912 Patriots of Lower Bucks - Your Daily Updates ALL in ONE Place!

September 21, 2011

Quote:

"There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises. To say that the United States should be answerable for twenty-five millions of dollars without knowing whether the ways and means can be provided, and without knowing whether those who are to succeed us will think with us on the subject, would be rash and unjustifiable."

~ James Madison, Speech in Congress, 1790

FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?

Associated Press | By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER | Sep 20, 5:02 PM EDT

President Barack Obama says he wants to make sure millionaires are taxed at higher rates than their secretaries. The data say they already are.

"Warren Buffett's secretary shouldn't pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. There is no justification for it," Obama said as he announced his deficit-reduction plan this week. "It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million."

On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.

The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70 percent of federal income taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

(all times are eastern)

Wednesday 3-4pm "Patriots Watch" - Billy Baer and Dan Haggerty

American Policy Center

Agenda 21 In One Easy Lesson

Awareness of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is racing across the nation as citizens in community after community are learning what their city planners are actually up to. As awareness grows, I am receiving more and more calls for tools to help activists fight back. Many complain that elected officials just won't read detailed reports or watch long videos. "Can you give us something that is quick, and easy to read that we can hand out," I'm asked.

So here it is. A one page, quick description of Agenda 21 that fits on one page. I've also included for the back side of your hand out a list of quotes for the perpetrators of Agenda 21 that should back up my brief descriptions.

A word of caution, use this as a starter kit, but do not allow it to be your only knowledge of this very complex subject. To kill it you have to know the facts. Research, know your details; discover the NGO players in your community; identify who is victimized by the policies and recruit them to your fight; and then kill Agenda 21. That's how it must be done. The information below is only your first step. Happy hunting.

What is Sustainable Development?

Agenda 21 Creeps Into California Land Use Policy

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

If you would like to join the Green Team or volunteer for a sub-committee, please email us

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

Americans for Prosperity

Dear Patriot,

Please join Americans for Prosperity Foundation and thousands of grassroots activists for the 5th annual Defending the American Dream Summiton Friday and Saturday, November 4-5 at the Washington Convention Center in downtown Washington, DC.

Last year, more than 2,600 of our best activists descended on Washington for the Summit to demonstrate to elected officials, government bureaucrats, and the national media that the grassroots movement is alive and well. We focused on reining in out-of-control spending and taxation, advancing sound free market public policy, and in a very real way, defending the American Dream.

Special bus packages are running from PA and for only this week you can register for an additional $70 off those all-inclusive bus packages. Sign up now to take advantage of this great opportunity! Use the code "Bus70" when registering.

Bus packages from PA include round trip transportation and hotel accommodations on top of all the other benefits of the Defending the American Dream Summit.

Summit Highlights Include:

... and much more!

Don't forget, receive $70 off a bus package until midnight on August 14th! Click here to register today and help defend the American dream! Use the code "Bus70" when registering.

Defending liberty and promoting prosperity is a family affair. Give your children the gift of freedom and bring the whole family to the Defending the American Dream Summit this year. In fact, we're offering a discount for families and small groups! Click here for more information about our special packages.

Join us and thousands of fellow freedom fighters and send a message that the American Dream is alive and well in this great country!

Sincerely,

Tim Phillips
President
Americans for Prosperity Foundation

Act! for America

The Doctrine of Abrogation: Open the Koran Day

It's time to sign up!

Earlier this year we announced a major event for this fall, "The Doctrine of Abrogation: Open the Koran Day."

We have scheduled this event for the weekend of October 28 - 30, 2011, which is close to the two year anniversary of the Ft. Hood jihadist massacre perpetrated by Major Nidal Hasan (pictured at right).

If you would like to learn more about this national event, or would like to host a local venue, please click here.

Please read the description of the event and the sign-up instructions carefully, and then access the sign-up form at the bottom of the page.

Also, if you would like to study the Koran, we have a resource to recommend. The Qur'an Dilemma is an accurate, readable English translation that contains commentaries and analysis, including commentaries on the doctrine of abrogation, the history of the codification of the Koran, chronological sequence of the Koran, and the status of women in the Koran. To find out more visit here.

Selectsmart.com

2012 Presidential Candidate Selector
or Obama, His Allies & Critics Matching Quiz

Politicians have already indicated their 2012 presidential aspirations. This matching quiz includes President Obama, top members of his administration, Obama's most vocal critics (Boehner, Cantor, etc.) and likely White House prospects (Palin, Pawlenty, Jindal, etc.). You may select a position for every issue, or just select issues important to you. The political figures' positions are based upon their voting records, special interest group ratings and their statements in the public record. In cases where there is no known public record or statement, these politicos are not given a score on that issue. We add candidates, revise their views and include new issues as they become known or change. Check back often for updates.

Liberation of Camps

Urge Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor H.R.2829,

The United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act

Contact your Representative now to express your support for and urge them to co-sponsor the United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act (H.R.2829), introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), which places conditions on U.S. funding to the UN in order to achieve long awaited reform at that body and to help ensure that US funding is directed only towards programs that further US interests (see Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's Miami Herald op-ed below). This bill:

Opposes efforts by the Palestinian leadership to evade a negotiated settlement with Israel and undermine opportunities for peace by seeking de facto recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN (through gaining membership for "Palestine" in UN agencies or programs). Withholds U.S. contributions from any UN agency or program that upgrades the status of the PLO/Palestinian observer mission.
Prohibits U.S. funding to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), which aids Palestinian refugees, until that body: vets its staff and aid recipients through U.S. watch lists for ties to Foreign Terrorist Organizations; stops engaging in anti-Israel propaganda and politicized activities; improves its accountability and transparency; and stops banking with any financial institutions under U.S. designation for terror financing or money laundering. Despite failing to meet the requirements under U.S. law to obtain foreign assistance, UNRWA has received about $500 million in FY 2009 and 2010 alone. President Obama has requested over $230 million in further funding in 2012.
Declares that it is U.S. policy to consider the Goldstone Report, which falsely accused Israel of deliberately attacking Palestinian civilians during Operation Cast Lead, to be irredeemably biased and unworthy of consideration, legitimization, or support. Further states that it is US policy to lead a high-level diplomatic campaign calling for the revocation and repudiation of the Goldstone Report and its follow-on measures by the UN General Assembly. Would also withhold U.S. funding from the Goldstone Report and its preparatory and follow-on measures.
States that the U.S. may not run for a seat on the Human Rights Council, and must withhold a proportionate share of our UN regular budget contribution equal to our proportion of Council funding, until the State Department can certify that the Council does not include Members that are: state sponsors of terrorism; subject to Security Council sanctions; under Security Council-mandated human rights investigation; or that are "countries of particular concern" for religious freedom violations.
Withholds U.S. funding from any part of the UN's irreparably flawed Durban process (including the upcoming Durban 3 meeting), which was supposed to fight racism and bigotry, but which has been hijacked by rogue regimes and used to advance an anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, anti-Western, anti-freedom agenda.
Stipulates that the U.N. regular budget be moved from mandatory to voluntary funding. This will allow the U.S. to fund only UN agencies and programs that advance U.S. interests and values, and the resulting competition among UN entities for funding will likely make those entities more transparent, accountable, and effective. The US currently provides around 22% of the UN operating budget, but is granted no commensurate influence over the UN budget process (current practice is all General Assembly issues, including budgetary, are decided based on a one vote for each country, regardless of how little they contribute).
Directs the U.S. Permanent Representative to the IAEA to advance a number of reforms at the organization, including measures to strengthen the IAEA's ability to monitor member states' compliance with their obligations and ensure that states not in compliance do not receive nuclear-related assistance from the IAEA or other countries. In addition, conditions would be placed on the U.S. financial contribution to the IAEA to ensure that state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran and Syria, do not receive such assistance.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) strongly supports this legislation and applauds Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and her 57 original co-sponsors, for introducing it.

ZOA encourages you to contact your Representative to express your support for H.R.2829 The United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act and urge them to support this legislation by becoming a co-sponsor.

Phone 202.224.3121 & ask for your Member of the House of Representatives. Alternatively, you can obtain this information through our website by CLICKING HERE.

* * *

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is the oldest and one of the largest pro-Israel organizations in the United States. With offices around the country and in Israel, the ZOA educates the public, elected officials, the media, and college/high school students about the truth of the ongoing Arab war against Israel. The ZOA works to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations through educational activities, public affairs programs and our work on Capitol Hill, and to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in the media, in textbooks, in schools and on college campuses. Under the leadership of such presidents as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Rabbis Abba Hillel Silver and Stephen Wise, and current President Morton A. Klein, the ZOA has been - and continues to be - on the front lines of Jewish activism. The ZOA is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan organization. www.zoa.org.

RedState

RedState Morning Briefing

For September 21, 2011

1. A Point Without Partisanship - A Scandal Everyone Should Be Concerned About

With the exception of CBS News, few media outlets have paid much attention to Operation Gun Walker a/k/a "Fast and Furious," which has no relation to Vin Diesel.

The lack of media attention may be about to change. This is a huge and troublesome scandal. The left is, I think, afraid to touch it because of just how far up within the Obama Justice Department the scandal appears to go. The right has been focused more on other fights. The media is focused elsewhere. But the wind is shifting. Without throwing any partisan punches, let me just objectively get in to this business and why the left, the right, and the media should be paying attention.

I wrote about Operation Gun Walker back in March. In short, the ATF allowed Mexican drug lords to buy guns in the United States and walk them across the Mexican border. The too clever by half theory was that the American government would be able to then track the guns via their serial numbers and paint a picture of drug cartel activity by where the guns showed up.

The federal government never advised Mexico nor sought Mexico's permission. Perversely, the ATF reported decided to then use the gun sales it authorized as evidence that the federal government needed more gun regulations.

As you might expect, the whole operation blew up in the ATF's face. Using a Gun Walker gun, Mexican drug lords killed an American border patrol agent. Recently another murder on this side of the border turned up tied to a Gun Walker gun.

New evidence in the investigation conservative shows more than 200 murders linked to Operation Gun Walker guns.

Now, even more damning evidence is showing up in the form of secret recordings obtained by CBS News.

2. Is the US Department of Labor About To Develop Hit Lists of Individuals To Be Targeted By Unions?

As a preface, sometimes it helps to have been "on the other side" when trying to determine what the unions' game plan is within the Obama Administration. What you are about to read comes from having been on the other side and, quite frankly, putting two and two together. And, if you are not alarmed when you finish reading this, you should be, because there may be something much more sinister afoot at the Department of Labor than most people realize.

Yesterday, information was shared with you about the importance of submitting a comment by Wednesday on the Department of Labor's proposed regulatory change on who would be newly classified as 'persuaders.'

There has been one sentence, more than others, in the Department of Labor's 160-page proposed rule change that indicates the DOL's expansion of the definition of 'persuader' to mean just about any vendor who has anything to do directly or indirectly with an employer's relationship with employees since activities may implicitly influence the decisions of employees with regard in the exercise of their rights in the workplace.

Until now, however, one part of the sentence has been overlooked which, unless addressed, may cause individuals great harm-literally, physical harm.

3. EPA Regulations Will Result in 1.44 Million Job Losses

Last week, I wrote about how the EPA was warring with industry, one can only assume in an attempt to destroy jobs. As that war continues, I thought it might be helpful to put some actual numbers in front of our readers so they can get the clearest picture possible about just how many jobs are being lost in the name of environmental protection against the man-made theory of global warming.

National Economic Research Associates (NERA) used the Federal Government's own data in finding that Obama's proposed EPA regulations would cost America over 180,000 jobs per year between 2013 and 2020.

This includes effects from the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) as well as Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) rules.

4. Attacking Attack Watch's Attack on my Attack on the Auto Bailouts

Most of you are well aware of the glorious goon squad known as Attack Watch. Primarily from the fantastic video highlighting all of their features, but mostly because we've all come to the mutual agreement that they are a gigantic joke.

Yet, I feel compelled to acknowledge that I was fortunate enough to be attacked by these modern day propaganda ministers for an article that I wrote a few months ago about our favorite government funded car company, GM.

5. Sen. Sherrod Brown's (D-OH) wife quits newspaper job after covering Josh Mandel campaign event

Yesterday the Cleveland Plain Dealer announced the resignation of Connie Schultz, wife of Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Schultz had come under fire recently for attending a Tea Party rally near Cleveland at which her husband's likely opponent in 2012, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, was a featured speaker. Schultz was spotted videotaping Mandel's speech, but she conspicuously neglected to mention in her article that Mandel was even at the rally.

Once news about Schultz's covert-op became known, the Pulitzer prize winning journalist and 18-year veteran of the Plain Dealer issued a breathless apology, claiming that she never thought for a minute she was doing anything wrong and just "felt sick about it" and had learned her lesson.

Of course, the real issue was whether or not she was engaging in campaign activities at the behest of or on the tab of the Plain Dealer, the largest newspaper in Ohio. If so, this would be this would be too obvious even for the mainstream media. They still like to maintain the appearance of impartiality.

Heritage Hotsheet

Experts on the Day's Hottest News

Items for September 21, 2011

Assassination Deals Blow to Peace Process in Afghanistan
The New York Times

Closed CR Reignites Criticism
Roll Call

Voters Want State Government Reform
The Wall Street Journal

Obama set to meet with Abbas
Politico

Solyndra executives won't testify before Congress
CNN.com

The University of Texas and Racial Preferences
National Review Online

Campaign for the eradication of the California delta smelt.

This small, dumb, pointless, silvery fish, the twenty-first century snail darter, is devastating the lives of farmers in the San Joaquin valley and sending California's economy even further down the drain. Because of federal eco-protection laws, farmers have been forbidden from irrigating their parched crops lest the precious delta smelt's breeding grounds be compromised. A protest sign, "Save the Farmers!" will leave liberals conflicted because they're wedded to the idea that they're pro-farmer (though they're not really). You could also end the whole controversy by starting a delta smelt hatchery and selling the otherwise unproductive fish as fish bait.

American Policy Center

Declaration of Independence from the UN

A message from APC President, Tom DeWeese:

Hello Linda,

If it were 1776 would you stand with our Founding Fathers?

Would you have signed the Declaration of Independence to tell the world's most powerful force that its tyrannical control was over?

Well, now you have your chance!

Today, right now, you can sign the enclosed "Declaration of Independence from the United Nations."

You see, many of the exact offenses that our Founding Fathers fought against are now threatening us through the UN.

The fact is the UN is driving to enforce global policies that would:

Tax us without representation and set up a global IRS.
Create an international police force that would threaten the independence and security of our nation.
Create its own court system with no right to trial by jury of our peers.
Interfere with our Constitutional form of government through a series of international treaties.

When King George did these things to the colonies, our Founding Fathers took action to stop him.

Now, to preserve the freedoms secured for us by our courageous founders it's urgent that you and I take the same action.

The fact is the United Nation is the root of all the threats we face. It is the most dangerous force on Earth and no moral nation should ever be a part of it.

We must get our nation out of the UN!

That's why it's urgent that you sign your own "Declaration of Independence from the United Nations" in support of legislation that would remove the United States from the UN.

The American Sovereignty Restoration Act (H.R. 1146) has been introduced by Rep. Ron Paul. This bill demands that the United States:

Completely withdraw from the United Nations.
Completely withdraw from ALL United Nations Programs.
And that the United Nations LEAVE AMERICAN SHORES!
This bill is what we need to free our nation from the tyranny of the UN.

Please send a message to Congress - tell them you want our nation out of the UN - right now! Send that message by signing the "Declaration of Independence from the United Nations" and it will go directly to House Speaker John Boehner.

My goal is to send millions to Speaker Boehner to show that Americans nationwide want us out of the UN and demand that he take action to support H.R. 1146.

Here's why it's so urgent that the United States withdraw from the UN.

The United Nations is driving toward making itself the central government of the world. It has declared the entire earth a "Global Commons" under its rule.

Using the world economic crisis as an excuse, the UN has now put a very specific plan together to gain control over the world economy, including:

UN control of the sea, space and air
UN tax authority.
UN financial regulatory authority
UN authority over world commerce
Creation of a world (UN) Monetary Board to create a UN currency.

The UN is behind the global warming scares. It is using the environment as an excuse to control all human action in the world. Every single UN program is based on one thing - redistribution of wealth - your wealth.

It's working to destroy independent nations - forcing us all into a global village, controlled by UN rule, UN taxes and a UN military.

The UN's Commission on Global Governance issued a report saying, "Mankind's problems can no longer be solved by national governments. What is needed is a World Government."

That means that our unique Republic with our Constitution that limits government power and our Bill of Rights that guarantees our right to speak out, and our unique court system that guarantees a trial by a jury of our peers - and so much more will be thrown out - and UN-appointed bureaucrats will decide how we are to live. You would have no vote - no say.

Does the threat of a UN-controlled IRS concern you?

This is a terrible threat to our lives. In the past, American presidents have resisted such UN plans. But today, Barack Obama is working hand-in-hand with the UN to bring these plans to reality.

There is only one solution: Get the United States out of the UN - now!

That's why Rep. Ron Paul has introduced the American Sovereignty Restoration Act (HR 1146), to get us out of the UN before it's too late. HR 1146 calls for the United States to withdraw from the UN and for the UN to leave our shores.

That is exactly what Thomas Jefferson would have done with the UN!

Rep. Paul says he believes that H.R. 1146 is a test. It makes Congress answer the question - does it support American sovereignty -- or not!

Your signed "Declaration" is your opportunity to force Congress to take that test and make the UN threat a national debate.

Please send yours today and let's get rid of the most corrupt power on the face of the earth - the United Nations.

Will you also help me and the American Policy Center (APC) get this message out to millions of Americans?

As you may know, APC is the recognized leader in the fight to get us out of the UN. Our fight against the UN has been recognized internationally. In fact, that's why a few years ago I was invited to Cambridge University in England to debate the UN issue against the former UK Ambassador to the UN.

APC's Action Alert System, called "Sledgehammer" is one of the most effective on Capitol Hill. APC's articles and reports have been published in hundreds of newspapers and magazines. Through the Internet we are reaching millions of people around the world. I regularly appear on radio and television and speak at conferences across the nation.

APC is a fierce, effective voice in the fight for the principles of liberty.

Will you help me now to lead this vital effort to get our nation out of the UN? To do that I need your financial support to help me pay for the cost of reaching Americans nationwide?

Your gift will help me build more support for H.R. 1146. Individual contributions like yours are APC's ONLY source of income. We receive no grants or large corporate donations. So your support is vital to APC's work.

So, what ever amount you can contribute, please do it today.
Click here to make a donation.

I believe that time is very short for America's independence if the UN's global governance agenda goes forward unchecked. If we do nothing we will lose.

We can stop it now - if we demand it!!

In 1776 our Founding Fathers fought to overthrow the darkness of tyranny. Can you and I do less?

Click here to send your email petition to Speaker of the House John Boehner

In Liberty,

Tom DeWeese
President
American Policy Center
tom@americanpolicy.org
americanpolicy.org

P.S. I intend to fight every attempt by Barack Obama to enforce the UN's global control over our nation. I will fight to stop American taxpayer funds from going to the UN. I will fight UN treaty ratifications. And I will fight to pass H.R. 1146 to get us out of the UN and to throw the UN out of America. But I can only do that with your financial support. Will you help me? Click here to make a donation

Family Security Matters

** VIDEOS * TODAY'S HOT PICKS **

1. MUST SEE VIDEOS: John Stossel: Stupid in America! Union Pres."When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children." 2. VIDEO FLASHBACK: President Obama Says You Don't Raise Taxes in a Recession 3. Getting Slammed At The Supermarket
4. NEW RESEARCH: School Choice Has Positive Impact On College Achievement Gap 5. Big Media Lauds Imaginary Opening of Ground Zero Mosque 6. VIDEO: Rep. Fleming (R-LA) Discusses Implications of New Taxes on Job Creators - Watch him explain why being successful in business is a virtue, not a vice: 7. VIDEO: Congressman Mike Quigely (D-IL) To Islam Conference: 'I Apologize On Behalf Of America' 8. VIDEOS: Abbas Paints U.S. Into a Corner With Palestinian Statehood Demand at U.N. and Abbas: All hell has broken loose ahead of UN statehood bid 9. REPORT: Reveals That Most Americans Do Not Have an Emergency Fund
10. VIDEO: What We Did Right: Primarily In Taking The Fight To The Enemy Rather Than Waiting For Them To Come To Us

Will The U.S. Save Israel or Will Israel Save The U.S.?

Herbert London

"Having spent ten days visiting defense installations in Israel and talking to members of the general staff, my confidence about Israel's ability to defend itself has soared."

From a Naval Aviation First to the Air Force Birthday

Military History, W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Commemorating this week's anniversaries of defining events in American military history.

JFK's Widow Blasted Times Over Cuba

Cliff Kincaid

Jackie Kennedy singled out The New York Times for criticism for helping bring Fidel Castro to power.

Delegitimizing Israel: This Week's UN Farce

Fiamma Nirenstein

The Palestinian Authority wants to use the UN to become the leader of an international movement of defamation and delegitimation of Israel that can easily lead to violence.

Today's Hot Topics

We choose, you peruse.

Durban I, II and III

Nothing More Than Jew Hatred Rivaling Nazi Germany

Ed Koch

The Durban III conference begins tomorrow in New York. Ostensibly about "racism" it has been hijacked by Muslim nations who promote anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel.

After America: The Book of 2011

Daniel Hannan

Daniel Hannan finds that Mark Steyn's latest work is fun to read and full of humor, even when it is worryingly accurate in its apocalyptic predictions.

Sacrifice The Soldier - Save The Union Boss!

Dems don't defend nation, but protect their voter base.

Ralph Peters

American leftists are mobilizing in defense of their sacred values: corruption, cowardice and concessions to contributors. For the left, those who have served their country are irrelevant.

Isralpundit

Fighting To Publish in 'Multicultural' Canada

I'll Do It Myself

By Howard Rothberg, PAJAMAS MEDIA

I founded my own book publishing company to promote the ideas of those who must be heard.

Canada is not Europe. Europeans are saddled with a terrible history of fascism and anti-Semitic genocide, which left a legacy of cultural insecurity and a type of self-hatred. Europe no longer knows what it stands for.

In my book TOLERism: The Ideology Revealed, the elites of much of Europe and elsewhere in the West fix on "tolerance" as a supposed cultural value. Had they followed the Biblical value of "justice" and not appeased the Nazi ideology, there would likely have been a much smaller Second World War and perhaps no Holocaust.

Canada, however, has traditionally been composed of emigrants from the evils of Europe. From the British Isles through Eastern Europe, those fed up with persecution made a new life in the New World.

My father - having survived the war as a slave laborer in Auschwitz, where his parents and little...

Read the whole entry »

67% of Voters Say Obama isn't Pro-Israel

Alana Goodman, Contentions

Our "First Jewish President's" Israel policy isn't just a concern to Jewish voters. Obama's Israel problems extend beyond religious lines, according to a poll released by The Hill today:

More than half of likely voters say the Obama administration's policy on Israel is either somewhat or very important to the way they vote, according to this week's The Hill Poll.

The survey comes just as Republicans managed to win the Brooklyn- and Queens-based congressional seat of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), in what many called a referendum on President Obama's approach to Israel.

The internal numbers are actually even worse for the president. According to the poll, 67 percent of likely voters believe President Obama is not pro-Israel, with 29 percent saying he's "anti-Israel" and 38 percent saying he's neither pro nor anti. Less than a quarter say he's pro-Israel. It's supremely troubling such a large majority believes...

Read the whole entry »

United Nations Begins Debate on Palestinian Statehood

by Bill Levinson

Live coverage of the UN General Assembly debating Palestinian statehood. The Palestinian delegate begins by explaining why the rest of the world should recognize Palestinian independence. He fortunately does not have an explosive device so he throws what looks like a piece of wood instead. A discussion among the Arab delegation then takes place off to the right.

If this seems disrespectful of the UN, it is intended to be. We do however apologize to the chimpanzees for equating them to UN delegates and especially Palestinians, noting that chimps are far less violent. Now we come to the serious part; we are almost looking forward to the UN destroying its own perceived authority by recognizing Palestinian statehood.

Skippy McGraw says:
June 29, 2009 at 11:24 am

You know, in the Army there is an important saying... Never give an order you know will not be obeyed. It breaks discipline and control.

The logic behind it is simple. People who are used to obeying...

Read the whole entry »

Israel's Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy

I attended a conference today hosted by the WJC and the JCPA, where this book was launched. I was thrilled that this book, setting out Israel's legal rights was published. This is the first volley in a long overdue emphasis on Israel's rights. It will be translated into a half a dozen languages and is currently available in book and digital form in English. For ten years now, I have been arguing for Israel to claim her legal rights and not just her security rights. At the bottom of this post you will see all the chapters which are each linked to the content. Spread it far and wide. Ted Belman

Alan Baker, JCPA
A concerted campaign is being waged against Israel to question its very legitimacy in virtually every aspect of its historical, political, and cultural life, with the aim of undermining the very foundations of Israel's existence.

In response, several world-renowned experts have joined to present an authoritative exposition of Israel's Rights as a...

Read the whole entry »

Mother of 4 terrorist murderers chosen by the PA to launch statehood campaign

The Palestinian Authority chose the mother of 4 terrorist murderers, one of whom killed seven Israeli civilians and attempted to killed twelve others, as the person to launch their statehood campaign with the UN. In a widely publicized event, the PA had Latifa Abu Hmeid lead the procession to the UN offices in Ramallah and to hand over a letter for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

'Jewish al-Jazeera' going on the air

World's first pro-Israel international news network, Jewish News 1, to begin broadcasts Wednesday, offering 'everything that interests Jews' in eight different languages

Akiva Novick, YNET

Jews of the world, prepare your remote controls: The first-ever Jewish news network will begin broadcasts this Wednesday.

Jewish News 1 was born as an alternative to the world's leading news networks - CNN, Fox News and Sky News. But its main goal is to serve as the Jewish version of al-Jazeera, which has won the hearts of tens of millions of Arab viewers over the past 15 years.

According to the Makor Rishon newspaper, the channel will be broadcast via satellite to Europe, North America and the Middle East. In Israel it will be offered by the Yes satellite company.

Jewish News 1 will broadcast news from Israel and the world 24/7. The network has already set up studios in Tel Aviv, Brussels and Kiev, and additional studios will be opened in...

Read the whole entry »

The End of Palestine

Daniel Greenfield, CFR

In the spring of 1964, while the Vietnam War was underway, the space program had brought close up photos of the moon, and the Beatles were topping the charts; the Arab League convened to try and find a way to complete the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel. They had tried it once before in 1948, with incomplete results. Back then, the Arab forces had managed to capture and ethnically cleanse the eastern half of Jerusalem, as well as seizing and annexing the West Bank and Gaza. But for 16 years, Israel had managed to frustrate their designs by stubbornly continuing to exist.

What the Arab governments wanted was a terrorist organization that could cross the border and carry out attacks inside Israel. And they wanted plausible deniability so that Israel and the UN couldn't hold them responsible for those attacks. And so cloaked in a lot of smoke and mirrors about "Palestinian Arab nationhood", the Palestine Liberation Organization was born.

Read the whole entry »

The Palestinian gambit and UN hypocrisy

By ALAN BAKER AND DAN DIKER, JPOST

It is high time that the UN stop pampering the Palestinians and bending their own rules and principles.

In a reasonable world, one firmly girded by international law and wisely guided by its underlying principles, Israel would not need to be overly concerned about the Palestinian leadership's strategic decision to bypass the agreed upon and internationally sanctioned peace process and instead seek United Nations endorsement of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state. Simply put, the Palestinians couldn't get away with it.

As a UN member in good standing, Israel could take comfort in the fact that it is the only member of the UN General Assembly whose rights to sovereignty were twice affirmed in the past century; first in 1922, by the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, whose assignment of Jewish rights in the Mandate for Palestine were reaffirmed in 1945 by the United Nations' founding charter. Then there was Israel's acceptance into...

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Democrat Henry Waxman Promotes "Jews and Money" Stereotype

by Bill Levinson

Waxman Uses Anti-Semitic Trope in Blast at GOP Jews reports,

There are Jews who are trending toward the Republican Party, some of it because of their misunderstanding of Obama's policies in the Middle East, and some of it, quite frankly, for economic reasons. They feel they want to protect their wealth, which is why a lot of well-off voters vote for Republicans."

Right, Mr. Nostrilman (Michael Savage's term for this bipedal disaster); Joooooooooooz are interested only in money and vote accordingly. We remind our readers that Mr. Waxman also is foremost in the movement to implement carbon taxes or cap and trade regulations whose purpose is to redistribute wealth from productive working Americans to enrich Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, General Electric, and other special interests. In any event, now that the Democrats have a kapo who will peddle their anti-Semitic garbage openly, it is time for Jewish voters to reconsider seriously whether the...

Read the whole entry »

Reservists Called Up, Instructions Unclear

Reservists Called Up, Instructions Unclear
IDF calls up reservist soldiers in preparation for mayhem after PA UN move. "Open fire only if your life is danger," they are told
By Gil Ronen

Newsmax World

Middle East

Abbas Defiant as 'All Hell' Breaks Out Over UN Plan

Monday, September 19, 2011

NEW YORK - President Mahmoud Abbas said he is sticking to his plan to seek full United Nations membership for a Palestinian state although "all hell has broken out" over the move opposed by the United States and Israel.

Abbas, speaking en route to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, said he had been told by the United States and European governments that "matters will be bad" after a move which reflects his frustration with a moribund peace process.

"To what extent, we will know later on," said Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority which depends on international financial aid for its survival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The United States and Israel wanted to keep the peace process restricted to "a bilateral dialogue" overseen from afar by Washington, he said. But all the while this dialogue had failed, prompting the U.N. membership move.

Frontpage

10 Reasons to Abolish the UN

By Frontpagemag.com
The Freedom Center's searing new pamphlet exposes how the UN has long since betrayed its foundational ideals.
Read more »

Obama Hinges Re-election on Class Warfare

By Arnold Ahlert
Why the president must convince voters Republicans are to blame for the ailing economy.
Read more »

Barney Frank's Racist Legacy

By Daniel Greenfield
How the Left put the African-American middle class back in chains.
Read more »

The 'Arab Spring's' Forgotten War

By Rick Moran
A civil war in Yemen may be inevitable.
Read more »

The Sorry State of Immigration

By Matthew Vadum
And how Obama may be planning to taking advantage of it in 2012.
Read more »

Another Global Warming Dissenter Stands Up

By Rich Trzupek
The abandonment of the scientific method drives a Nobel laureate to act.
Read more »

Obama: Incompetent or Malevolent?

By David Solway
In the last analysis, is the question really that important?
Read more »

Taxing Life-Saving Medical Devices

By Tait Trussell
A healthy segment of the manufacturing industry could be devastated.
Read more »

Anti-Semitism at Hampshire College

By Sara Dogan
Students break their silence on Jew-hatred and bigotry at the ultra-leftist college.
Read more »

Firewall/The Blaze

September 20, 2011

COUPLE WINS $4.5 MIL 'WRONGFUL BIRTH' SUIT A Florida couple won millions after suing a doctor and ultrasound operator, claiming a botched ultrasound denied them the chance to abort their deformed child. Read the details of this jaw-dropping decision HERE.

SEIU LEADER WANTS A BIG CRISIS, NOW Stephen Lerner of SEIU International is captured on video at a Progressive Summit instructing his faithful followers to create a crisis for the "evil rich." Watch him encourage people to break several laws HERE.
THE IRANIAN AMBASSADOR SAID WHAT? The Palestinians are at the UN this week pitching for statehood. Iran's amabassador says that is a great idea and would also be a "step towards wiping out Israel." See the details HERE.
ITALY IS DOWNGRADED, CHINA HAS A DEBT PROBLEM, AND NADAR'S BACK IN 2012 Found in the Blog section of The Blaze, a beautiful rainbow of stories from all across the Internet. May we present the Tuesday Morning Must-Reads HERE.

WHICH 60'S RADICAL IS USING GLENN BECK'S NAME TO SELL BOOKS? If you answered Frances Fox Piven, give yourself a gold star and keep up with the rest of the details HERE. fACT CHECKING PRESIDENT OBAMA ON SECRETARIES, RICH FOLKS, AND TAXES After almost two weeks of repeating the same charge about secretaries paying a greater percentage of income tax than rich people pay, the Associated Press has done some fact-checking. See what they uncovered HERE.

VIRAL VIDEO DU JOUR - PULLED IN LONDON, CONTROVERSIAL LEVI'S AD AIRS DURING MNF Why is Levi Strauss, an American company with a global brand recognized around the world, running a television ad so controversial that it was pulled from the airwaves in England? Watch the commercial HERE.

FORMER NASA SCIENTISTS CREATE A STREET-LEGAL, SUPER-FAST TRICYCLE An inspiring group of former scientists, engineers and workers from NASA are not sitting around moping about losing their jobs. Rather, they have created something very cool. Check out the TREYCYCLE - a street-legal motorized tricycle that can go 0-60mph in under four seconds HERE.

Act! for America

LEGISLATIVE ACTION ALERT!!
ALL HANDS ON DECK NEEDED NOW!
SEND A MESSAGE TO THE U.S. CONGRESS AND TO
CAIR ABOUT LEGISLATION NOW UNDER
CONSIDERATION!

[Editor's Note: In yesterday's email we incorrectly identified the Muslim student as female. We apologize for the error.]
Senators Joe Lieberman (CT) and Susan Collins (ME), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have included very important language in S. 1546, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Reauthorization Act of 2011.

Specifically, their language designates an official within DHS to "coordinate efforts to counter violent extremism in the United States, particularly the ideology that gives rise to Islamist terrorism...."

Bringing governmental focus to bear on the ideology driving Islamic terrorism is something we have been working hard to achieve. It's what Guy Rodgers, ACT! for America Executive Director, addresses in his "Connect the Dots" presentation that is part of our "Unmasking the Enemy Among Us" resource.

The Lieberman/Collins language is significant forward movement by the U.S. Congress to finally define the threat. It is critical that we show them that we are behind them 150%!!!

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be considering this legislation tomorrow, Wednesday, September 21^st.

Surprise, surprise! CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has sent out an alert urging people to contact the committee and express their opposition. We know you're shocked to learn this. WE MUST SEND A LOUDER, STRONGER MESSAGE THAN CAIR!

Please take a moment NOW to call the Committee to let them know that you wholeheartedly SUPPORT the language of Section 213: Countering Homegrown Terrorism contained in S. 1546-and forward this Alert on to everyone you know!

The phone numbers of the Senate House Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are as follows:

Majority (Democrats)		202-224-2627
Minority (Republicans)		202-224-4751

It is CRITICAL that the Committee hears from those that support the language-which we know are a MAJORITY of Americans.

PLEASE CALL TODAY! THANK YOU!

REMEMBER, YOUR VOICE COUNTS!

IF EACH OF US DOES JUST A LITTLE, TOGETHER WE CAN
ACCOMPLISH A LOT!

Atlas Shrugged

"I Left My Brains in San Francisco"

"They flew the plane in, but we caused it" ... "Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop." So sayeth Tony Bennett.

Tony Bennett Tells Howard Stern U.S. 'Caused' 9/11 Attacks FOX News
NEW YORK - Legendary singer Tony Bennett has waded into a new controversy by saying America "caused" the attacks on the Twin Towers. He made the comments during an interview Monday on The Howard Stern Show.
The 85-year-old Grammy-winning crooner, famed for the 1960s hit single "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" appeared on the Sirius XM Radio talk show in New York to discuss his latest album "Duets II."
But he also ended up talking about his antipathy to war, borne out of his experience serving as an infantryman in Europe in the last two years of World War II.
"But who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don't make a right," Bennett said talking about the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The singer, who has sold more than 50 million records, disagreed with Stern's assertion that the Twin Towers attacks led to US military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"They flew the plane in, but we caused it," Bennett said. "Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop."

See video here:

Rabbi Lewis' sermon on Rosh Hashanah MUST READ!!!!!!!

Sermon of the Century

This sermon, has been referred to as the "sermon of the century" If you haven't already seen or heard it it's well worth reading.

---------

First Day of Rosh Hashanah 2010
Sermon delivered by Rabbi Schlomo Lewis of Atlanta

I thought long and I thought hard on whether to deliver the sermon I am about to share. We all wish to bounce happily out of shul on the High Holidays, filled with warm fuzzies, ready to gobble up our brisket, our honey cakes and our kugel. We want to be shaken and stirred - but not too much. We want to be guilt-schlepped - but not too much. We want to be provoked but not too much. We want to be transformed but not too much.

I get it, but as a rabbi I have a compelling obligation, a responsibility to
articulate what is in my heart and what I passionately believe must be said
and must be heard. And so, I am guided not by what is easy to say but by
what is painful to express. I am guided not by the frivolous but by the
serious. I am guided not by delicacy but by urgency.

We are at war. We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as
heartless as the Nazis but one wouldn't know it from our behavior. During
WWII we didn't refer to storm troopers as freedom fighters. We didn't call
the Gestapo, militants. We didn't see the attacks on our Merchant Marine
as acts by rogue sailors. We did not justify the Nazis rise to power as our
fault. We did not grovel before the Nazis, thumping our hearts and
confessing to abusing and mistreating and humiliating the German people.
We did not apologize for Dresden , nor for The Battle of the Bulge, nor for El
Alamein, nor for D-Day.

Evil - ultimate, irreconcilable, evil threatened us and Roosevelt and Churchill had moral clarity and an exquisite understanding of what was at stake. It was not just the Sudetenland, not just Tubruk, not just Vienna , not just Casablanca . It was the entire planet. Read history and be shocked at how frighteningly close Hitler came to creating a Pax Germana on every continent.

Not all Germans were Nazis - most were decent, most were revolted by the Third Reich, most were good citizens hoisting a beer, earning a living and tucking in their children at night. But, too many looked away, too many cried out in lame defense - I didn't know." Too many were silent. Guilt absolutely falls upon those who committed the atrocities, but responsibility and guilt falls upon those who did nothing as well. Fault was not just with the goose steppers but with those who pulled the curtains shut, said and did nothing.

In WWII we won because we got it. We understood who the enemy was and we knew that the end had to be unconditional and absolute. We did not stumble around worrying about offending the Nazis. We did not measure every word so as not to upset our foe. We built planes and tanks and battleships and went to war to win..... to rid the world of malevolence.

We are at war... yet too many stubbornly and foolishly don't put the pieces together and refuse to identify the evil doers. We are circumspect and disgracefully politically correct.

Let me mince no words in saying that from Fort Hood to Bali, from Times Square to London , from Madrid to Mumbai, from 9/11 to Gaza , the murderers, the barbarians are radical Islamists.

To camouflage their identity is sedition. To excuse their deeds is contemptible. To mask their intentions is unconscionable.

A few years ago I visited Lithuania on a Jewish genealogical tour. It was a stunning journey and a very personal, spiritual pilgrimage. When we visited Kovno we davened Maariv at the only remaining shul in the city. Before the war there were thirty-seven shuls for 38,000 Jews. Now only one, a shrinking, gray congregation. We made minyon for the handful of aged worshippers in the Choral Synagogue, a once majestic, jewel in Kovno.

After my return home I visited Cherry Hill for Shabbos. At the oneg an elderly family friend, Joe Magun, came over to me.

"Shalom," he said. "Your abba told me you just came back from Lithuania ."

"Yes," I replied. "It was quite a powerful experience." "Did you visit the Choral Synagogue in Kovno? The one with the big arch in the courtyard?"

"Yes, I did. In fact, we helped them make minyon." His eyes opened wide in joy at our shared memory. For a moment he gazed into the distance and then, he returned. "Shalom, I grew up only a few feet away from the arch. The Choral Synagogue was where I davened as a child."

He paused for a moment and once again was lost in the past. His smile faded. Pain filled his wrinkled face. "I remember one Shabbos in 1938 when Vladimir Jabotinsky came to the shul" (Jabotinsky was Menachim Begin's mentor - he was a fiery orator, an unflinching Zionist radical, whose politics were to the far right.) Joe continued "When Jabotinsky came, he
delivered the drash on Shabbos morning and I can still hear his words burning in my ears. He climbed up to the shtender, stared at us from the bima, glared at us with eyes full of fire and cried out. 'EHR KUMT. YIDN FARLAWST AYER SHTETL - He's coming. Jews abandon your city.' "

We thought we were safe in Lithuania from the Nazis, from Hitler. We had lived there, thrived for a thousand years but Jabotinsky was right -- his warning prophetic. We got out but most did not."

We are not in Lithuania . It is not the 1930s. There is no Luftwaffe overhead. No U-boats off the coast of long Island . No Panzer divisions on our borders. But make no mistake; we are under attack - our values, our tolerance, our freedom, our virtue, our land.

Now before some folks roll their eyes and glance at their watches let me state emphatically, unmistakably - I have no pathology of hate, nor am I a manic Paul Revere, galloping through the countryside. I am not a pessimist, nor prone to panic attacks. I am a lover of humanity, all humanity. Whether they worship in a synagogue, a church, a mosque, a temple or don't worship at all. I have no bone of bigotry in my body, but what I do have is hatred for those who hate, intolerance for those who are intolerant, and a guiltless, unstoppable obsession to see evil eradicated.

Today the enemy is radical Islam but it must be said sadly and reluctantly that there are unwitting, co-conspirators who strengthen the hands of the evil doers. Let me state that the overwhelming number of Muslims are good Muslims, fine human beings who want nothing more than a Jeep Cherokee in their driveway, a flat screen TV on their wall and a good education for their children, but these good Muslims have an obligation to destiny, to decency that thus far for the most part they have avoided. The Kulturkampf is not only external but internal as well. The good Muslims must sponsor rallies in Times Square, in Trafalgar Square, in the UN Plaza, on the Champs Elysee, in Mecca condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the
slaughter of the innocent. Thus far, they have not. The good Muslims must place ads in the NY Times. They must buy time on network TV, on cable stations, in the Jerusalem Post, in Le Monde, in Al Watan, on Al Jazeena condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the slaughter of the innocent - thus far, they have not. Their silence allows the vicious to tarnish
Islam and define it.

Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.

I recall a conversation with my father shortly before he died that helped me understand how perilous and how broken is our world; that we are living on the narrow seam of civilization and moral oblivion. Knowing he had little time left he shared the following - "Shal. I am ready to leave this earth. Sure I'd like to live a little longer, see a few more sunrises, but truthfully, I've had it. I'm done. Finished. I hope the Good Lord takes me soon because I am unable to live in this world knowing what it has become."

This startling admission of moral exhaustion from a man who witnessed and lived through the Depression, the Holocaust, WWII, Communist triumphalism, McCarthyism, Strontium 90 and polio. - Yet his twilight observation was - "The worst is yet to come." And he wanted out.

I share my father's angst and fear that too many do not see the authentic, existential threat we face nor confront the source of our peril. We must wake up and smell the hookah.

"Lighten up, Lewis. Take a chill pill, some of you are quietly thinking. You're sounding like Glen Beck. It's not that bad. It's not that real."

But I am here to tell you - "It is." Ask the member of our shul whose sister was vaporized in the Twin Towers and identified finally by her charred teeth, if this is real or not. Ask the members of our shul who fled a bus in downtown Paris , fearing for their safety from a gang of Muslim thugs, if this is an exaggeration. Ask the member of our shul whose son tracks Arab terrorist infiltrators who target - pizza parlors, nursery schools, Pesach seders, city buses and play grounds, if this is dramatic, paranoid hyperbole.

Ask them, ask all of them - ask the American GI's we sit next to on planes
who are here for a brief respite while we fly off on our Delta vacation package. Ask them if it's bad. Ask them if it's real.

Did anyone imagine in the 1920's what Europe would look like in the 1940's.
Did anyone presume to know in the coffee houses of Berlin or in the opera halls of Vienna that genocide would soon become the celebrated culture?
Did anyone think that a goofy-looking painter named Shickelgruber would go from the beer halls of Munich and jail, to the Reichstag as Feuhrer in less than a decade? Did Jews pack their bags and leave Warsaw , Vilna, Athens , Paris , Bialystok , Minsk , knowing that soon their new address would be Treblinka, Sobibor, Dachau and Auschwitz ?

The sages teach - "Aizehu chacham - haroeh et hanolad - Who is a wise person - he who sees into the future." We dare not wallow in complacency, in a misguided tolerance and naïve sense of security.

We must be diligent students of history and not sit in ash cloth at the waters of Babylon weeping. We cannot be hypnotized by eloquent-sounding rhetoric that soothes our heart but endangers our soul. We cannot be lulled into inaction for fear of offending the offenders. Radical Islam is the scourge and this must be cried out from every mountain top. From sea to shining sea, we must stand tall, prideful of our stunning decency and moral resilience. Immediately after 9/11 how many mosques were destroyed in America ? None. After 9/11, how many Muslims were killed in America ? None. After 9/11, how many anti-Muslim rallies were held in America ? None. And yet, we apologize. We grovel. We beg forgiveness.

The mystifying litany of our foolishness continues. Should there be a shul in Hebron on the site where Baruch Goldstein gunned down twenty-seven Arabs at noonday prayers? Should there be a museum praising the U.S. Calvary on the site of Wounded Knee ? Should there be a German cultural center in Auschwitz ? Should a church be built in the Syrian town of Ma'arra where Crusaders slaughtered over 100,000 Muslims? Should there be a thirteen story mosque and Islamic Center only a few steps from Ground Zero?

Despite all the rhetoric, the essence of the matter can be distilled quite easily. The Muslim community has the absolute, constitutional right to build their building wherever they wish. I don't buy the argument - "When we can build a church or a synagogue in Mecca they can build a mosque here." America is greater than Saudi Arabia . And New York is greater than Mecca . Democracy and freedom must prevail.

Can they build? Certainly. May they build? Certainly. But should they build at that site? No -- but that decision must come from them, not from us. Sensitivity, compassion cannot be measured in feet or yards or in blocks. One either feels the pain of others and cares, or does not.

If those behind this project are good, peace-loving, sincere, tolerant Muslims, as they claim, then they should know better, rip up the zoning permits and build elsewhere.

Believe it or not, I am a dues-paying, card carrying member of the ACLU, yet from start of finish, I find this sorry episode disturbing to say the least.

William Burroughs, the novelist and poet, in a wry moment wrote - "After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say - "I want to see the manager."

Let us understand that the radical Islamist assaults all over the globe are but skirmishes, fire fights, and vicious decoys. Christ and the anti-Christ. Gog U'Magog. The Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness; the bloody collision between civilization and depravity is on the border between Lebanon and Israel . It is on the Gaza Coast and in the Judean Hills of the West Bank . It is on the sandy beaches of Tel Aviv and on the cobblestoned mall of Ben Yehuda Street . It is in the underground schools of Sderot and on the bullet-proofed inner-city buses. It is in every school yard, hospital, nursery, classroom, park, theater - in every place of innocence and purity.

Israel is the laboratory - the test market. Every death, every explosion, every grisly encounter is not a random, bloody orgy. It is a calculated, strategic probe into the heart, guts and soul of the West.

In the Six Day War, Israel was the proxy of Western values and strategy while the Arab alliance was the proxy of Eastern, Soviet values and strategy. Today too, it is a confrontation of proxies, but the stakes are greater than East Jerusalem and the West Bank . Israel in her struggle represents the civilized world, while Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Queda, Iran , Islamic Jihad, represent the world of psychopathic, loathesome evil.

As Israel , imperfect as she is, resists the onslaught, many in the Western World have lost their way displaying not admiration, not sympathy, not understanding, for Israel 's galling plight, but downright hostility and contempt. Without moral clarity, we are doomed because Israel 's galling
plight ultimately will be ours. Hanna Arendt in her classic Origins of Totalitarianism accurately portrays the first target of tyranny as the Jew.

We are the trial balloon. The canary in the coal mine. If the Jew/Israel is permitted to bleed with nary a protest from "good guys" then tyranny snickers and pushes forward with its agenda.

Moral confusion is a deadly weakness and it has reached epic proportions in the West; from the Oval Office to the UN, from the BBC to Reuters to MSNBC, from the New York Times to Le Monde, from university campuses to British teachers unions, from the International Red Cross to Amnesty International, from Goldstone to Elvis Costello, from the Presbyterian Church to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

There is a message sent and consequences when our president visits Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia , and not Israel .

There is a message sent and consequences when free speech on campus is only for those championing Palestinian rights.

There is a message sent and consequences when the media deliberately doctors and edits film clips to demonize Israel .

There is a message sent and consequences when the UN blasts Israel relentlessly, effectively ignoring Iran , Sudan , Venezuela , North Korea , China and other noxious states.

There is a message sent and consequences when liberal churches are motivated by Liberation Theology, not historical accuracy.

There is a message sent and consequences when murderers and terrorists are defended by the obscenely transparent "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

John Milton warned, "Hypocrisy is the only evil that walks invisible."

A few days after the Gaza blockade incident in the spring, a congregant happened past my office, glanced in and asked in a friendly tone - "Rabbi. How're y' doing?"

I looked up, sort of smiled and replied - "I've had better days."

"What's the matter? Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?" he inquired.

"Thank you for the offer but I'm just bummed out today and I showed him a newspaper article I was reading.

" Madrid gay pride parade bans Israeli group over Gaza Ship Raid." I explained to my visitor - "The Israeli gay pride contingent from Tel Aviv was not allowed to participate in the Spanish gay pride parade because the mayor of Tel Aviv did not apologize for the raid by the Israeli military."

The only country in the entire Middle East where gay rights exist, is Israel . The only country in the entire Middle East where there is a gay pride parade, is Israel . The only country in the Middle East that has gay neighborhoods and gay bars, is Israel .

Gays in the Gaza would be strung up, executed by Hamas if they came out and yet Israel is vilified and ostracized. Disinvited to the parade.

Looking for logic?

Looking for reason?

Looking for sanity?

Kafka on his darkest, gloomiest day could not keep up with this bizarre spectacle and we "useful idiots" pander and fawn over cutthroats, sinking deeper and deeper into moral decay, as the enemy laughs all the way to the West Bank and beyond.

It is exhausting and dispiriting. We live in an age that is redefining righteousness where those with moral clarity are an endangered, beleaguered specie.

Isaiah warned us thousands of years ago - "Oye Lehem Sheh-Korim Layome, Laila v'Laila, yome - Woe to them who call the day, night and the night, day." We live on a planet that is both Chelm and Sodom . It is a frightening and maddening place to be.

How do we convince the world and many of our own, that this is not just anti-Semitism, that this is not just anti-Zionism but a full throttled attack by unholy, radical Islamists on everything that is morally precious to us?

How do we convince the world and many of our own that conciliation is not an option, that compromise is not a choice?

Everything we are. Everything we believe. Everything we treasure, is at risk.

The threat is so unbelievably clear and the enemy so unbelievably ruthless how anyone in their right mind doesn't get it is baffling. Let's try an analogy. If someone contracted a life-threatening infection and we not only scolded them for using antibiotics but insisted that the bacteria had a right to infect their body and that perhaps, if we gave the invading infection an arm and a few toes, the bacteria would be satisfied and stop spreading.

Anyone buy that medical advice? Well, folks, that's our approach to the radical Islamist bacteria. It is amoral, has no conscience and will spread unless it is eradicated. - There is no negotiating. Appeasement is death.

I was no great fan of George Bush - didn't vote for him. (By the way, I'm still a registered Democrat.) I disagreed with many of his policies but one thing he had right. His moral clarity was flawless when it came to the War on Terror, the War on Radical Islamist Terror. There was no middle ground - either you were friend or foe. There was no place in Bush's world for a
Switzerland. He knew that this competition was not Toyota against G.M., not the Iphone against the Droid, not the Braves against the Phillies, but a deadly serious war, winner take all. Blink and you lose. Underestimate, and you get crushed.

I know that there are those sitting here today who have turned me off. But I also know that many turned off their rabbis seventy five years ago in Warsaw , Riga , Berlin , Amsterdam , Cracow , Vilna. I get no satisfaction from that knowledge, only a bitter sense that there is nothing new under the sun.

Enough rhetoric - how about a little "show and tell?" A few weeks ago on the cover of Time magazine was a horrific picture with a horrific story. The photo was of an eighteen year old Afghani woman, Bibi Aisha, who fled her abusive husband and his abusive family. Days later the Taliban found her and dragged her to a mountain clearing where she was found guilty of
violating Sharia Law. Her punishment was immediate. She was pinned to the ground by four men while her husband sliced off her ears, and then he cut off her nose.

That is the enemy (show enlarged copy of magazine cover.)

If nothing else stirs us. If nothing else convinces us, let Bibi Aisha's mutilated face be the face of Islamic radicalism. Let her face shake up even the most complacent and naïve among us. In the holy crusade against this ultimate evil, pictures of Bibi Aisha's disfigurement should be displayed on billboards, along every highway from Route 66 to the Autobahn, to the Transarabian Highway . Her picture should be posted on every lobby wall from Tokyo to Stockholm to Rio . On every network, at every commercial break, Bibi Aisha's face should appear with the caption - "Radical Islamic savages did this." And underneath - "This ad was approved by Hamas, by Hezbollah, by Taliban, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, by Islamic Jihad, by Fatah al Islam, by Magar Nodal Hassan, by Richard Reid, by Ahmanijad, by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, by Osama bin Laden, by Edward Said, by The Muslim Brotherhood, by Al Queda, by CAIR."

"The moral sentiment is the drop that balances the sea" said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Today, my friends, the sea is woefully out of balance and we could easily drown in our moral myopia and worship of political correctness.

We peer up into the heavens sending probes to distant galaxies. We peer down into quarks discovering particles that would astonish Einstein. We create computers that rival the mind, technologies that surpass science fiction. What we imagine, with astounding rapidity, becomes real. If we dream it, it does, indeed, come. And yet, we are at a critical point in the history of this planet that could send us back into the cave, to a culture that would make the Neanderthal blush with shame.

Our parents and grandparents saw the swastika and recoiled, understood the threat and destroyed the Nazis. We see the banner of Radical Islam and can do no less.

A rabbi was once asked by his students....
"Rebbi. Why are your sermons so stern?" Replied the rabbi, "If a house is on fire and we chose not to wake up our children, for fear of disturbing their sleep, would that be love? Kinderlach, 'di hoyz brent.' Children our house is on fire and I must arouse you from your slumber."

During WWII and the Holocaust was it business as usual for priests, ministers, rabbis? Did they deliver benign homilies and lovely sermons as Europe fell, as the Pacific fell, as North Africa fell, as the Mideast and South America tottered, as England bled? Did they ignore the demonic juggernaut and the foul breath of evil? They did not. There was clarity, courage, vision, determination, sacrifice, and we were victorious. Today it must be our finest hour as well. We dare not retreat into the banality of our routines, glance at headlines and presume that the good guys will prevail.

Democracies don't always win.
Tyrannies don't always lose.

My friends - the world is on fire and we must awake from our slumber. "ER KUMT."

chron.com

FBI pulls training that branded Muslims as violent

By Zain Shauk, Houston Chronicle

The FBI on Thursday said it had stopped a training session that called the Prophet Muhammad a "cult leader," said mainstream Muslims were likely to support violent extremism and described the Islamic principal of charity as a "funding mechanism for combat."

The content of the training session set off a wave of concern among Muslims across the nation who had been trying to help authorities battle homegrown terrorism.

An FBI spokesman confirmed on Thursday that the agency did host one training session six months ago that described Muslims as more likely to be violent as they increased in devotion to their faith. Slides from the training session, confirmed as accurate by the FBI and posted online by Wired magazine, show a graph illustrating how followers of other Abrahamic faiths have become more nonviolent since their inceptions, but Muslims have not.

The lesson painted Islam as a religion that promotes and supports violence, extensively citing references to assassinations, centuries-old wars and verses from the Quran. It emphasized killing, torture and holy war as central tenets of the faith.

Mother Jones

The GOP's Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012

If Pennsylvania Republicans and their buddies in other states execute a plan to change election rules, Obama has a one-way ticket to Losertown.

By Nick Baumann on Wed. September 14, 2011 2:55 AM PDT

Pete Souza/White House photo

Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing a scheme that, if GOPers in other states follow their lead, could cause President Barack Obama to lose the 2012 election-not because of the vote count, but because of new rules. That's not all: There's no legal way for Democrats to stop them.

The problem for Obama, and the opportunity for Republicans, is the electoral college. Every political junkie knows that the presidential election isn't a truly national contest; it's a state-by-state fight, and each state is worth a number of electoral votes equal to the size of the state's congressional delegation. (The District of Columbia also gets three votes.) There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs; win 270, and you're the president.

Here's the rub, though: Each state gets to determine how its electoral votes are allocated. Currently, 48 states and DC use a winner-take-all system in which the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state gets all of its electoral votes. Under the Republican plan-which has been endorsed by top GOPers in both houses of the state Legislature, as well as the governor, Tom Corbett-Pennsylvania would change from this system to one where each congressional district gets its own electoral vote. (Two electoral votes-one for each of the state's two senators-would go to the statewide winner.)

This could cost Obama dearly.

CALL YOUR REP AND SENATOR AND TELL THEM NOT TO WAIT....DO IT NOW!!!!!! IT'S A GUARANTEED LOSS FOR OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!

Campaign for Working Families

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer

Obama's Politics Of Division

Obama's approval ratings are falling. His economic policies are failing. Liberals are furious and contemplating a primary challenge. Against this backdrop, Obama did what he often does -- he resorted to attempting to distract and divide Americans by blaming our problems on the rich and suggesting that they aren't paying their fair share.

Obama and his media allies are intent on making this election about punishing the successful rather than about the loss of jobs. So we want to use some space in today's report to set the record straight. We must stop Obama's class warfare if we ever hope to restore the American Dream. Here is the truth.

Obama is repeatedly suggesting that the "well off" in America aren't paying their fair share. The truth, according to IRS data, is that the top 1% of earners paid nearly 40% of all income taxes collected in 2008. The top 10% of earners paid nearly 70% of all income taxes collected.

What exactly is their "fair share"? How much more should the people who create jobs be forced to pay? How does taking money from investors, entrepreneurs and small businessmen create jobs?
In his speech yesterday laying out his new "millionaire's penalty tax," Obama made the following statements: "We can't afford these special lower rates for the wealthy..." and "Middle-class families shouldn't pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires." The first statement is a deliberate effort to deceive you, and the second statement is factually incorrect. (By the way, this "millionaire's tax" idea isn't new. He proposed it in ObamaCare, but Democrats in Congress quickly dropped it.)

There are no "special lower rates for the wealthy." What Obama is referring to is the 15% rate that applies to EVERYONE who pays capital gains taxes. That includes Warren Buffett who sold a lot of shares and the guy down the street who sold his house. Or it may be you if you sold some stock that increased in value.

The capital gains tax is lower than the income tax in order to encourage investment, risk-taking and wealth creation. Doing so makes job creation more likely!

As for millionaires and billionaires, the top tax rate applied to income is 35% and kicks in at roughly $380,000 or more. Middle-class families are generally paying federal taxes in the 25% or 28% brackets.
But here's the most important point to keep in mind. According to the IRS, just over 235,000 people reported incomes of $1 million or more on their tax returns in 2009, and they paid 20% of all income taxes collected by the IRS. Combined, they earned $727 billion. If Obama imposed a 100% tax rate on all 235,000 millionaires and billionaires, it would yield enough revenue to cover only 56% of last year's $1.3 trillion deficit. Whose money would we confiscate the next year to pay for Obama's deficits?

As I have argued before, the problem is not that the rich are not paying "their fair share," but there are too few of them to pay for all of Obama's "stimulus," welfare, income redistribution and corruption.

The editors of USA Today agree. Referring to Obama's proposal yesterday, they wrote, "[T]he plan's flaws are troubling. It pretends that enough money can be raised simply by raising taxes on the rich. It can't. There aren't enough of them."

Our biggest problem is that Obama and his big government allies in Congress are spending too much! By the way, right after his class warfare speech, Obama headed to New York for a fundraiser with liberal millionaires and billionaires!

Left, Right And "Experts" Agree -- Obama's Wrong!

While the radicals at MoveOn.org were thrilled that Obama is proposing a new penalty on success, many others are not. On the left, Democrat pollster Mark Penn wrote that Obama is "careening down the wrong path" by dividing America "through class warfare."

On the right, condemnation of the president's latest tax-hiking proposal is unanimous. Even a self-described "Obama sap" such as David Brooks of the New York Times was highly critical. In a column today, Brooks writes the following:

"In his remarks Monday the president didn't try to win Republicans to even some parts of his measures. He repeated the populist cries that fire up liberals but are designed to enrage moderates and conservatives. ...This wasn't a speech to get something done. This was the sort of speech that sounded better when Ted Kennedy was delivering it. ...We're not going to simplify the tax code, but by God Obama's going to raise taxes on rich people who give to charity! We've got to do something to reduce the awful philanthropy surplus plaguing this country!"

Today's Washington Post quotes various budget experts who blasted the president's proposal, saying, Obama "replaced one gimmick with another" and there's "absolutely nothing new here."

The social fabric in our country is frayed. There have already been flash mobs of urban youth attacking shoppers and others in several major U.S. cities. Obama's rhetoric could easily inspire real class "warfare."

He is putting his own reelection ahead of our country at a time when millions of angry Americans are hurting economically. He desperately wants to divert that anger away from his failed policies to the entrepreneurs and investors who are essential to getting the economy moving again.

Israel Matters

With Democrats still recovering from a stunning special election loss in New York, and as world leaders gather at the United Nations this week to vote on a future Palestinian state, a new poll confirms that Israel's fate is an important issue to many voters. According to a poll conducted for The Hill, 62% of likely voters said that Obama's policy toward Israel was important to determining their vote. Interestingly, 75% of Republicans said Israel was "very or somewhat important" to their vote, while just 51% of Democrats felt the same way.

How do voters view Obama's position toward Israel? Twenty percent felt Obama was "too supportive" of Israel, but nearly twice as many felt he was "not supportive enough," including 50% of independents. Twenty-three percent of voters labeled Obama "pro-Israel," while 29% said he was "anti-Israel." Thirty-eight percent labeled Obama "neither pro nor anti" Israel. So it seems that two-thirds of voters don't see Barack Obama as a strong supporter of our most reliable ally in the Middle East.

Israel is the tip of the spear in the war against radical Islam. It was fighting the jihadists long before 9/11, and our countries are joined together by shared values. When America was attacked on 9/11, there was rejoicing in the Palestinian streets of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel lowered its flag and Israelis cried with us.

While the world debates carving up the tiny Jewish nation in order to create another Muslim terrorist-supporting state in the Middle East, America, for our own national security, must stand unequivocally with Israel!

The Heritage Foundation

New Common Sense

Applying First Principles to the Issues of Today

At Heritage

The governor with a state registry of fat kids, or the FDA regulator watching your sodium intake? Who will be America's next top nanny?

Frederick Douglass's America: In America's dedication to principles of natural rights, Frederick Douglass found reason to love and identify with his country, despite the injustice of slavery. To this day, he endures unequalled as the preeminent apostle of hopefulness in the American promise of justice for all.

Around the Country

What do the EPA, FTC, NLRB, and the Federal Reserve all have in common? Accountability problems. Paul Ryan envisions an America ruled by laws, not bureaucrats.

The rise and fall of constitutional government in America: The constitutional antidote to the disease of the modern welfare state.

Quick Thoughts

Preamble or Pre-rambling? How does Obamacare's table of contents compare to the Constitution's Preamble?

Lights, camera, action! How about a televised debate on the Constitution?

From the Bookshelf: We all have heard of Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, but what about the other Federalist defenders of the Constitution? In Friends of the Constitution: Writings of the "Other" Federalists, 1787-1788, Colleen Sheehan and Gary McDowell introduce us to the pamphlets, speeches, and other pro-ratification writings of the lesser-known Federalists.

Constitutional Mythbusters

What do Rick Perry and Mitt Romney think about the Constitution? In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Seth Lipsky proposed a televised debate for GOP presidential candidates to discuss their views on the Constitution. Sounds great! But if we are going to have a real conversation about the Constitution, let's not waste time responding to trite fictions about our Founding document. The Constitution has been around for 224 years-long enough for rumors to spread. We at New Common Sense have been keeping track of them. Here's a look at the top 5 myths about the Constitution:

1. The Constitution is racist: There is no better way to end a heated conversation about the Constitution than to claim that the Constitution is racist. In his feature on the Constitution, Time magazinemanaging editor Richard Stengel dismissed the Constitution because the Framers "gave us the idea that a black person was three-fifths of a human being."
The Constitution does not classify people according to race. Free blacks in the North and the South were counted on par with whites for purposes of apportionment. Southern states wanted slaves to count as full persons to inflate pro-slavery representation in the House of Representatives. The three-fifths compromise was designed to prevent Southern states from magnifying their political power. The word "slave" or "slavery" never appears in the Constitution. When the 13th Amendment was ratified, not a single word of the Constitution needed to be deleted. As the escaped slave turned abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, once commented: the Constitution "was never, in its essence, anything but an anti-slavery government."

2. There is no way to know what the Constitution means: When asked on MSNBC to comment on the 112th Congress's decision to read the Constitution aloud, Washington Post writer Ezra Klein replied "The issue of the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending on what they want to get done."

Thanks to commentaries, pamphlets, letters, well-documented debates, and drafting records from the Founding, the meaning of the Constitution is, in fact, knowable. The Federalist is one of the clearest explanations of the meaning of the Constitution. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution offers a clause-by-clause explanation and analysis of the Constitution.

3. The Constitution is an outdated, 18th century document: Certain that the Constitution is trapped in the 18th century, one publishing company warns readers of its pocket Constitution: "This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today."

Assuredly, the daily habits of American life have changed since 1787. But technological advances do not necessitate a new Constitution. The Constitution contains no outdated, 18th century policy prescriptions and is not tied to the material and social conditions of a bygone age. Rather, the Constitution establishes the process by which our elected officials make policies. Through these processes, the American people of any era can deliberate, via their elected representatives at the state or federal level, on the issues of the day.

4. The Constitution's meaning evolves with the times: To the extent that the American left praises the Framers, it is because they "wisely left the Constitution open to generations of reinterpretation." The left presumes that the Constitution can address today's questions only if its meaning evolves.

The Constitution means the same thing today as it did two hundred years ago: a republican framework of government that addresses the political questions of the day, whatever these questions may be. The Constitution's words have a fixed meaning: they do not support perpetual reinterpretation. As former Attorney General Edwin Meese III explains, our written Constitution merits a particular interpretive approach: "where the language of the Constitution is specific, it must be obeyed. Where there is demonstrable consensus among the Founders and ratifiers as to a principle stated or implied in the Constitution, it should be followed. Where there is ambiguity as to the precise meaning or reach of a constitutional provision, it should be interpreted and applied in a manner so as to at least not contradict the text of the Constitution itself."

5. Judges determine what the Constitution means: As Representative Bob Brady (D-PA) quipped: "Let the Supreme Court deal with the Constitution. Congress passes laws. That's what we do."

The Constitution is not whatever judges say it means. All members of the government take an oath to defend the Constitution: as a result, the president and the legislature have a duty to interpret and follow the Constitution. In reality, the Supreme Court's decisions are binding on the parties involved, but these decisions do not rise to the status of supreme law of the land "binding on all persons and parts of government henceforth and forevermore."

With these myths aside, let's have a real conversation about the Constitution. How does Thursday sound?

The Foundry

Morning Bell: $1.5 Trillion in New Taxes

Mike Brownfield | September 20, 2011

Two years ago, as the United States was coming out of the last recession, President Obama was asked how raising taxes on anyone would help with the economy. The President's answer? "Normally you don't raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven't, and why we've instead cut taxes." Fast forward to today, as America is struggling with zero job growth and a stagnant economy, and the President has dramatically changed his rhetoric, proposing $1.5 trillion in new taxes on the American people and the country's job creators.

Those massive tax increases come as part of the President's plan to reduce the nation's out-of-control debt, but rather than address the underlying spending problem, it will further deepen America's economic quagmire and only serves to stall the real reform America needs in order to get on a path of fiscal sanity, as Heritage's Alison Fraser explains:

Lamar Smith: Get Special Counsel on Solyndra

Monday, 19 Sep 2011

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday called for an independent investigator to look into a $528 million loan approved by the Obama administration for a now-bankrupt solar energy company.

Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, said an outside lawyer is needed to determine "whether politics played a role" in the Energy Department loan for California-based Solyndra Inc., which declared bankruptcy this month and laid off its 1,100 workers.

"An independent examiner will uncover the truth about whether politics played a role in influencing the Obama administration to favor Solyndra over more financially stable loan applicants and thus ensure the integrity of the bankruptcy process for all creditors," Smith wrote in a three-page letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.

The FBI and the Energy Department's inspector general are

SultanKnish

The Pyramid of Positive Rights

The fundamental difference between a free society and a nanny state, is that in a free society, negative rights are maximized between the individual and the government, and the individual and other individuals. In a nanny state, positive rights are maximized between the individual and the government, and both positive and negative rights are maximized between the individual and other individuals.

What does that mean? A negative right in relation to the government is a freedom from compulsion. Freedom of Speech is a negative right that prevents government from interfering with speech. Similarly freedom of religion and the right to bear arms create negative spaces in religion and firearms which the government may not intrude upon.

When you hear talk of a right to health care or a right to housing by the government, those are positive rights, creating an obligation on the part of the government to carry out a course of action, e.g. free housing or cheap health care.

The Liberty Blog

Daily Updates from The Liberty Blog

Contents:

General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt's Open Advocacy of European Social Democratic Welfare State & Government Central Planning - Export-Import Bank
Unions Lose Big in Wisconsin Recall August 10th

General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt's Open Advocacy of European Social Democratic Welfare State & Government Central Planning - Export-Import Bank

By bobguzzardi on Sep 19, 2011 10:43 am

General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt - Corporate Collectivist - the German Social Democratic Welfare State Model is the model for the US. France, Japan and China are admirable models for Jeffrey Immelt, an American businessman. In my view, State Power and Business Wealth are a lethal combination, a Leviathan of money and power, is not good ...

Read in browser »

Unions Lose Big in Wisconsin Recall August 10th

By bobguzzardi on Sep 19, 2011 10:42 am

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Vindicated by Wisconsin Voters Unions lose big in Wisconsin - for the third time - - David Freddoso Washington Examiner August 10, 2011 A Look at Wisconsin Republican Victory -Michael Barone Washington Examiner August 10, 2011 Interest Groups Pour Millions Into Wisconsin Recalls Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, celebrating her victory ...

Read in browser »

News from The Hill:

Issa to investigate government loan programs
By Justin Sink

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless startup LightSquared.

"I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers. It wasn't because there were large contributions given to them," the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on CSPAN.

Read the full story here.

Tea Party Immigration Coaliton

ALERT ALERT ALERT

HR2164, THE LEGAL WORKFORCE ACT HAS BEEN CHANGED TO

HR2885..NEW BAD PROVISIONS

HOUSE TO MARK UP ON THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have spent the last several hours pouring over the bill. This bill is still bad a

nd now made worse by the changes from 2164 to 2885.

The bill still takes away states' rights: Section 6 of the bill still preempts states from using their Constitutionally guaranteed rights.
The bill now gives dictatorial powers to the secretary of Homeland Security to make up whatever program she wants to. See SEC. 11. BIOMETRIC EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION. This is an identity card system. Can you say, " Your papers please"? (in a thick accent). Gone are the protections and limitations that were in 2164.
The bill also allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to use any document she wishes to prove identity!

In a belated and half hearted attempt to appease us, the bill has a new provision: The problem is that Section B conflicts with C. The secretary or her designee has the right to determine "whether" they will act or not. We all know how well that has worked for us!
12) OFFICE FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMPLAINTS- The Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish an office--
`(A) to which State and local government agencies may submit information indicating potential violations of subsection (a), (b), or (g)(1) that were generated in the normal course of law enforcement or the normal course of other official activities in the State or locality;
`(B) that is required to indicate to the complaining State or local agency within 5 business days of the filing of such a complaint by identifying whether the Secretary will further investigate the information provided;
`(C) that is required to investigate those complaints filed by State or local government agencies that, on their face, have a substantial probability of validity;
`(D) that is required to notify the complaining State or local agency of the results of any such investigation conducted; and
`(E) that is required to report to the Congress annually the number of complaints received under this paragraph, the States and localities that filed such complaints, and the resolution of the complaints investigated by the Secretary.'; and

here is the link to the bill

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c112:2:./temp/~c112gmC1BZ::

   Call your Congressman now. Tell them that we want HR 2885

changed to remove the State Preemption, remove the words

regarding "whether" in section 12, B and remove or restrict the

Biometirc Card.

Here is a list of the Judiciary Committee Members to call also; the second name is the staff person.

If they fail to amend as we say, we must OPPOSE this bill.

Republicans Members
LAST FIRST Sponsor/Co-Sp Staff Person Party State District PHONE FAX
Adams Sandra          Theresa Wang R FL 24 202-225-2706 202-226-6299
Chabot Steven          Jacqueline Lewis R OH 1 202-225-2216 202-225-3012
Chaffetz Jason x       Troy Stock R UT 3 202-225-7751 202-225-5629
Coble Howard            John Mautz R NC 6 202-225-3065 202-225-8611
Forbes James              Randy Joe Hack R VA 4 202-225-6365 202-226-1170
Franks Trent x           Stephanie Hammond R AZ 2 202-225-4576 202-225-6328
Gallegly*   Elton x      Richard Mereu R CA 24 202-225-5811 202-225-1100
Gohmert Louie           Curtis Philp R TX 1 202-225-3035 202-226-1230
Goodlatte Bob x         Brandon Ritchie R VA 6 202-225-5431 202-225-9681
Gowdy* Trey             Ann Woods Hawks R SC 4 202-225-6030 202-226-1177
Griffin Tim                 Kramer Schmidt R AR 2 202-225-2506 202-225-5903
Issa Darrell E.            Laurent Crenshaw (M) R CA 49 202-225-3906 202-225-3303
Jordan James D.        Jared Dilley R OH 4 202-225-2676 202-226-0577
King* Steven A.         Casaday Nguyen R IA 5 202-225-4426 202-225-3193
Lungren* Daniel x   Alexander Snyder R CA 3 202-225-5716 202-226-1298
Marino Thomas          Drew Kent R PA 10 202-225-3731 202-225-9594
Pence Mike               Josh Pitcock R IN 6 202-225-3021 202-225-3382
Poe Ted                    Tim Tarpley R TX 2 202-225-6565 202-225-5547
Quayle Ben               Patrick Howell R AZ 3 202-225-3361 202-225-3462
Ross* Dennis            Omar Raschid R FL 12 202-225-1252 202-226-0585
Sensenbrenner F. James x Michael Lenn R WI 5 202-225-5101 202-225-3190
Smith* Lamar S. x    George Fishman; Andrea Loving R TX 21 202-225-4236 202-225-8628
Asterisk = Subcommittee Member
Blue Font = Sponsor/Co-Sponsor
http://judiciary.house.gov/about/members.html  ;
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Our mailing address is:

Tea Party Immigration Coalition

1517 Hill Rd

Reading, PA 19602

Add us to your address book

What You're Not Hearing About the New Jobs Bill: It Overrides State's Rights

The Blaze | by Becket Adams | Posted on September 20, 2011 at 12:01pm

With the introduction of The American Jobs Act, Americans may soon witness a rerun of the Obama healthcare struggle. Much like its predecessor, president Obama's newest bill contains certain provisions that would appear to benefit those who wrote the bill more than those for whom the bill was supposedly written.
For instance, buried deep, deep on page 133 of the bill, it states:
SEC. 376. FEDERAL AND STATE IMMUNITY.
(a) Abrogation of State Immunity- A State shall not be immune under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution from a suit brought in a Federal court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this Act.
Come again? Read More . . .

The Wilkow Majority

Obama calls for broad tax increases

$3 in taxes for every $1 in cuts

President Obama on Monday proposed a deficit reduction plan that calls for about $3 in new tax increases for every dollar in additional spending cuts as he seeks to put his imprint on the ongoing talks with Congress over reducing the government's staggering debt.

In a plan his advisers described as his ideological vision rather than a compromise offer to Hill Republicans, Mr. Obama also threatened to veto any plan Congress sends him that makes changes to Medicare benefits without also raising taxes on the wealthy, which he argues is central to a "balanced" approach.

Click here to read the full article at the Washington Times

New government fees pepper Obama deficit plan

New "Deficit Fees"

It's not just millionaires who'd pay more under President Barack Obama's latest plan to combat the deficit.

Air travelers, federal workers, military retirees, wealthier Medicare beneficiaries and people taking out new mortgages are among those who would pay more than $130 billion in government revenues raised through new or increased fees.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

Are the rich taxes less than secretaries?

Turns out the rich pay way more

President Barack Obama says he wants to make sure millionaires are taxed at higher rates than their secretaries. The data say they already are.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

Hospitals, drugmakers lash out at Obama deficit plan

$200 Billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid

The U.S. hospital and drug industries lashed out at provisions of President Barack Obama's deficit reduction plan that would saddle them with more than $200 billion in federal healthcare spending cuts.

Lobbyists vowed to fight proposals for Medicare, which covers the elderly, that are aimed at saving $135 billion on prescriptions by requiring drugmakers to provide steeper rebates similar to those for Medicaid, which covers the poor.

Click here to read the full article at Yahoo News

Coach Is Right

Algore, the Democrats' Little Lord Fauntleroy has jumped the shark

Sep 20, 2011 06:13 am | Coach Collins

By Kevin "Coach" Collins

Al Gore, known to those he amuses as Algore, is usually a boring man, but up to now he had been a political spectacle worth a few laughs. Nevertheless, even that slightly redeeming feature is finally gone.

From the Little Lord Fauntleroy who grew up in the hallways of a Washington hotel to the faux war correspondent trying to appeal to Middle America, as a "down home guy" from Tennessee, Algore has always been a living parody of liberal politics - a character P. J. O'Rourke might have made up - but not a real person.

Since his failed attempt to steal the 2000 Presidential Election, Algore has been a man searching for his next hustle. A physically large man, he has the distinction of always being the biggest empty suit in any room while actually being only the little boy from Suite 809 in Washington's Fairfax Hotel.

A few years ... Continue Reading:Algore, the Democrats' Little Lord Fauntleroy has jumped the shark

comments | read more

Why no dead terrorists after the attack on the Port of Longview in Seattle Washington?

Sep 19, 2011 03:01 pm | Coach Collins

By Ron Reale, staff writer

In Seattle, WA, the Port of Longview experienced a violent, armed attack Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, from 500 terrorists.

With the security detail overrun and held captive, private property was vandalized, and trains were sabotaged, with no shots fired in defense of the Port or the men themselves.

There were no arrests, nor public response from Homeland Security.

Why not?

There is a Doug Averett, the Director of Operations for the port who also serves as the Facility Security Officer of the Port, whose duties include carrying out the responsibilities for Homeland Security. Half a million dollars have been spent in security upgrades since 2001, 80% of it from Homeland Security grants.

You would think those responsibilities would include keeping the facility secure and protecting the cargo and equipment. You would think.

I don't know what type of training Janet Napolitano had this fellow attend, or how much it cost ... Continue Reading:Why no dead terrorists after the attack on the Port of Longview in Seattle Washington?

comments | read more

CNS News

Bachmann... Romney... Palin... Paul... Who should win?
PersonalLiberty.com, America's #1 news site for independent-minded individuals is conducting an urgent presidential poll. We want to know who you think is the best GOP candidate to take on President Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential election. The results of the poll will be available to you after you submit your vote and we'll also share the poll results with major media outlets across the country. Thousands will vote, so take a moment right now to stand up and be counted... your opinion matters!
Pick Your Favorite to Win the Nomination!

Today's Headlines: Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Okay to Be Openly Gay in U.S. Military
Perry Leads Romney in Gallup Nationwide Poll

Turkey, Trying to Isolate Israel, Gets Cordial Treatment From Obama Administration

Please make a much-appreciated donation to CNSNews.com. We pledge to make every dollar count.

Gallup: Obama's Approval at All-Time Low--Among Liberals

Israel Has Dumped 46 Percent of Its U.S. Treasury Bills; Russia 95 Percent

Obama: 'This Is Not Class Warfare;' It's Fairness for 'Millionaires and Billionaires'

House HIV Caucus Co-Chairs Propose Spending $50 Billion on Global AIDS, Other Diseases

N.C.: 'We Are Not Sure' Why Obama Got Facts Wrong on Bridges

Republican Lamar Alexander Resigns His Senate Leadership Post

Agriculture Secretary Says More Food Choices for Students Could Curb Waste

House Judiciary Chairman Wants Special Counsel to Probe Solyndra Loan

COMMENTARY:

Whose Country Is It, Anyway?
By Patrick J. BuchananWhat prevents our politicians from putting Americans first, deporting illegal aliens and suspending the importation of foreign labor until our own workers are back on the job?

NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:

Plurality of Americans like Fox News better than CNN and MSNBC
In early Obama White House, female staffers felt frozen out
Mexico still waiting for answers on Fast and Furious gun program
PETA to launch porn site in name of animal rights
Revised rules for organ transplants spark debate over definition of death
Redondo Beach day laborer ordinance is ruled unconstitutional
Texas Tea Party 'fed up' with Rick Perry on immigration
EPA grants permit to Shell Oil for Arctic drilling
Unions, federal workers, contractors oppose Obama debt plan
Moderate Democrats duck, cover on tax hikes
Justice Dept. opposes Republicans' new Texas congressional map Conservatives pan Republican-sponsored E-verify bill
Merck plans to cut 12-13% of its 100,000-member workforce by 2015

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Hitler discovers ATTACKWATCH is a joke

This hilarious video capitalizes on a popular meme to great effect, mercilessly deriding Obama's new AttackWatch website: Watch Video »
Editor's Note: Occasionally, an Obama ad plays before the video, which only takes money away from his campaign. Personally, we mute these and create our own humorous voice-overs.

Native wisdom

Barack Obama went camping in the desert with a Native American. After they set their tent up, both men fell asleep.

A few hours later, the Indian woke Obama and said, "Look at the sky. What do you see?"

Obama replied, "I see millions of stars."

"What does that tell you?" asked the Indian.

Obama pondered for a minute, then said, "Astronomically, it tells me there are, uh, millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Chronologically, it appears to be approximately three in the morning. Theologically, we are small and insignificant. Uh, meteorologically, it looks like we'll have a beautiful day tomorrow. What's it tell you?"

"It tells me that someone stole the tent, you dummy."

For dummies, of dummies.

Click Here

Are You Exempt From Tax Increases?

Get our wallet cards today and you too can "prove""" your exemption from tax increases! (Unless, of course, you are """rich".) Our colorful and official looking set of 3 Obama wallet cards holds endless amusing possibilities for entertaining your conservative friends and greatly annoying or educating your liberal friends.

And now for a cartoon

Semper Lorem Ipsum!
Ron Locke, UD
Humor Minion

Patriot Action Network

A message to all members of Patriot Action Network

UPDATE: Calls to action at bottom of post!

According to many in the mainstream media, the Tea Party Movement is losing influence. Never mind that the Tea Party Movement is now partnering with major news outlets for Presidential debates. Never mind that the Tea Party Movement drove most of the energy that lead to a shift in power in 2010. Never mind that there isn't a single day that every major news outlet doesn't mention the movement. While it's clearly the most influential and energetic force in politics, the Tea Party Movement is apparently losing influence.

Go figure...

In the real world, though, the movement is not only working to win elections, it's also working to defend major American companies that are under attack from the federal government. Take Gibson Guitars, for example. For those who missed it, Gibson was recently raided by the federal government over the type of wood used in guitars.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp. held a press conference to explain the situation.

The Wall Street Journal expanded on the story.

Gibson Guitar Corp., a big user of ebony and other scarce woods, for years has allied itself with Greenpeace and other environmental groups to show it was serious about preserving forests.

That didn't stop the Nashville-based company, whose guitars are used by such musicians as B.B. King and Angus Young of AC/DC, from running afoul of U.S. authorities over allegedly illegal imports of wood. Though no charges have been filed, Gibson factories have been raided twice, most recently last week, by federal agents who say ebony exported from India to Gibson was "fraudulently" labeled to conceal a contravention of Indian export law.

Henry Juszkiewicz, chief executive officer of the closely held company, said in an interview that a broker probably made a mistake in labeling the goods but that the sale was legal and approved by Indian authorities.

One has to wonder why a government that can't even remove itself from the path to job creation can confiscate a million dollars worth of product from a private company over suspicion of wood imports. Not only did the government confiscate product and shut down production, the law in question also makes illegal the purchase, ownership and resale of Gibson guitars. Meaning, the implications of these are that if you own a Gibson guitar, you may be in violation of the law.

The Tea Party Movement will not stand for this. In fact, the Tea Party Movement is strongly standing AGAINST this gross abuse of power.

A nationwide coalition of Tea Party Movement organizations is coming together with plans of hosting a rally in support of Gibson guitars. The "We stand with Gibson" rally is scheduled for October 8th, in Nashville, TN. Speakers include Gibson President Henry Juszkiewicz, Representative Marsha Blackburn, and talk radio hosts Steve Gill, Phil Valentine and Mark Skoda.

The national coalition includes:

Patriot Action Network
Liberty News Network
Grassfire Nation
Tea Party Express
Americans for Prosperity
9.12 Project of Tennessee
Gibson County Patriots
Wilson County Tea Party
Tennessee Conservoliance
Tennessee Tax Revolt
Tennessee Tea Party
MidSouth Tea Party
Memphis Tea Party
Chattanooga Tea Party

Others are likely to join in the coming days and weeks. Tea Party activists and encouraged to help spread the word and promote the event. Activists are asked to take one or more of the following steps to help spread the word.

Visit the official "We stand with Gibson" website and leave supportive comments
Contact your friends in and around Tennessee, and make sure they know about the event
Consider purchasing an item from the Gibson store
Share this link on Facebook (CLICK HERE)
CLICK HERE to Tweet about this story

The Tea Party Movement stands strong with Gibson Guitars. We're not losing influence and we're not going away.

-Eric Odom

Powerline

No "Shovel Ready" Bureaucrats

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 11:00 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

A shovel-ready columnist?

Over on American.com our pal Jonah Goldberg points out something that's been on my mind for a while (darn you Jonah for beating me to it! darn you all to heck!), namely, that "shovel ready jobs" do exist, but "What we don't have is shovel ready government." Among other stories told about this misadventure is the greenie "weatherization" projects that were held up for months while the Department of Labor cogitated the proper union-friendly prevailing wage rates for different labor markets.

The contrast I've always had in mind was the aftermath of California's 1994 Northridge earthquake, which collapsed some key freeway segments in LA as well as destroying a lot of buildings. Normally there is a long and bureaucratic review process for freeway maintenance, contract bid periods, hearings, and so forth. Gov. Pete Wilson, with the stroke of a pen, waived the entire process, let out no-bid contracts (with a twist) with a simple instruction: get started today. And the freeways were rebuilt and running again with a few weeks, instead of months. (Contrast this with the new Oakland Bay Bridge, whose replacement span is still not finished, more than 20 years after a segment fell down in the 1989 earthquake, in part because of federal involvement in the "process.") The twist in Wilson's no-bid highway contracts was simple: he offered performance bonuses for completing the work ahead of schedule.

Obama could have waived much of the bureaucratic process that held up getting the shovels going with the stroke of a pen on an executive order, and he could have offered performance bonuses for meeting hiring targets more quickly. If the economic earthquake of 2008 didn't create conditions for speed and cutting red tape, nothing ever will for The One. That would require the business imagination of an evil Republican.

An open letter to Obama

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 09:35 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

A bipartisan group of fourteen United States Senators has forwarded an open letter to President Obama regarding his speech at the United Nations later this week. The letter was signed by Senators Menendez, Lieberman, Kyl, Casey, Collins, Gillibrand, Kirk, Blumenthal, Hatch, Cardin, Rubio, Schumer, Isakson, and Coons, and can be found here on Senator Gillibrand's Web site. Here is the letter:

Dear Mr. President:

As you prepare to address the United Nations General Assembly this week, we write to express our concern about a number of troubling developments in the Middle East that pose difficult challenges for our ally Israel as well as our own regional security interests.

We are deeply disappointed that President Mahmoud Abbas appears determined to scorn your persistent efforts to persuade him to return to the negotiating table with Israel and instead seek unilateral diplomatic action in New York that will only set back the prospects for peace. We are also troubled by the anti-Israeli rhetoric that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has displayed in recent weeks in the wake of the Palmer Report, which is harmful to Turkey's reputation in the United States, especially when coupled with its reluctance to take any meaningful actions in response to the brutal crackdown in Syria. Lastly, the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo earlier this month by a mob was profoundly unsettling. We commend your immediate and direct engagement with Egyptian authorities to save the lives of the six trapped Embassy personnel.

We believe it is imperative for you to speak strongly, forthrightly and publicly about U.S. concerns over these developments. We need to make it clear that we will not tolerate continued threats to Israel by governments or individuals in the region or attempts to delegitimize Israel at the UN or other international forums. Violence and unilateralism against Israel will be met with the strongest U.S. opposition.

Political and physical attacks on Israel pose real dangers to the prospects for building Mideast peace and present the possibility of a region-wide deterioration into violence. Israel's real sense of growing isolation will make it much more difficult to move the Mideast in a positive direction. We therefore urge you to utilize the opportunity offered by your address at the United Nations later this month to reaffirm and explain America's determination to stand by Israel at this difficult hour.

The whole world will be watching and listening when you speak next week at the UN. The world needs to hear unequivocally from you that Israel - our friend, ally, and strategic partner - is not alone in facing these threats.

We look forward to your response.

In a sense it is amazing that these things need to be said to Obama, but we all know that they do in fact need to be said, and why.

Via Daily Alert.

Quotations From Chairman Jim, Bowdoin edition

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 09:11 AM PDT

(Scott Johnson)

A perceptive eyewitness writes to report on the appearance of National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jim Leach last week at Bowdoin College and to make a special contribution to this series. Our correspondent writes:

NEH Chairman Jim Leach visited Bowdoin College last week to meet with faculty who had received NEH grants and those who were applying for future grants to hear about their projects. Mr. Leach also spoke later in the day to a general audience.

What was surprising, especially for someone who has made "civility" a key theme of his addresses, is how partisan he was. Mr. Leach identified himself as a Republican who admired his party's past, but wished to distance himself from its present and future. These sorts of comments have no place in an address by the Chairman of the NEH.

After hearing the description of one project that the NEH had funded on Theodore Roosevelt, he asked for an explanation of Roosevelt's remark that to be a great president, you must have a great war. He asserted, in the most general way, that TR wanted a war with Germany. (Presumably, he had in mind Roosevelt's showdown with the Kaiser over Venezuela during his first term as president, which was resolved by international arbitration.)

Mr. Leach seemed, shall we say, vague on the specifics. He then observed that Republicans love war, seemingly oblivious to the fact that World Wars I and II occurred on Democratic watches, as did Vietnam. Although his remarks in Florence that you posted earlier were banal, his comments on this college campus were unseemly both for their partisan character and for their ignorance of American history.

Reviewing "The Quest," and Other Tuesday Notes

Posted: 20 Sep 2011 05:58 AM PDT

(Steven Hayward)

My review of Daniel Yergin's new book, The Quest, which I've been previewing here on Power Line for the last couple weeks, is out in today's Wall Street Journal. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, what is the Fed up to now? I was listening to NPR on my way to the airport in Columbus this morning, and hearing the news that the Fed is considering a new "stimulus" plan of their own to boost the economy-this time by trying to push down long-term interest rates. Hasn't the Fed done enough damage already? Weren't prolonged extra-low interest rates in the early 2000s among the causes of the housing bubble, as low rates combined with other factors (Fannie, Freddie, etc) led to too much capital going into real estate, where it was predictably destroyed? And what will happen to the U.S. ~~Peso~~ Dollar if we push down interest rates by brute force of central banking? Long-term interest rates ought to reflect market conditions of the demand for money and be related to long-term discount rates connected to economic growth.

Maybe Rick Perry has a point after all.

FAIR Action Alert

Debate Over Mandatory E-Verify Continues This Week

Call House Judiciary Members and Urge them to Preserve State Enforcement Authority!

The House Judiciary Committee plans to continue its mark-up of Rep. Smith's mandatory E-Verify bill (H.R. 2885) this Wednesday and Thursday. H.R. 2885, also called the "Legal Workforce Act", requires all employers nationwide to use the E-Verify system to verify the work authorization of new hires.

Members have already submitted several amendments to the E-Verify bill. While FAIR has always supported mandatory E-Verify, we are asking our supporters to call Members of the House Judiciary Committee and urge them to either delete or amend the preemption provision (Section 6) of the bill. As currently written, that language would strip away the authority of state and local governments to go after employers that hire illegal aliens.

The House Judiciary Committee will meet again TOMORROW MORNING to debate and amend the E-Verify bill. Please call Members of the House Judiciary Committee NOW and urge them to restore the ability of state and local governments to enforce our immigration laws! Tell them:

You want a mandatory E-Verify law that is enforceable by both state and federal authorities.
State and local governments must be able to enforce our immigration laws when the federal government refuses to do so.

Find out how to contact Members of the Judiciary Committee here.

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

SAVING MEDICARE

Since 1964, our nation's senior citizens have relied on Medicare to ensure access to healthcare. Now the program is going broke -- and it is going broke fast.

It began spending its reserves in 2008 when payouts exceeded dollars collected for the program. [cite]

Predictions for exhaustion of the reserve vary, with 2024 identified by the Social Security Administration in the Trustees 2011 report. [cite]

The Democrat response is to reduce the amount Medicare reimburses physicians for their services. [cite]

This will result in fewer participating physicians and the physicians continuing in the program seeing fewer Medicare patients.

Patients will wait longer and have fewer choices in seeing a doctor.

If this makes access to care sufficiently untenable, or if Medicare does not get on viable financial footing, it will be administered through ObamaCare[cite].

This would include cost controls by a 15-member board of bureaucrats deciding wich treatments, drugs, and surgeries patients can receive.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget, has a plan which saves Medicare with no disruption to today's seniors and reasonable changes for future retirees.

The Ryan Plan is widely misunderstood and misrepresented. The future of our seniors' healthcare is too important to be decided on misinformation. Here are the facts about Medicare and the Ryan Plan.

The Ryan Plan in a Nutshell

Those currently retired and those close to retirement (55 and over) will see no change from the existing Medicare system. Existing physician reimbursement flaws will be corrected to encourage physicians to continue participating in the system.[cite]

On retirement, those currently under 55 will be provided vouchers from the government to help pay for health insurance. Voucher amounts will be based in part on income, with wealthier individuals receiving less assistance. Risk pools [cite] will be created to ensure that insurance companies will provide coverage to seniors, despite their generally higher use of medical care.

The result is retirees will have a system that gives them options, similar to that which members of Congress use and which will include options similar to Medicare Advantage, the popular plan eliminated by Obamacare. [cite]

The Ryan Plan Incorporates These Important Points

It is important that we

Plan now for changes, to avoid chaos later

The medicare system is running out of money. Change is coming, one way or another.

Pretending we can continue as we are is not an option, it is a recipe for disaster. The longer we wait to make changes, the greater the disruption to current and future retires, the more abruptly the changes will have to be implemented, and the fewer options we will have.

By implementing the Ryan Plan now, we will

maintain the existing system for current retirees and for individuals 55 and over
provide a sustainable, quality system for future retirees.

It is important that we...

Preserve the existing system, unchanged, for current retirees and workers 55 and older

This bears repeating:

Under the Ryan Plan, if you are retired, your Medicare coverage will not change.
If you are over 55, Medicare as it exists today will be there for you when you retire.
And the Ryan Plan provides for quality health insurance coverage upon retirement for those currently under 55.

It is important that we...

Maintain availability of insurance coverage for future retirees

Since individuals generally require more medical care as they age, it tends to be difficult for older individuals to find private health insurance that will cover them. That is one reason our existing Medicare system is considered so important for many. The Ryan Plan creates risk pools which encourage multiple insurance companies to offer health coverage to those of retirement age.

It is important that we...

Maintain affordability

Individuals have paid into the Medicare system with the promise that coverage will be there for them when they retire. Unfortunately, we are facing an economic crisis in this country and Medicare is a significant part of the problem. To save the system for everyone and to avert broader economic calamity, in the future wealthier Americans will have to bear a greater portion of their healthcare burden.

It is important that we...

Make it feasible for doctors to participate in Medicare

Currently in many areas of the country physicans are reimbursed for Medicare patients at a rate that does not cover their expenses. Recent changes put forth by the Democrats further reduce reimbursement. [cite] This is not sustainable for any business and as a result increasing numbers of physicians are discontinuing their participation in the Medcare program. Patients are finding that their physician is no longer a Medicare provider and when they look for another physician it is increasingly difficult for them to find a Medicare provider who is accepting new patients and can see them in a reasonable time. [cite]. The Ryan plan fixes the reimbursement problem, making it feasible for physicians to continue participating in Medicare.

It is important that we...

Keep medical decisions between patients and doctors, not remote government panels

The Ryan plan harnesses the free market and puts choice in the hands of the patient. Retirees will be able to pick the insurance plan that best meets their needs, applying government vouchers toward premium costs. Medical decisions would be made in consultation with their personal physician, based on the individual's situation and preferences.

References

Glenn Beck September 20, 2011

On Tuesday's Program

Tonight on GBTV: The Iranian President invades NYC and is welcomed by Columbia and the U.N.! This visit comes as Palestinian President Abbas is aggressively pushing for a U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood which has the world once again collectively pointing their fingers in blame at Israel. Glenn breaks down the visit only on GBTV tonight.

Miss last night's show? Catch up with Monday's Final Four segment and watch Glenn go to work uncovering all the new conspiracy theorists popping up in the media HERE. GBTV members can watch the full episode available on demand. Start you 14 day GBTV Plus free tiral now and get total access.

Levi's guarantees denouncement from Glenn Beck

If Levi's ever wanted Glenn Beck to speak about their product in a positive light, they kind of blew it this week when they revealed their latest marketing push. They aired a spot during football last night that glorified uprisings and revolutions while unveiling a new slogan that explains their aspiration to be the uniform of progress. The images in the video consist of sex, cars on fire, and some pathetic drivel about how the gods want you to throw Molotov cocktails at police cars or something. Check out the spot and get Glenn's reaction at GlennBeck.com.

Which foreign leader did Obama call first?

We know that President Obama's foreign policy got off to somewhat of a rocky start when he dissed England by returning their gift (bust of Churchill) and then sending the Queen DVDs she couldn't even play. But do you know which foreign leader President Obama called first? Who was so high up on the priority list that they deserved the first phone call out from the President of the United States? You will be shocked -- or not. Kinda depends on how long you've been following the President closely. DETAILS

The most important thing you can do with your family...

Is spend time with them. Study after study after study clearly demonstrate the incredibly positive outcome children have in life when they do simple things with their family such as eat dinner together or spend extra time as a family unit. The latest deal from Markdown.com is a great way to get the family together: Zobmondo! family games. Great fun for the whole family - it will get them talking and laughing too! Check out this amazing discount on a 3 game bundle at Markdown.com!

CUFI action alert: how you can support Israel

Once again all the fingers are beginning to point directly at Israel - the world is setting them up to be the global scapegoat once again. One easy thing you can do is let your voice be heard - find out how you can write a letter of support to Prime Minister Netanyahu - check it out HERE.

LOL: "It's not class warfare"

President Barack Obama was on the defensive about his latest attempt to soak the rich and tried to explain that it was simply 'math' not class warfare that he was engaging in. Well gee, Barack, if it's just about math then why don't we take 100% from the wealthy! That'll solve it! Oh wait, it won't - since 100% of the money from the wealthy still would not cover America's debts. Glenn reacts to Obama's class war on radio today.

Did you know that Glenn's news brand, The Blaze, has an all-new print magazine?

That's right. The Blaze magazine is the brand new publication from the team at TheBlaze.com (it recently replaced Glenn's Fusion magazine). It's where you'll get reporting, insight and analysis you won't find in the mainstream media. We seek and report the Truth. And that makes us unique and powerful. Click HERE to subscribe.

GBTV Homework: Read George Washington's Farewell Address. What did he warn would be the biggest problems America would face in generations to come and how can we defeat it? Read it HERE.

Does Pat Robertson have Alzheimer's?

Pat Robertson had one of the easiest softball questions lobbed his way during a taping of his program when he gave a shocking answer. The caller wanted to know what he should tell his friend whose spouse is suffering from Alzheimer's -- his answer? Divorce her! Glenn has the shocking audio and responds on radio today. Get the segment HERE.

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News from The Hill:

Today's Headlines: Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hitler discovers ATTACKWATCH is a joke

Native wisdom

Are You Exempt From Tax Increases?

And now for a cartoon

A message to all members of Patriot Action Network

Debate Over Mandatory E-Verify Continues This Week

Call House Judiciary Members and Urge them to Preserve State Enforcement Authority!