If you see a story that you believe would be useful and important to our readers, simply respond to this email with a link and a brief description of why it is important.  (Even if it may be obvious)

November 4, 2011

Quote of the Day - November 4, 2011

Important Voting on November 8th

Anne Covey v. Leftist Kathryn Boockvar -

8 November Commonwealth Court A Clear Choice

 Anne Covey reaches out to law abiding, taxpaying citizen;

Leftist  Kathryn Boockvar reaches out to jailed criminals and opposes Voter ID laws.

Leftist Kathryn Boockvar employed by Leftist Advancement Project from 2008 to 2010  funded by Uber-Leftist George Soros.

See George Soros Official Web Site for more about him. George Soros does not hide his intentions.     

Kathryn Boockvar claims there are no costs to registering jailed criminals to vote. Obviously, this is untrue. There are, obviously, printing costs and staff and administrative costs unless the fact that the Bureau of Prisoners is already doing it means no additional costs in which case why is the legislation necessary unless it the Democrats' way of reaching out to criminals for votes.

In fact, that is what fiscal note says that this law codifies existing practice: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/FN/2009/0/HB1072P1828.pdf

So why was the law necessary? to give Kathryn Boockvar a chance to write an op-ed to pander to criminals and the elitist liberals who encourage them.

8 November Sujperior Court --David Wecht The Trial Lawyer's Man Wants To Be on Superior Court  

8 November A Clear Choice   Superior Court Candidate David Wecht - Trial Lawyer Financed; Trial Lawyer Owned.  "DAVID WECHT - HYPOCRITE" video is powerful, persuasive and sourced 

  David Wecht,  The Trial Lawyer's Man

Democrat Candidate for the Superior Court David Wecht is the Trial Lawyer's  Man on the Superior Court. Is this breaking news, the Democrat financed and owned by the Trial Lawyers? 60% of David Wecht's campaign finances come from the Big Money Trial Lawyer campaign financiers and Harrisburg lobbyists.

This a web video that the PA GOP put together in response to Democratic candidate for Superior Court David Wecht's$300,000 contribution , 60 % of David Wecht's campaign funds,  from the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association PAC. 

8 November A Clear Choice Vic Stabile

8 November County Commissioners and Row Officers - Recommendations 

The energy policies of the Obama administration have failed.

The tax and regulatory policies of the Left lead to an increase in energy prices that harms the average American. Unfortunately, these ideas are reinforced on campus by biased, leftist student organizations and college professors.

That's why TU Students for Intellectual Freedom (TUSIF) has partnered up Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Leadership Institute to fight back.

In partnership with the Leadership Institute, AFP is going on a four day "Energy for America" bus tour to Pennsylvania colleges and universities. The goal is to bring the truth about America's energy policy to students on campus and to break the left-wing monopoly on campus thought and to bring the truth about energy policy to the campus conversation.  Temple University proudly marks the first stop of this energy policy tour.

This is an excellent way of providing the other side of the environmental/regulatory argument.

The keynote speaker is Ann McElhinney, an Irish documentary film maker behind the documentary film "Not Evil, Just Wrong", which debunks myths surrounding global warming.  Also speaking are Sam Rohrer, State Director, AFP-PA, and Jennifer Stefano, Director of Energy and Labor Policy, AFP-PA

AFP chose to tour Pennsylvania due to the state's history in the energy field and their vast resources of shale, crude oil, and coal. This is an opportunity for students to learn about how the left's radical environmentalist agenda is harming America.

When: Monday, November 7th
Time: 1-2:30 PM
Where: Student Center 200AB
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=302634249747083

Host: Students for Intellectual Freedom, Temple College Republicans,
Temple Law Republicans

--

In Freedom,

TUSIFeedom Eboard

 http://tiny.cc/TUSIF 

@TUSIFreedom

 "Temple University Students for Intellectual Freedom (TUSIF) defends the right to seek and follow an argument, without being subjected to official sanctions for non-compliance to political correctness. It is by this conviction that TUSIF protects intellectual inquiry against political, religious and social ideologues who wish to disallow it, silence it, or chastise it, as the unfettered pursuit of truth is fundamental for human progress. TUSIF vigorously enters the debate on the side of intellectual freedom, to foster an open intellectual environment to counter the academic atmosphere contaminated by intellectual intolerance."

Ann McElhinney on why environmentalists are dangerous.mpg Ann McElhinney at 2011 RightOnline

Calls Needed

to

Oppose the U.S. Senate's Big-Government Education Bill

William A. Estrada, Esq.
HSLDA Federal Relations

Melanie P. Palazzo
Congressional Action Program Director

November 1, 2011

Introduction

The U.S. Senate Education Committee has decided to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). This massive federal education bill was last reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

HSLDA's federal relations staff have read this 868-page bill, and we believe that while it does not directly impact homeschool freedom, the bill will 1) increase the federal role in education at the expense of state, local, and parental control, and 2) will greatly increase the pressure on states to align their curriculum and standards, resulting in de facto national education standards.

Urgent Calls Needed to Senate Education Committee

The Senate Education Committee has already voted this ESEA bill out of committee, but at the urging of Senator Rand Paul (KY) the committee will hold a hearing on the bill Tuesday, November 8. If either of your senators are on the Education Committee, HSLDA urges you to call with the following message:

"I am concerned that the ESEA reauthorization bill scheduled for a committee hearing next Tuesday will greatly increase the federal government's control over education. As a homeschooler, I understand that parents-not federal education officials-are best suited to make educational choices for their children. Please oppose attempts to increase national control over education."

Senate Education Committee Members

You may identify and contact your two U.S. senators using HSLDA's Legislative Toolbox.

Senators Paul, Richard Burr (NC), and Orrin Hatch (UT) share our concerns about this bill and should be thanked.

Background

In 2001, Congress passed NCLB. While HSLDA was neutral on this bill because it included strongly written protections for homeschoolers, and prohibitions on federal funding for national teacher certification, national standards, national testing, and national databases, NCLB also greatly increased the federal government's role in education.

A decade later, nearly all education policy makers agree that NCLB is too inflexible. HSLDA believes this illustrates that the federal government should not be in the business of establishing education policy for the nation's schoolchildren.

This past month, the U.S. Senate has been working on reauthorizing NCLB. HSLDA is concerned the Senate's bill continues the failed "Washington-knows-best, one-size-fits-all" approach that was widely criticized in NCLB. In addition, one provision in the Senate's bill mandates that any state taking federal funds must put in place "College and Career Ready Aligned Standards." Mandating that each state have aligned standards with aligned coursework will guarantee the creation of national academic standards, national curriculum, and national testing. We believe this will result in the eventual requirement that homeschoolers use these national standards, curriculum, and testing.

For more about HSLDA's concerns read "The Danger of National Standards" and "Nationalized Education Standards-an Update for Home Educators."

You may also read HSLDA's legislative summary.

It is still unclear at this point whether homeschool protections will stay in the Senate's education bill, but even if they do, the trend of national standards could lead to homeschoolers losing the freedom to choose the curriculum for their children. For these reasons, HSLDA is urging opposition to the Senate's ESEA reauthorization legislation.

Morning Bell: The Backdoor Attempt to Rewrite No Child Left Behind

With Waivers, National Standards Anything but Voluntary

State-Based Reform, Not National Standards, Key to Better Education

Senate No Child Left Behind Proposal: More Big Government for Schools

Splitting Hairs on the Cadaver

Call Today to Preserve Parental Rights

-- November 1, 2011

A chilling report from Brazil should serve as a warning to all American parents. Recent events reveal what happens when a nation abandons its traditional constitutional standard of parental rights and adopts the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

On October 19th, the Education and Culture Committee of the Chamber of Representatives in Brazil unanimously rejected a bill that would have legalized homeschooling in that country. Families who dare to homeschool in Brazil are prosecuted and kept under government surveillance according to a recent story by Julio Severo on LifeSiteNews.com.

Severo's article traces the text of the Brazilian Constitution which contained provisions in the 1937, 1946 and 1967 versions that specifically affirmed the home as a place of education for children. However, the 1988 Constitution quietly removed these provisions at the behest of "leftist politicians," according to Severo.

This Brazilian journalist exposes the role that the CRC has played in this attack on fundamental parental rights.

[An]other serious threat to the families' rights in the education of their children has been the Child and Adolescent Statute (CAS), which is a direct product of the United Nations Children's Rights Convention. CAS imposes many state interferences in the Brazilian families and their children, especially in the educational and health issues. CAS has been used by the Child Protective Services of Brazil to enforce the state ban on homeschooling, harass families and their children and put them under legal hardships.

Finally, Severo calls for a new constitutional provision for Brazil to restore the traditional protection of parental rights in education.

The parallels to the United States are unmistakable. The rights of parents to direct the education of their children were traditionally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as a high-level constitutional right. However, recent decisions of the Court have undermined that traditional standard and have unleashed a flood of federal appellate cases declaring that parental rights are lower-level rights which may be easily overridden by the government. Justice Scalia heads the list of jurists who have proclaimed that parental rights are not legally protected at all.

At the same time, there are twin threats of the United States adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Obama administration has repeatedly called for the ratification of this dangerous treaty which would supersede all state laws about families including laws which give parents control over the educational and medical decisions of their children. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have shown an increasing tendency to employ this UN treaty as valid legal precedent despite the fact that it has never been ratified by the Senate.

We must not be the last generation of American parents who are truly free to raise our children.

It is time to tell Congress to stop stealing our children's future. It is bad enough that they have buried our children and grandchildren in debt for tomorrow so that they can buy votes today.

We cannot sit by and watch America become Brazil. We cannot passively tolerate the erosion of our constitutional rights while the courts and the diplomats conspire to force us into a regime of international law.

We must fight groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood who have attacked the Parental Rights Amendment. And we must educate those we would call friends who simply fail to recognize the absolute imperative of protecting the traditional sovereignty of the American family. These other groups have millions while ParentalRights.Org's annual budget is under $500,000.

Despite our tiny budget, we are the organization that successfully prevented ratification of the CRC. However, we have only stopped it for this term of Congress. The only permanent solution to all of the threats we face is the Parental Rights Amendment.

I urge you to do three things.

First, call both of your U.S. Senators and urge them to become original co-sponsors of the Parental Rights Amendment. Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina has agreed to be the lead sponsor. (Find their contact info by clicking on your state at ParentalRights.Org/States.)

Second, call your Representative in Congress and urge him or her to become an original co-sponsor of the Parental Rights Amendment. Rep. Trent Franks from Arizona, who chairs the Constitution Sub-Committee, has agreed to be the lead sponsor.

Third, please make a generous donation of $50, $100, or even $500 to Parentalrights.org. Whatever you can give will sustain our efforts in this crucial time.

What you do today will determine the future for generations to come. Will we have a family-based culture? Or will we, like Brazil, turn all decision-making over to government officials who think they know best?

It is urgent that you act right now. Important meetings are taking place in Congress even as I write that will affect the Amendment. Please don't close this email or webpage before you pick up the phone and call.

America or Brazil? It's your time to act.

Michael Farris
President, ParentalRights.Org

A Special Invitation
To a Two-Day Campaign Training
Presented by Pennsylvania Family PAC

Changing the Culture by Winning Campaigns

November 9-10, 2011

Harrisburg, PA

Voters today - perhaps more than at any time in recent history - are yearning for principled candidates committed to standing strong for the timeless values upon which our country was founded and standing stronger against the politics-as-usual establishment working to undermine those values.

•         Are you such a candidate - or do you know one running in your area that you'd like to help? or
•         Do you wish you had the skills to help elect a good candidate? or

• Have you thought about running for local or state elected office - or know of someone else?

The Winning Campaigns training school shows pro-life, pro-family, principled - candidates, campaign staff, and grassroots activists how to run winning campaigns without compromising their values - with a special emphasis placed on running and winning primaries (even against incumbents). 

Who should attend?
Local or state candidates, potential candidates, campaign staff, campaign volunteers, grassroots leaders, and concerned citizens - who are committed to advancing pro-life/pro-family principles. This training is perfect for anyone who wishes to learn how to run or assist the local campaigns of those running for elected office.

What's the cost?
Nothing; registration is free, but you must register in advance. 

More details on the event and an informational brochure are available by request. To get more information or to register, call Dan at 717-545-0600.

THIS IS BY INVITATION ONLY. YOU are invited (as a PA Family supporter), but if you know of someone else who could benefit from this training as a candidate or potential candidate or campaign worker, please let them know and have them contact us directly. But hurry, space is limited and reservations should be made by November 4th.
 

I urge you to stand with me and co-sponsor my new legislation, "American and Pennsylvania Laws for Pennsylvania Courts." This legislation protects the individual constitutional rights of the people of Pennsylvania from the incursion of foreign laws, in cases in which the application of a foreign law or foreign legal doctrine would violate someone's constitutional rights. 

Go here to see the full document . . .:   

Our constitutional rights and founding principles of freedom should not be abridged by any offshore entity, including and especially those who would promote Sharia law. 

Kerry Benninghoff

Scott Boyd

Dom Costa

Tom Creighton

George Dunbar

Frank Farry

Neal Goodman

Seth Grove

Kate Harper

Dick Hess

Scott Hutchinson

Rob

Kauffman

Daryl Metcalfe (asked to be listed as a 2nd)

Carl Metzgar

Scott Perry (asked to be listed 3rd)

Rick Saccone

Stan Saylor

Curt Schroder

Jerry Stern

Dick Stevenson

Will Tallman    Here are the action steps:

    1.  read the attached letter from Rep. Swanger, which went out in early June to all PA House members

    2.  visit, or call, your representative and ask him/her to call Rep. Swanger's secretary, Lily Horst, 717-787-2686, or email her at lhorst@pahousegop.com to be added to the list of the bill's cosponsors
 
    3.  timing: please move quickly, as they may be getting to the next step (obtaining a bill number).   Make contact, and gain their commitment, by August 1.  Having many co-sponsors on a bill, as you know, will help build momentum in the right direction quickly.

Thank you for your efforts.

Signed, your Legislative Focus Group
American and Pennsylvania Laws for Pennsylvania Courts

Sincerely, Sarah Hart
Chapter Leader, ACT! Pittsburgh
ACT! for America Chapter

Surviving an Economic or Natural Disaster Meeting - Saturday, November 12^th 6pm

Speaker:  Gordon Smith

Where:  P J Ryan's, 231 Bridge Street, Phoenixville - downstairs private dining area.
 
Natural disasters can strike at any time.  Economic downturns can wipe out your savings, your retirement and your ability to support yourself.  This session focuses on what you should do to protect your family in a financial or economic disaster.  Will you have enough food, water and medicines?  Can you survive without electricity and urban infrastructure until help arrives?  Can you support your family if your job is outsourced or eliminated? This session will help you assess the risk and offers realistic suggestions to ensure you and your family are prepared for the challenges when faced with a physical disaster or economic setback.
 
Gordon Smith retired from his international security firm last year to devote himself to the Tea Party movement.  He is dedicated to the restoration of our country and protecting our freedoms. A successful author and lecturer, he specializes in analyzing political issues, separating the truth from the chaff.  His direct approach ensures that the message is not muddled with platitudes.  Factual, straight forward, articulate and often humorous, Mr. Smith's passion for the issues, makes his presentation well worth attending.  

For additional info contact Maggie at Maggie@theunsolicitedopinion.com or Diane at uncanny2@verizon.net 

Click to visit their site and see a bigger poster . . .

A call to action has been issued! Will or can you attend?

Patriots Union.org and Veteran Defenders.org have issued  the call to action.  

The scheduled muster time and place is 0600 in the morning at the foot of the Washington Monument. 

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=771&q=map,+715+H.+St.,+NW.+Washington+DC&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x89b7b79203ee5389:0x4964bc200c9b3537,715+H+St+NW,+Washington,+DC+20001&gl=us&ei=2Wy0TrzhK-mW2AWC3-zMDQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ8gEwAA

Join the VFP on Nov.11 at the Phoenixville C.C

Learn how to use Electronic and Social media to defeat Obama in 2012

------Jeff Morgan will present a live demonstration of the Valley Forge Patriots website and the tremendous information and resources it provides.

------ Michelle Libor will show us all about "Facebook"  and how we can use this "social media" to get our message out, and help defeat Obama in 2012. It would be helpful to have a Facebook account in advance.

----- Folks from the Commonwealth Foundation (Dawn Meling  and jay Ostrich) will demonstrate their website "Cap--Wiz" and how it can make it easy for each of us to send powerful "letters to the editor" and letters and e-mails to our legislators. "Cap-Wiz" has templated letters on a number of issues.

Food and Drink service is available.  Parking is free.

Patriots,

Attached is a suggested list of items for the troops.  We will also need Money for shipping & boxes - we have some boxes & I think flat rate is the way to go.  A form must be filled out w/ details about what is in each box & approx. value. 

PLEASE bring items to our next VFP meeting Nov. 11th at the Phoenixville Country Club. Lets show our troops we care !!! 

Here's a list of preferred items to donate.

CANDY

Candy (hard candy/heat resistant)
Gum
Throat Drops
Twizzlers

CORRESPONDENCE
Journals
Padded Envelopes
Pens/Pencils
Writing Paper and Envelopes

DRINK
Coffee (instant)
Coffee Creamer
Gatorade
Hot Cocoa
Kool-Aid bursts- to freeze
Powdered Drink Mixes
Tea Mixes (sweet)

ELECTRONIC
CD Fanny Packs
CDs (music, books on CD)
DVDs (comedy, American travel)
Hand held electronic games
MP3 Players
Tapes

FOOD (including dry goods, snacks)
Beef Jerky
Canned Food (cheese, meats, etc)
Canned Fruit (pop top cans)
Cereal (in small boxes)
Chips
Cookies (including Girl Scout)
Crackers
Energy Bars (Cliff or Balance)
Granola Bars
Oatmeal (instant)
Pistachios and other nuts
Pop-Tarts
Popcorn
Ramen Noodles/Cup of Soup
Ravioli (pop top cans)
Salsa & Bean Dip
Snack Mix & Fruit Roll ups
Sugar packets
Sunflower & Pumpkin seeds
Tuna Kits

GAMES
Board Games
Checkers (travel size)
Chess (travel size)
Crossword Puzzles
Drawing pads/art pencils
Playing Cards
Sudoku books

PRINTED MATERIALS
Books (novels, short stories, history)
Comic Strips/Joke Books
Magazines
Newspapers (local)
Post Cards from Home

SPORTING EQUIPMENT
Baseballs/Gloves/Bats
Dart Board
Footballs
Golf Balls
Hacky Sacks
Soccer Balls

TOILETRIES/HYGIENE
Baby/Wet Wipes
Callous Removers
Dental Floss
Deodorant (gel or solid)
Eye Drops
Eyeglass Wipes
Facial Scrub
Femine Hygiene Products (for female soldiers)
Foot Powder
Hairbrushes
Hand Sanitizers (waterless)
Lip Balm with SPF 15+
Lotion (hand/body/face)
Mouthwash
Nail Clippers
Nose spray
Powder (Gold Bond)
Q-Tips
Razors (disposable)
Shampoo/Conditioner
Shower Shoes
Sunscreen
Tissues (heavy duty - i.e. Puffs)
Toilet Paper (name brand)
Toothpaste/Toothbrushes
Travel size body wash
Tweezers
Tylenol/Motrin (individual packets)

OTHER
American Flags (small)
Baggies (with zip lock)
Batteries (AAA, AA, C, D, 9V)
BBQ cooking supplies/tools
Boot laces (brown/tan)
Bowls (large for Ramen noodles/popcorn)
Bug Spray (must be packaged in zip-lock bag)
Cameras (digital, disposable, Polaroid)
Camping Items/Equipment
Chair (folding camping chair)
Duct Tape (olive green)
Dust pan (for sand)
Fans (battery powered - small - with extra batteries)
Flashlights (mini/mag lite, extra bulbs, lots of batteries)
Fly Strips & Swatters
Fly/Ant/Mouse Traps
Foot Massager
Gloves (Nomex Aviator's)
Hand and Foot Warmers
Hometown stuff
Instant Ice-Packs
Letters from veterans & citizens
Neck Scarf/Gator
Patch Kit
Phone Cards (pre-paid, AAFES)
Photo Albums
Pinch Lights
Plastic spoons
Shoe Insole Cushions
Socks (cushioned white calf high)
Socks (moisture-wicking boot socks)
Spray Bottle (for water)   

A member received this from his cousin who is serving over there. If any groups are collecting and sending Christmas presents for our troops, this is worth a look.

Lou

"snacks; I.e. Slim jims, granola bars, you name it. Especially for units that go on patrol that have to eat MRE's all the time. Portable or carry size Snacks or small food items are invaluable to a soldier out on a 4 week mission. Bigger items might include small coolers or anything that might keep drinks cold. I also found something as simple as a coffee thermos was incredibly invaluable. Off mission speaking, footballs, soccer balls, DVD movies, magazines and newspapers from home are great. Also Non-elastic bed sheets can provide comfort and privacy if hung up for soldiers crammed in living areas. Hope this helps!"

Nullify Now! Philadelphia

LISTEN LIVE TO REPATRIOT RADIO

"BETTER THAN EVER"

(all times are eastern)

Monday 3-4pm "Bordering on Insanity" - Rabbi Nachum Shifren and Garry Miller

Tuesday 5-6pm "LaRossa & Gallagher" - N.J.State Senator Richard LaRossa and Art Gallagher

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

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

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

We have finally arrived at the point where Germany was in 1930. For general enlightenment; remember, this was signed into law last year!

Take the time to read this break down of Health Care Plan owned and operated by just a few, who are exempt. It is so very important that this gets repealed.

 

 

Since government health care will be MANDATORY - watching this should be, too. Please watch the entire video.... This is a MUST! Then send it to everyone you know - ASAP!

 

Know the TRUTH about the Government Health Care Bill H.R.3200 - Key Points

Super idea!  Start a Fabulous, New Christmas Tradition!  

What a great idea!!!

We got work to choose the best one, and replace the current empty suit from Scranton. See paragraph 6 for the names of all candidates.

Lou

Former Berks County state rep. announces run for U.S. Senate

Friday, November 4, 2011

By Marc Levy, Associated Press

HARRISBURG (AP) - Sam Rohrer, a former state representative for Berks County who lost to Tom Corbett in last year's Republican gubernatorial primary, plans to enter a crowded GOP field hoping to challenge Democrat Bob Casey's re-election bid for U.S. Senate, an adviser said Friday.

Rohrer will likely announce his candidacy later this month and is stepping down from his post as head of the Pennsylvania chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the adviser, Jeff Coleman, told The Associated Press.

Rohrer, 56, views himself as the only full-fledged conservative who has a track record in the GOP field, Coleman said.

"That's where a Sam Rohrer entry would fill that void and this is really responding to what's been an outpouring of emails and encouragement from grass-roots leaders around the state for Sam to consider this," Coleman said.

Casey, a first-term Democrat, is a former state treasurer and auditor general who beat incumbent Rick Santorum in a landslide in 2006.

For now, at least eight others have declared themselves as candidates to challenge Casey: entrepreneurs Tim Burns and Steve Welch; tea party activist Laureen Cummings; manufacturing executive David Christian; pharmacist John Kensinger; lawyer Marc Scaringi; former coal industry executive Tom Smith; and retired U.S. Army Col. John Vernon.

Of those, only Rohrer has run in a statewide election.

All but Cummings and Rohrer appear to have filed candidacy paperwork with the Senate and Federal Election Commission.

Rohrer's candidacy for governor banked on support from conservatives who were disenchanted with the Republican Party establishment and were willing to challenge its endorsed candidate, Corbett. He even organized a competing conference at the same hotel as the Republican State Committee meeting in February 2010 where Corbett received the party's endorsement in the primary.

Corbett beat Rohrer soundly, 68 percent to 31 percent, but Rohrer was given credit by some for forcing Corbett to take more conservative positions, including signing a pledge not to increase taxes that has become a cornerstone of his policy.

Rohrer also served nine terms in the state House of Representatives from Berks County.

 

RedState Morning Briefing

For November 7, 2011

Heritage Hotsheet

Experts on the Day's Hottest News

Items for Monday, November 7, 2011

Death of FARC Leader Plunges Colombia Rebels into Uncertainty

FOX NEWS

        Ray Walser, Ph.D.

Environmentalists ring White House in opposition to Keystone XL oil pipeline

DAILY CALLER

        Nicolas Loris

Pension Trusts Strapped

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

        David John

Rice: Where's all the foreign policy

POLITICO

        Mike Gonzalez

        Michael Franc

Russia's Putin to host China's Wen for security talks

BREITBART.COM

        Ariel Cohen, Ph.D.

        Dean Cheng

Weighing Pentagon Cuts, Panetta Faces Deep Pressures

THE NEW YORK TIMES

        James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.

Latest Heritage Research:

Title  Publication Date

The Battle for Egypt

The Army Strikes Back; A Turning Point 

By Barry Rubin, PJ MEDIA

This is of tremendous importance. Only hours ago I wrote about how the Egyptian military felt forced by circumstances to play a bigger, longer political role in order to stem anarchy and prevent Egypt from becoming an Islamist state. Here's more evidence of that happening.

In an editorial that reflects also the Obama Administration position, the Washington Post explained that the army having political power is bad and civilian rule is good:

"The generals' justification for their proposed decree will sound familiar to any student of the Mubarak regime: They claim to be protecting the country from Islamic fundamentalists, who appear likely to capture a plurality of seats in parliament."

I understand this point and the value of electoral democracy. But in Turkey the European Union, on similar principles, helped destroy the military's influence and ushered in an era when an Islamist regime...

Read the whole entry »

Jerusalem and the US Founders

Editorial of The New York Sun 

Many of us will be watching the Supreme Court of the United States Monday, when the justices are scheduled to hear one of those only-in-America cases, where a child is challenging one of the most powerful of the government's secretaries. Rick Richman of Jewish Current Issues has written about it today on Contentions. The youngster in the case is a nine-year-old American boy, Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky. The secretary he is suing is Hillary Clinton. He is asking the court to order her to carry out a law requiring the state department accede to his request that the papers memorializing his birth stating that, when he was born at Shaare Zedeck hospital in the western part Jerusalem, the country he was born in was Israel.

Mrs. Clinton actually voted for the law before she refused to carry it out. That was back in 2002, when she was a member of the Senate, which passed the law on a unanimous vote. Now she is claiming that it would infringe on the...

Read the whole entry »

"Musloid" now in Urban Dictionary, Entering Mainstream Usage

Name for the enemy spreads rapidly
by Bill Levinson

Name the Enemy "Musloids" to Control the Argument contends,

The concept that the power to name a thing is the power to define that thing is thousands of years old, and was once accorded magical powers. We recently got a lesson in this concept ourselves when a reader pointed out that "West Bank," which we have used conversationally, is the enemy's name for the Israeli territory of Judea and Samaria. We accordingly propose the use of "Musloid" to define and dehumanize Islamic supremacists, the self-proclaimed enemies of Civilization.

The article adds that "Musloid" means similar to a Muslim but inferior to one, just a humanoid resembles a human but is not equal to one. The fact that the word has only two syllables as opposed to "militant Muslim," "jihadist," or "Islamic supremacist" also invites its widespread use. Ann Barnhardt has used the word frequently on...

Read the whole entry »

Is the US a friend or enemy of Israel?

By Ted Belman

This question always elicits different opinions.  Obviously, in part, the answers depend on one's definition of "friend" or of "enemy."

The most famous articulation of U.S. policy vis-à-vis Israel was made by Henry Kissinger in 1975 when talking to an Iraqi diplomat.  To wit:

We don't need Israel for influence in the Arab world. On the contrary, Israel does us more harm than good in the Arab world ... We can't negotiate about the existence of Israel but we can reduce its size to historical proportions

Before the '67 War, U.S. policy was mostly hostile in that the U.S. imposed an embargo on arms to Israel for 20 years, from '47 to '67; was passive during the War of Independence, expecting Israel to be defeated in short order; and ordered Israel out of Sinai after Israel conquered it in the Sinai Campaign.

This policy was ameliorated in the aftermath of the '67 War as reflected in Res....

Read the whole entry »

'Orientalism' For Dummies

Editor's note: Dr. Yasser Dasmabebi holds the Edward Said-Noam Chomsky Linguistics Chair at Abdul Abulbul Amir University in Cairo. READ THIS. ITS TONGUE IN CHEEK

By Dr. Yasser Dasmabebi, FRONT PAGE MAG 

Being a renowned and brilliant linguist such as I am, on October 26, I innocently, and full of optimism and good-will, had published in Front Page Magazine - a war-mongering, racist site if ever there was one, judging from its unsavory readership and ignorant authors! - a glossary of useful terms and expressions meant to help delineate and define what speakers and writers mean when they use certain, shall we say, "explosive" words and phrases when describing so complex a circumstance as, as I wrote, "today's (and yesterday's and tomorrow's) Mid- east."

Inasmuch as it seems that your culture and mine are teetering on the edge of conflict, I believe that persons of good-will, such as myself, need to do what what we must to make certain that misunderstanding and...

Read the whole entry »

Nasrallah: Hizballah can fight Israel without aid from Iran or Syria

DEBKAfileExclusive Report November 4, 2011,

The Lebanese Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah, while inspecting his fighting units in the last two weeks, has briefed commanders on updated operational plans for firing 10,000 rockets at Tel Aviv and  Israel's air force and reserve mobilization bases in a surprise attack, debkafile's military sources report.

"The Zionist enemy cannot stand up to a salvo on that scale," he told them. "He can't locate our secret launching bases or put a stop to a missile offensive that is sure to determine the war's outcome."

He assured the troops that Hizballah is capable of fighting Israel without Iranian or Syrian help.

In answer to questions, Nasrallah said the militia must be prepared to fight Israel without outside military assistance. "We don't know in what situation our war may find Iran. We do know Bashar Assad has been fighting a rebellion for the past ten months and is in no...

Read the whole entry »

Glick indicts UNESCO and exposes Obama

By Caroline B. Glick, JEWISH WORLD REVIEW

You have to hand it to the Palestinians. They decided to abandon the peace process and seek international recognition of the "State of Palestine" - a state in a de facto state of war with Israel. And they are pursuing their goal relentlessly.

This week their efforts bore their first fruit with the UN's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) vote to accept "Palestine" as a full state member.

It is not a coincidence that the PLO/PA decided to apply for membership for "Palestine" at UNESCO first. Since 1974 UNESCO has been an enthusiastic partner in the Palestinians' bid to erase Jewish history, heritage and culture in the Land of Israel from the historical record.

In 1974 UNESCO voted to boycott Israel and "withhold assistance from Israel in the fields of education, science and culture because of Israel's persistent alteration of...

Read the whole entry »

Pollard for a freeze

From Fresno Zionism

Is the US on the same moral level as Hamas? 

Jonathan Pollard, in better days

If this report is true, then the behavior of my government is worse than despicable:

Following reports that Israel and the U.S. are engaged in advanced negotiations over the release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, the Shas ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yom l'Yom reported Thursday morning that disputes have arisen between the two sides over the details of the deal.

According to the Shas newspaper, the U.S. said it will agree to release Pollard only under condition that he continue to be imprisoned in Israel. The Israelis, however, demand Pollard's full and permanent release. The report said that despite their disagreements the two sides are trying to come to a compromise.

Last week, a local Jerusalem newspaper reported that Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for espionage in a North Carolina prison, could be released in exchange for Israel agreeing to a...

Read the whole entry »

PM Netanyahu's Speech at Opening of the Knesset's Winter Session

The Knesset is returning to its winter session at a time when the most dramatic events of our time are taking place in our region.

The Arab street has awoken; old regimes have toppled, others are swaying and new ones are rising.

No-one can guarantee how good or how stable these new regimes will be, nor their attitude towards Israel. Unfortunately, this attitude, which left much to be desired to begin with, is not expected to get any better in some, or most, of the new regimes, not in the foreseeable future.

These new regimes depend on the masses, the raging masses, of which many of the people have been systematically poisoned with anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda. This incitement began even before the State of Israel was established, and continues at full steam today.

If the results of the elections in Tunisia a few days ago are anything to go by, we will probably see the rise of other governments with a dominant Islamist component.

In most countries in the region, the...

Read the whole entry »

Netanhyahu: "Building in Jerusalem is our right and our duty"

Speaking at a special parliamentary session, Netanyahu pledged to keep building in Jerusalem and said the city has never been a capital to any other people.

"We are building in Jerusalem because it is our right and our duty to this generation and future generations, not as punishment but as the basic right of our people to build in its eternal city," he said. "Jerusalem will never return to the state it was in on the eve of the (1967) Six-Day War, that I promise you."

The projects announced by Netanyahu were not new, but he ordered they be accelerated.

Muslim Brotherhood Makes Fools of Naive West

Two Smart Egyptians Fear Future

By Barry Rubin, PJ MEDIA 

Can you imagine this? The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood lied! And can you imagine this: the two civilians who are Egypt's greatest hope for avoiding an Islamist dictatorship are very worried.

Let's start with the Brotherhood. First, it promised to run candidates for only one-third of the parliamentary seats, saying this would proof of its moderation and willingness to share power.

But a little later, it raised that number to 50 percent but said that's all and they wouldn't run a candidate for president. Again, we were told: they're moderate!

Next, it created a front party to run a candidate for president. For months the Western media generally told us that this party was independent of the Brotherhood, had split off from the Brotherhood to run a candidate for president. That made this party even more moderate than the moderate Brotherhood.

Finally, now that the media admits this is a Brotherhood-controlled party,...

Read the whole entry »

Rumors of Israel Attack on Iran Show the Media as Clueless

By Barry Rubin, PJ MEDIA 
Here's a great case study of why so much of the reporting or analysis on the Middle East is so bad. Articles in the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz have led to speculation and concern-even in high levels of the U.S. government-about whether Israel is about to attack Iran. The Guardian and Daily Mail have even predicted that the British government is going to attack Iran. For goodness sake, is anyone actually studying these issues?

In fact, this story is full of holes.

First, Israel has decided not to attack Iran-a point I'm making due both to direct knowledge and direct statements, a few of them made publicly, by those involved in the debate. The reasons for this decision make sense but I won't list them here to save your time.

Second, there is no new development to prompt such an attack. On the contrary, all of the reports have been about the slow pace of Iranian progress toward obtaining deliverable nuclear...

Read the whole entry »

ADL is failing in its mission

Only 3 percent of ADL's press releases focus on Islamic extremism and Arab anti-Semitism.  Only another 5 percent deal with domestic and international terrorism. By contrast, fighting for causes unrelated to Jewish defense accounts for 31 percent of ADL's press release output.

We sorely need the ADL ... to do its job

Charles Jacobs

Last week I attended Boston's premier screening of "Unmasked: Judeophobia." I didn't sleep well that night. Gloria Greenfield, the director and producer, has fashioned a Klieg light that pierces the fog of denial insulating America's comfortable Jews from having to deal with the unpleasantries of the threats gathering against us. Words cannot convey the power of this film to drive home a message so obvious yet so long resisted. It would be an act of negligence for any Jewish leader not to urge his community to see it.

The film opens with Elie Wiesel telling us with crushing sadness that the Jew-hatred he assumed had perished with the...

Read the whole entry »

US diplomats: 'Israel is a strategic asset for the US'

Given the Meirsheimer/Walt crowd who continue to maintain that Israel is a liability, this is a welcome affirmation to the contrary. Ted Belman

WASHINGTON - Israel and the United States enjoy a special alliance which has a strong "strategic contribution" to US security, a report by two former high ranking Washington officials says.

Robert D. Blackwill and Walter B. Slocombe, who served under Democratic and Republican administrations, have recently presented the Washington Institute for Near East Policy with a thesis asserting that US aid to Israel is not just a gesture among allied nations, but a move that serves US national interests worldwide and does not take a toll on its relations with its Arab allies.

Slocombe served as the under secretary of defense for policy in the Clinton Administration, while Blackwill served as US ambassador to India the United States national security council deputy for Iraq in the second Bush Administration.
...

Read the whole entry »

A military war of nerves against Iran

DEBKAfile Special Report November 2, 2011, 10:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

The sudden rush of military news Wednesday, Nov. 2, was part of an orchestrated Western performance to persuade Tehran that the US, Britain and Israel are on the verge of a military operation against its nuclear installations. The show, directed from Washington, was meant to warn Iran that military punishment was in store unless it gives up its drive for a nuclear weapon. If Tehran continues to hold out, President Barack Obama may decide to strike Revolutionary Guards Corps, the bulwark of the Islamic regime, as well as its strategic infrastructure, thereby removing key props holding up the regime of the ayatollahs.

Contributing to the menacing climate hanging over Iran were four headline events involving Israel - all on the same Wednesday: Israel conducted a successful test launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, Jericho 3, which foreign sources report is capable of...

Read the whole entry »

Egypt's Massacre of Christians

By Raymond Ibrahim, HUDSON NY

Western media coverage of the recent massacre of Coptic Christians in Cairo, Egypt-in which the military killed dozens of Christians and injured some 300-was, as discussed earlier, deplorable. It merely repeated the false propaganda of the complicit state-run media, without checking facts. Since then, further proofs of the lies and brutality surrounding the massacre have emerged; they are compiled in the following report which consists of documented facts and videos from Arabic sources-many of which have not appeared in the Western media.

This report documents: 1) the activities of the Supreme Military Council of Egypt and its de facto ruler; 2) the lies and duplicitous tactics of both the Military Council and its media mouthpiece, Egyptian TV; and 3) the anti-Christian sentiment pervading all aspects of this incident.

The Egyptian Military

Armored vehicles intentionally chased after and ran over...

Read the whole entry »

  VIDEOS * TODAY'S HOT PICKS 

Bill Gates Urges Obama to Embrace Global Tax

Cliff Kincaid 

A 2012 World View: What is the End Game?

Nancy Salvato 

Democracy in America can only be fully appreciated when one understands the meaning of the U.S. Constitution.

Global Violence Declines - Except in the Middle East.

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman 

Israel Prepares for Another Flotilla Confrontation

Jim Kouri, CPP 

Today's Hot Topics

We choose, you peruse.

Abbas' Representative Praises the Kidnap of Gilad Shalit

Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik

George Soros Trader Involved in Bankrupt Firm Tied to Obama

Cliff Kincaid 

Soros' sticky fingerprints on another political scandal? Meanwhile, the chairman and CEO of bankrupt company MF Global continues to raise funds....

Seeing Real Life Sharia in Action

Calling it something else. 

Alyssa A. Lappen 

"Offices of French magazine torched after latest edition mocked Prophet [sic] Mohammed." 

Fellow patriots,

It would be no surprise to hear that a politician has lied to the public.  However, Eric Holder's Department of Justice recently attempted to take lying to a whole new level by proposing that federal agencies should be given the RIGHT to lie, particularly in claiming that documents don't exist when in fact they do.  Take a moment to contemplate how that license -- as a federal policy -- could be abused if it had been approved by Congress.

On the same day that we find out about the Obama Administration's request for permission to lie, we also find out that it has just fired a distinguished Army General for telling the truth!  Again, the ramifications are devastating.  How can the American public make proper assessments of the performance of policies when top ranking officials are muzzled, under pain of personal destruction?

If this country is to navigate its way through the treacherous waters of future years, public access to the truth is an absolute necessity.

Dave

US reconsiders, now says it's not really OK to lie to reporters

U.S. Justice Department

By M. Alex Johnson
msnbc.com reporter

The Justice Department has gotten the message from journalists, interest groups and government watchdogs and has decided to withdraw its proposal to allow federal agencies to lie to people seeking sensitive documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Currently, if a requested document is so sensitive that it would be dangerous to acknowledge its very existence, the government is allowed to tell you that it can neither confirm nor deny whether there is such a document.

 

Last month, the Justice Department proposed a rule revision that would let government agencies tell requesters there is no such document - even if there is. According to the proposal, which was retrieved by the nonprofit investigative project ProPublica, agencies would be allowed to "respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist."

Read more:  

Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller  /  U.S. Army

NBC, msnbc.com and news services

11/4/2011

WASHINGTON - A top U.S. general in Afghanistan was relieved of duty Friday for "inappropriate public comments" after calling the Afghan government "isolated from reality" and President Hamid Karzai "erratic."

 

Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, deputy commander for training Afghan security forces, blasted the Afghangovernment, military and Karzai in an interview with POLITICO published on Thursday.

He called Karzai "erratic" for recently saying Afghanistan would side with Pakistan if the latter declared war on the U.S.

"Why don't you just poke me in the eye with a needle!," Fuller was quoted as saying. "You've got to be kidding me ... I'm sorry, we just gave you $11.6 billion and now you're telling me, 'I don't really care'?"

Read more: 

The Closing of the Muslim Mind
How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis

by Robert R. Reilly
Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2011. 244 pp.

Reviewed by Raymond Ibrahim
Jihad Watch
October 20, 2011

Last week, "Saudi Arabia's religious police arrested an Indonesian housemaid for casting a magic spell on a local family and 'turning its life upside down.'" The maid "confessed" to using sorcery, and "commission experts took the magic items to their office and managed to dismantle and stop the spell."

Far from being absurd aberrations to be dismissed, such accounts, which are becoming better known thanks to the Internet, are stark reminders of the incompatibility between the Western and Muslim worldviews, or, more to the point, the difficulty Western peoples have transcending their own paradigms and understanding the Muslim worldview in its own right-above and beyond the issue of sorcery.

In his book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind, Robert Reilly, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, helps explain the Muslim worldview by thoroughly documenting the historic and doctrinal roots behind it; by refreshingly bypassing the overly dramatized question of "what went wrong," he explains the more pressing "why it went wrong."

Friday, November 4, 2011

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


Where Is Jerusalem?

As a former Under Secretary of Education, I have often complained that the teaching of geography is woefully inadequate. But even still, I suspect that most Americans know that Jerusalem is in Israel. Unbelievably, our State Department seems to need a refresher course in remedial geography.

Months ago, The Weekly Standard discovered that the White House was scrubbing references to Israel from its website. For example, a photo of Vice President Biden meeting with Israeli President Shimon Perez was initially captioned "Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Israel, March 9, 2010." But within hours it read, "Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010."

One photo on the White House website might not seem like a big deal, but there's more. It was also revealed that the Obama State Department has started systematically purging "Israel" from other references to Jerusalem -- even going back and editing documents from previous administrations. Obama and his allies are so hostile to Israel that they are engaged in Orwellian censorship that would make the Soviets blush!

This old story has resurfaced because Politico reports that the Supreme Court is scheduled to consider a case next week brought by the parents of a child who was born in Jerusalem. Evidently Obama's State Department is refusing to list their son's birth place as "Jerusalem, Israel." It seems that Obama is making it official government policy to deny the obvious -- that Jerusalem is part of Israel.

Why is this being done? It is part of a much broader campaign to undermine the Jewishness of Jerusalem, and therefore the legitimacy of Israel's right to claim the city as its undivided capital, because the Palestinians are demanding half of Jerusalem as their capital. And if you can undermine the Jewishness of Jerusalem itself, then you have undermined the legitimacy of the entire Jewish state, which Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly refused to recognize.

But the Palestinians don't want half of Jerusalem, they want it all. Just as they are not interested in peace with Israel or even a piece of Israel. They want it all. And the Obama Administration is playing along with their hoax to deny history.


Mixed Jobs Report

The economy created 80,000 jobs in October, significantly lower than some economists' expectations. But the administration today will be bragging about a slight dip in the unemployment rate, from 9.1% to 9.0%. The lower rate comes in part from big upward revisions in the number of jobs created in August and September.

Obama apologists are spinning these figures to suggest that the economy's general trend is positive. But 80,000 new jobs is the lowest number in several months, suggesting that the economy could be stalling. As one analyst said this morning, "We have to remind ourselves that things are so bad that this looks good."

They can put out whatever numbers they want -- I don't trust them. Obama's policies are all wrong. Most Americans know the country is on the wrong track. And if they are willing to deny that Jerusalem is in Israel, they are probably willing to manipulate the data any way they can to deny that Obama's economy stinks.


Union Boss Wants More Violence

Just when you think you've seen the worst from the Occupy Wall Street crowd (think Oakland), along comes Leo Gerard. Gerard was on the Ed Schultz radio show this week offering his advice to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Consider this excerpt:

GERARD: You're damn right Wall Street occupiers speak for us. They do in Pittsburgh, they do in Chicago, they do in Oakland, they do in San Francisco, they do all across the country. And I think what we need is, we need more militancy.

SCHULTZ: What does that mean, more militancy?

GERARD: I think we've got to start a resistance movement. If Wall Street occupation doesn't get the message, I think we've got to start blocking bridges and doing that kind of stuff. ...We oughta be doing more than occupying parks. We oughta start occupying bridges. We oughta start occupying the banks' places themselves.

What is going on in Zuccotti Park is too timid for Gerard. Maybe he would prefer to see more cities going up in flames like Oakland. Normally you could dismiss such rantings from an overzealous supporter. But Gerard is not your average left-wing agitator -- he is president of the United Steelworkers union! In other words, he has the muscle to back up his threats.

Meanwhile, speaking in Florida last night, Sarah Palin ripped into the Occupy Wall Street movement with one of the best lines I have heard so far. Palin said, "They say 'Wall Street fat cats got a bailout so now I want one too.' And the correct answer is no one is entitled to a bailout. ...The American dream, our foundation, is about work ethic and empowerment, not entitlement."

Palin is right. These so-called "occupiers" have a long list of demands from free housing to debt forgiveness. They want big government to bail them out with your hard-earned tax dollars!

And while they claim to be protesting joblessness, they're not interested in jobs. One conservative group went to the Occupy DC event in Washington and set up a "job booth," featuring dozens of job openings culled from the local papers all paying $40,000 or more. The reaction of the occupiers to these jobs was like a vampire to sunlight. Many indignantly refused to work for defense contractors and financial firms. Not one applied for a single job.


Cain Is Able -- So Far

Three national polls have been released since the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain surfaced on Sunday. None showed any erosion in his support. In fact, Cain is leading the field in two polls and is essentially tied with Romney in the third. Here's how the race stands today based on the RealClearPolitics.com average of polls:

Cain 25.5%
Romney 23%
Gingrich 11%
Perry 9.8%
Paul 8.2%
Bachmann 3.5%
Santorum 1.5%
Huntsman 1.2%.

Tune In Saturday!

As someone who participated in more than half a dozen presidential debates during the 2000 campaign, I can appreciate the frustration many people have with the formats. They stink! America is a great nation and we are facing some big challenges. We ought to be able to have serious debates about serious issues.

That's why I encourage you to tune in to C-Span Saturday night at 8:00 PM ET. C-Span has agreed to broadcast the Lincoln-Douglas style debate between Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. The debate will focus on economic and social issues, and will be moderated by stalwart conservative champion Rep. Steve King (R-IA).
 

THE INTERFAITH TASKFORCE FOR AMERICA AND ISRAEL (ITAI)

123 S. Broad Street, Suite 1832, Philadelphia, PA 19109

Friday, November 4, 2011

Dear ITAI Members and Donors:

ITAI ON THE MOVE...In a drive to recruit new members for ITAI, a current member who bring in a new member will receive Joseph Puder's book titled "Beware Your Friends, Know Your Enemies."        

OBAMA'S VULNERABILITY ON FOREIGN POLICY

By: Joseph Puder

In the not too distant future, America will be debating "Who lost Iraq and how," and that debate will surely extend to the larger Middle East with questions about the U.S. administration of Barack Hussein Obama did not do more to prevent Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen from becoming Islamist states. Most of the current crop of Republican presidential candidates while busy harping on domestic economic failures of the Obama administration seem to have not fully recognized his vulnerability in foreign affairs, particularly on the Middle East.

President Obama either deliberately or through arrogance has undermined American interests and the security of its allies by his pro-Islamic policies.  His latest folly is his announcement of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.  Obama declared an end to the war on Friday, October 21, 2011, and announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by year's end.

It appears that insult has been added to injury.  The Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has refused to allow the U.S. to keep some troops in Iraq and even The Guardian, Britain's left leaning daily saw the move for what it was when they reported on October 21, 2011 that "the real significance today was in the failure of Obama, in spite of the cost to the US in dollars and deaths, to persuade the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to allow one or more American bases to be kept in the country."

The strategic significance of the U.S. withdrawal is that it empowers Iran to expand its influence in Iraq and the Gulf. An Arab News opinion piece on October 25, 2011, suggested that the "rhetoric buildup for another conflict received a big boost during US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's first visit to Iraq since taking office on July 1, 2011."  According to Arab News, Panetta said that the US "will act unilaterally to confront Iranian threats to US interests in Iraq."

Panetta's statement contradicts Obama's "end of war" declaration, and Obama's comment that "Iraqis have taken full responsibility for their country's security" and that the future relationship between the US and Iraq will be that "between sovereign nations, an equal partnership based on mutual interests and mutual respect." 

Obama is clearly ignorant of the real Islam - that of the Middle East variety. He lived in Indonesia where the Islam of the 1960's was fairly moderate.  Conversely, Middle Eastern Islam has had a long history of hate, intolerance and persecution towards the "different."  Not only have Jews been persecuted and largely purged from lands dominated by Middle Eastern Muslims (Turkey being an exception), Christians as well are being similarly victimized.  The hatred/enmity between Sunni-Shiite Muslims, which has pitted the Aryan Persian Shiites against the Arab Sunnis, go back a long way in history. Today in the Middle East religion (Islam) has replaced (Arab) nationalism as the primary source of political identification, and in Iraq, the majority Shiites gravitate towards Shiite Iran. Nouri al-Maliki is a Shiite as are most of his government ministers.

The follies of the Obama administration in the Middle East include abandoning a seemingly pro-American Mubarak in Egypt, while demanding the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's political process, in addition to allowing Hezbollah, with active support from Iran and Syria, to take over Lebanon. Obama's militarily intervention in Libya, aimed toppling Col. Khadafy, while arming the opposition, which is now professing its intention to establish an Islamist regime, stands in sharp contrast with his stance of non-intervention in Syria - an Iranian ally, which has been implicated in killing Americans in Iraq.  Assad's Syria is also known as a terror-sponsoring state.

The Obama administration's praise and support for the so called "Arab Spring" is now turning into a nightmare as the new government in Tunisia goes to the Islamists, and Libya and Egypt appear to be poised to elect Islamist regimes.

Obama's actions which are perceived as weakness, coupled with American passivity in the face of Iranian aggression, has reduced American credibility and deterrence in the Middle East to a point of irrelevance.  Obama's early appeasement of the Islamic world from his speeches made in Ankara and Cairo did not bolster American prestige, and his attempt to charm the Iranians and the Syrians did not bear any fruit.  In fact, Obama's refusal to threaten the Iranians with a military option, gave the mullahs of Iran much needed time to advance their nuclear program.

Yossef Bodansky, former Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare and former Director of Research of the International Strategic Studies Association, writing for the World Tribune in December 2009, pointed out that "With the U.S. projecting weakness and confusion - desperate to gain Iranian cooperation in furthering issues of crucial importance for Obama, namely, expedited safe withdrawal from both Afghanistan and Iraq - Ahmadinejad's Tehran is only emboldened to raise the price in the best traditions of the Iranian bazaar. Both Washington and Tehran know that time is on the side of the mullahs which means that the Obama White House will end up paying an exuberant strategic price for Iran's "cooperation"; a price which America's allies and friends in the region will end up paying for a long time to come."

Obama's major achievement in foreign policy was the killing of Bin Laden last May.  However, when one considers the threat to American interests by Hezbollah versus the now largely decimated al-Qaeda, it appears that Obama is using the defanged al-Qaeda as his excuse for claiming credit as an anti-terror fighter.  Since combating al-Qaeda has the approval of the Saudi king Abdullah (to whom Obama bowed to in a subservient gesture) but not combating Hamas (which killed and harmed Americans), the Obama administration has been careful to fight only Islamic terrorism sanctioned by the Sunni Saudis.  Shiite Muslim terror practiced by Hezbollah and Iran has also not been confronted by Obama, despite its documented killing of Americans.

Interviewed by Bob Schieffer of CBS-TV Face the Nation on Sunday, October 21, 2010, Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator and Republican presidential contender, said of Obama's Iraq policy, "We have a president that wasn't able to set conditions and actually have the kind of influence over the Iraqi government, now three years the president has had to work with the Iraq government, to try and mold and shape that relationship. And to be in a position where the Iranians now have more sway over the Iraqi government than the U.S. just shows the weakness of our diplomatic effort, the weakness of this president."

Santorum asserted that Obama gave the Iranians a pass two years ago when, with millions of Iranians pouring into the street in support of the Green Revolution, the U.S. could have helped to topple the regime following the sham elections that installed Ahmadinejad as president. "Obama," Santorum said, "sat on the sidelines and did nothing" He did not rally behind the people of Iran as he subsequently did during the "Arab Spring." He tacitly supported the mullahs by his inaction.  "The Iranian regime," according to Santorum, "knows that the U.S. administration is not going to do anything to stop them."

Santorum also pointed out that this president has done nothing about the Assad regime's brutality against his people, and moreover, has rewarded the Baath regime by returning the U.S. ambassador to Damascus.

As next year's election approaches the full extent of Obama's deliberate and wrong choices in the Middle East must be revealed - including Obama's support of the wrong (anti-American Islamist) parties, while denying support to the people of Iran and Syria (largely pro-American accept for the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, which Obama and the Turks support). One can only hope that foreign policy issues will not be overshadowed by the state of the economy.

Read more here: 

End the Occupation
By Daniel Greenfield
CanadaFreePress.com  

The big lie of Occupy Wall Street begins with its name. It isn't occupying Wall Street, it's occupying the resources of a city with a budget crisis on its hands.

Time to Rid the Streets of the Occupy Movement
Nov 06, 2011 01:07 pm

Islamists as Slumlords
Nov 06, 2011 03:26 am

MF Global Employees Gave Big to Democrats Until the End
Nov 06, 2011 02:56 am

Trickle Down Government Economics
Nov 06, 2011 02:43 am

Three Pillars of Reform for the Super Committee
Nov 06, 2011 02:30 am

U.S. Marshals Service Report Update November 5 , 2011
Nov 06, 2011 01:08 am

FBI's Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending November 5, 2011
Nov 06, 2011 12:51 am

Obama Admin Withholds Bear Stearns Bailout Documents
Nov 05, 2011 05:00 am

Islamist Lawfare on Steroids - Part 2
Nov 04, 2011 11:57 am

California Recall ... Beginning of the End for Smart Meters?
Nov 04, 2011 11:48 am

Anonymous vs. Zetas Amid Mexico's Cartel Violence
Nov 04, 2011 10:22 am

Islam and Hindu Terror Against Christians Continues Unreported in Major Networks
Nov 04, 2011 10:08 am

Egypt's Massacre of Christians: What the Media Does Not Want You To Know
Nov 04, 2011 05:00 am

Bill Gates Urges Obama to Embrace Global Tax
Nov 04, 2011 12:33 am

The Black Hole of History
Nov 03, 2011 05:45 pm

 Read more: 

Friday, November 04, 2011

Rush Limbaugh: Larry Sinclair, Barack Obama Gay Sex & Murder - 11/4/2011

 This is how the media handled the allegations about Obama in the Politico story:

 Obama accuser has long rap sheet

By BEN SMITH | 6/18/08

Trickle Down Government Economics

Forget the sly jokes and sneers-- today everyone is a believer in Trickle Down Economics, the only divide is over where the trickle is supposed to be flowing down from. This administration has been an experiment in unusually aggressive trickle down government economics.

 

The left and the right don't disagree that the money goes from the top down, from funds controlled by small groups of people down until it reaches the bottom of the pile. They disagree who that 1 percent, the small groups of people should be. Should they be CEO's or Washington officials.

Does the economy grow when businesses hire workers to make products or provide services, or does it grow when as much money as possible is vacuumed up by the government into a central revenue stream which it uses to fund infrastructure projects, subsidized companies and government employment.

The left's chief defenses of its methodology is that elected officials represent the public will and that its wealth redistribution programs reach the bottom first. But Democrats clearly don't believe that being elected makes one a representative of the public will-- as they certainly don't treat Republican elected officials that way. Its wealth redistribution is an even bigger hoax.

Companies redistribute resources down through their chain of officers and employees, then to other companies which redistribute them in the same way (not counting the incidental benefits created by their economic activity). Governments are no different.

A government redistributes resources through its higher officials, down through its vast army of employees, various companies that lobby for grants or contractors that work for the government. The process is not all that different from the way that companies do business. The difference is that some of the "product" created through this process consists of providing social services and a social safety net to those on the bottom.
 

The Foundation

"Newspapers ... serve as chimnies to carry off noxious vapors and smoke." --Thomas Jefferson

Government & Politics

Leftmedia Welcomes Cain to Prime Time

Leftmedia outfit Politico dropped a bomb on Herman Cain's presidential campaign Sunday night with a story about two women accusing him of sexual harassment in the 1990s. Politico's story was anonymously sourced, though they claimed to have spoken to both women, and reporters later hedged when pressed on the specifics of their information. Regardless, in a culture that gets so much of its news in 140-character Twitter soundbites, the damage was done.

"During Herman Cain's tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group," Politico reported. "The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures." Fifteen years later, that has come in handy.

Cain's initial response was not a good one. Politico claimed that it had contacted his campaign before publishing the story, and yet he seemed woefully unprepared to offer a counterpoint. When first asked directly if he had ever been accused of sexual harassment, he threw the question right back at the reporter. He denied any wrongdoing and said he didn't even remember a settlement, but later said that he did remember though it was a small one (there were two, of $35,000 and $45,000, respectively) and it didn't go through him. The fact that the settlements were small and it was the women, not Cain, who left the NRA lends credence to Cain's innocence (he certainly deserves that presumption), but it would help if he got his story straight.

As for the details, he described one incident, saying, "She was in my office one day, and I made a gesture saying -- and I was standing close to her -- and I made a gesture saying you are the same height as my wife. And I brought my hand up to my chin saying, 'My wife comes up to my chin.'"

It wasn't long before the blame game started. Cain's campaign accused Curt Anderson, a former aide who now works for Rick Perry, of being the source of the story. To add confusion, the campaign later retracted that accusation before Cain himself reiterated it. The Perry camp denied any involvement, instead blaming the Romney campaign, thus completing the circular firing squad.

If this benefits anyone, it could be Newt Gingrich, who may well be the only candidate who understands Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment. We think he could be the next candidate to spike in the polls. Yet Cain's poll numbers are higher now than they were last week, particularly in the all-important early states of Iowa and South Carolina, and his fundraising is up as well. Perhaps that's indicative of conservatives rallying around one of their own who's under assault by the media juggernaut.

As for the Republican candidates, they need to cut the crap, quit attacking each other, and focus on beating Barack Obama in the general election. Besides, "the real story here is the media -- and Politico in particular," as National Review's Andrew McCarthy writes. "Politico's initial story was woven out of insufficient evidence, anonymous sources, and vague allegations that -- even if you construed every possible inference against Cain -- would amount to an impropriety that outfits like Politico would find too trivial to cover like this if the culprit were a left-leaning Democrat."

As if on cue, Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Alter wrote a column last Friday titled, The Obama Miracle, a White House Free of Scandal. No, Mr. Alter. Just because the media don't report Obama's scandals doesn't mean there aren't any, or that they aren't far worse than a hand gesture that made a woman uncomfortable.

What do you think of the allegations against Cain?

Open Query

"If you are running for president of the United States and have a sexual-harassment complaint or two in your background -- no matter how specious -- what possible excuse can you have for not knowing how those complaints were resolved, well before you announce that you are running for president? Especially if the resolution reflected well on you? How can you possibly justify your not being in command of basic facts about your own career -- the career that is the centerpiece of your campaign?" --National Review's Kevin Williamson

We Can't Wait: Suddenly, a Slew of Co-sponsors!

House Democrats rallied around Obama's "jobs" bill this week, with 90 members signing on as co-sponsors. The bill sat with only one sponsor, Rep. John Larson (D-CT), for three weeks after he introduced it in September. The sudden surge of support came at the direction of the House Democrat leadership, attempting to combat Republican criticism of the bill. The plan calls for tax hikes and promises to public unions, but it will only end up adding to the deficit with no net gain in jobs. If an $862 billion stimulus couldn't trim unemployment, a $447 billion stimulus won't do any better. In truth, this bill proposes nothing more than a pre-election payoff to Obama's Democrat constituencies.

Other Democrats seem to understand this. The Blue Dog Coalition has kept its distance, as have other Democrats facing tough races next year. The recent rush of support by other Democrats is most likely the result of good old-fashioned arm-twisting by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (such as threats to withhold campaign funds). There can't be many other believable explanations for 90 co-sponsors suddenly signing onto the bill after it languished without support for so long.

The Democrat Senate failed again Thursday on two separate votes to pass anything related to Obama's bill, but the Republican House has passed some 17 bills related to job creation. Here are some of them: March 31 they passed H.R. 872, The Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, joined by 57 Democrats; May 5 they passed H.R. 1230, the Restating American Offshore Leasing Now Act, with 33 Democrats; May 11 they passed H.R. 1229, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, supported by 28 Democrats; May 12 they passed H.R. 1231, the Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act, along with 21 Democrats; June 22 they passed H.R. 2021, The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act, and 23 Democrats voted for it; July 26 they passed H.R. 1938, The North American Made Energy Security Act, with 47 Democrat votes; October 6 they passed H.R. 2681, The Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, joined by 25 Democrats; October 13 they passed H.R. 2250, The EPA Regulatory Relief Act, H.R. 2250, with 41 Democrats; and finally, October 14 they passed H.R. 2273, The Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, H.R. 2273, along with 37 Democrats. In other words, Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is full of it when he blames Republicans.

This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award

Saint Barack

"God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people back to work." --Barack Obama

Note: This is not satire from The Onion. Apparently, Barry has actually conferred with the Almighty and determined that He approves of the so-called jobs bill. And here we thought that Leftists were the great defenders of that mythical "Wall of Separation."

Regarding Obama's assertion, White House spokesman Jay Carney later claimed, "Well, I believe the phrase from the Bible is, 'The Lord helps those who help themselves.'"

Hilariously, an official notation at the bottom of the White House's own transcript notes: "This common phrase does not appear in the Bible." Not only did Carney flub the defense, he ended up making an argument for the opposition. In other words, the supposed biblical principle isn't, "God helps those who get help from government first." Way to go, Jay.

Sound off on Obama's claim

The BIG Lie

"I'll tell you this: If President Obama and the House congressional Democrats had not acted [with the 2009 stimulus], we would be at 15 percent unemployment." --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), repeating her unprovable claim

Meanwhile, the economy added 80,000 jobs in October and headline unemployment fell from 9.1 percent to 9.0 percent. That, of course, doesn't take into account those who have simply quit looking for work, meaning the real unemployment rate may be twice the reported number -- and that's with the stimulus.

New & Notable Legislation

The minibus spending bill the Senate passed this week to fund agriculture, the FDA, and other agencies is apparently not all it's cracked up to be, according to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member of the Budget Committee. Democrats claim that the bill cuts $1 billion compared to Fiscal 2011, which is a pitiful amount on its own, but Sessions argues that it will actually increase spending by $9 billion thanks to an accounting gimmick that doesn't factor in mandatory appropriations. No wonder the government has budget problems.

Several Senate Democrats proposed a constitutional amendment to give Congress power to regulate political campaign spending, specifically to prevent corporate donations. In a public statement announcing the proposal, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island credited the Occupy Wall Street movement with the background research: "The extent to which money and corporations have taken over the process is something that is reflected across our cities in the Occupy movement." So not only do Democrats propose to regulate how campaigns are funded, but they took courage from a bunch of 20-something street-dwelling socialist malcontents.

News From the Swamp: Social Security's Future

The inevitable Social Security default is coming at a quickening pace, according to analysts who have been studying the program. Even The Washington Post took notice. In 2010, America's favorite government program went cash negative, meaning that it paid out more in benefits than it took in through payroll taxes. This unfortunate milestone came years earlier than originally anticipated because of the hit that government revenues took due to the recession and the ensuing payroll tax cut gimmick of the first "stimulus." If Obama's plan to extend that cut becomes reality, Social Security will face a $267 billion shortfall next year.

Politicians on both left and right for years have feared taking on the coming Social Security funding crisis. Yet the figures don't lie. The number of people receiving Social Security checks will nearly double by 2035, at which point there will be only two workers paying into the program for every retiree drawing benefits. The steady rise in life expectancy bodes even more trouble, since people will draw from the system for increasingly longer periods of time. Yet leftists, employing their powerful mouthpiece, the AARP, to frighten seniors, reject the idea of raising the retirement age to save the program. A dangerous combination of arrogance and ignorance is standing in the way of reforming Social Security to reflect new demographic and economic realities. Its survival is not guaranteed just because it's popular; it also has to function.

From the Left: Government Gifts

The State Department recently spent $70,000 on some unusual Christmas gifts for U.S. embassies to hand out: Copies of Barack Obama's three books, "Dreams from My Father," "The Audacity of Hope" and his children's book, "Of Thee I Sing." The White House claims it had no knowledge of the State Department's purchase, which puts money directly into Obama's pocket. Granted, $70,000 isn't much money in federal budget terms, and Obama's royalties represent but a fraction of the total, but such activities do not reflect the upright principles and ethics that Obama was supposed to bring to Washington.

We Need Your Help

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." --Thomas Paine

Fellow Patriots, our 2011 Annual Fund campaign is underway. As you know, The Patriot Post is not sustained by any political, special interest or parent organization. Nor do we accept any online or e-mail advertising. Our operations and mission are funded by -- and depend entirely upon -- the voluntary financial support of American Patriots like YOU!

Like many mission-based organizations, we raise most of our budget in the last two months of each year. We still must raise $308,513 before year's end.

National Security

Warfront With Jihadistan: The New Look of U.S. Middle East Policy

As the remaining U.S. combat forces prepare to withdraw from Iraq by year's end, the Pentagon has been planning for a realignment of other U.S. forces in the region to be ready for whatever may come in the new year. Negotiations continue with Kuwait on maintaining U.S. forces there and the Navy is considering sailing more warships through the region's international waters. Additionally, expanded military ties with the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman -- are also on the table. While the U.S. already has close military ties with each nation, the Pentagon wants a new overall "security architecture" for the Persian Gulf that would integrate air and naval operations as well as missile defense, always with a wary eye toward a menacing Iran.

In related news, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the Obama regime is prepared to negotiate with Taliban leader Mullah Omar, whom the White House regards as crucial to negotiations over Afghanistan's future. This break (or surrender) from the administration's previous strategy of trying to isolate Omar from the rest of the Taliban marks a significant reversal in "strategy." It also comes after American officials met with the powerful Haqqani Network, which warned that only the Quetta Shura, led by Mullah Omar, could negotiate a peace deal. Once again Obama gives them what they want, this time to the man who protected Osama bin Laden as he planned 9/11.

What should U.S. policy be in the Middle East?

Immigration Front: Border Battle Over Drugs

Mexico's massive drug war has brought drugs, thousands of violent criminals, rising violence and official corruption into the United States. Last Monday, federal authorities and Arizona's Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu announced the arrest of over 70 drug smugglers in the third and largest such round-up since August, part of the 17-month-old "Operation Pipeline Express." Officials continue searching for scores of others who escaped. The haul, described as "jaw dropping" by one officer, included over two tons of marijuana, $200,000 in cash, bullet-proof vests and dozens of weapons -- at least two of which Sheriff Babeu identified as Operation Fast and Furious guns.

Arrests included Mexican and American nationals working with the Sinaloa cartel, headquartered on Mexico's Pacific coast, where marijuana and opium poppy plantations have thrived since the 1960s. According to officials, the Sinaloa mob imports 65 percent of all illegal drugs into the U.S. "It's a body blow, but it doesn't knock them out," said Sheriff Babeu. "This literally is just a fraction of what's going on."

Unfortunately, as Matthew Allen, an ICE special agent, predicted, another will soon fill the void: "[C]ommand and control in Mexico is working to re-establish their presence." Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne stressed how this demonstrates the importance of gaining control over the border. "I find it completely unacceptable that Arizona neighborhoods are treated as a trading floor for narcotics. Children are not safe," he said. "Our highways are not safe when criminal organizations battle each other, sometimes violently and at risk to innocent bystanders, for control of loads of drugs being transported in vehicles."

Sheriff Babeu says we must take the fight to the cartels. Tell them, "This is America. You're not bringing your violence ... your drugs and your trash to our country. We're going to stop you."

We're not sure if this is related, but Barack Obama, as part of his new "We Can't Wait" campaign, signed an executive order this week in an effort to alleviate a national drug shortage.

Business & Economy

A Pattern of Bankruptcy

It's bad enough when the government picks winners and losers with our tax money, but lately they have been on a streak that suggests they should stay far away from any casino. Hot on the heels of losing more than half a billion dollars with Solyndra, two more companies targeted for an Energy Department loan guarantee and a stimulus grant are in jeopardy. Both Beacon Power, which is on the hook for a $43 million loan guarantee, and EnerDel, a subsidiary of Ener1 that received a $118 million stimulus grant, were once listed on NASDAQ. Over time, however, both share prices fell below $1, the minimum threshold for NASDAQ listing. Both received government funding anyway.

The EnerDel story is particularly compelling because the company has somehow managed to burn through $53 million of the $118 million grant. Despite all that capital investment, its stock price has plummeted from about $4 a share when it received the grant to 11 cents a share last week. Ominously, the company says the information in two of its financial statements "should no longer be relied upon." EnerDel has used the grant money to create some 33 jobs, all of which may be lost if the company shuts down. Beacon Power's record is even more dubious, as the $43 million created all of 14 jobs before the company filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week.

As for Solyndra, the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigative subcommittee authorized subpoenas for any White House documents relating to federal money given to the now-bankrupt solar company. Notably, the Energy Department considered a bailout of Solyndra in its last days. In this case, better political sense prevailed.

If you're keeping score, the tab on wasted DOE money -- at least that which we know about -- is nearly $700 million and climbing. Green jobs sure cost taxpayers a lot of green.

Regulatory Commissars: Banks Abandon Debit Card Fees

Bank of America has officially called off its plan to charge customers for using their debit cards. Several other banking giants, including JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Regions and SunTrust, had already scrapped the plan after a wave of customer fury. To the casual observer (or Wall Street Occupier), this may look like run-of-the-mill corporate greed. As lousy as the idea was, however, its seeds were sown not on Wall Street but on K Street. Last year, the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill chopped by nearly half the transaction fees banks could charge retailers. Given a projected $8 billion in losses the banks are now due to incur, it was no surprise that they tried (and probably will try in other, less visible ways) to pass this along to their account holders. Consumer reaction was predictable, too.

Barack Obama and Senate buddy Dick Durbin (D-IL), author of the aforementioned amendment, slammed the fee plan. Durbin even took the opportunity to rip off Ronald Reagan, telling consumers to "vote with their feet" and choose another bank. Of course, Durbin is hoping nobody will notice that it was his amendment that prodded the banks to raise their fees. The Leftmedia are glad to oblige in keeping it quiet.

What do you think of debit card fees?

Another Notorious Wall Street Bad Guy Under FBI Investigation

Wall Street Journal headlines this week focused on the worst of the worst of Wall Street "1 Percenters," Jon Corzine. As readers recall, he was booted from Goldman Sachs in 1999, but not before pocketing a cool $400 million. The following year he used $62 million of that haul to buy a Democrat seat in the Senate -- the most expensive Senate campaign in history. At the end of his first term, he spent $38 million to buy the New Jersey governorship, which he then lost in November 2009 to Republican Chris Christie. He made his way back to Wall Street, where, this week, he presided over the $41 billion bankruptcy of MF Global Holdings, the eighth largest corporate bankruptcy on record. He resigned Friday morning.

By the way, Corzine is an Obama benefactor. That's right, this "man of the people" was said to have been so liberal that he single-handedly drove the Senate to the Left with his support for big government programs such as universal health care and issues such as gun registration, affirmative action and same-sex marriage. He's an alumnus of the Chicago mafia, too, having earned his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and he was on Obama's short list for treasury secretary. We wonder if Obama's red brigade of street urchins know him.

Income Redistribution: Food Stamps Reach Record

The Wall Street Occupiers might hate the top 1 percent, but the "rich" sure do fund their "fair share" of wealth redistribution programs. Try food stamps. According to the Department of Agriculture, the number of recipients of food stamps in August reached a record of 45.8 million people, or some 15 percent of the population. That's up 8 percent over August 2010, and the number has reached record highs in all but one month since December 2008. Coincidence?

Around the Nation: California Rail Line Triples in Cost

The first shovelful of dirt hasn't even been turned yet, but cost estimates for a high-speed rail project proposed to connect Anaheim and San Francisco by a three-hour train ride are now almost triple what they were when the project was sold to California voters in 2008. The proposed completion date was also pushed back from 2020 to 2033 in a business plan prepared by the state's high-speed rail authority.

A $2.25 billion piece of the $53 billion in stimulus money earmarked for rail improvements and construction nationwide was sent to California to assist in building this line, but that would only be a small percentage of the $98.5 billion overall projected cost of the 520-mile line. In 2008, voters were told the project would cost $33.6 billion.

Since voters spoke and approved the funding, however, it looks as if California will undertake the costliest public works project in the nation's history. That is, unless the state assembly decides to pull the plug, which won't happen unless voters somehow decide to dump most of the current Democrat majority in both houses. When their state is staring at what could be a $600 billion long-term deficit, embarking on this huge project with subsidies as far as the eye can see wouldn't be in the state's best interest. But when have economic realities ever stopped Leftists?

Culture & Policy

Welcome to Planet Earth, Population 7 Billion

The human race has now surpassed seven billion people, and, not surprisingly, population-control crusaders are aghast. "The thing about rapid population growth," said Rockefeller University demographer Joel Cohen, "is that it makes almost every other problem more difficult to solve, and if we could slow our growth rate, we [would] have an easier job in dealing with all the other things like education, health, employment, housing, food, the environment and so on." Another alarmist panicked about "overproducers and overpopulaters on a finite and frangible planet where resources are dissipating and environs degrading rapidly," adding that steps must be taken "to humanely limit population growth." Such fears, however, have always proven baseless. Consider, for example, that Paul R. Ehrlich, author of the now 43-year-old best-selling book "The Population Bomb," all but guaranteed mass global starvation in the 1970s.

More disturbing than predictions of mass catastrophe however, is the view that human life is of minimal value. As Wall Street Journal columnist Bill McGurn explains, "Malthusian fears about population follow from the Malthusian view that human beings are primarily mouths to be fed rather than minds to be unlocked." The difference between welcoming the seven billionth baby and seeking to abort him lies in whether one views individuals as being a problem or a solution. Perhaps Investor's Business Daily put it best: "Humans are in fact a resource, an infinite form of capital. We have had an uncanny way of using our minds to overcome all of the environmental challenges we've faced. ... Population growth is no plague. It is an opportunity." Indeed it is, the naysayers of the world notwithstanding.

Climate Change This Week: Trying to Set the Record Straight

A team of researchers at the University of California-Berkeley released their compilation of climate data based upon a study of global temperatures over the last two centuries. It was a seminal event for defenders of the notion that mankind is warming the earth. As a group, they declared (again) that the science is now settled and global warming deniers should shut up.

The graph showing the data made it appear that, based on an average climate defined as the mean temperature between 1950 and 1980, global temperatures had steadily risen from 1975 onward. Unfortunately for them, a sampling of their own data taken from the last 10 years shows the temperatures holding more or less steady despite ever-expanding development during that time, particularly in Asia.

The period used as an "average" omits the notably warmer years of the Dust Bowl 1930s and includes Newsweek magazine's "global cooling" decade of the 1970s. This not-so-subtle stacking of the deck made the warming seem even more pronounced, and none of the data proves the exact cause of the alleged temperature rise. Obviously, believers of anthropogenic climate change jump to the conclusion that it's the industrialized West at fault, with the victims concentrated in poorer countries. Yet we also know that certain time periods in Earth's history have featured very warm conditions with nary an SUV in sight, so the weather could well be in a natural cycle of change.

Of course, one can't score a government grant with the promise of concluding that weather is a natural phenomenon, so the scientific community will continue to blame the rich industrial fat cat one percenters. Good research isn't free, you know.

Finally, climatologists warn that we're in for more ... weather. The CBS headline says it all: "Climate experts: Expect more weather disasters."

From the 'Non Compos Mentis' File

Girl Scouts of the USA has taken a bold step into the brave new world of transgender children. A troop in Colorado recently prevented a seven-year-old boy from joining because, well, it's the Girl Scouts. The organization quickly backtracked, however, saying that he and other boys could join as long as any boy was "living life as a girl." The national organization soon issued a statement: "Girl Scouts of the USA is an inclusive organization, and we welcome all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members. Acceptance of transgender youth is handled on a case-by-case basis, with the welfare and best interests of the child in question as a top priority."

Aside from enabling those dealing with gender-disorientation pathology, what about the actual girls who will soon be in a girls' troop with boys? What about parents who now have to explain this aberration to their young girls? As we have said before, the homosexual agenda won't stop with same-sex marriage; it will continue until our culture succumbs completely.

Share your thoughts on the Girl Scouts

And Last...

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced legislation offering government-provided diapers in daycare centers. According to The Hill, "The federal program, called the Child Care and Development Fund, received $5 billion in fiscal 2011, which it distributed to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and scores of tribal governments. The program now helps to provide for an estimated 1.8 million children each month. The program also received an extra $2 billion under the 2009 stimulus bill."

For some reason, this ridiculous story caused us to recall the clever witticisms of Ronald Reagan: "Government is like a baby -- an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other." And then there was this classic: "I think politicians and diapers have one thing in common -- they should both be changed regularly and for the same reason."

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

MILLOY: EPA chief's toxic emissions

Extremist hyperbole undermines her credibility and ability to serve

Illustration: EPA chief by Linas Garsys for The Washington Times

It is time for Lisa P. Jackson to resign. Last Friday at Howard University, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) railed against the coal industry, saying, "In [the coal industry's] entire history - 50, 60, 70 years or even 30 - they never found the time or the reason to clean up their act. They're literally on life support. And the people keeping them on life support are all of us."

 

This is patently false, of course, as emissions from U.S. coal-fired power plants are quite heavily regulated. Those emissions controls are the reason U.S. air is clean and safe and why, say, the air in regulation-free China is not.

 

As West Virginia's Republican Rep. David B. McKinley pointed out, to the extent that the coal industry is "on life support," it is Ms. Jackson's EPA and the rest of the Obama administration that has put it there with a slew of proposed and finalized anti-coal regulations.

Read more: 

The Left's Army of Election Law "Experts": They Are Getting Ready for the 2012 Election | Capital Research Center

Read more: 

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and CAROL E. LEE 

CHICAGO-The Obama re-election campaign has quietly opened a counteroffensive against Republican-backed changes to election laws that Democrats say will suppress votes for their candidates and limit their get-out-the-vote drives.

Voting in Miami in January 2008 on the first day of early balloting before the presidential primary that year.

 

The effort, led by former White House counsel Robert Bauer, prompted the suspension of an Ohio law limiting early voting. Campaign officials produced educational materials to counter a Wisconsin law that requires voters to produce photo I.D.s-but disallows those used by Wisconsin colleges.

By this spring, the Obama re-election campaign will mount what Mr. Bauer called an unprecedented "voter protection" effort, fielding thousands of volunteers in battleground states to help navigate new election laws, months earlier than past efforts.

 

"We will look at what the state has done, look for ways to counter it, through litigation sometimes, through administrative interpretation sometimes. But beyond that, you have to have a program that actually goes out and shows voters what they need to do," a senior Obama campaign official said.

 

Republicans see no precedent for a presidential re-election campaign to go this far to counter laws passed by state legislatures and signed by governors. "It's somewhat concerning that the president's own team is seeking to undermine laws that ensure only registered voters actually vote," said Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Read more: 

Star Parker: Liberals treat Herman Cain like a runaway slave

Listen to Star Parker on Sean Hannity's radio program from November 2, 2011, when she was asked about the treatment of Herman Cain by liberals who don't share his policies:

"During slavery anytime somebody decided they were going to listen to the abolitionists' call and that they were going to run away, they would get away. Then up until the time they passed the fugitive slave law, if an overseer found a black runaway they would bring them back to the plantation. Then they would call all the other slaves out and make them watch that slave's skin be stripped from him so that nobody else would think about freedom.

"This is the environment that we now have with these black overseers who dare any conservative, or someone who's thinking about being conservative, to not speak publicly. What we have now is a community of African-Americans who are questioning the principles of this administration, the platform of this administration when it comes to being pro-life and other deeper social and moral questions. But also the policies of this administration that have created this environment to where the [black] unemployment rate is now twice that of the general population.

"The reason they cannot say it in public is because this is what happens when one starts to say publicly, 'maybe we should rethink our place in this great nation and in our history.'"

-- Star Parker
November 2, 2011

***Warning*** The violence shown in this video is 100% factual and may be disturbing for some. Viewer discretion is advised.

Dear Concerned American,

I was shaken.

When I tasked my staff with creating this video, I knew it would be compelling, but actually seeing it was a moving experience.

You see, Big Labor often resorts to despicable acts of violence and intimidation to force their way into the workplace, but it's never been documented like this before, trust me.

And now that it's released, Big Labor is scrambling to shut down our video exposing the ugly side of union organizing.

Click here to see our breaking video on union violence.

Watch it now before Big Labor shuts it down.

Sincerely,

Mark Mix
President, National Right to Work Committee  

Read more: 

What 7 Billion People Means for Immigration
More People Heading to U.S.?
Full Story

Border Patrol Ordered to Stop Routine Transportation Checks
Another Cut in Enforcement.
Full Story

EXCLUSIVE: Critics Question Jump in Local Deportation Numbers
Claims Don't Add Up.
Full Story

California Dreamin': Financial Aid to Illegal Immigrants
More Benefits for Illegal Aliens.
Full Story

What Draws Undocumented Workers?
Tax Funded Benefits.
Full Story

Death by illegal 

Read more: 

Stopping the media's attacks on conservatives

Nov 06, 2011 05:13 am | Coach Collins

 By Suzanne Eovaldi, staff writer

 We can stop the media's predictable attacks on viable conservative candidates winning in nationwide polls by using a total Media Boycott on November 20 the Sunday before Black Friday.  Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally is a huge retail money maker, but the Sunday ads before the Thanksgiving Holiday are the media money makers.

 No longer can we sit by silently and watch the media attack and destroy another decent, winning candidate we like. These vicious attacks on Herman Cain are parallels to the unfair meanness shown Sarah Palin.  Who can forget the Katie Couric display or Charlie Gibson looking down the bridge of this nose?  Why do we keep letting the liberal Democrat media types in print, television, and on the web destroy our candidates while we just react?

A boycott of media buys that hits their corporate offices in the pocket books will send a much louder message than ... Continue Reading:Stopping the media's attacks on conservatives

comments | read more

American Minute November 5th

Nov 05, 2011 05:13 pm | Coach Collins

 Coachisright.com is pleased to announce American history scholar; nationally known speaker and best selling author William J Federer's daily American Minute column will be part of CiR's afternoon update.

 Bill Federer is a tireless and meticulous researcher whose daily history lessons reflect the relationship between God and our nation. Bill is a regular guest on radio and television shows when getting American history right is essential.

 We're sure you will enjoy Bill's daily columns and want to share them with your friends and families. Bill Federer is an American patriot whose message needs to be heard by all.

  By Bill Federer, staff writer

    Mercy Otis Warren and Abigail Adams were two of the most influential women of the Revolutionary War era.
Mercy Otis Warren, called "The Conscience of the American Revolution," was wife of Massachusetts House Speaker, James Warren, and sister of patriot James Otis.

Mercy Otis Warren corresponded with Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton and John ... Continue Reading:American Minute November 5th

comments | read more

If conservatives allow a black man to be media-lynched we have lost our core values

Nov 05, 2011 02:13 pm | Coach Collins

 By James Lewis, staff writer

 Herman Cain does not have an automatic ticket to the Republican nomination. Nobody does.

But Cain deserves to be heard like any other candidate, without being persecuted and witch-hunted by the mob media.

Conservatives have stood by while two magnificent women candidates, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachman, were trashed, insulted, threatened, and verbally abused by leftist mudslingers over months and even years. Today, the radical leftist media expect to pick both candidates, Republicans and Democrats, and they will stop at almost nothing to get their way. This transforms American politics into a one party political machine. Mobocracy could injure the American experiment beyond healing. 

If conservatives allow a black man to be lynched by the professional reputation-killers of the radical left we should be deeply ashamed of ourselves. We owe our candidates open-minded consideration, even if they are .... Mormons. To bow to what Justice Clarence Thomas rightly called "a ... Continue Reading:If conservatives allow a black man to be media-lynched we have lost our core values

comments | read more

What a fool believes

Nov 05, 2011 06:13 am | Coach Collins

By Jim Emerson, staff writer

Ambassador Susan Rice in a press release hoped "we have the prospect for a free and inclusive Libya, in which the aspirations of the Libyan people can finally be realized in the wake of the transition that's underway. We're very concerned that, as we move forward, that the authorities make maximum effort to swiftly form an inclusive government that incorporates all aspects of Libyan society, and in which the rights of all Libyan people are fully and thoroughly respected".   Soon after the killing of Moammar Gadhafi the Libyan transitional council stated that Sharia law would be the basic source of legislation. So much for the Ambassador's fantasy land of unicorns, rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate.  What is wrong with a little oppression in the name of Allah? What a fool believes.

 The new boss will be the same as the old boss

 Rebellions often end deadly. The rebels once ... Continue Reading:What a fool believes

comments | read more

American Minute November 4th

Nov 04, 2011 05:13 pm | Coach Collins

  Coachisright.com is pleased to announce American history scholar; nationally known speaker and best selling author William J Federer's daily American Minute column will be part of CiR's afternoon update.

 Bill Federer is a tireless and meticulous researcher whose daily history lessons reflect the relationship between God and our nation. Bill is a regular guest on radio and television shows when getting American history right is essential.

 We're sure you will enjoy Bill's daily columns and want to share them with your friends and families. Bill Federer is an American patriot whose message needs to be heard by all.

  By Bill Federer, staff writer

United States Senator Charles Carroll was unique.
He was the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence and he outlived all the other signers.
At his death, Charles Carroll was considered the wealthiest citizen in America.
His statue was chosen to represent the State of Maryland in the ... Continue Reading:American Minute November 4th

comments | read more

If Herman Cain doesn't win the GOP nomination it won't be because of his current "problem"

Nov 04, 2011 02:13 pm | Coach Collins

By Kevin "Coach" Collins

 We've seen this movie before. The last time it ran, Clarence Thomas the hero, won anyway and this time looks to be no different. 

Polls of likely GOP primary voters show Herman Cain is getting the "very conservative" voters to support him in numbers that will carry him to victory once the field of "also ran" and "never had a chance" pretenders are gone and he faces only Romney Gingrich and Perry. One poll shows Cain getting 35% of these essential voters in North Carolina, 36% in Nebraska and 25% in West Virginia. The "crawl through broken glass" primary voters will turn out for Cain.

 Another metric to watch in order to gauge Cain's progress is the buzz on Facebook.com. he is generating.  In just the past eight days Cain has charged upward in the number of "likes" adding 45,000 while Romney has picked up 20,000 and Perry has added just 2,000. ... Continue Reading:If Herman Cain doesn't win the GOP nomination it won't be because of his current "problem"

comments | read more

Republican run North Dakota: an economic success ignored by the Leftist media - it doesn't "fit"

Nov 04, 2011 06:13 am | Coach Collins

 By Suzanne Eovaldi, staff writer

  A stunning story about the success of conservative Republican governance is taking place daily in North Dakota, and you're never going to be told about it by our liberal media elites.  The victory of elected officials who take seriously their oaths to honor and serve the public trust serves in sharp contrast to the abject failure of Democrat governance in Detroit. 

 NEWSMAX Magazine's feature this month tells of North Dakota's unemployment rate of just 3.5% compared to the national disgrace of this administration's 9% of Americans out of work.  Over the last ten years, the state "has created over 50,000 net new jobs" with average wage increases hiking to $11,287!" 

 Reporter David A. Patten ticks off such amazing state statistics as an economic growth of 6.68% over the last decade with the country's overall growth is stagnant at "less than 1.5% for the first half of this year." 

 An export ... Continue Reading:Republican run North Dakota: an economic success ignored by the Leftist media - it doesn't "fit"

comments | read more

American Minute November 3rd

Nov 03, 2011 05:13 pm | Coach Collins

 Coachisright.com is pleased to announce American history scholar; nationally known speaker and best selling author William J Federer's daily American Minute column will be part of CiR's afternoon update.

 Bill Federer is a tireless and meticulous researcher whose daily history lessons reflect the relationship between God and our nation. Bill is a regular guest on radio and television shows when getting American history right is essential.

 We're sure you will enjoy Bill's daily columns and want to share them with your friends and families. Bill Federer is an American patriot whose message needs to be heard by all.

  By Bill Federer, staff writer

    In a Radio Address, NOVEMBER 3, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge stated:
"I therefore urge upon all the voters of our country, without reference to party, that they assemble...at their respective voting places in the exercise of the high office of American citizenship, that they approach the ballot box in the spirit that ... Continue Reading:American Minute November 3rd

comments | read more

The Stanford Group-Solamere connection: a Romney scandal the media is just waiting to write about

Nov 03, 2011 02:11 pm | Coach Collins

 By Kevin "Coach" Collins

 The Stanford Group ponzi swindle stands second only to the Madoff ponzi scheme as the biggest in history. As revealed in 2009, Allen Stanford swindled over $8 billion from his investors by selling them worthless securities.  

 Stealing $8 billion is something that requires help; you really can't do it alone. In the case of Allen Stanford he had help from men who now have "extensive financial and political ties to Tagg Romney (Mitt's son) and Spencer Zwick his chief fundraiser", according to a new report by Lee Fang posted on a far Leftist website.  Solamere a firm financed and founded with $10 million of Mitt Romney's money and managed by Tagg Romney and Zwick. Solamere is connected to Stanford because three of Allen Stanford's salesmen Tim Bambauer, who served as a "Managing Director" for Stanford, Deems May (a former NFL player for nine years), and Brandon Phillips who was a salesman for Stanford, joined ... Continue Reading:The Stanford Group-Solamere connection: a Romney scandal the media is just waiting to write about

comments | read more

 November 04, 2011        OWS PROTESTERS ATTACK... EACH OTHER    A violent conflict between two regulars at Occupy Wall Street was caught on tape by the New York Post. Watch the entire conflict unfold HERE.    'COWBOYS & IRANIANS' POSTER STIRS FUROR   A barbecue restaurant outside of Houston is at the center of a controversy about a thirty-year-old poster mounted on its wall. The poster depicts the hanging of an Iranian man in the style of the "old west." Is it offensive? Decide for yourself after you see it HERE.    TX JUDGE'S DAUGHTER SPEAks    Hillary Armstrong, the 23yr old daughter and victim of the violent spanking video featuring her dad, is making the rounds on the TV talk show circuit. Her father Judge Armstrong is also trying to tell his side of the story. Compare them both and decide for yourself HERE.

GAME SHOW LEGEND CHUCK WOOLERY TALKS ABOUT HIS 'CONSERVATIVE COMING OUT'    When Chuck Woolery decided to let the world know that he is a conservative, he realized it would probably have a negative impact on his TV career. Watch Chuck sit down with our own Glenn Beck and talk about his personal pivot point HERE.

CANADIAN SPORTSCASTER WINS $2 MIL LOTTERY ON LIVE TV     Imagine getting a call telling you that you have won a two million dollar lottery jackpot. That dream came true for a TV sportscaster.  Watch as the anchors at a Canadian television station realize that the big winner is their co-worker, and they decide to call him, live on air HERE.  
  VIRAL VIDEO DU JOUR - HOW NOT TO TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF A TICKET
Several Blaze staffers have already nominated this clip for the upcoming "2011 VV Awards" (an awards show that we created for this post and hopefully GBTV). Watch as an obviously upset man reacts to receiving an expensive traffic ticket HERE.
  INTRODUCING VERNON, NJ - THE SMALL TOWN THAT DECIDED TO FIX ITSELF    
Featured on Thursday night's GBTV, the small town of Vernon NJ is proving to be a big example of how citizens can take control of their local governments. Watch the segments HERE.  

Today's Headlines:  Friday, November 04, 2011

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Saying Life Begins at Conception Is 'Extreme and Radical'

Pelosi: Without Obama's Stimulus, Unemployment Would Now Be 15%

Only CNSNews.com brings you the news the liberal media ignores! Please help us with a tax deductible gift today.
  Money Talks: Palestinians Drop Plans to Join Other UN Agencies After UN Chief Frets About Repercussions

Pelosi: We Are 'Praying' for Super Committee

Leahy on Repealing DOMA: 'All Married Couples Deserve Legal Protections'

Leahy on Same-Sex Marriage: 'You Have Two People Making Each Better'

2007 Memo Is First Known Mention Gun-Walking Probe

Bill Clinton Offers Job Creation Policies in New Book

Homosexuals Blast Catholic Newspaper for Suggesting Devil Responsible for Same-Sex Attraction

'Vendetta' Mask Becomes Symbol of Occupy Protests

COMMENTARY:

Herman's High-Tech Lynching
By L. Brent Bozell III
Liberal media windbags should spare us the lectures about how Herman Cain should submit to more media interrogations while they have protected white liberals from charges that are much more egregious.

Obama's Drug Shortage Demagoguery
By Michelle Malkin
Instead of a sober debate about the wildly divergent reasons for some prescription drug shortages, Obama's perpetual campaign machine gave us taxpayer-funded videos that yank the heartstrings and smear pharmaceutical companies.

'Arrivederci, Roma'
By Patrick J. Buchanan
If your debts are larger than your economy, your death rate exceeds your birth rate and every new generation will be one-third smaller than the previous one, what kind of future does your country have? The kind of future Italy faces.

In God We Trust
By Rich Galen  As the media wrings its hands over the intrusion of religion in politics and government, it is useful to remember that in America, it has always been thus.

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

EXCLUSIVE: Check out the new SNOW ANGEL trailer. Glenn's newest book is a great read - faith, family, forgiveness and the freedom to live a life free of the past. Get your copy and pass it on. 

Judge who beat his daughter in total denial

Perhaps you've seen the horrific video of a judge giving his daughter (who has cerebral palsy) a pretty severe beat down and an even worse verbal beat down. His daughter was 16 at the time of the video and just released it now, 7 years after the incident as her dad is running for re-election. Perhaps the saddest thing in this whole story is that the judge is in total denial -- his response to the video was 'I haven't done anything wrong' while adding that his daughter is just trying to 'use her cerebral palsy' to curry favor with the public. STORY.