Quote: 

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Militant Environmentalists Call for Executions and 'Decisive Ecological Warfare'

The Blaze | by Tiffany Gabbay | Posted on August 9, 2011 at 7:29am

"Do we need a militant movement to save the planet (and ourselves)?"

That was the question posed in recent article on the left-wing site Alternet when it interviewed a group of radical environmentalists who are allegedly endorsing "Decisive Ecological Warfare." And in order to realize their goal of ridding the planet of industrial civilization - even modern agriculture - the group intends to employ tactics "of both militaries and insurgents the world over."

One of the activists, Derrick Jensen, allegedly even believes those who destroy the environment should be summarily executed:

"If it were up to me, all the people associated with the Gulf oil spill, which is murdering the Gulf, would be executed. That would be part of the function of a state," said Jensen.

   Read More . . . 

'Unprecedented' Rioting Has Stretched U.K. Police to Extent Never Seen Before

"This is the uprising of the working class. We're redistributing the wealth."

The Blaze | by Billy Hallowell | Posted on August 9, 2011 at 8:04am

LONDON (The Blaze/AP) - A Scotland Yard official says London police have been stretched to an extent never seen before as a result of three days of rioting in the capital. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh made the comments Tuesday following what he called "unprecedented" rioting.

In a move that corroborates the severity of the situation, British Prime Minister David Cameron recalled Parliament from its summer recess Tuesday and tripled the number of police on the streets of London to deal with the crisis touched off by three days of rioting.

Cameron described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows in London and several other British cities as "sickening," but refrained from more extreme measures such as calling in the military to help beleaguered police restore order. On Monday night, The Blaze brought you intense video that showed the extent of the violence and unrest occurring in England. Below, watch Cameron's statements:

   Read More . . . 

Rick Santelli Fired Up: 'If It Wasn't for the Tea Party We'd Be Rated Triple-B'

The Blaze | by Buck Sexton | Posted on August 8, 2011 at 6:40pm

Rick Santelli - the man whose speech on stimulus and bailouts in February 2009 is credited with helping launch the Tea Party - was fired up in this morning about the lack of leadership in the White House and all the political wrangling around what is really a simple problem- the government spends too much money. 

   Read More . . . 

Who Made Nearly a $1 Billion Bet on U.S. Debt Downgrade?

The Blaze | by Christopher Santarelli | Posted on August 8, 2011 at 3:15pm

In the first trading day following S&P's announcement that the U.S. government credit rating would go from Triple-A down to AA+, U.S. stocks have sharply declined and investors are scramblingto rid themselves of risky assets. With Wall Street in disarray, one investor is smiling after having walked away from the crisis possibly 10 billion dollars richer. ETF Daily News reports that the investor bet on the downgrade, and is now heavily benefiting from it:

"Someone dropped a bomb on the bond market Thursday - a $1 billion Armageddon trade betting the United States will lose its AAA credit rating. In one moment, an invisible trader placed a single trade that moved the most liquid debt market in the world. The massive trade wasn't placed in bonds themselves; it was placed in the futures market. The trade was for block trades of 5,370 10-year Treasury futures executed at 124-03 and 3,100 Treasury bond futures executed at 125-01."

Read More . . . 

THESE PHOTOS JUST BECAME DECLASSIFIED - FROM 9/11

The anniversary of 9/11 is coming up.  We must never forget what happened and who was responsible.  The threat is still with us of more destruction to come.  Those radical islamist tell us so all the time.  We all seem to dismiss it.  We must press our Congress to look into all those who may be amongst us now training and getting ready to launch another attack.  We must never allow a mosque to built any where near that sacred ground.  Please be at the rally on 9/11 as the Mayor has given approval for the mosque to be built.

We the people must rise up and say NO!

   See the Pic's Here . . . 

Press Release:

AFDI/SIOA 9/11 Freedom Rally: 

Stand Against Ground Zero Mosque, and Durban III, Stand for America

NEW YORK, July 6: The human rights organization American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) will be hosting its second annual 9/11 Freedom Rally on September 11 at 3pm at Park Place and West Broadway.

Free citizens are coming from all over the U.S. to attend the rally. "It is crucial to stand for freedom on this tenth anniversary of the heinous 9/11 jihad attacks," said AFDI Executive Director Pamela Geller. "We must show the jihadists we are unbowed in the defense of freedom."

AFDI and its Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) program are encouraging all Americans to stand against the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero and the anti-Semitic Durban III conference that will be held in New York City at the same time, and for American values on the tenth anniversary of the worst attack ever on American soil.

The confirmed list of speakers includes 9/11 family members Alexander and Maureen Santora, who lost their firefighter son Christopher; Sally Regenhard, whose son Christian was killed on 9/11; Nelly Braginsky, who lost her son Alexander; and others.

Other speakers include former U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton (video message); the courageous ex-Muslim human rights activist Wafa Sultan; war hero and North Carolina Congressional candidate Ilario Pantano; former prosecutor and bestselling author Andrew C. McCarthy; popular radio host Joyce Kaufman; Darla Dawald, National Director of the Patriot Action Network; James Lafferty of the Virginia Anti-Sharia Taskforce (VAST); Coptic Christian activist Joseph Nassralla; Iraqi ex-Muslim Paul Gaynos.

Hosting the rally are Pamela Geller, publisher of the acclaimed AtlasShrugs.com blog, executive director of AFDI and SIOA, and author of Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance (WND Books); and AFDI/SIOA associate director Robert Spencer, the bestselling author and director of Jihad Watch.

Building the Ground Zero mosque is not an issue of religious freedom, but of resisting an effort to insult the victims of 9/11 and to establish a beachhead for political Islam and Islamic supremacism in New York. Cordoba Initiative board member imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is an open proponent of Sharia, Islamic law, a system that denies the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people before the law. Given the thousands of triumphal mosques that have been built on the cherished sites of conquered peoples throughout Islamic history, the mosque leaders' claim that this mosque would be understood differently by Muslims worldwide lack foundation.

The Durban III conference follows upon two previous conferences that scapegoated and demonized the state of Israel in service of Islamic jihad and Islamic supremacist interests. The rally will defend Israel against the defamation to which it will be subjected at this conference. It will also call upon the city to remove roadblocks to the reconstruction of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed on 9/11 and since then mired in bureaucratic red tape that has prevented its rebuilding - in stark contrast to the help Mayor Bloomberg and other city officials have given to the Ground Zero Mosque project.

AFDI/SIOA is one of America's foremost organizations defending human rights, religious liberty, and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation and attempts to bring elements of Sharia to the United States.

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

   Glenn Beck Restoring Courage Viewing Party : On Wednesday, August 24 we will be streaming the event at The Moose and we're inviting everyone to come down and share this together.  Many of us went to the Restoring Honor event last year and we were deeply moved by the day's events.  Being with others we know made this even more special.  Although we are not going to travel to Israel, we are hoping that we can recreate that atmosphere here in Bucks County.  We are still in the development stages of this event and would like to hear your suggestions on how to have it work out.  And if you can help with the planning, set up and the break down, please let us know.  These events are even more special when you are part of the effort to make it come off well for everyone who comes.  Be sure to invite your friends and family to come as well.  This would be a great opportunity to meet other patriots and meet some new ones.

   Let us know you are coming on our Facebook event post .  

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There will be weekly meetings every Wednesday at P J Ryan's, 231 Bridge Street, Phoenixville - 6pm - downstairs

We will be discussing UN Agenda 21 & Sustainable Development, as well as other topics relevant with today's problems like the NWO, Congress, debt, how to be prepared for the future disasters, etc.... At this weeks meeting will start with sending some people over to sit in on the meeting below.  We need to know what our opposition is doing  . . . If you have any questions please feel free to email me back or contact Maggie at www.theunsolicitedopinion.com or Maggie@theunsolicitedopinion.com

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CONTACT Diane about this email at : uncanney2@verizon.net   

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DO YOU FEEL SOMETHING IS WRONG & WONDER WHY THINGS DO NOT GET FIXED & YOUR REPRESENTATIVES DO NOT LISTEN TO YOU . . .

Please Join Us  to Find out Why . . .

The Shadow Party (who really controls our government), Continuing Education on UN Agenda 21:   How old is Agenda 21?  The roots of Agenda 21 and sustainable building today, an Architects perspective & Nullification - lawful remedies to stop the national government's usurpations. 

Saturday, August 20^th  - 6pm . . .

P J Ryan's, 231 Bridge Street, Phoenixville -  downstairs private dining area

2 hr free parking on street and free lots at both ends of town (District Court Building, & near Customer's 1^st Bank).  There are several metered lots throughout the borough at $1 per hour.  Parking meters are centrally located in each lot and take coins and credit/debit cards. 

Who/what is the Shadow Party.  How old is Agenda 21?  What are the roots of Agenda 21 and sustainable building today?    Find out and use lawful remedies to stop the national government's usurpations.   Speakers include, Jack Callahan, Dave Adamski, Jr., and William Taylor Reil. 

For more info:  www.theunsolicitedopinion.com

Contact:  Maggie  - maggie@theunsolicitedopinion.com or

Diane - uncanny2@verizon.net

RedState Morning Briefing

For August 9, 2011

1. About Charleston and Rick Perry

According to news reports, Rick Perry is announcing he'll be running for President at the RedState Gathering.

I know nothing. My information comes from these same news reports.

The RedState Gathering is the same day as the straw poll in Ames, IA.

If the Governor announces or, as Reuters suggests, "strongly hints" well then that's just cool and fine with me.

See, I told you people you should have registered for the Gathering. It is my understanding that his speech will be carried live by several networks. He will speak at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 13th.

In other words, last week House Republican Leaders were pushing a story that neither I nor this site have any credibility or influence and now . . .

2. Barack Obama's George Bush Problem

Barack Obama has a George Bush problem. This is not a W problem, but an H. W. problem.

Back in 1991, George H. W. Bush's approval rating went up to between 89% and 91% in February of that year. He was on a high from winning the Iraq War.

The Democrats were confounded and had no real answer to put up as an alternative. There was a free for all. But something started happening to President Bush - gravity in the polling.

Despite the war success, the country was in the tank. Making matters worse, his base felt he'd sold them down the river exchanging tax increases after they'd read his lips for spending cuts that never materialized. The right wanted nothing to do with him and the left hated him.

In short, after winning a war and seeing historic job approval ratings, his base decided he was a sell out and the left disagreed with his policies.

His polling fell 30 points in about 4 months and further nosedived into the high twenties by July of 1992. It was the economy stupid - and the perception that George H. W. Bush was a terrific guy, but a terrible leader.

Now we have this whining piece from Emorhoid pschy professor Drew Westen to this bit of contempt and pity from Dana Milbank. Both are about Barack Obama's failure of leadership.

A lot of people are looking to the election of 1980 and Carter vs. Reagan. Today, Bill McGurn goes there.

But I maintain, and have for a while, that Barack Obama has a George H. W. Bush problem and the closest parallel is the election of 1992. But with either analogy, Barack Obama has a very real problem.

3. In All Seriousness, What If Barack Obama Is Right?

Seriously. All you people on left and right, suspend your disbelief for one minute. Seriously.

What if Barack Obama was right and S&P just got it wrong.

Here's what I'm hearing and it gives credence to this theory.

S&P, I'm told, began telling some of its clients about the downgrade on Friday morning. That's why the market was so screwed up on Friday.

By Friday afternoon, the Treasury Department told S&P it had made a $2 trillion math mistake.

But S&P had already told its clients about the downgrade. So it couldn't walk it back now without a major loss of confidence in its credibility. Could you imagine that conversation? "Hey . . . um . . . Joe. Yeah, Charlie here from S&P. So . . .um . . . we made a $2 trillion math mistake in our downgrade analysis. . . . What's that? You just lost $500 million in the market because of it? Oh . . . um . . . sorry Joe. Better luck next time."

So it had to come up with a different reason.

4. DEA now linked to Operation Fast & Furious.

It would appear that the DEA does not want to be the fall guy in Operation Fast & Furious*, either: DEA head Michele M. Leonhart admitted in a letter to Senator Grassley (Judiciary) and Rep. Issa (Oversight) that her organization was in fact involved in the investigation, and provided support for it. This is a significant admission by Ms. Leonhart, given that (as Bob Owens** of Pajamas Media reminds us) there is an existing allegation by the former head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives (BATFE) Phoenix office that the DEA was a full partner in the proceedings.

5. It's Time for a Balanced Approach to Deficits and Green Energy

The Democrats think the American people are stupid. Throughout the debt ceiling imbroglio, Obama and every single elected Democrat have regurgitated their talking points about a balanced solution to the debt crisis. They have insulted the intelligence of every voter by intimating that the budget can be balanced by eliminating a few tax credits. No, they don't want to talk about the tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities to Medicare and Social Security. They refuse to confront the ballooning cost of all the welfare programs. The only thing they want to discuss is eliminating a few tax credits for oil companies and corporate jets.

6. Jean-Claude Trichet's Italian Job

Jean-Claude Trichet, the outgoing governor of the European Central Bank, just announced that the ECB will engage in purchases of euro-denominated bonds issued by Spain and Italy. This long-resisted move is intended to stem the latest flareup of the sovereign-debt heartburn that is a far greater threat to financial-market stability than the US debt downgrade. If the ECB manage to sustain this, it probably will work, for a while at least.

If you're an investor in Italian or Spanish (or French) debt, your goals are pretty simple: you just want to enjoy the benefits of higher interest rates, while being assured by someone more credible than Spain or Italy that you'll get your money back. Can't blame people for wanting a free lunch, especially if Uncle Trichet is scared enough to offer it to them.

There are two enormous problems with Trichet's announcement.

Tell a liberal how much you admire the lofty neutrality and commitment to truth at all costs of their house journal the New York Times.

The Times gloatingly, cheer leadingly reported the case of the Duke lacrosse players who had supposedly raped a Durham stripper-(a liberal dream story: rich white kids gang rape a poor black woman)-right up until the point where it emerged that the boys might be innocent. When a Times reporter tried writing a story summarizing the defense lawyer's evidence, the story was killed and the reporter replaced with someone more sympathetic to the prosecution. The Times also kept standing up for DA Mike Nifong-until his handling of the case was shown to be so corrupt he was disbarred and sent to jail. After a public outcry from disgusted readers, the Times claimed that "most flaws flowed from journalistic lapses rather than ideological bias." Uh-huh. 

 Susan's Paul Ryan Medicare Pamphlet - please print this and give it to your contacts

Christie's 'Crazies'

Sharia is not a figment of our imagination. 
Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO

This "sharia-law business is crap . . . and I'm tired of dealing with the crazies!" So blustered Chris Christie. Bluster is the New Jersey governor's default mode. It has certainly served him well. When directed at surly advocates of New Jersey's teachers' unions - who, after all, deserve it - bluster can apparently make a conservative heartthrob out of a pol whose bite is bipartisan moderate, however titillating his bark may be.

The style is so effective that Christie seems to be trying it out on everyone. A few weeks back, a local reporter had the audacity to ask His Honor whether he believes in creationism or evolution - a question that seemed more pertinent than impertinent in light of the controversy over whether the former ought to be taught in the schools that the governor's 9 million constituents subsidize to the tune of $11 billion annually. Yet his answer was to growl, "That's...

Read the whole entry »

America, infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah

How the CIA Helped The Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrate the West 
by Jerry Gordon (August 2011)

In April of 2007, then House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer had an encounter with Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood representatives in Cairo. Fox News reported:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with the Muslim Brotherhood's parliament leader, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, twice on Thursday - once at the parliament building and then at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said Brotherhood spokesman Hamdi Hassan.

U.S. Embassy spokesman John Berry would only confirm that Hoyer, who represents Maryland, met with el-Katatni at U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone's home at a reception with other politicians and parliament members.

But Berry said U.S. government policy does not bar meetings with Brotherhood members of parliament and Hoyer's talks with el-Katatni were not a change in U.S. policy toward the group.

"It's our diplomatic practice...

Read the whole entry »

Obama's only policy

By Caroline B. Glick, WND 
How he's shrewdly succeeding in his battle against the Middle East's sole democracy.
Hyperbole? Hardly

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has explained repeatedly over the years that Israel has no Palestinian partner to negotiate with. So news reports this week that Netanyahu agreed that the 1949 armistice lines, (commonly misrepresented as the 1967 borders), will be mentioned in terms of reference for future negotiations with the Palestinian Authority seemed to come out of nowhere.

Israel has no one to negotiate with because the Palestinians reject Israel's right to exist. This much was made clear yet again last month when senior PA "negotiator" Nabil Sha'ath said in an interview with Arabic News Broadcast, "The story of 'two states for two peoples' means that there will be a Jewish people over there and a Palestinian people here. We will never accept this."

Given the...

Read the whole entry »

Obama is not committed to Israel's security

Obama's hollow claim of commitment to Israel's security 

By MORTON KLEIN AND DANIEL MANDEL

For a year, Obama prohibited any new US sanctions to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons - a looming existential threat to both Israel and the US.

Is President Barack Obama committed to Israel's security? Reassuring bromides to that effect in his recent speeches are nullified by specific statements that spell out dangerous Israeli concessions and disregard for Israeli vital interests. Worse, the administration's wider Middle East policies further denude those commitments of meaning.

Thus, when Obama said Israel must have secure, recognized borders "different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967," many missed the point that this means little, when the new borders are to be "based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps" and therefore be virtually indistinguishable from those lines. Indeed, with Palestinians unlikely to agree to any swaps, Obama gave the...

Read the whole entry »

JPOST apologizes for telling it like it is

Fresno-Zionism   

It is distressing when an honest person, or newspaper, speaks the truth and is bullied into taking it back.

On July 25, the Jerusalem Post published an editorial ("Norway's challenge") about the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Norway.

The editorial - which at least for now still exists on the Web, but is no longer linked from the Post's editorial pages - was quite clear in denouncing the murderous actions of Anders Breivik. But it included this:

While it is still too early to determine definitively Breivik's precise motives, it could very well be that the attack was more pernicious - and more widespread - than the isolated act of a lunatic. Perhaps Brievik's inexcusable act of vicious terror should serve not only as a warning that there may be more elements on the extreme Right willing to use violence to further their goals, but also as an opportunity to seriously reevaluate policies for immigrant integration in Norway and...

Read the whole entry »

August 8, 2011     Fatwa rationalizes pedophilia  

The commentary below highlights a recent fatwa issued by a top Saudi cleric regarding child brides and sex with female children.

Note this statement from the fatwa, regarding how old girls should be before marriage. Dr. Salih bin Fawzan asserts that "...the only criterion is that they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of men."

For those who claim this can't be happening in America, we have seen reports of Muslim men immigrating to Europe, the UK, and to the United States, and identifying their child brides as relatives, such as daughters, in order to avoid scrutiny from Western laws that prohibit pedophilia.

We have no doubt this is happening here. Just one more example of how sharia law is penetrating and threatening America.

Earlier this month we saw-or rather, were once again reminded-that Islam permits pedophilia in the guise of "marriage": Top Saudi cleric, Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for girls to marry, "even if they are in the cradle," and that the only criterion is that "they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men."

Admirable patience to childish antics

While this practice speaks for itself, it is interesting to witness the great lengths some Muslims go to justify or rationalize it-or even to turn it into a source of pride.

Consider, for example, this Muslim cleric discussing Muhammad's marriage to the child Aisha when she was nine. Far from blushing for shame, the cleric actually uses this anecdote to boast of the prophet's "patience" and "magnanimity." Translation of relevant excerpt follows:

The story of the prophet's marriage to Aisha reveals to us aspects like the prophet's conduct with Aisha, and more importantly the aspect regarding the relationship between the husband and wife, to show how one should treat his wife, just as the prophet did with Aisha.

CAIR: Thanks For Defending Muslims, Chris Christie!

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2011

The Warrior's Tale

The warrior's tale is a simple enough thing. Strong as steel, but fragile as chance. It is the wind in his soul and the wall we build around ourselves to tell us who we are.

 

Before there were cities or nations, and railways and airports, computers and telephones-- the tale was told around campfires. Acted out in pantomime, dressed up in animal furs and cave paintings. But the tale was the same. The people were confronted with a threat and they called upon the best and strongest of their men to go out and fight it. These were their warriors. What they did in the face of that threat is the tale.

The tale has many variations. Sometimes there are many warriors, sometimes only a handful. They march into the village of the enemy in triumph, or they make a last stand on a rocky outcropping, spending the last of their heart's blood to buy time they will never know. There is the weak man who becomes strong, the strong man who becomes weak, the woman who mourns the man who will never return, and the man who goes off to battle with nothing to lose. These tales have been told countless times in the ages of men, and they will be told again for as long as men endure.

It is not only the warriors who need the tale, or those left behind. Future generation learn who they are from this tale. "We are the people who died for this land," is the unseen moral of each tale. "We bled for it. We died for it. Now it is yours to bleed and die for."
 

Fellow Patriots,

This article poses a very disturbing question, framed by the recent London riots that injured 26 police officers, but comes to the wrong conclusion.  While it recognizes that England's appeasement policies have rewarded those who violently protested their condition, and that this incentive system has encouraged more violence, it comes to the untenable conclusion that the proper solution is pre-emptive appeasement.  That is, the government should buy off people by providing them with an enjoyable lifestyle before they decide to blame the government for their discontent and become violent.  This solution is untenable because the government simply doesn't have the resources to provide for everyone who is unsatisfied with their place in life.  Any attempt to do so would "tax the rich" so severely that they'd have no incentive to work, ultimately leaving everyone poorer.

In other words, this article's author has found a back-door way to propose socialism or communism as the solution to the riots, despite the fact that Britain is already quite socialistic.  Have we forgotten the history of a few decades ago so completely that people can actually think that socialism in the name of appeasement is the solution?

So how does this commentary fit with our focus on Islam?  It fits because appeasement has historically been the most popular approach to dealing with Muslim unrest.  The lesson we need to learn is that appeasement actually encourages more unrest, because it confirms that violence is a winning strategy.

If appeasement doesn't work, then what is the alternative?  While I can't claim to have all the solutions, it appears that a suite of approaches may put a damper on violence:

• As we did during the Cold War, we should emphasize that the government cannot possibly solve people's financial or lifestyle problems.  The most effective thing it can do is enforce laws that create a level playing field for people to work and live in, free of corruption and intended to reward hard work.
• Go on the rhetorical offensive regarding people who want to blame society for their problems.  Blaming society only creates out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire revolts against society itself, leaving nothing but chaos in their wake. 
• This is particularly true with regard to Islamists who reject Western society and claim that "Islam is the solution."  We must be fully prepared to demonstrate how and why Islam is NOT the solution, by showing how it has led to poverty and political instability wherever it is practiced, and that this is a long-time historical phenomenon, not simply the result of "colonialism."
• When possible, deport those who seek to stir up riots.  Immigrants do not have the right to reject the societies into which they have voluntarily moved.  If they don't like Western society, they need to GO HOME.

As a nation, we have to prepare to apply these kinds of tactics because it is a sure thing that wherever there is discontent, there will be Muslims claiming that "Islam is the solution."  They WANT the West to fail, and will be glad to fan the flames of discontent whenever they can.  Unless we are prepared to put out these fires, they will succeed.

As a bonus, a second article on the copy-cat riots going on in London follows the one below.  Note its self-destructive, head-in-the-sand liberal language, which is highlighted for your convenience.

Dave

The sad truth behind London riot  

By Martin Fletcher, NBC News correspondent

LONDON -- As political and social protests grip the Middle East, are growing in Europe and a riot exploded in north London this weekend, here's a sad truth, expressed by a Londoner when asked by a television reporter: Is rioting the correct way to express your discontent?

"Yes," said the young man. "You wouldn't be talking to me now if we didn't riot, would you?"

Department of Justice Sues Alabama

 In a complaint filed early last week, the U.S. government filed suit against the State of Alabama to prevent the state's recently-passed immigration law from taking effect in September. In the filings, the U.S. argued for H.B. 56 to be preliminarily and permanently enjoined from enforcement. The federal government asserts that numerous provisions of Alabama's law are preempted by federal laws and therefore violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

Read the full article

DHS Tells Governors it Doesn't Need Their Permission for Secure Communities

On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent letters to governors of the 39 states participating in Secure Communities, informing them that it was rescinding their memorandums of agreement to participate in the fingerprint-sharing program. (LA Times, Aug. 6, 2011) The rescissions, however, do not signal an end to the program, but rather an acknowledgement by the government that Secure Communities is a mandatory program that does not require an agreement with the state.

Read the full article

House Passes Two Immigration Bills before Recess

Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed two immigration bills: H.R. 398 and H.R. 1933. The first bill, H.R. 398, is sponsored by Immigration Subcommittee ranking chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to toll (stop from running) the 90-day period in which an alien and petitioning spouse must file a petition and complete an interview to remove the alien's conditional legal permanent resident status while either the alien or petitioning spouse is a member of the U.S. military serving abroad.

Read the full article

Today's Headlines:  Monday, August 08, 2011

S&P Executive Cites Obama's Characterization of U.S. Economy As 'Dysfunctional'

No Statement or Comment from Obama on U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade

A Statement, But No Public Comment from Obama, on U.S. Troop Tragedy in Afghanistan
 

All contributions to CNSNews.com are being matched dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000! Please make a tax deductible gift today and your support will be doubled!

Boehner Paid $16,176 Tax Dollars in 2010 for Food, Beverages, Bottled Water

Hoyer Spent $17,945 in Tax Dollars in 2010 at 'Corner Bakery'

 Geithner: S&P Showed Terrible Judgment

Iranian-Backed Shi'ite Cleric Threatens U.S. Troops in Iraq

Obama Calls for More Federal Money for Roads, Bridges and Airports to Create Jobs

S&P Begins Downgrading Credit Ratings Linked to U.S.

Amid Waning Support, Syria's Assad Defends Crackdown Against 'Outlaws'

Obamanomics: Unemployment Drops to 4.3% for College Grads, Spikes to 15% for HS Dropouts

NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:

Decision to arm library guards in Gilbert sparks debate
Retiree health: Shift to Medicare could save R.I. cities millions
Back home in Kansas City, lawmakers find strong feelings about budget fight
Mexican military helicopter lands in Texas by mistake
Medicare costs for hospice up 70%
Prayer rally, a political gamble, pays off for Rick Perry
Tea Party Nation CEO: Liberal ideology has killed "a billion people"
S&P's sent flub-filled draft press release to Treasury Dept.
Democrats ready to wage state Senate recall war in Wisconsin
81 U.S. lawmakers planning trip to Israel
More gender equality leads to more sex, global study shows
Incivility a growing problem at work, psychologists say
S&P executive says it could take over a decade to restore US credit rating

Pollster: Americans Are "Pre-Revolutionary" 

Just 17 per cent believe U.S. government has consent of the governed

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Monday, August 8, 2011

 

Amidst riots in central Europe that have now spread to London and a debt downgrade that threatens to plunge the United States into a double-dip recession, Americans' lack of confidence in their leadership is so crippled that they are now "pre-revolutionary," according to pollster Pat Caddell.

A new Rasmussen poll shows that just 17 per cent of Americans believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed, an all time low. This dovetails with a record low for Congress' approval rating, which stands at a paltry 6 per cent, while 46 per cent of Americans think most members of Congress are corrupt, with just 29% believing otherwise.

"The number of voters who feel the government has the consent of the governed - a foundational principle, contained in the Declaration of Independence - is down from 23% in early May and has fallen to its lowest level measured yet," according to Rasmussen.

Welfare advocates say new Massachusetts law unfair

No more booze, cigs & lotto

A new law making it illegal for people on welfare to use the money for alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets is an "attack" on the state's most vulnerable residents, according to welfare advocates.

Critics say the bill, signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last week, does nothing more than stigmatize low-income people as prone to vices and irresponsible with money.  State officials and bill backers said this week they have no data showing that welfare recipients are misusing their benefits because it's almost impossible to track. The reason behind the law, they said, is closing a "loophole."

Click here to read the full article at the Bourne-Courier

Gay man faked hate crime in Iowa City

Blames 'Black guy'

Police have charged an Iowa City man who had reported he may have been the victim of a hate crime with filing a false report.

Ryan Grant Watson, 30, was charged July 27 with providing a false report to law enforcement, a serious misdemeanor.

Click here to read the full article at the Daily Iowan

USPS posts $3.1 billion loss in Q3, warns of default

Gov't sponsored USPS

The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in.

Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

The Madman Theory

Moronic Op/Ed

I had breakfast this week with one of Hollywood's most ferocious, self-confident and successful doers of deals. He was still steamed about what an unforgivably lousy negotiator his president had been on the debt ceiling agreement.

One particular Obama move he found appalling above all the rest. "There is a provision in our Constitution that speaks to making sure that the United States meets its obligations," the president had said, referring to Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, "and there have been some suggestions" - by Bill Clinton and various legal scholars - "that a president could use that language to basically ignore that debt ceiling rule."

Click here to read the full article at The New York Times

Is the Tea Party over?

Clarence Page blames Tea Party

Has the tea party peaked? Republican lawmakers affiliated with the upstart anti-tax movement scored big in the nerve-racking debt-ceiling debacle, but the victory left enough hard feelings to feed the movement's ultimate defeat.

To quote an old Chicago White Sox slogan from the 1980s, their achievement was a case of "winning ugly."

Click here to read the full article at the Chicago Tribune

White House adviser blames tea party for downgrade

Axelrod blames us

A top White House adviser is blaming the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating on tea party Republicans, whom he says were unwilling to compromise on how to reduce the federal debt.

The adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, tells CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the decision by the Standard & Poor's credit agency to downgrade the U.S. from AAA to AA+ for the first time was strongly influenced by weeks of standoff between Democrats and Republicans over the debt.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

Lessons of the crisis

Problem with American economy is Americans

It is hard to remember a more dismal moment in American politics. The debt-ceiling crisis and the agreement that ended it point to deep dysfunction in our system. In a variety of ways, the episode portends continued short-term economic misery and long-term national decline. It's as if the United States chose at the last minute not to commit financial suicide-but only out of preference for a slower, more excruciating form of self-destruction.

The crisis has, however, been clarifying in several respects. To begin with, we can now say with some confidence that Washington will be doing nothing more to help the ailing economy. President Obama is trying to push a jobs agenda. But for the federal government to spur growth or create jobs, it has to spend additional money. The antediluvian Republicans who control Congress do not think that demand can be expanded in this way. They believe that the 2009 stimulus bill, which has prevented an even worse economy over the past two years, is actually responsible for the current weakness. Their Hooverite approach-embedded in the debt-ceiling compromise-demands that we address the risk of a double-dip recession by cutting public expenditure now rather than later.

Click here to read the full article at Slate

Obama and the narcissism of big difference

Eric Cantor the new target of hate

Whatever the rhetoric that preceded this week's deal, the debt-ceiling debate was never really about the debt at all. It was about the terms on which the debate would continue. The "two different worldviews" that divide Washington, explains Eric Cantor, are too far apart for anything more than an armistice. Still, listening to the House majority leader-who says the deal is "not perfect" but "there were some achievements"-it's remarkable that the two parties were able to agree even to its modest terms.

The "philosophical starting point" of today's Democrats, as Mr. Cantor sees it, is that they "believe in a welfare state before they believe in capitalism. They promote economic programs of redistribution to close the gap of the disparity between the classes. That's what they're about: redistributive politics." The Virginian's contempt is obvious in his Tidewater drawl. "The assumption . . . is that there is some kind of perpetual engine of economic prosperity in America that is going to just continue. And therefore they are able to take from those who create and give to those who don't. We just have a fundamentally different view."

Click here to read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

August 7, 2011

Brent Bozell: 'Delusional' media attack GOP in debt deal coverage

NEWSMAX - Media Research Center founder and conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III says the media backlash against grass-roots conservatism following the debt-ceiling deal is so extreme as to reflect "an exercise in delusional thinking," and charges most media outlets are "completely in the tank" for President Barack Obama in his bid to win re-election... (more)
 

August 7, 2011

The people vs. the ruling class

JOSEPH FARAH - Back in 2008, the "permanent government," as I call the establishment clique that actually runs America, whipped up the people and their elected representatives in Washington into hysteria over an economic crisis that the ruling class had itself perpetrated... (more)
 

August 7, 2011

Obama sticking by Geithner

BLOOMBERG NEWS - Timothy Geithner has told President Barack Obama that he will remain on the job as Treasury secretary, ending speculation he would leave the administration. The Treasury Department released a statement Sunday saying Geithner had informed the president of his decision to remain in the administration... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

County limits free speech to 3'x3' space ... in woods

WORLDNETDAILY - A Michigan woman is suing her county over limiting her petition gathering to a 3-by-3-foot square of ground in a 135-acre park, a restriction one attorney said is in the running for the title of the "most unconstitutional [free] speech zone ever"... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Obama's downgraded America

WASHINGTON TIMES - The Obama administration has made history by presiding over the first-ever downgrade in the U.S. credit rating. President Obama has outdone all his predecessors in wrecking America's good name. His answer to this problem: Spend even more... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Downgrade may cloud Obama re-election bid

BLOOMBERG NEWS - The downgrade of the U.S.'s AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor's darkens President Barack Obama's re-election chances while also damaging members of Congress from both parties as they prepare for the 2012 campaign, political analysts said... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Ron Paul: Debt deal is a 'fraud'

NEWSMAX - Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul tells Newsmax the bill designed to cut the budget deficit and raise the debt ceiling is a "fraud" because it actually does nothing to reduce current spending levels. The Texas lawmaker also says it is "discouraging" that many new members of Congress who were backed by the tea party voted in favor of the bill, the Budget Control Act of 2011... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

The ACLU's summer of discontent

ROBERT KNIGHT - Sigmund Freud famously asked, "What does a woman want? A far easier question to answer would be: "What does the ACLU want?" C.S. Lewis observed that the agenda of the left is to make pornography public and religion private... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Perry: Turn to God for answers to nation's woes

ASSOCIATED PRESS - Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking Christians to turn to God for answers to the nation's troubles as he holds court over a national prayer event attended by roughly 30,000 people. The Republican who is considering running for president delivered a speech that included prayer and Bible verses. He said that a return to Christian ideals can help solve the nation's problems... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

American collapse

MARK STEYN - Unless things change, the man (or woman) elected in 2012 will be the last American president to preside over the world's leading economy. If things get really bad, he will find himself presiding over the early stages of American collapse. Not "decline" but "collapse"... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

Schooling Matt Damon

MICHELLE MALKIN - Actor Matt Damon is a walking, talking public service reminder to immunize your children early and often against La-La-Land disease. In Damon's world, all public school teachers are selfless angels. Government workers and Hollywood entertainers are impervious to economic incentives. And anyone who disagrees is a know-nothing, "corporate reformer" ingrate who hates education... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

The case against Perry

JOSEPH FARAH - Some people still don't appreciate why Rick Perry's remark to Republican fat cats condoning the New York Legislature's vote to approve same-sex marriage should disqualify him from consideration for the Republican presidential nomination. Here's an example of one quizzical letter I received on the topic: "Logically, how is Rick Perry's response on gay marriage incorrect?... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

RNC stomps Electoral College switch

WASHINGTON TIMES - A move to change the way America elects its president got a clear thumbs down in a vote by members of the Republican National Committee on Friday. A resolution opposing the National Popular Vote initiative won support of every voting RNC member but one who voted "present" instead of "yes"... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

Tea party reshaping GOP

ASSOCIATED PRESS - The tea party is here to stay after its powerful role in the debt-ceiling debate. Now the GOP establishment wonders if the movement will sweep Republicans to victories in 2012 or dash them on the rocks of unbending ideology. The tea party already is reshaping the Republican Party. Once-moderate lawmakers are shifting sharply right. They fear primary challenges more than Democratic opponents... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

Obama: the New Jimmy Carter

BRADLEY BLAKEMAN - The evidence is mounting more than ever to suggest that President Barack Obama is morphing into a failed Democratic President Jimmy Carter. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in her Op-Ed article of July 30, 2011, said: "Democratic lawmakers worry that the Tea Party freshmen have already 'neutered' the president, as one told me... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

Tea Party blocks Obama appointees

EMILY MILLER - Anti-business liberals aren't going to sneak their way into powerful administration positions this summer. Recess appoinments are a traditional method used by the White House - under both parties - to fill government slots without Senate confirmation... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

Tea Party 'terrorists'

JEFFREY T. KUHNER - Vice President Joseph R. Biden believes Tea Party Republicans are right-wing jihadists. Following the debt-ceiling deal, in a private Democratic Caucus meeting, Mr. Biden joined several Democrats in accusing conservative House Republicans of behaving like "terrorists"... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

Boehner, tea party, and leadership: the power of tension

WES VERNON, RA ANALYST - "I love you guys," House Speaker John Boehner is reported to have said at a meeting with the tea party freshmen. That comment despite the fact that those same men and women who came to this city to "change the way Washington works" gave the Ohioan a hellfire test of his leadership in the debt ceiling debate... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

DeMint may turn on GOP backers of debt bill

NEWSMAX - Some of the 28 Republican senators who voted for the new debt/deficit law may find themselves on the receiving end of powerhouse conservative Sen. Jim DeMint's ire. The South Carolina Republican pledged after last year's elections that he wouldn't support any challengers to his Republican Senate colleagues... (more)

Dear Patriot,
 
Hold on-- it's about to be a bumpy ride.  S&P has downgraded the United States AAA credit rating and the economy is volatile.  It is clear that the projected federal deficit over the next 10 years brings into question the long-term stability of the American economy. 
 
Washington missed the opportunity to address its spending addiction during the debt ceiling debate. This provided further evidence that under the current system, the government is unworthy of the solemn responsibility that the American people have granted it.  
 
Only one plan was presented during the entire debt ceiling debate that would have preserved America's credit rating.  It was the "Cut, Cap, and Balance Act," which passed the Republican/Tea Party-controlled House of Representatives but was immediately tabled by the dinosaurs and Democrats in the Senate. The only way that we can avoid finding ourselves in this situation perpetually is to amend the Constitution to require the federal government to balance its budget.
 
Click here to to demand a balanced budget!

August 08, 2011

 

SEN. KERRY BLAMES THE DOWNGRADE ON... 
Last week, John Kerry suggested that media outlets should stop giving equal air time to to the Tea Party. Yesterday, Kerry appeared on NBC's Meet The Press" where he blamed the S&P downgrade on the upstart political group. See the video HERE.

GEORGE WILL CONFRONTS MSNBC ANALYST 
Conservative commentator George Will joined the round table on ABC's Sunday news program This Week. Will delivered a terrific lesson in fact-checking to regular MSNBC guest, Steve Rattner. Watch the clip HERE.

AL GORE 'UNSPOOLS' during CLIMATE RANT 
During a speech delivered last week at the Aspen Institute in Colorado, former Vice President Al Gore became frustrated and unleased a string of obscentities. Listen to the surprising audio HERE.

OBAMA = CARTER 2.0, DEBT THREATENS LIBERTY, WHY IS THE WHITE HOUSE SILENT? 
So many news stories. . . So little time to pick the important ones. That's why you visit the "Must-Reads" on The Blaze. Monday Morning's Must-Reads await you HERE. 

SEAL TEAM 6 WIDOW'S MOVING TRIBUTE TO HER DEAD HUSBAND 
Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn was one of the thirty US troops killed in a devastating helicopter crash in Afghanistan this past Saturday. Aaron's widow Kimberly talked about the awful moment when she realized her husband had died in combat, and paid tribute the hero she loved HERE.

VIRAL VIDEO DU JOUR - SEE THE BAT THAT GROUNDED A DELTA FLIGHT! 
Last Friday, a Delta Airlines flight en route to Atlanta was forced to return to Madison, WI when a bat was discovered flying inside the passenger cabin. Watch the video of the confused critter HERE.




'VACATION LIBERTY SCHOOL' TEACHES FOUNDERS' VALUES TO YOUNG AMERICANS 
The Kentucky 9/12 Project has created a five-day summer school program that is designed to teach young citizens about faith, politics, and founding values. Read about this award-winning program HERE. 

Brief · August 8, 2011

The Foundation

"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass." --George Washington

For the Record

"The Obama administration and congressional Democrats are betting their political futures on the hope that the American electorate is ignorant and forgetful, and hence the memo has gone out to functionaries hither and yon, from David Axelrod to John Kerry: This is to be called the 'tea-party downgrade.' That this is said with straight faces bespeaks either an unshakable contempt for the mind of the American voter or an as-yet unplumbed capacity for Democratic self-delusion. Let us revisit the facts. The original debt-ceiling deal put forward by the Democrats totaled $0.00 in debt reduction. This would have fallen approximately $4 trillion short of the $4 trillion in debt reduction the credit-rating agencies suggested would constitute a 'credible' step toward maintaining our AAA rating and avoiding a downgrade. ... The Democrats have suggested that Republicans' refusal to accede to tax hikes is the main reason Standard & Poor's felt it necessary to issue a downgrade, the first in American history, last Friday evening. In their assessment of Standard & Poor's reasoning, the Democrats are acutely at odds with Standard & Poor's. The credit-rating agency did not call for tax hikes in its assessment. ... But S&P, along with the other credit-rating agencies, has long taken a position on one aspect of our fiscal troubles: entitlement reform. ... As anybody who has looked at our long-term deficit projections knows, entitlement spending is the major driver of our future deficits. ... Tea-party leaders, far from being a barrier to entitlement reform, have demanded it. ... The deal that finally did pass would have contained significantly more in deficit-reduction, except for the fact that Democrats categorically refused to consider -- is this sounding familiar? -- entitlement reform, the most important issue. ... Democrats believe that they have discovered a cartoon villain in the Tea Party, and they are hoping that American voters are gullible enough to be distracted by the political theatrics. Come November 2012, Americans should keep in mind both the insult and the injury -- to the nation and its credit." --National Review

What does the downgrade mean?

Opinion in Brief

"It seems to me that, on any reasonable assessment, the gulf between the parties on fiscal policy is becoming more difficult to bridge, not less. Pessimism on that score seems entirely justified, so it's hard to argue with S&P['s credit rating downgrade] on at least that specific point. I do think the outlook for fundamental fiscal agreement before the 2012 election is bleak. After that, things could change dramatically for the better, or not. In any case, whether S&P is being fair or unfair to move at this juncture, the political standoff we're in is, sadly, necessary right now, despite its costs. Americans are in the midst of a great debate on the future of our society. Everyone seems to agree that the outcome of the next election will have a decisive impact on what kind of country we are -- or become. Will we retain our distinctively American characteristics, or move irrevocably toward the European model? ... Whether or not Barack Obama is reelected will be the single most important factor determining the direction we take. Nothing much will happen until that question is resolved, S&P notwithstanding. And for all the problems it causes, that is the way it has to be." --Ethics and Public Policy Center senior fellow Stanley Kurtz

Political Futures

"[On Friday] it was announced that the unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. The unemployment rate has now been above 9 percent in 25 of the last 27 months. [On Thursday] stocks fell 512 points. Consumer confidence has fallen again as has consumer spending. Manufacturing has slowed to the slowest pace in more than two years. GDP growth is a sickly 1.3 percent. Meanwhile, the national debt has risen to $14.8 trillion. Federal spending has risen to $3.6 trillion -- $700 billion more than just three years ago -- and continues to rise, despite the fact tax receipts have fallen to $2.2 trillion -- $300 billion less than three years ago. [Obama] promised that if Congress passed the $812 billion stimulus bill in 2009, the unemployment rate would be approximately 5.5 percent by November 2012. That would require that between 800,000 and 1,000,000 jobs per month (depending on the labor participation rate) be created between now and election day. Given that over the last quarter we've been running between 750,000 to 950,000 jobs per month short of that goal, what are [his] plans to boost the employment rate? [Obama has] announced [he's] going on a Midwest bus tour beginning the week of August 15 to focus on job creation. How many jobs [will his bus tour] create? Isn't it reasonable for Americans to conclude that [his] jobs-creation program consists primarily of borrowing money, deficit spending, and giving speeches?" --National Review's Peter Kirsanow

Essential Liberty

"Greater freedom for tax payers would be seized from tax consumers, in an act of terrorism against the sacred machinery of redistribution. This mindset flows from the fundamental leftist misunderstanding of freedom. They view the essence of freedom as action. ... In reality, freedom is property. Every form of collectivism, from fascism to socialism, is an offense against property rights. The early philosophers of socialism railed bitterly against the private ownership of property. They hated the notion of a middle class with independence secured through ownership. The perilous financial situation of the United States government illustrates how closely private property rights are connected to all other forms of liberty. The less absolute your rights of ownership over your land, labor, and fortune become, the more easily the other rights can be dismissed at the convenience of the State. ... Now we are told that we have no choice but to allow the State to become larger, spending and borrowing more as it extends its control over our lives. Those who disagree are denounced as 'terrorists.' ... In a nation where the government fully respected private ownership, the notion of citizens becoming 'hostages' to federal budget cuts would be laughable, rather than insulting. Freedom is not something to be granted, rationed, allocated, or redistributed. It is not won or lost in an election. Freedom is something you own." --columnist John Hayward

The Gipper

"Now it doesn't require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? And such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment." --Ronald Reagan

Government

"[T]he most fundamental reality is that the average wealth of the elderly is some multiple of the average wealth owned by people in the other age brackets. Why should the average taxpayer be subsidizing people who have much more wealth than they do? If we are concerned about those particular elderly people who are in fact poor -- as we are about other people who are genuinely poor, whatever their age might be -- then we can simply confine our help to those who are poor by some reasonable means test. It would cost a fraction of what it costs to subsidize everybody who reaches a certain age. But the political left hates means tests. If government programs were confined to people who were genuinely poor in some meaningful sense, that would shrink the welfare state to a fraction of its current size. ... [O]ld age is not some unforeseeable misfortune. It is not only foreseeable but inevitable for those who do not die young. It is one thing to keep people from suffering from unforeseeable things beyond their control. But it is something else to simply subsidize their necessities so that they can spend their money on other things and leave a larger estate to be passed on to their heirs. People who say they want a government program because 'I don't want to be a burden to my children' apparently think it is all right to be a burden to other people's children." --economist Thomas Sowell

Insight

"The power to determine the quantity of money ... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited, if there is any feasible alternative. There is no need for such arbitrary power. ... Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes -- excusable or not -- can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic -- this is the key political argument against an independent central bank.'' --economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

Reader Comments

Publisher's Note: In my essay, The Next American Revolution, I began by writing, "I receive hundreds of messages every day from Patriots across the nation. For the last three years, one thematic question has emerged with ever-increasing frequency. To paraphrase that question: 'What is the authority to rebel against the central government?' ... Such questions were once deemed too radical and discordant for consideration in civil discourse. However, as Rule of Law enshrined in our Constitution has been all but completely usurped by the rule of men through the Left's so-called living constitution, the frequency and tenor of questions about the future of Essential Liberty for our once-great Republic is propelling them into mainstream debate."

As of this morning, nearly 1,100 of you responded and the overwhelming sentiment was "it's time." Please add your voice to the growing chorus of Patriots clamoring for real hope and change. Let's restore Essential Liberty for our great nation.

Editor's Note: In Friday's Digest, along with covering the ins and outs of the debt crisis and the phony "deal," we asked a question that seemed to trigger even more interest: Who's your presidential candidate?

Support among readers was more or less confined to a handful of candidates, soon-to-be-candidates and non-candidates. As for those who are running or likely to run, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Ron Paul had the greatest support. Our first battle for 2012 is in the GOP primaries, and choosing the right candidate is paramount. Sound off today.

The Last Word

"On Thursday, in honor of Barack Obama's 50th birthday, the Dow dropped ten points for every year he has walked among us. It was the ninth largest drop in history. We should be relieved he wasn't turning eighty. The markets are apparently concerned that the entire global economy may be 'stalling.' You don't say? Observant fellows, these market chappies. ... Under the 'historic' 'resolution' of the debt crisis (and don't those very words 'debt crisis' already feel so last week?), America will be cutting federal spending by $900 billion over ten years. 'Cutting federal spending by $900 billion over ten years' is Washington-speak for increasing federal spending by $7 trillion over ten years. And, as they'd originally planned to increase it by eight trillion, that counts as a cut. If they'd planned to increase it by $20 trillion and then settled for merely $15 trillion, they could have saved five trillion. See how easy this is? As part of this historic 'cut,' we've now raised the 'debt ceiling' -- or, more accurately, lowered the debt abyss. Do you ever discuss the debt with your neighbor? Do you think he has any serious intention to repay the 15 trillion racked up in his and your name? Does your congressman? Does your senator? Look into their eyes. You can see the answer. And, if none of these parties seem inclined to pay down the debt now, what are the chances they'll feel like doing so by 2020 when, under these historic 'cuts,' it's up to 23-25 trillion?" --columnist Mark Steyn

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
The Patriot Post Editorial Team

It's the Spending

On Friday evening, Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+. As we and other conservatives warned, the spending reductions in the deal negotiated by President Obama to raise the debt ceiling were inadequate, and S&P reacted as we predicted but sooner. Neither Moody's nor Fitch, two other rating agencies, have downgraded federal debt yet, but they are not providing much rosier outlooks.

Decades of over-spending and over-borrowing by the federal government have damaged America's creditworthiness. Congress after Congress, President after President, the federal government spent every penny it took in-and borrowed over $14 trillion on top of that-to try to keep happy the voters to whom the government made promises it could not afford. The government kept shifting the burden of paying the bills forward onto future generations.

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QUICK HITS

The world is watching Wall Street this morning as investors wait to see the impact of Standard and Poor's decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. Stock futures tumbled early Monday, while gold soared.

The bodies of the 30 U.S. Navy Seals who were killed in Afghanistan over the weekend will be flown home to American soil on Tuesday morning. An investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will remain in his position through the 2012 election, following months of speculation that he would step down.

About 45,000 Verizon union employees have gone on strike following contract disputes over health care, sick days, holidays, pensions, and the company's ability to lay off workers. Meanwhile, U.S. unemployment stands at 9.1. percent.

Internet censorship is ratcheting up in Iran. By the end of August, Iranians going online will only be able to talk to each other under the country's cyber censors.

 "Defending the Tea Party Against Sen. John Kerry"

"Defending the Tea Party Against Sen. John Kerry"

75 Socialists in Congress

By Discover The Networks
 

The 75-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison, is closely allied with the Democratic Socialists of America. The Communist Party USA identifies Progressive Caucus members as its "allies in Congress."

More to read:

The ACLU's Summer of Discontent    

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published August 5, 2011 on The Washington Times website.

Sigmund Freud famously asked, "What does a woman want? A far easier question to answer would be: "What does the ACLU want?" C.S. Lewis observed that the agenda of the left is to make pornography public and religion private. Judging by decades of activist law attacking religious freedom and states' rights, while promoting pornography, abortion, homosexuality and now transgenderism, the American Civil Liberties Union's overriding agenda is to drive Christianity out of the public square and force public acceptance of sexual immorality of all kinds. Oh, yes, and illegal immigration. That's it in a nutshell, or a nuthouse - take your pick.

Last week, the ACLU filed an open records request over Texas Gov. Rick Perry's planned participation in the Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis, slated for this past Saturday at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

 Read the Entire Column 

A Budget Cutting Deal That Boosts Federal Spending    

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published August 4, 2011 on Forbes.com.

 How is it possible that we can "cut" federal spending by $2 trillion over the next 10 years, and yet federal spending will still increase over that time by $7.5 trillion? Of course, the latter scenario would be the result of the debt-limit increase deal reached in Washington this week.

Both parties tell us that the debt-limit deal includes $2 trillion in spending cuts, and the national media dutifully reports that those cuts are severe, yet the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tells us that we are still on course for the national debt to increase by $8 trillion over the next 10 years. Why doesn't the discussion over the federal budget, spending and debt in Washington make any sense?

It is called baseline budgeting. Here is how the hocus pocus works. The CBO assumes a "baseline" for federal spending over the next 10 years that includes federal spending increases of $9.5 trillion over that time. Any increase in those 10 years of less than $9.5 trillion will be reported by CBO as a cut in federal spending.

 Read the Entire Column

Cruel Laws  

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published August 3, 2011 on Townhall.com.

 What does it take to be able to own and operate a taxi and earn $30,000, $40,000 or more a year? You need to purchase a used car and liability insurance. Compared with other businesses, the startup cost to become a taxi owner/operator is modest; that's until you have to come up with money for a license. In May 2010, the price of a license, called a medallion, to own one taxi in New York City sold for $603,000. As referenced in my recent book, Race and Economics, New York City is not alone. In Chicago, a taxi license costs $56,000, Boston $285,000 and Philadelphia $75,000. It's not rocket science to understand the effect of laws that produce these prices: They discriminate against anyone getting into the taxi business who lacks tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars or bank credit to be able to get a loan.

Suppose you're a trucker with an interstate license to ship goods but you want to expand to shipping goods within your state. Is it fair for the government to permit your competition to show up at your hearing, with their attorneys, to protest that your services are not needed and therefore you are denied what's called a "certificate of necessity," which would allow you to ship goods within the state?
 

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The Disgrace of Obamanomics   

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for The Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published August 3, 2011 on The American Spectator website.   

Last Friday's report on economic growth for the second quarter of 2011 completes the burial of Obamanomics. The economy grew a paltry 1.3% for the quarter, with reported growth for the first quarter reduced from a meager 1.8% to a negligible 0.4%. The economy for the entire year so far has actually grown less than the weak growth we thought we had for the first quarter alone.

The growth for the fourth quarter of 2010 was also reduced to 2.3%, meaning that for the last nine months the economy has grown a minimal 1.5%, barely treading water as the weekend Wall Street Journal described it. For comparison purposes, economic growth during the first seven quarters of the Reagan recovery in the 1980s boomed at an average of 7.1%. Economic growth during the first seven quarters of the Obama non-recovery has now been reduced to an average of 2.6%, barely a third as much.

Historically, as the Journal also reiterated, "the deeper the recession, the more robust the recovery." So the idea that the recovery is so bad because the recession was so bad doesn't wash. Based on the historical pattern, we should be in the second year of a booming recovery by now. President Obama instead is mired in three and a half years of stagnation with worse to come.

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Welfare advocates say new Massachusetts law unfair

No more booze, cigs & lotto

A new law making it illegal for people on welfare to use the money for alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets is an "attack" on the state's most vulnerable residents, according to welfare advocates.

Critics say the bill, signed by Gov. Deval Patrick last week, does nothing more than stigmatize low-income people as prone to vices and irresponsible with money.  State officials and bill backers said this week they have no data showing that welfare recipients are misusing their benefits because it's almost impossible to track. The reason behind the law, they said, is closing a "loophole."

Click here to read the full article at the Bourne-Courier

Gay man faked hate crime in Iowa City

Blames 'Black guy'

Police have charged an Iowa City man who had reported he may have been the victim of a hate crime with filing a false report.

Ryan Grant Watson, 30, was charged July 27 with providing a false report to law enforcement, a serious misdemeanor.

Click here to read the full article at the Daily Iowan

USPS posts $3.1 billion loss in Q3, warns of default

Gov't sponsored USPS

The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in.

Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

The Madman Theory

Moronic Op/Ed

I had breakfast this week with one of Hollywood's most ferocious, self-confident and successful doers of deals. He was still steamed about what an unforgivably lousy negotiator his president had been on the debt ceiling agreement.

One particular Obama move he found appalling above all the rest. "There is a provision in our Constitution that speaks to making sure that the United States meets its obligations," the president had said, referring to Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, "and there have been some suggestions" - by Bill Clinton and various legal scholars - "that a president could use that language to basically ignore that debt ceiling rule."

Click here to read the full article at The New York Times

Is the Tea Party over?

Clarence Page blames Tea Party

Has the tea party peaked? Republican lawmakers affiliated with the upstart anti-tax movement scored big in the nerve-racking debt-ceiling debacle, but the victory left enough hard feelings to feed the movement's ultimate defeat.

To quote an old Chicago White Sox slogan from the 1980s, their achievement was a case of "winning ugly."

Click here to read the full article at the Chicago Tribune

White House adviser blames tea party for downgrade

Axelrod blames us

A top White House adviser is blaming the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating on tea party Republicans, whom he says were unwilling to compromise on how to reduce the federal debt.

The adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, tells CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the decision by the Standard & Poor's credit agency to downgrade the U.S. from AAA to AA+ for the first time was strongly influenced by weeks of standoff between Democrats and Republicans over the debt.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

Lessons of the crisis

Problem with American economy is Americans

It is hard to remember a more dismal moment in American politics. The debt-ceiling crisis and the agreement that ended it point to deep dysfunction in our system. In a variety of ways, the episode portends continued short-term economic misery and long-term national decline. It's as if the United States chose at the last minute not to commit financial suicide-but only out of preference for a slower, more excruciating form of self-destruction.

The crisis has, however, been clarifying in several respects. To begin with, we can now say with some confidence that Washington will be doing nothing more to help the ailing economy. President Obama is trying to push a jobs agenda. But for the federal government to spur growth or create jobs, it has to spend additional money. The antediluvian Republicans who control Congress do not think that demand can be expanded in this way. They believe that the 2009 stimulus bill, which has prevented an even worse economy over the past two years, is actually responsible for the current weakness. Their Hooverite approach-embedded in the debt-ceiling compromise-demands that we address the risk of a double-dip recession by cutting public expenditure now rather than later.

Click here to read the full article at Slate

Obama and the narcissism of big difference

Eric Cantor the new target of hate

Whatever the rhetoric that preceded this week's deal, the debt-ceiling debate was never really about the debt at all. It was about the terms on which the debate would continue. The "two different worldviews" that divide Washington, explains Eric Cantor, are too far apart for anything more than an armistice. Still, listening to the House majority leader-who says the deal is "not perfect" but "there were some achievements"-it's remarkable that the two parties were able to agree even to its modest terms.

The "philosophical starting point" of today's Democrats, as Mr. Cantor sees it, is that they "believe in a welfare state before they believe in capitalism. They promote economic programs of redistribution to close the gap of the disparity between the classes. That's what they're about: redistributive politics." The Virginian's contempt is obvious in his Tidewater drawl. "The assumption . . . is that there is some kind of perpetual engine of economic prosperity in America that is going to just continue. And therefore they are able to take from those who create and give to those who don't. We just have a fundamentally different view."

Click here to read the full article at the Wall Street Journal

August 7, 2011

Brent Bozell: 'Delusional' media attack GOP in debt deal coverage

NEWSMAX - Media Research Center founder and conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III says the media backlash against grass-roots conservatism following the debt-ceiling deal is so extreme as to reflect "an exercise in delusional thinking," and charges most media outlets are "completely in the tank" for President Barack Obama in his bid to win re-election... (more)
 

August 7, 2011

The people vs. the ruling class

JOSEPH FARAH - Back in 2008, the "permanent government," as I call the establishment clique that actually runs America, whipped up the people and their elected representatives in Washington into hysteria over an economic crisis that the ruling class had itself perpetrated... (more)
 

August 7, 2011

Obama sticking by Geithner

BLOOMBERG NEWS - Timothy Geithner has told President Barack Obama that he will remain on the job as Treasury secretary, ending speculation he would leave the administration. The Treasury Department released a statement Sunday saying Geithner had informed the president of his decision to remain in the administration... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

County limits free speech to 3'x3' space ... in woods

WORLDNETDAILY - A Michigan woman is suing her county over limiting her petition gathering to a 3-by-3-foot square of ground in a 135-acre park, a restriction one attorney said is in the running for the title of the "most unconstitutional [free] speech zone ever"... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Obama's downgraded America

WASHINGTON TIMES - The Obama administration has made history by presiding over the first-ever downgrade in the U.S. credit rating. President Obama has outdone all his predecessors in wrecking America's good name. His answer to this problem: Spend even more... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Downgrade may cloud Obama re-election bid

BLOOMBERG NEWS - The downgrade of the U.S.'s AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor's darkens President Barack Obama's re-election chances while also damaging members of Congress from both parties as they prepare for the 2012 campaign, political analysts said... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Ron Paul: Debt deal is a 'fraud'

NEWSMAX - Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul tells Newsmax the bill designed to cut the budget deficit and raise the debt ceiling is a "fraud" because it actually does nothing to reduce current spending levels. The Texas lawmaker also says it is "discouraging" that many new members of Congress who were backed by the tea party voted in favor of the bill, the Budget Control Act of 2011... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

The ACLU's summer of discontent

ROBERT KNIGHT - Sigmund Freud famously asked, "What does a woman want? A far easier question to answer would be: "What does the ACLU want?" C.S. Lewis observed that the agenda of the left is to make pornography public and religion private... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

Perry: Turn to God for answers to nation's woes

ASSOCIATED PRESS - Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking Christians to turn to God for answers to the nation's troubles as he holds court over a national prayer event attended by roughly 30,000 people. The Republican who is considering running for president delivered a speech that included prayer and Bible verses. He said that a return to Christian ideals can help solve the nation's problems... (more)
 

August 6, 2011

American collapse

MARK STEYN - Unless things change, the man (or woman) elected in 2012 will be the last American president to preside over the world's leading economy. If things get really bad, he will find himself presiding over the early stages of American collapse. Not "decline" but "collapse"... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

Schooling Matt Damon

MICHELLE MALKIN - Actor Matt Damon is a walking, talking public service reminder to immunize your children early and often against La-La-Land disease. In Damon's world, all public school teachers are selfless angels. Government workers and Hollywood entertainers are impervious to economic incentives. And anyone who disagrees is a know-nothing, "corporate reformer" ingrate who hates education... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

The case against Perry

JOSEPH FARAH - Some people still don't appreciate why Rick Perry's remark to Republican fat cats condoning the New York Legislature's vote to approve same-sex marriage should disqualify him from consideration for the Republican presidential nomination. Here's an example of one quizzical letter I received on the topic: "Logically, how is Rick Perry's response on gay marriage incorrect?... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

RNC stomps Electoral College switch

WASHINGTON TIMES - A move to change the way America elects its president got a clear thumbs down in a vote by members of the Republican National Committee on Friday. A resolution opposing the National Popular Vote initiative won support of every voting RNC member but one who voted "present" instead of "yes"... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

Tea party reshaping GOP

ASSOCIATED PRESS - The tea party is here to stay after its powerful role in the debt-ceiling debate. Now the GOP establishment wonders if the movement will sweep Republicans to victories in 2012 or dash them on the rocks of unbending ideology. The tea party already is reshaping the Republican Party. Once-moderate lawmakers are shifting sharply right. They fear primary challenges more than Democratic opponents... (more)
 

August 5, 2011

Obama: the New Jimmy Carter

BRADLEY BLAKEMAN - The evidence is mounting more than ever to suggest that President Barack Obama is morphing into a failed Democratic President Jimmy Carter. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in her Op-Ed article of July 30, 2011, said: "Democratic lawmakers worry that the Tea Party freshmen have already 'neutered' the president, as one told me... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

Tea Party blocks Obama appointees

EMILY MILLER - Anti-business liberals aren't going to sneak their way into powerful administration positions this summer. Recess appoinments are a traditional method used by the White House - under both parties - to fill government slots without Senate confirmation... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

Tea Party 'terrorists'

JEFFREY T. KUHNER - Vice President Joseph R. Biden believes Tea Party Republicans are right-wing jihadists. Following the debt-ceiling deal, in a private Democratic Caucus meeting, Mr. Biden joined several Democrats in accusing conservative House Republicans of behaving like "terrorists"... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

Boehner, tea party, and leadership: the power of tension

WES VERNON, RA ANALYST - "I love you guys," House Speaker John Boehner is reported to have said at a meeting with the tea party freshmen. That comment despite the fact that those same men and women who came to this city to "change the way Washington works" gave the Ohioan a hellfire test of his leadership in the debt ceiling debate... (more)
 

August 4, 2011

DeMint may turn on GOP backers of debt bill

NEWSMAX - Some of the 28 Republican senators who voted for the new debt/deficit law may find themselves on the receiving end of powerhouse conservative Sen. Jim DeMint's ire. The South Carolina Republican pledged after last year's elections that he wouldn't support any challengers to his Republican Senate colleagues... (more)

August 8, 2011 

On Monday's Program 

America's Credit rating survived Great Depression, but not two years of Obama

Not long ago, Timothy Geithner said America would definitely NOT lose its AAA rating - while Glenn was warning it was coming. Obviously Glenn is not happy about being right this time, but it'd be nice if the experts would open their eyes. The next problem they'll ignore? Revered economists like Warren Buffett are saying, 'Hey, we can always print money!' Oy, will we ever learn? Glenn has more on radio today about America's credit downgrade - the first one ever - details HERE.

The book Glenn Beck says could be bigger than the Twilight series

Glenn's publishing imprint, Mercury Ink launches its first book tomorrow! Michael Vey, The Prisoner of Cell 25 by NYT bestselling author Richard Paul Evans, is like nothing you've read before. It's the young adult sci-fi thriller for a new generation! Check out the book details HERE and read an excerpt from the book at the Michael Vey Facebook page.

Left blames credit downgrade on... 

Shocker: The Tea Party! John Kerry appears to have coined the phrase 'the Tea Party downgrade' and it's spreading across the media. The left constantly excused Obama on the economy by saying he 'inherited' this economic mess - well, he also inherited a AAA credit rating. No getting around being the first President in history to blow that. But they're trying - Glenn has more shocking examples of blatant lies and blame game from the left - get out the duct tape and listen HERE.

16 days away...

Just over two weeks away from Restoring Courage in Jerusalem and support is rapidly expanding. Glenn announced on radio today that over 1,000 viewing parties are being planned all across the world. Glenn talked on radio today about some of the programming details for the three events that he believes will send 'chills' to anyone watching. He also announced a special guest who will be contributing - find out who it is HERE.

The only place you can see Restoring Courage other than Israel? GBTV

Viewing parties have sprouted around the globe, all of which are accessing the event through the only channel it's on: GBTV! But that's just the beginning - GBTV is the epicenter of Glenn's creative vision. Get a glimpse of that vision, which includes a stunning newsroom for The Blaze to bring news exclusively to GBTV subscribers - watch the FREE video tour and become part of GBTV now!

Thoughts & Prayers with our troops after deadly copter crash: It was the deadliest single incident for American forces in the decade-long war after the Taliban shot down a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan. A dark day and a stark reminder that freedom isn't free. THANK YOU to all those who defend us. From The Blaze: Hear heartbroken grandmother tell CNN why her fallen Navy Seal did not fear death; Navy Seal widow 'I just fell to my knees'; Seal Community mourns tremendous loss.

White kids mow down random African American victim

In Mississippi a group of white teens went on a mission to hurt a random African American victim. They found 49-year-old James Craig Anderson, whose life was senselessly taken in a horrific scene, much of which was caught on security video. Extremely disturbing - Glenn reacts to the hate crime on radio today. WATCH 

Kentucky communities teach kids conservative values at summer camps - get the full story HERE.