle, doesn't it?

The solution is simple, but not necessarily easy. Like any family facing a budget shortfall, we must prioritize our spending on our limited resources and stop spending on things we don't need and can't afford. We must stop spending before America turns into Greece.

We must get the debt under control by spending less on government, which consumes more and more resources as it gets bigger and bigger. The more resources big government consumes through higher taxes, the less money you have to spend on your family, and the less money a small businessman has to invest in his company creating new jobs.

But to give you some idea of just how large government has become, consider this excerpt from today's Wall Street Journal:

"If you want to understand better why so many states ... are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). ...It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined."

We must stop spending and shrink the government in order to allow the private sector to thrive and create new jobs, thereby generating greater revenues. But it has become crystal clear in recent days that only one party in Washington is serious about controlling spending.

Faced with a deficit of $1.5 trillion, Senate Democrats couldn't even agree to cut $61 billion from the budget. And they have the audacity to call these cuts "extreme" when the deficit is 25 times that amount!

If we fail to rein in federal spending, we are condemning our children and grandchildren to a dismal future of sky-high interest rates and crushing tax burdens. Those of you old enough to remember the "malaise days" and the misery index created by Jimmy Carter's left-wing policies should educate your college-age children and grandchildren.

There is a lot of talk right now about the prospect of a government shutdown. People are concerned about what will happen to their Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. But those programs are not threatened by Republican efforts to balance our budget. The real threat is continued deficit spending by Obama and his left-wing allies, which, if unchecked, will bankrupt Social Security and every other benefit program.

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Apr 02, 2011 06:13 am | Coach Collins

 By Jim Emerson, staff writer

The Good News

On March 22 during a speech at the National Military Academy President Hamid Karzai announced that seven areas of Afghanistan will soon be under full Afghan Security control  According to translation reported by the American Forces Press Service he said "We know that the people of Afghanistan do not want the defense of their country to be on others, and also those who have helped us during the last 10 years cannot afford any more sacrifices for our security and defense."

He believes that Afghanistan should be run by Afghans.

For the first time in 40 years Afghans felt secure and confident to celebrate the Persian New Year "Nowruz." in large public gatherings. Thanks to the Afghan National Security Forces the festival was held without incident. The celebration was an open display that the Afghans are starting to feel confident about their own security.

The Bad

Five soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade are ... Continue Reading:The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

comments |read more 

From the Desk of:
 David Martin, Executive Vice President
Media Research Center

4/1/2011

CNN's Headline News has an opportunity to display true journalistic integrity, but much depends on the actions of the MRC Action team. Please see below for details and important action items. --David

During a recent appearance on Headline News, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards claimed that de-funding Planned Parenthood would prevent the nation's leading abortion mill from providing women with mammogram services.

 This is a lie.
 
 The pro-life group, Live Action, called 30 Planned Parenthood clinics in 27 states inquiring about mammogram services and in every instance the caller was told that Planned Parenthood doesn't provide those services whatsoever.

With the evidence now in hand, Headline News has the opportunity to display journalistic integrity by refuting Richards' lie and correcting the record.

  

Just WHAT is One Trillion Dollars? -- In Layman's Terms -- and other deductions

 READ MORE:

Hey, Congress, MAN UP! 

READ MORE:

Reid: GOP Leadership Cowered by Tea Party

Cory Steiner of Bucks County is a Marine (retired) and a Constitutional Republican who will be running in the Marine Corps Marathon (see schedule below) and we hope that you will consider participating at whatever level you feel comfortable. Any support is appreciated.  Every Marine's oath is to uphold the Constitution and to defend it from enemies, foreign and within. Please check out Cory's Blog http://corysteiner.blogspot.com /

From Cory Steiner's Blog   Friday, April 1, 2011The Marine Corps Marathon

One of the most meaningful expressions of gratitude to Marine Corps Families is demonstrated by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation ( www.mcsf.org ). They've created an opportunity for us to honor the service of Marines and Navy Corpsmen who didn't make it home by helping to send their children to college. Participation is at www.mcsf.org/marathon where you could navigate to my "Sponsor Runner" link if you like.
Thanks for any amount - none is too small and thank you for being an important part of a great organization.

 Cory Steiner
corsteiner@aol.com
(215) 321-2329
corysteiner.blogspot.com

Another outstanding group of great people is The Travis Manion Foundation ( www.travismanion.com ) who develops remarkable programs for injured Veterans and others. To assist in this effort please find the Pay Pal link on www.teamtravis.com and navigate to the "Sponsor an Athlete" section.
Or, a check can be made out to "The Travis Manion Foundation" and sent to:

The Travis Manion Foundation
c/o Cory Steiner
PO Box 1485
Doylestown, PA 18901
Thanks again.
Sincerely,

Cory

Race Schedule:
May 1 - Gettysburg Marathon Goal: 4 1/2 hours Time:
May 15 - Sesame Classic 5K
June 5 - Run the Gates 5-Miler
Week 9 - 5K
Week 12 - 10K
Week 16 - Half Marathon
Week 20 10K
Oct 30 - Marine Corps Marathon Goal: 4 hours Time:

This is not what winning the future looks like.  Yes, it is true.  Today unemployment has fallen to a two year low - 8.8%.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that the number of people who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks has hit an all time high according to CNBC contributor James Pethokoukis.

Made worse, wage growth in the United States last quarter has lagged inflation, meaning workers are less and less able to keep up with escalating food prices caused, in part, by continued promotion of corn based ethanol subsidies and, in part, by the Federal Reserve's wacked out monetary policy.

Steve Moore, writing in today's Wall Street Journal, notes an important American milestone as well.  According to Moore, "More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined."

It is one thing for the President of the United States to praise private job creation, but quite another for him to actually work on private job creation.  One of the untold stories is that, even with today's improved jobs numbers, the United States has created no net new jobs - meaning we are filling vacant positions, but we are not economically creating whole new positions.  In fact, we haven't done that very well since sometime around the end of the Clinton administration.

Compounding the latent job worries, gas prices have gone up 100% since Barack Obama became President.  Domestic oil exploration has fallen dramatically.  The national debt is soaring.

If this is winning the future, we've lost.

- Erick Erickson

The Kitchen Table Patriots Presents an Educational Event: Steve Goreham Author of "Climatism" and Speaker will Present:

Climate Change and Renewable Energy:

The Rest of The Story

Thursday, April 28 from 7-9 pm at the Doylestown Moose.

Read the Event Flyer HERE

The News Media bombards us daily with warnings about the dire consequences of climate change. Rising seas, hurricanes, droughts and floods are projected results of man-made global warming.

Political leaders, academics, scientists, and the United Nations have placed mankind on a course to try to stop global warming. But is all this really correct? Contrary to popular Consensus, Steve Goreham, Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of Climatism! Science, Common Sense, and the 21st
Century's Hottest Topic, will argue that global warming is due to natural cycles of the Earth and not greenhouse gas emissions. Our Federal and State governments are pursuing policies that won't affect the climate but will have a major negative impact on each American Citizen.

This Discussion is not to be missed!

Please join us and you will learn what you can do to influence the debate with your elected officials!

The Kitchen Table Patriots
PO Box 3, Doylestown, PA 18901
www.TheKitchenTablePatriots.org
215-534-1851

ENERGY AFFECTS EVERYTHING YOU DO. BE INFORMED

Global warming/climate change is a fraud science backed by the mercenary alarmists in the scientific community and the U.N. Why then does our country continue to plunge recklessly headlong into an EPA-driven death march for our economy? Come find out the facts as The Kitchen Table Patriots sponsors an educational presentation and book signing on Thursday, April 28 from 7-9 pm. Our host will be author, speaker and member of the Climate Science Coalition, Steve Goreham. 

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Rep. Mike Pence

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What a waste of resources?  Federation Funds Enemies of Our Supporters  Disgraceful and Embarrassing

Jewish Federation Gave Over $1 Million to Soros Funded Jewish Funds for Justice, an Anti-Glenn Beck Group  Alana Goodman 03.24.2011

And Redstate reviews charges against Glenn Beck as an anti-Semite

Beck and Jews  a review  Redstate 3/31/2011  JIDF (Jewish Internet Defense Force)  and Media Matters

  I stand with Israel Glenn Beck (March 29, 2011 4:43) 

Complete Show of March 29, 2011 (39:47) 

Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ), the George Soros-funded activist group that recently made headlines for its high-profile war against Fox News host Glenn Beck, has received over $1 million from the UJA-Federation of New York since 2008.

Over the past three years at least seven Federation grants have been awarded to the JFSJ, ranging from $75,000 to $219,000. Some of that money has gone toward JFSJ's Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. But, according to Federation spokesperson Samantha Kessler, the bulk of the funding has gone toward the group's "Congregational-based Community Organizing" programs.

"Congressional-based Community Organizing" is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - Chicago-style community organizing, except in the synagogue. According to the Federation website, the JFSJ program was designed to "develop strong and effective social-justice networks in up to eight Manhattan synagogues."

In an email, Kessler explained that the goal was to "strengthen synagogues by building meaningful relationships among their members, attracting additional Jews and Jewish families to congregational life, and developing more robust leadership for synagogues." The Federation felt that the JFSJ "had a proven model for congregation-based community organizing that provided a unique way to accomplish this."

The JFSJ's community organizing expertise may explain how it was able to quickly coordinate 400 rabbis to sign an anti-Glenn Beck letter published in the Wall Street Journal in January. The letter was criticized by COMMENTARY as well as prominent members of the Jewish community, who called it a partisan attack.

"[The Anti-Defamation League] does not support this misguided attempt to embarrass Fox News," ADL Director Abe Foxman told the Forward. "[S]urely there are greater threats to the Jewish people than the likes of Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck and Rupert Murdoch, who are professed and stalwart friends of the Jewish people and Israel."

In a letter to the Forward, Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University, wrote that, "One need not minimize the danger of Beck's rhetoric in order to wonder why JFSJ - which has significant credibility among progressives - has not mounted an equally passionate critique of misbegotten analogies on the left. Is this about principle, or is it about politics?"

Despite calling itself a non-partisan group, JFSJ officials and members often weigh in on politics on the organization's blog.

In one post, the group's Senior Vice President of Philanthropic Giving Jeremy Burton dubbed President George W. Bush "our hatemonger-in-chief," and accused him of "spreading fear and loathing of other Americans as a tool for political gain." In another, JFSJ's Chief Strategy Officer Mik Moore referred to Tea Party rallies as "tea bagging protests." Other posts supported calls to impeach Bush and labeled former Vice President Dick Cheney a racist.

Needless to say, it's difficult to imagine the federation funding a right-wing activist group that made similar statements about President Obama or Nancy Pelosi, and ran a prominent campaign targeting MSNBC.

The appeal of Jewish Funds for Justice's work has been rooted in their commitment to helping the poor and providing Jewish communities with a distinctive way to help. This has given them credibility and made them an attractive venue for Jewish philanthropic giving even among mainstream groups like Federation whose major donors may not share the Funds' leftwing sensibilities.

However, their decision to go political in a big way with an attack on Beck and FOX News makes it more difficult for the group to position itself as a non-controversial forum for Jewish charitible fundraising. The point is, if they are going to be soliciting and getting huge grants from mainstream groups like federations, then maybe they should stick to what they do best and stay out of politics.

This isn't an isolated incident. Some federations have alienated members of the Jewish community based on controversial funding decisions, such as the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington financing of the anti-Israel Theater J. And the issue isn't just the funding, it's also the lack of transparency. Federations are already considered to be in decline due to most donors preferring boutique causes rather than umbrella philanthropies. But unless federations reestablish trust with the Jewish community, this trend will only get worse.

=

Editorial 

Cultivating the New World Order

Saturday, April 02, 2011 - by  Anthony Wile

Anthony Wile

The conservative libertarian writer Paul Craig Roberts has posted an article, "The New Colonialism: Washington's Pursuit of World Hegemony" that has received much attention from the alternative-news blogosphere. In this article, I want to comment on the story from a larger point of view. Robert's perspectives are probably the last piece of the puzzle that we've been working on putting together here at DB. With his courageous input, we now have a clearer vision now of how the New World Order is coming together and how it will function. That sounds like a large statement, but in this article I will try to explain it and justify my presentation.

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Melissa Clouthier, from operation can you hear us now? points out that this is a false flag group - a phony tea party group that is gathering personal info to sell to marketers. Stay away.

DO NOT CLICK OR JOIN!!!

National Tea Party resource for helping The Tea Party movement grow

theteaparty.net

We are a national Tea Party resource for helping support and grow the Tea Party movement. Free websites, hosting, tools and more to get you started. Join today!

 Most Read Stories From the Stein Report blog:

• New York Times Discovers Birth Tourism
• White House Says President Committed to Immigration Enforcement
• Without Bush, Texas GOP Moves to Sensible Immigration Reforms
• Illegal Aliens Complain of Firing During "Silent Raids"
• Census Expected to Show High Impact of Mass Immigration

California Dreaming? 

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

 Check Out FAIR's Latest Video
What is True Immigration Reform?  

FAIR's California Update

Support Efforts to Pass E-Verify Bill in CA -- Last week we reported that the Utah legislature approved a series of bills that even the pro-illegal alien American Immigration Lawyers Association said were clearly unconstitutional. Read more.

FAIR Media's Immigration Update

Mass Immigration Leads to Mass Redistricting -- In the next election the most likely victims of mass immigration are California's 53-member House delegation. Read more.

Everyone Agrees: Two of Utah's New Immigration Laws are Unconstitutional -- Could it be that defending the Constitution is taking a back seat to the administration's desire to create an amnesty for illegal aliens? Read more.

Send us your Questions or Comments About Immigration

Send them to us. Here's my feedback.

Today's Headlines:  Friday, April 01, 2011

U.S. Embassy Cables: 90 Percent of Mexican Drug Cartels' Most Lethal Weapons Come From Central America--Not USA
(CNSNews.com) - The most lethal weapons used by drug cartels in Mexico are smuggled from Central America, not from the United States, according to U.S. Embassy cables unveiled by WikiLeaks. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City reportedly wrote the cables following three bilateral conferences on firearms trafficking that took place in Mexico between March 2009 and January 2010.

Democrat Congressman: Drug Cartel Violence in U.S. Has Decreased; Only 29 People Died in San Diego in 2010
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that while violence caused by Mexican drug cartels has increased in Mexico, it has decreased on the United States side of the border, despite dire predictions. "There were 472 murders in Tijuana, while only 29 occurred on the other side of the border in San Diego, California," Thompson said. And while 2,700 people died in Ciudad Juarez in 2010, only 4 people were murdered in El Paso, Texas - just across the U.S. border from that Mexican city, he added.

Texas Republican: Put Mexican Drug Cartels on State Dept's List of Foreign Terrorist Organizations 
(CNSNews.com) - Such a designation would put the drug cartels on the same list as al Qaeda, the Taliban and Hezbollah and make them subject to the same sanctions imposed on those radical groups. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has introduced a bill that would add Mexican cartels to the list of FTOs for their "acts of terrorism."

Rangel: Obama Needed Congressional Authorization for Military Intervention in Libya 
(CNSNews.com) - Following a closed briefing on the U.S. military operation in Libya, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) told CNSNews.com that President Obama did not have the constitutional authority to use military force in Libya. Rangel said he would "like to believe" that members of Congress are looking into whether the President's action is an impeachable offense.

Federal Assessment Teams Heading to Six Northeast Fishing Ports Hard-Hit by Obama Regulations
(CNSNews.com) - The federal agency that has caused New England fishermen so much grief and economic hardship is now trying to help. The U.S. Commerce Department announced this week that "economic development assessment teams" will conduct a two-day analysis of six Northeast fishing communities, which are reeling under federal regulations imposed last year by the Obama administration. The teams are similar to those dispatched to Gulf Coast communities following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Republican Leaders Have Not Settled on How Much Additional Borrowing Congress Should Legally Permit
(CNSNews.com) - House Republican leaders have not yet settled on the specific amount of additional borrowing authority they believe Congress should grant the U.S. Treasury when the U.S. House of Representatives votes to increase the statutory limit on the national debt, the spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) told CNSNews.com.

Boehner: 'Democrats Are Rooting for a Government Shutdown' 
(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday he believes that Democrats are hoping for a government shutdown to score political points. With the fiscal year already half over, the two parties have been unable to agree on a budget, instead funding government operations with stopgap bills called continuing resolutions. "As I've said from the beginning, our goal is to cut spending, not shut down the government," he said.

State Dep't and U.N. Silent About Latest Anti-Christian Violence in Ethiopia 
(CNSNews.com) - While the Obama administration cited human rights atrocities in Libya as part of the reason for U.S. and U.N. military intervention there, neither the State Department nor the United Nations nor leading human rights organization have condemned an outbreak of violence in western Ethiopia led by Muslim radicals. Since early March, two Christians reportedly have been killed, more than 3,000 displaced and at least 69 churches destroyed.

Energy Secretary Denies Administration Is Intentionally Seeking Higher Prices to Push Green Agenda 
Washington (CNSNews.com) - During a Senate floor speech in early March, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) charged that higher energy prices were an "explicit policy of the Obama administration" designed to push alternative and renewable fuels. Not so, said Energy Secretary Steven Chu this week. He said Americans need "solutions that work today and continue to work" into the future. He mentioned fuel efficient cars, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars.

'Defection' of Top Libyan Raises Hopes for Delayed Justice in Lockerbie Case
(CNSNews.com) - From investigators and lawmakers to transatlantic relatives of the victims of the worst terrorist attack in British history, many people are hoping that the "defection" to Britain this week of the former Libyan foreign minister will lead to long-delayed justice in the Lockerbie case. In Washington, a senior State Department official told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Thursday that the Obama administration was "pursuing" the matter.

Investigations Find 'Unprecedented' Political Review of FOIA Requests by Homeland Security Department
Washington (CNSNews.com) - Political reviews of open records requests "smacks of Nixonian" tactics by the Department of Homeland Security, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Thursday. Two investigations found that Freedom of Information Act requests sent to the DHS were reviewed by Obama administration political appointees.

OTHER HEADLINES:

Libyan Opposition Sets Conditions for Cease-Fire
U.S. Ending Its Air Combat Role in Libya
Highway Deaths Fall to Lowest Level Since 1949
Gadhafi Says Leaders of Airstrikes Should Step Down
Ann Coulter Brings Conservative Rebuttal to University of Wyoming
Obama Turns Car Salesman, Showcasing Fuel-Efficient Vehicles on Friday
Tax Refunds Average $3,000, Add $300B to Economy
Strike by Teachers Fuels Unrest in Honduras
Gadhafi's Gas Stations Pose Dilemma for Europe
Yemenis Hold Largest Anti-Government Protest Yet on Friday
Japan's Tsunami Debris Eventually Will Hit West Coast
Joke's on the Northeast With April Fools' Snow
Billy Joel Decides to Cancel His Memoir
2012 Presidential Candidates Not Expected to Accept Public Funding for Campaigns
Germany's Famous Polar Bear Drowned, Experts Say
Lawmakers Try to Lift Wolf Protection Despite Deal

NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:

Medical records should track sexual orientation and gender identity, report says
GOP says 5,000 non-citizens voting in Colorado a 'wake-up call' for states
Fed official: An interest rate hike could come by the end of the year
Forget raising taxes, Republican Cantor tells Dems
Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown will take his case for taxes to voters
Md. lawmakers spurn proposed Reagan holiday
Homeless forced to leave tent camps along I-95 in Northern Virginia
Republican Sen. Rubio defends proposal to authorize Gadhafi's removal
Federal agents told to reduce border arrests, Arizona sheriff says
Alaska to consider lowering drinking age for U.S. troops
Florida bill will make welfare recipients pay for own drug screening
Snooki of 'Jersey Shore' gets $2K more than author Toni Morrison to appear at Rutgers
Krispy Kreme posts first profitable year since 2004

COMMENTARY:

A Community Organizer Goes to War
By Patrick J. Buchanan
Saving Obama's face and preserving our superpower image may be the cause for which we kill a number of Libyans who did nothing to us. Yet, once begun, wars create new political realities. Our intervention raises other questions that should have been asked and answered before Obama plunged us into this civil war.

Stop ATF's Anti-Gun Zealots
By Michelle Malkin
The Supreme Court struck down Chicago's individual firearms ownership prohibition last year, but the same anti-gun zealots who put lives at risk in that city remain in power. And now one of them may soon be in charge of the scandal-plagued Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Meet Andrew Traver whose anti-gun advocacy won him backing inside the Beltway. The NRA's Chris Cox summed up the nomination bluntly: "You might as well put an arsonist in charge of the fire department."

School Choice: A Real Test Awaits
By Ed Feulner
School choice promotes quality education through competition. Yet it's the exception, not the norm. We tolerate a situation where nearly all but the most well-to-do parents must settle for the nearest public school, regardless of quality. Why does it have to be this way? Why should a quality education for students who come from families of modest and low-income means be a matter of chance? The luck of the draw?

Hopefully, he'll have the support of most Republican legislators. Then it'll have to be explained to a public accustomed to asking, "What's in it for me?"

This could be the beginning of Health & Change that doesn't screw up our country that way O'Bummer's is doing.

Lou Flanagan

Ryan's budget plan to slash deficits by over $4 trillion

By: Philip Klein 04/03/11 12:08 PM
Senior editorial writer Follow Him @Philipaklein

Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget committee, will propose fundamental reforms to Medicare and Medicaid in the GOP budget expected to be released Tuesday, implying in a Fox News Sunday interview that the deficit savings would exceed $4 trillion.

 "We can't keep kicking this can down the road," Ryan said to Fox. "The president has punted. We're not going to follow suit." 

He also said that the deficit reduction would exceed what President Obama's fiscal commission proposed last year, which was $4 trillion.

Though we don't have the actual GOP budget yet, prior CBO estimates provide us with some guidance on how much individual proposals could save.

On Medicaid, Ryan will propose to block grant the program to states, which would save money, allow it to grow at a predictable rate, and give governors more flexibility over how it is implemented. This is a popular option among many governors who are struggling with Medicaid costs, and it's a proposal that has already attracted bipartisan support (at least intellectually speaking), as it was previously co-proposed with Alice Rivlin, the former Clinton budget director.

When it comes to Medicare, Ryan has previously proposed fundamentally reforming it to give retirees vouchers to purchase private insurance that would vary by income and health status. So, for instance, a poor and very sick beneficiary would receive a lot more than a very rich and healthy beneficiary. However, this reform would not kick in right away, as it only applies to those 55 and under. Thus, it would take time to produce savings and those wouldn't show up in the CBO's 10-year budget window.

Yet he and Rivlin also proposed changes to the formula for cost-sharing on supplemental Medicare insurance policies, which would affect near-term budgets.

Last November, the Congressional Budget Office did a preliminary analysis of the Ryan-Rivlin plan and found that the Medicaid and Medicare reforms, plus a change in medical malpractice law, would save $350 billion from 2011 through 2021.

Other possible ways to save money -- Ryan has supported the repeal of the national health care law. Were he simply to propose a repeal of the bill's Medicaid expansion, which would add 18 million to the program's rolls by 2021, it would save $674 billion from 2012 to 2021, according to CBO.

The Ryan proposal is also expected to cap discretionary spending as well as cap spending as a percentage of GDP.

When President Obama ignored the proposals of his own fiscal commission, it was an indication that he had chosen politics over leadership. That is, it was more important for him to goad Republicans into proposing entitlement reform so Democrats could attack them for it, then it was for him to try and actually address the nation's challenges. Evidently, Ryan has decided to take the opposite approach.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/04/ryan-s-budget-plan-slash-deficits-over-4-trillion-fox#ixzz1IW1kEhaK

Getting Rich from Big Government Part 1 Democrats and Billion Dollar Nonprofit AARP  Insurance Company 

A very, very Profitable $1.3 BILLION NonProfit: AARP and its salespeople - nonpartisan advocate or insurance agent? Follow the Money in this Liberal  Bait and Switch

Insurance Agents

Millionaire Democrat Morgan Freeman and Millionairess Democrat Jamie Lee Curtis sell AARP Insurance for Multi-billion dollar profitable nonprofit AARP, formerly American Association of Retired People, presenting itself as nonpartisan, advocate for  seniors and retired people - you know, "the old, the sick and the infirm". In fact, it is hugely profitable insurance company.

Some might  think that AARP advocates for the interest of  seniors; others may think this is "Bait and Switch". AARP is a very profitable insurance company pretending to be " do- gooder ", benefitting seniors and retired people and like so many  Liberals, AARP is getting rich from big government. Most conventional "for profit " insurance companies don't hide that they are insurance companies

?? or ??

US Government Report:

"Today, AARP is a large, complex and sophisticated enterprise with over $2.2 billion in total assets and generated over $1.4 billion in revenue in 2009." AARP's Budget and Revenues By any measure, AARP is a large enterprise. More than ten years ago, AARP paid approximately $206 million for its headquarters in Washington, DC.25 In 2009, the parent organization, AARP, Inc., alone spent over $3.4 million in legal fees, over $713,000 in accounting fees, and over $218 million compensating its officers, directors, and employees."

WaPo March 31^st 2010

  " [The US government ]  released a report that estimates the seniors lobby could make an additional $1 billion over 10 years on health insurance plans whose sales are expected to pick up under the new law. They also questioned seven-figure compensation for some AARP executives.

The report was also critical of AARP's executive compensation and travel policies. In 2009, then-CEO William Novelli received $1,647,419 in total compensation, including $350,000 in severance."

Ways and Means report: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/UploadedFiles/AARP_REPORT_FINAL_PDF_3_29_11.pdf

Charts: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/UploadedFiles/AARP_Charts.pdf

AARP response: http://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/info-03-2011/website_overview.html including AARP's President's Lee Hammond's video response.

The unholy alliance between AARP and the Democrats on ObamaCare

"But what Americans don't know is... that the AARP brand dominates the private Medicare insurance market."  American Spectator David Catron March 30, 2011 The American Association for Retiree Plunder

"For those of us who toil in the vineyards of health care finance it has long been obvious that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is, for all intents and purposes, an insurance company disguised as an advocacy group. Thus, it was something of surprise when AARP announced its support for ObamaCare in the fall of 2009. Why would a financial conglomerate so dependent on insurance-related revenue endorse a bill that promised to wreck the health insurance industry? Then, the penny dropped. One of the ways the Democrats proposed to "pay" for their health care law was by cutting the Medicare Advantage (MA) program by $200 billion. This would inevitably drive many carriers out of the MA market and herd millions of seniors back to the more expensive coverage of traditional Medicare.

How would that benefit AARP? Traditional Medicare imposes much higher deductibles and co-pays on its beneficiaries than does MA, and the vast majority of AARP's revenue derives from sales of "Medigap" policies that purport to cover those out-of-pocket expenses. In other words, the AARP endorsed a law that does real financial harm to seniors in order to reap a crop of new customers when ObamaCare guts Medicare Advantage. And it gets worse: Most of the victims of this cynical strategy will be low-income and minority seniors. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), nearly 60% of MA beneficiaries have annual incomes of $10,000 to $30,000. Moreover, nearly 30% of Medicare Advantage enrollees are minorities, compared to about 20% for traditional Medicare.

AARP received "an $18 million grant in the economic stimulus package for a job training program that has not created any jobs. " More to the point, the Democrats granted AARP a long list of special dispensations from the most onerous features of ObamaCare. As Chris Jacobs of the Republican Policy Committee has  noted, AARP received exemptions from the prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions and the $500,000 cap on executive compensation for insurance industry executives.

Jacobs also points out that the Democrats exempted AARP from the tax they imposed on insurance companies in general, "even though according to its own financial statements AARP generated more money from insurance industry 'royalty fees' than it received from membership dues, grant revenues, and private contributions combined." 

Getting Rich from Big Government Part 2 Republicans Farm Subsidies 

Big Government Farm Subsidies - Republican Ripoff

Note 10x as much USDA "free money" went to Republicans as Democrats.

Opposition to Establishment Republican Farm Subsidies could unite disparate elements  electorate in this outrageous, big government give a way of The Forgotten Taxpayer's money. As I recall, President Obama said something about eliminating Farm Subsidies, another betrayal of his base, and The Forgotten Taxpayer. The Righteously Liberal Environmental Working Group has done a stellar service for us in compiling this Farm Subsidy Database. Righteous Liberals are willing to look at the numbers.

"Bi Partisan " - another word for Big Government European Welfare State Corporatism   

National Database  Searchable by  State and Top Recipients

Pennsylvania Porkers Searchable by County  Amazing how much money the Federal Government gives away. Hours of fun if you don't get sick at the  counter productivity of these payments

Farm Subsidies Paid to the Members of the 112th Congress

" Among the members of the 112^th Congress who collect payments from USDA are six Democrats and 17 Republicans. The disparity between the parties is even greater in terms of dollar amounts: $489,856 went to Democrats, but more than 10 times as much, $5,334,565, to Republicans.

This would be a good place to point out that just five crops - corn, cotton, rice wheat and soybeans - account for 90 percent of all farm subsidies. Sixty-two percent of American farmers do not receive any direct payments fromthe federal farm subsidy system, and that group includes most livestock producers and fruit and vegetable growers

The farm sector is white-hot, and has generally fared extremely well as recession gripped the rest of the economy. Farm income and prices for commodity crops are soaring. In 2008, $210,000 was the average household income of farms that received at least $30,000 in government payments that year. But according to the House Agriculture Committee and the Republic Study Committee, payments to those farms should stay in place while the record 43 million Americans enrolled in SNAP - millions of whom are unemployed for the first time - face slashes in the help they get to put food on the table."

Government's Seven Foot List of 343 entities - who knows what, if anything, they do? 

What Do They Do with The Forgotten Taxpayer's Money - What Are We Paying For? No one seems to know.

22 year old, Commonwealth Foundation Intern Nick Fett took time off from shining Matt Brouillette's (Bree- et) shoes to compile a seven foot list of 343 State government Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Committees, Departments.   

343 entities get taxpayer money, a  7 foot list,  and no one seems to know who does what or how much it costs The Forgotten  Taxpayer pays and pays. And what does any accomplish. And Gov has formed a Marcellus Shale Commission and a Commission to study privatizing liquor stores. Internet checking and Right to Know requests - this is all open source but so overwhelming that no citizen can track the government.  See "Streamlining State Government" Report for policy analysis.

22 year old , 6 foot, 3 inch Nick Fett and his seven foot, 10 font, list of  state government 343 taxpayer funded entities - who knew?  Who Knows?

 "Better Government do Too Much for people rather than too little. " says Rep. Ron Waters, a Democrat, naturally.  And the Forgotten Taxpayer, who does what for him and her? "The Snowmobile and ATV Advisory Council", "Elevator Advisory Board"?

As Nick Felt, Constitutional Conservative says "When government does too little, it is called Freedom; when it does too much, Despotism." The future generation offers us hope.

Corbett: the lion tamer  Al Paschall makes some key points. Penn State is a private institution and has raised tuition 110 %even at the same time it has received  $3.4 billion in last ten years.

By Albert Paschall

            What does a new governor do when he inherits a $4.5 billion deficit from his free spending predecessor?  There are only two answers: either raise taxes or cut spending.

            The Commonwealth's taxpayer subsidies of $304 million to Centre County's largest employer are by no means to a public school.  It is entirely a private institution basing admission on class standing, academic achievement, test scores and something called a personal statement.  It boasts students from all 50 states and 31 countries.

            Therein lies the rub.  While the state pumps the average annual earnings of over 7,000 Pennsylvania's workers on to Penn State's 24 campuses there's no guarantee that your kid could attend even the Altoona Campus, where last month he or she could have attended the free "Live Group Sex Therapy Show."

            Corbett's case is plain.  While Penn State has received subsidies of $3-1/2 billion over the last ten years it has increased tuition by 110%.   Which institution: the state or Penn State's spending is out of control?

            Corbett has picked his target well.  Undoubtedly thousands of fans of the blue and white will cascade the state capital with pleas to the legislature for fiscal mercy.  But someday if Tom Corbett can tame the Nittany Lions' voracious appetite for taxpayer dollars he'll have taken the first big step towards fiscal sanity in this state.  

------------------------------------------------------------------

 Albert Paschall is Senior Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Resarch.  Somedays is syndicated  to leading newspapers and radio stations in Pennsylvania.

Penn State College Professors Do Not See the World with the Eyes of  The Forgotten Taxpayer

The Profitable Nonprofit

"According to Penn State-supplied numbers, the proposal would mean a decline of $182 million from current state funding levels for the university. Corbett, in his budget address Tuesday, called for shared sacrifice as the state tries to control its spending and cope with a $4 billion deficit."

The Non-Elitist¹ Graham Spanier 

Total University  $4,016,443,000 (Penn State University Fact Book)   FYI $182 Million is 4.5% of Profitable Nonprofit Penn State University's total budget

Penn State Administration and Faculty Salaries

(note on compensation comparisons, there is no per hour calculation that I have found.)

"Penn State University President Graham Spanier's total compensation last year was $642,760, putting him among the Top 20 of the nation's highest compensated public university presidents, according to a salary survey published by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Spanier's salary was $620,000, and supplemented by $22,760 in retirement pay, plus a house, a car and club dues." (Jan Murphy Harrisburg Patriot News January 19, 2011 )

"In 2000, the average nine-month salary for a professor in the State System of Higher Education was $80,010. In 2008, the average nine-month salary was $96,873, a 21 percent increase. Associate professors in 2000 made, on average, $64,245 for nine months. In 2008, the average salaries jumped to $77,313 for nine months, a 20.3 percent increase." (Darwynn Deyo Pennsylvania Independent March 12, 2011)

Penn State Tuition.  Between 2000-01 and 2010-11, it received nearly $3.5 billion from Pennsylvania taxpayers in the form of state appropriations.  And even though its leaders are saying that more state appropriations mean lower tuition, in-state tuition and mandatory fees more than doubled over that period, from $6,852 in 2000-01 to $15,250 this year, growth that is far over inflation.

College Graduation Rate 2009  Penn State University

Almost 45 percent of the students at Penn State's branch campuses do not graduate from those institutions within six years, and even at the flagship campus, nearly 35 percent of the students cannot finish within the expected four years.  

Penn State halts construction worth millions ( Bill Schackner Pittsburgh Post-Gazette March 19, 2011)

and Bricks and mortar are going up at unprecedented rates on the Penn State campus while tuition as well as online class enrollment increases. (Voices of Central Pennsylvania David DeIuliis and Suzan Erem December 9, 2010) "This past year, as several extensive construction projects are either scheduled for completion or slated to begin on the University Park campus, Penn State's World Campus has grown by 37 percent and tuition by 5.7 percent. These seeming contradictions raise questions about whether this two-pronged expansion represents healthy growth or needless overgrowth In September, Penn State received an $88 million gift from alumnus Terry Pegula to build a new ice hockey arena and, last week, the Board of Trustees approved plans for the construction of a broadcast facility at Recreation Hall. At the same time, according to the Centre Daily Times, the university has begun an initiative to reduce costs by cutting, consolidating and reorganizing administrative programs and academic departments.."

¹ Spanier opened in part by declaring that "Abraham Lincoln is weeping today," a reference to the Morrill Act of 1862. The act, signed by then-President Lincoln, fostered the creation of land-grant institutions -- including Penn State -- to expand the availability to higher education for the non-elite.

GOP Congressman: Dems Have Diabolical Plan to Shut Down Government

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) is accusing President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi of having a a diabolical plan to shut down the government.

 · Click here for the story, and let us know what you think!

Obama Mocked By GOP In April Fools' Day Ad (VIDEO)

Quote the wisdom of Al "Tim Berners Lee" Gore:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the internet."

Pick a fight with a liberal on:

DIVERSITY.

April 01, 2011 

On Friday's Program 

Media Matters busted in epic Beck slam fail

George Soros can't be a happy camper today. He's spent (wasted) millions on the political hack site Media Matters so they can fight 'disinformation' in the 'conservative' media. They posted a big expose on Glenn yesterday, but all it did was prove that Media Matters employees don't know how to count higher than 400. Check out MMFA's epic fail HERE.

Remember the 'discount loan window'?