Quote: 

"Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a prediction that, after the most industrious and impartial researchers, the longest liver of you all will find no principles, institutions or systems of education more fit in general to be transmitted to your posterity than those you have received from your ancestors." 

~ John Adams, letter to the young men of the Philadelphia, 1798  

'A Slander Against the Film': Narrator Says Documentary Shown to NYPD Officers Isn't 'Anti-Muslim' 

The New York Police Department is facing intense scrutiny following revelations Monday that a film about the threat of radical Islam was screened to nearly 1,500 officers during training.

The New York Police Department is taking heat following revelations that a documentary about the threat of radical Islam was screened to nearly 1,500 officers during training.

Critics of the 2008 documentary "The Third Jihad" have denounced it as "anti-Islam" and "hate-filled." The Council on American-Islamic Relations called it "anti-Muslim propaganda." The 72-minute film exposes what it calls a strategy by radical Muslims to "infiltrate and dominate America," and features grisly images from jihadist terror attacks, Muslim leaders calling for an Islamic world order, and goes after CAIR, among other organizations, for having radical ties.

"Islamism is like a cancer," one interviewee says. "You either defeat it or it will defeat you."

What's the opposite of FREEDOM?  Submission -- in other words, ISLAM  

Santorum: Equality 'Doesn't Come From Islam' But From 'God of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob' 

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum provoked an angry response from the Council on American-Islamic Relations Saturday for saying equality "doesn't come from Islam" but "from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

"I get a kick out of folks who call for equality now, the people on the left, 'Well, equality, we want equality.' Where do you think this concept of equality comes from?" Santorum said during a South Carolina campaign stop Friday, ABC News reported. "It doesn't come from Islam. It doesn't come from the East and Eastern religions, where does it come from? It comes from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that's where it comes from."

Read More . . . 

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)

Dear Patriot,

Next TJC meeting, Sunday, February 12^th, 7pm at the Temperance House, 5 South State Street, Newtown, PA.  We are having this meeting on Sunday due to our speaker's travel schedule.  We are very pleased to present Belgian and European Member of Parliament Filip Dewiner.  Mr. Dewinter is the leader of the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) Party in Belgium.  A champion of freedom, sovereignty and national self-determination, Mr. Dewinter will present on the "Defense of the West" and what this means for both Europe and the United States. 

All the best,

Jeff McGeary

Hey All,

Please spread the word on this panel discussion and consider attending.  As per earlier emails, implementing an exchange in PA is de-facto acceptance of ObamaCare. Other states have refused to implement the exchanges in keeping with the spirit of total resistance.  Nick Pandelides is leading the fight for our side and is on the panel.

There will be more coming out shortly on next steps that individuals and groups can do lobby Harrisburg and exert public pressure to have Pennsylvania's collaboration with ObamaCare ended.  You can follow developments on the following facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/stopobamacarepa

The Lehigh Valley COALITION for Health Care Reform presents:

Everything You Wanted to Know About: 

Creating a Health Insurance Exchange in PA

(but didn't know who to ask) 

WHAT:  Debate on the Creation of a Health Care Exchange in PA,                

as mandated by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)   

WHEN:  6:30 - 8 p.m., Wednesday, February 1, 2012  

WHERE:  Ground Floor Meeting Room, Bethlehem Area Public Library

                11 W. Church St., Bethlehem, PA 18018  

WHO:  Panelists include:  

Nick Pandelides, M.D., Vice President, PA Chapter, Docs 4 Patient Care            

Ralph Schmeltz, M.D., Immediate Past President, Pennsylvania Medical Society             

(Additional panelists may participate.)  

ADMISSION:  Free, but space is limited, so please RSVP.  

RSVP:  register at:   www.Meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Coalition-for-Health-Care-Reform  

LIVE STREAMING VIDEO: www.ustream.tv/channel/coalition-for-health-care-reform   

THE ISSUE:  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mandates that small businesses and individuals must purchase health insurance and obtain government insurance subsidies through state-based federally regulated health insurance exchanges beginning in 2014.  States which do not design and administer federally compliant exchanges will default to a federal system.  A recent PA Insurance Department announcement that a state-based exchange will be created in PA has generated controversy.  Supporters say an exchange designed and administered in PA will serve Pennsylvanians better than one controlled by the federal government.   Opponents say it is inconsistent for the Commonwealth to institute provisions of the PPACA while engaged in the constitutional challenge against the law.  Our experts will present both sides and answer questions to help YOU decide.

The Lehigh Valley COALITION for Health Care Reform is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots coalition of concerned citizens and health care professionals committed to educating the public about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and other measures and policies impacting America's health.

http://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Coalition-for-Health-Care-Reform

Weekly News From Philadelphia ZOA

Shabbat Shalom!

Philadelphia ZOA Quarterly Meeting

Wednesday, Feb. 29, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Beth Hillel/Beth El, 1001 Remington Rd., Wynnewood.

Our guest speaker will be State Representative Curt Schroder, who recently returned from a trip to Israel along with other lawmakers from the commonwealth on a trip sponsored and organized by the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition. Schroder, a Republican, represents the 155th District, in Chester County. He is serving his ninth term.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Please

encourage those you know to also attend.

*             *             *

We are thrilled to be able to bring to Philadelphia Pamela Geller, a modern-day Jewish superheroine who via her Web site, "Atlas Shrugs" (http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/); speeches; articles; and books alerts us about the dangers of militant Islam and its accomplices who threaten the U.S., Israel and Western Civilization - and she fights back. Come hear her no-nonsense observations and advice. Her topic: "The March of Muslim Extremists:  Implications for America, Israel and the West and How To Stop It In Its Tracks." Geller's talk will take place on Monday, March 19, at 6:45 p.m., at the Jewish Community Services Building, 2100 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Tickets are $10, free for students. Call us at 215-338-9188 or email us at zoa@netreach.net for tickets.

Other Pro-Israel Events:

Our good friend David Bedein will be coming to Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El on Sun. Jan. 29, 2012 at 7:30 pm to address us on the following topic:

"The challenge before the US Congress: Changing the policies of the UN Arab refugee camps, to stop promoting the 'right of return' to Arab villages from 1948 which no longer exist".  David will have just returned from D.C. after briefing U.S. Congressional staff and committee members.  He is dedicating this lecture to the memory of his recently passed mother, Miriam. A donation to the Nahum Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research is requested as an entrance fee to the lecture. David Bedein, Director of the Israel Resource News Agency and The Center for Near East Policy Research, www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com. is the author of the recent book, WHERE HAS ALL THE FLOUR GONE: THE WHIMS AND WASTE OF UN PALESTINIAN ARAB REFUGEE POLCY.Bedein

Today, our college graduates face the highest unemployment rates in history.

American 15-year-olds rank 35th out of 57 industrialized countries in math and literacy.

Americans shouldn't rank 35th in anything!

Join Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Dick Morris and other special speakers Saturday, January 28 for a free town hall to "Restore American Exceptionalism" at 2:00 p.m. at the The Hershey Lodge (325 University Drive) in Hershey. Reserve your free tickets here (http://schoolchoicehershey.eventbrite.com/)!

Let's work together to support the future workforce of America.

Don't miss the chance to ask Dick Morris and our other speakers your questions, Saturday, January 28.

GENERAL ADMISSION IS FREE -- BUT you must reserve your free tickets here (http://schoolchoicehershey.eventbrite.com/)!

Restoring American Exceptionalism is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It's an American issue -- our future depends on it! I hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Stefano

Pennsylvania State Director

Americans for Prosperity Foundation

www.putkidsfirst.org (http://www.putkidsfirst.org/)        

Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFPF believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFPF educates and engages citizens to support restraining state and federal government growth and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFPF is more than 1.8 million activists strong, with activists in all 50 states. AFPF has 34 state chapters and affiliates. More than 90,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial contribution to AFP or AFP Foundation.

For more information, visit http://www.americansforprosperityfoundation.com 

DEAR PATRIOTS,

THERE WILL BE NO JANUARY Valley Forge Patriots Tea Party MEETING !!!

The 2012 election is one of the most important in the history of the USA. Two contests which are very important are the Presidential race and the election of a Senator from PA. In order to allow our membership to learn more about those competing to replace Senator Bob Casey.

The Valley Forge Patriots are hosting a

US Senate Candidate Forum on Feb.3^rd 2012

The participants will be Sam Rohrer, Marc Scaringi, Tom Smith and Steve Welch

The forum will be held at the Franklin Commons on 400 Franklin Ave.in Phoenixville from 6:00PM to 8:00 PM. There is plenty of free parking. Food (pizza, chili, etc) and soft drinks will be available. Food service will start at 5:30PM. Attendance is free (donations welcome).

Please RSVP to www.meetup.com/VFP-TeaParty09/ 

For more information www.vfpatriots.com/ 

Nullify Now! Philadelphia

LISTEN LIVE TO REPATRIOT RADIO

"BETTER THAN EVER"

(all times are eastern)

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

The Case Against Obamacare: Health Care Policy Series for the 112th Congress

For Tea Parties, this can be used as basic ammunition for letters to the editor, columns for your local news outlet, handouts at public events, emailing the pdf to our elected reps as well as to members, friends and neighbors.

This appears to be an excellent resource; let's make use of it.

Lou Flanagan

The General Wayne Tea Party

The first contests in the race for the Republican nomination are just around the corner. To better inform you, we looked beyond the rhetoric to the candidates' actual records on the issues important to families.

This voter guide outlines candidate stances on issues that are important to the family. We researched the candidates' statements and votes on the ten issues that best give voters an understanding on if the candidates match your values. Please use this resource as you think about who you would like to see be the nominee to challenge President Barack Obama.

Download the free guide and be sure to share this resource with your friends and family before the 2012 primary season begins next month.

A values voter is an informed voter.

Sincerely,

Tony Perkins
President

Featured Posts 

State of the Union: President Obama Glossed over Afghan War 

State of the Union 2012: Heritage Reaction Roundup 

National School Choice Week: Winning the Battle for School Choice in D.C.  

Romney's Taxes: Too Little or Too Much? 

Stop the Madness: National Debt Threatens our Prosperity 

QUICK HITS

Navy SEALs rescued two Western foreign aid workers who were taken hostage by pirates in Somalia. The two workers -- one of whom is American -- had been kidnapped in October.

Today marks the first anniversary of the Egyptian uprising that ultimately removed President Hosni Mubarak from power. Activists, though, say that given the continued military control, the revolution must continue.

Gulf Arab monitors are leaving Syria, saying that they are "certain the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue." Reuters reports that the Arab League has extended its monitoring mission but is seeking U.N. support for ending Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Apple says that it plans to "continue to innovate like crazy" in the tablet computing arena. The iPad catapulted it to being the largest computer maker for the first time ever.

Much has been made of Mitt Romney's asserted 15 percent or so tax rate. There is both a material error and an irony to this story. Read more about it on The Foundry. 

RedState Morning Briefing

For January 26, 2012

1. Wisconsin's Walker Leads Poll As Union Bosses Burn Through Members' Money

Following Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's reforming his state's collective bargaining laws and breaking the stranglehold unions held on taxpayers (saving them $476 million so far), union bosses across the country laid siege on the dairy state's capitol and declared war on Walker and his fellow Republicans.

In 2011, union bosses and other outside groups spent tens of millions of dollars in a failed attempt to recall six Republican state senators and are spending millions more now trying to recall Scott Walker.

2. They Spent Our Taxes on This?

Our national debt stands at $15.2 trillion, and is growing by roughly $6 billion per day. We have tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Unfortunately, we have learned that Republicans lack the gumption to fight for transformational spending cuts and reforms of major entitlements. However, at the very least, one would expect them to oppose silly pork projects like Buffalo Soldiers!

Yesterday, the Republican-controlled House passed HR 1022, a bill that would require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study of the history of Buffalo Soldiers in the establishment of national parks. The study will cost $400,000. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the feasibility of a plan to create a 200-mile trail between San Francisco and Yosemite National Park in commemoration of the Buffalo Soldiers. The federal government already owns roughly 1/3 of all American land. Do we need to afford them the opportunity to take over more land?

3. Establishments and Our Money: A Response To Avik Roy

As anyone with a passing familiarity with Republican politics over the past four or five decades knows, conservative magazines and think tanks have been making detailed entitlement reform proposals for most of those years, and Republicans running for offices high and low have been running on platforms of reducing the size and cost of government for just as long. And then nothing happens.

That's why Congress' battles over the debt ceiling and related issues provide such a potent example. Basically all Republican Senators profess to be in favor of smaller government, and yet so few are willing to go to the barricades to make it a reality. Now, I'm a realist - there are limits to how much we could expect even a completely united GOP to bring home as long as Obama is the President and Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader. But the repeated spectacle of leading pundits and Beltway Republicans tut-tutting Boehner and company for even trying to use their leverage to exact real concessions is a sign that the message Republican voters have been sending is not getting through to everyone.

4. A Successful Rescue in Somalia and a Psychological Lift for America

Heritage Hotsheet

Experts on the Day's Hottest News

Items for January 26, 2012

Obama administration demands UN reform -- but won't threaten to withhold funding   

Fox News

Brett Schaefer

Senate Dems vow to increase taxes on Romney   

The Washington Times

JD Foster

Curtis Dubay

William Beach

Angela Merkel casts doubt on saving Greece from financial meltdown   

The Guardian

Nile Gardiner

  No energy is good to the greens   

The New York Post

Nick Loris 

Pentagon cuts to include trimming troop strength, grounding drones  CNN.com

Peter Brookes 

Baker Spring 

Latest Heritage Research:

FACTSHEET
Obamacare: Obama Ends Medicare As We Know It

WEBMEMO
Keystone a Key Ingredient Missing from Obama's Economic Recovery Recipe

 Conservative party trick:

Say: "Mind if I smoke?" Then explain you've felt much more comfortable asking this question ever since you learned that "passive smoking" is a big government lie designed by safety Nazis to justify their persecution of tobacco users. The biggest long-term study of "passive smoking" found that exposure to "environmental tobacco smoke," no matter how intense or prolonged, creates no significantly increased risks of heart disease or lung cancer. Then go further. Spread the rumor that it is only through the assiduous efforts of smoking that America has enough cloud cover to deflect the apocalyptic effects of global warming.  

Thoughts On The SOTU from Clark Judge 

SOTU: Did I hear that right?   

By Clark S. Judge: managing director, White House Writers Group, Inc.; chairman, Pacific Research Institute.

It sounded like such a soft, even conservative speech.
 
But let me get this straight:   

1) banks will be punished (do I understand this right, by a committee headed by Eric Holder?) if their lending is too risky,

2) and they will be required (by the same committee) to give more home loans (meaning, it must be, to people who would otherwise not qualify for the loans, or else the government would not have to be involved) at lower rates (which means rates that do not compensate them as much as the market says they need to be compensated for the risks they are taking, all of which sounds like a new edition of the policies that brought on the financial collapse),

3) which must mean that they will have to pull back on risky lending someplace other than homes,   

4) the only place that most banks would be able to pull back on riskier customers would be loans to small and new businesses,   

5) but these are the businesses that have created just about all the jobs over the last 20 years and he said early in the speech he wants to encourage them,   

 
I believe that's what I heard the president advocate last night.  But one term I didn't hear, maybe I missed it: "The Constitution."  Then again, wasn't he suggesting that, in brave times like these, we need to put aside those old rules.  Do I have this straight?  

 Read More . . .

Presidential Historian: Obama State of the Union Bears 'Uncanny' Resemblance to Teddy Roosevelt's 1906 Address 

There have been a number of critiques of President Obama's 2012 State of the Union address - from misquoting Abraham Lincoln to repeating content from his past two speeches and using language that a Flesch-Kincaid readability test placed at an 8th grade comprehension level. Presidential historian Rick Shenkman, however, made one additional noteworthy observation: Obama's speech mirrored progressive president Theodore Roosevelt's address from 1906.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib and Kelly Evans, Shenkman described how Teddy Roosevelt's State of the Union compares with Obama's.

In a few short words: "It's uncanny," the historian said.

* VIDEOS * TODAY'S HOT PICKS *  

1. SHOCKING VIDEO: Bankrupt Solyndra Destroys Millions of Dollars' Worth of Assets...even though it owes Half a Billion Dollars to Taxpayers!
2. Teachers' Union Manual Shows How to Organize Illegal Strikes, Use Children During Bargaining  3. VIDEO: Gov. Mitch Daniels Issues Response To Obama's SOTU
4. Schools of Education Represent the Academic Slums of Most Any College  5. VIDEO: Radical Islamic Attacks Threaten Key U.S. Ally and Country's Future
6. VIDEO: What Eight U.S. Industries have been Lost to China ?
7. VIDEO: 'Fast and Furious' fact-finding mission in Arizona
8. VIDEO: 11-year-old girl in Detroit left home alone for two weeks  9. VIDEO: Huge Line of Fans Wait to Get a Signed Copy of Mark Levin's Ameritopia 

NEWT GINGRICH: "If Israel decides to attack Iran, as President, I would ask PM Netanyahu, how can we help you?"

Unlike the current pathetic excuse for a Commander-in-Chief, Newt Gingrich supports our allies.

Newt Gingrich: I'll Help Israel Attack Iran !!!

Chronicle · January 25, 2012  

The Foundation

"Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason." --Benjamin Franklin

The Demo-gogues

Obama thinks the only problem with America is that we don't realize how awesome he is.

To sum up the SOTU: "I went ... I know ... My ... My ... I took office ... I'm president ... I will work ... I intend ... I will oppose ... I want to speak ... I took office ... I refused ... told me ... My message ... Send me ... I'll sign ... I set ... I signed ... I will go ... I will not stand ... It's not fair ... I'm announcing ... I promise you ... I also hear ... I want ... Join me ... My administration ... I want to cut ... I call on ... I spoke ... let me put ... I believe ... my administration ... I took office ... I will sign ... I'm directing ... my administration ... I'm requiring ... I will not walk away ... I will not walk away ... I will not cede ... I will ... I'm directing ... I'm proud ... Send me ... I will sign ... I'm sending ... I've approved ... my presidency ... I've ordered ... I guess ... I'm confident ... I will not back down ... I will not back down ... I will not go back ... I will not go back ... I'm asking ... fair play ... So do I ... I told ... I'm prepared ... fair share ... my fair share ... I get tax breaks I don't need ... I recognize ... I bet ... I've talked ... Send me a bill ... I will sign ... I ask the Senate ... I've asked ... I'm a Democrat ... I believe ... my education reform ... I will keep taking ... I can do ... I have no doubt ... I will take ... I'm president ... I intend ... I have proposed ... I have already ... I'm proposing ... brings me ... my proudest ... I sat ... I look at ... I'm reminded." --BO

The speech also sounded a lot like last year's.

Bailouts are awesome: "On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. ... Today, General Motors is back on top as the world's number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. ... We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back." --Barack Obama

Bailouts are terrible: "It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody." --Barack Obama, later in the same SOTU

Policy based on envy: "We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules." --Barack Obama

Conciliatory blame throwing: "The state of our union is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place." --Barack Obama

Deciding how much money you can make: "[W]e need to change our tax code so that people like me, and an awful lot of members of Congress, pay our fair share of taxes. Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes. ... On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn't go up." --Barack Obama

Elsewhere, in race bait land: "The point I was making is that black people hold the president in such high esteem, that they would not dare march on the White House even though unemployment is at 15 percent and higher and if there was a white president we would do that because we've had white presidents since George Washington." --Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)

Belly laugh of the week: "[T]his president has reached out as seriously and sincerely as any president with whom I've served over the last 30 years, to work together in a bipartisan fashion. No president with whom I've served over those last 30 years has spent as much time working with Republicans and Democrats in the room, exchanging ideas, evidencing a willingness to compromise as President Obama has." --House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Secrets: "[Newt Gingrich is] not going to be president of the United States. That's not going to happen. Let me just make my prediction and stand by it, it isn't going to happen. There is something I know. The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him that's their prerogative. I don't even think that's going to happen." --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

A Note on the SOTU From Mark Alexander

There was not ONE SINGLE free-market economic remedy mentioned in Obama's entire teleprompted rhetoric last night -- every "solution" was government engineering by way of intervention, regulation or redistribution. Obama ended his recitation asserting, "We should all want a smarter more effective government." Indeed, on this we should all agree, and to that end, work tirelessly to defeat Obama and his socialist regime.

Read a full analysis from Alexander in tomorrow's "The State of Disunion."

Editorial Exegesis

"President Obama delivered a State of the Union address Tuesday night that by the account of his own advisers is more campaign document than a plan for governing. ... Normally a President at the start of his fourth year would be running on his record, accentuating the legislation he's passed. Mr. Obama can't do that with any specificity because the economic recovery has been so weak and the legislation he has passed is so unpopular. So last night he took credit for the shale gas revolution he had nothing to do with and proposed new policies to 'spread the wealth around'... Once the Reagan recovery got cooking, in 1983, growth stayed above 5% for 18 months and never fell below 3.3% for 13 consecutive quarters. In the Obama recovery, growth has never exceeded 4% in any quarter and fell off markedly in mid-2010 through the third quarter of 2011. ... As he runs for re-election, Mr. Obama is trying to campaign as an incumbent who is striving to help the economy but has been stymied at every turn by Congress. ... For two years he had the largest Democratic majorities in Congress since the 1970s and achieved nearly everything he wanted. ... Mr. Obama clearly has a spring in his step these days, figuring that the public hates Congress and thinks Republicans run it, that the GOP will field a weak presidential candidate, and that he can fool the public into believing only Mitt Romney's taxes will rise if Mr. Obama wins a second term. He has only one big obstacle: his record." --The Wall Street Journal 

Upright

"If you want a good distillation of this president's wrongheaded view of the United States of America, look no further than this rhetorical bit from the end of tonight's State of the Union address: 'No one built this country on their own. This Nation is great because we built it together. This Nation is great because we worked as a team. This Nation is great because we get each other's backs.' Unity is central to American identity, but not the way Obama envisions it. E pluribus unum is not Latin for, 'Hey, bro, let's invest in some infrastructure together.' The notion that this nation is one big team that acts collectively toward shared goals set by the state would be completely foreign to the men who founded it. But that is Obama's concept of America." --columnist Andrew Cline

"Has Barack Obama learned nothing in three years? Last night, during his State of the Union address, he promised 'a blueprint for an economy.' But economies are crushed by blueprints. An economy is really nothing more than people participating in an unfathomably complex spontaneous network of exchanges aimed at improving their material circumstances. It can't even be diagrammed, much less planned. And any attempt at it will come to grief. Politicians like Obama believe they are the best judges of how we should conduct our lives. Of course a word like 'blueprint' would occur to the president. He, like most who want his job, aspires to be the architect of a new society. But we who love our lives and our freedom say: No, thanks. We need no social architect. We need liberty under law. That's it." --columnist John Stossel

"If you wonder why unemployment is so high in the U.S., check out the brain-dead economics in the SOTU address. People with high incomes pay lower taxes because an optimal tax policy taxes consumption not income. While our code is not optimal, it tilts in that direction. I doubt that Warren Buffett understands that the 'Buffett Rule' is economically illiterate, and marks him for all of history, after posterity forgets his billions, as an ignorant rube who pushed the U.S. toward inefficient tax policy. I doubt that President Obama understands that the academic community that previously embraced him will have a hard time maintaining the fiction that he is a significant intellectual when he decides to jettison decades of academic literature in favor of a populist Hail Mary pass that is indefensible." --American Enterprise Institute's Kevin Hassett

"By many measures, Barack Obama has left the State of the Union in tatters, but the liberal media, led by the highly rated Big Three network (ABC, CBS, NBC) news shows, have attempted to cover up those holes in the Union by mostly ignoring the Obama administration's greatest failings. From record numbers of people on food stamps, to the administration's support of failed energy companies while rejecting an oil pipeline that would result in thousands of jobs, the Big Three networks haven't told their viewers the full story of Obama's pathetic track record." --Media Research Center's Geoffrey Dickens

Insight

"Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money -- only for wanting to keep your own money." --columnist Joseph Sobran (1946-2010)

"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that, too." --English playwright and author W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

Dezinformatsia

Missing the point: "There's a tremendous amount of cynicism in Gingrich's use of food stamps because of what he actually knows that his Republican debate audiences do not know. His Republican audiences do not know that most people on food stamps are white." --MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell

The BIG Lie: "George W. Bush had more people on food stamps, not this president." --MSNBC's Martin Bashir

Twisted question: "Do you really believe, in every case, it should be totally wrong, in the sense that -- I know that you believe, even in cases of rape and incest -- and you've got two daughters. You know, if you have a daughter that came to you who had been raped and was pregnant and was begging you to let her have an abortion -- would you really be able to look her in the eye and say, no, as her father?" --CNN host Piers Morgan to GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum

Gun Grabbers: "[I]t would be a disservice to [Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's] life and that of the others directly affected by [the Tucson tragedy], and tragedies like it, to ignore the factors that precipitated the violence: the easy access to guns; the availability of accessories such as extended clips that make deadly weapons all the more lethal; and a porous and shoddy regulatory system that too often fails to keep these weapons out of the hands of dangerous or dangerously unstable individuals. Mr. Obama last year delivered his State of the Union just weeks after the Tucson massacre and in the presence of victims' family members. Yet he, like so many politicians intimidated by the gun lobby's muscle, could not muster a single word about the need for reasonable gun control measures to ward off such violence in the future. Perhaps he will find the courage to speak up this year, as Ms. Giffords looks on during her last State of the Union as a member of Congress." --Washington Post editorial

Newspulper Headlines:

It Had to Happen Eventually: "The End of 'Inevitability'" --the American Spectator website

We Blame George W. Bush: "Obama on Keystone XL: Blame Hillary!" --WeeklyStandard.com

Questions Nobody Is Asking: "Voters Know Gingrich Talks a Good Game, but Can He Dance?" --Washington Times website

Breaking News From 2009, 2010, 2011: "Obama Hurting With Swing Voters, Poll Shows" --Politico.com

Bottom Story of the Day: "Obama Plans Three-Day Campaign Trip After State of the Union Speech" --DailyCaller.com

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Energy = crime: "Our children and grandchildren will judge those who have misled the public, allowing fossil fuel emissions to continue almost unfettered, as guilty of crimes against humanity and nature. But the eventual conviction of these people in the court of public opinion will do little to ease the burdens that will have been created for today's young people and future generations." --James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Dodge City: "[T]he president's background as a community organizer is well documented in the president's own books, so his experience in that field obviously contributed to who he is today. But his experience is a broad-based one that includes a lot of other areas in his life." --White House spokesman Jay Carney 

Embellishment: "[T]he president's commitment to job creation has been amply demonstrated by the policies that he has pursued, that he has signed into law, that have contributed considerably to the creation of 3.2 million private sector jobs." --Jay Carney

"We're just going to support what we like to call 'universal values' -- not American values, not Western values, universal values." --Michael McFaul, Obama's new U.S. ambassador to Russia, when asked about democracy in Russia

Short Cuts

"Pittsburgh medical researchers discovered Tuesday that a person's adult stem cells could possibly be used to make them grow younger. Many doctors have been tinkering with it. Ron Paul has used it on his supporters for years and now they all look twenty-five." --comedian Argus Hamilton

"Warren Buffett now says that his offer to help pay down the national debt was merely 'symbolic.' Ah ... sorta like an Obama 'stimulus' program." --Fred Thompson

"[E]very President's SOTU speeches follows a very predictable pattern: 1. The State of the Union is strong. 2. Applause. 3. It's stronger because I'm up here and you're not. 4. Applause. 5. Attack the Supreme Court [Obama only]. 6. Here's why my political party is awesome. 7. Applause from one side of room. 8. Here's why the other party is a bunch of doody-heads. 9. Applause from the same side of the room. 10. Here's a program I want you to pass. 11. Applause. 12. Here's an Ordinary Average Guy whose story should convince you to pass my program. 13. Television shot of Ordinary Average Guy. 14. Applause. 15. Repeat steps 6-14 about 874 times. 16. Here's a couple more reasons why I'm awesome. 17. Applause." --blogger Ed Morrissey

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

Video: Congressman, SOPA is a "Cripping Danger to the Internet"

Jan 25, 2012 12:37 pm

Congressman McClintock delivered the following speech on the House floor on Monday, January 23, 2012. It shows the Congressman's dedication to freedom and his perceptive understanding of the dangers creeping government infringements pose to our First Amendment liberties. - Ed.. Madam Speaker: Long ago, Jefferson warned, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to [...]

Watch the Video and Comment: Video: Congressman, SOPA is a "Cripping Danger to the Internet"
     

The State of Illusion Address, 2012

Jan 25, 2012 12:35 pm

Barack Obama's State of the Union Address joined his other public remarks as an exercise in virtual reality. In addition to its jaundiced view of the free market and overly rosy view of the present economic crisis, his speech contained a number of factual errors, misleading statements, and outright lies. 1. "The Taliban's momentum has [...]

Read More and Comment: The State of Illusion Address, 2012
     

Obama Wants America Run Like the Military - and He's Giving the Orders

Jan 25, 2012 12:35 pm

Presidents often use State of the Union Addresses to articulate a more comprehensive ideology of government or society. In the 2012 SOTU, what did President Barack Obama hold up as his ideal? Military life. Obama took the name of the armed forces in vain, twice, simultaneously claiming undeserved credit for killing Osama bin Laden and [...]

Read More and Comment: Obama Wants America Run Like the Military - and He's Giving the Orders
     

Obama: I'll Keep Pushing Amnesty, Solyndra, and Executive Fascism

Jan 25, 2012 12:31 pm

One of the less-explored realities of his State of the Union Address last night is that Barack Obama doubled-down on the most controversial, unconstitutional, and blatantly illegal aspects of his presidency. Addressing his million-strong job deficit and the need for energy, Obama promised to continue funding Green energy ventures in the full knowledge that many [...]

Read More and Comment: Obama: I'll Keep Pushing Amnesty, Solyndra, and Executive Fascism
     

Obama's DOJ Discriminates Against White Voters in Guam

Jan 25, 2012 12:30 pm

The U.S. Justice Department is ever-vigilant against signs of "voter suppression" these days, most recently blocking - on the grounds that it would hurt blacks - a South Carolina law that would require voter identification. But the voting rights of some minorities, it appears, are more worth protecting than others. The territory of Guam, for [...]

Read More and Comment: Obama's DOJ Discriminates Against White Voters in Guam
     

Judge Rules Obama Must Prove Presidential Eligibility In Georgia Courtroom

Jan 25, 2012 12:29 pm

For those who have waited 3 years for a judge to finally rule that Barack Hussein Obama must prove that he is legally and Constitutionally qualified to run for or serve as President of the United States, the day may have come at last. For on Friday, Georgia State Office of Administrative Hearings Judge Michael [...]

Read More and Comment: Judge Rules Obama Must Prove Presidential Eligibility In Georgia Courtroom
     

$1.6 Million to Restore Chicano Murals with Communist Images

Jan 25, 2012 12:27 pm

In its push to help the increasingly powerful La Raza movement the Obama Administration is dedicating over a million and a half dollars to restore Chicano murals-some featuring renowned communists-in one state and cancelling more than 1,600 deportations in two others. It's part of the administration's ongoing effort to cater to the influential open borders [...]

Read More and Comment: $1.6 Million to Restore Chicano Murals with Communist Images   

January 25, 2012
      OBAMA ASKS congress FOR MORE POWER
A comment made by President Obama during last night's SOTU has alarm bells going off all around Glenn Beck's studios. If you were not paying close attention, you may have missed the President asking Congress to "consolidate" the powers of the Executive Branch. Watch the clip HERE.

  PELOSI: NEWT WILL NEVER BE PRESIDENT
What does Nancy Pelosi know about Newt Gingrich that would guarantee he will never be elected president? The former Speaker of the House is not yet saying exactly what she knows... but she told CNN, "there is something I know..." Watch the clip HERE.

  Beck's theory: Economic collapse coming
The nagging economic problems in Europe have captured the attention of Glenn Beck. After considerable analysis of all of the data and news stories, Glenn has developed a gloomy theory of what could happen if the Euro Zone does not get its financial house in order soon. Watch the entire segment from GBTV HERE.

  11 STUNNING REVELATIONS FROM A CONFIDENTIAL MEMO ABOUT OBAMAnoMICS
New Yorker columnist Ryan Lizza has distilled eleven powerful revelations from a 57-page "Sensitive & Confidential" memo that was used by the Obama economic team. Check out the details in today's "must-read" story HERE.

GOP RESPONSE TO SOTU GETS HIGH MARKS
Conservative columnist and frequest Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer did not like Mitch Daniels' speech - he LOVED it. Watch the glowing review that called it "one of the best" HERE.  

VIRAL VID - SOTU FROM GBTV'S 'REAL NEWS'

Last night's episode of "Real News from The Blaze" featured four brief and very different State of the Union addresses from the show's panelists. Watch them all HERE.

Politicians Who Received Money for SOPA Vote and Pipa  (includes Poll) NOTE OUR PA COMMIE IS ON THE LIST TOO

   And you thought they were working for you....

Politicians Who Received Money for SOPA Vote

Here is a list of politicians in favor of the bill known as SOPA and PIPA and the amounts of money they received from the SOPA backers who bought their favor in voting yes for both bills.

The Winners are:

Money Received from Pipa Sponsors:

Sen. Charles Schumer [D, NY] $864,265

Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] $665,420

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D, NY] $556,525

Sen. Barbara Boxer [D, CA] $544,424

Sen. Patrick Leahy [D, VT] $416,250 (head sponsor of pipa btw)

Sen. Michael Bennet [D, CO] $347,406

Sen. Roy Blunt [R, MO] $341,700

Sen. Robert Portman [R, OH] $337,525

Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC] $275,950

Sen. Patty Murray [D, WA] $272,750

Money Received from Sopa Sponsors:

Sen. Harry Reid [D, NV] $3,502,624

Sen. Charles Schumer [D, NY] $2,648,770

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D, NY] $2,080,651

Sen. Barbara Boxer [D, CA] $1,431,843

Sen. Scott Brown [R, MA] $1,364,872

Sen. Robert Portman [R, OH] $1,363,009

Sen. Patrick Toomey [R, PA] $1,291,744

Sen. Michael Bennet [D, CO] $1,019,172

Sen. Mark Kirk [R, IL] $911,296

Sen. Patrick Leahy [D, VT] $905,310

Who sold themselves out, and who sold the justice system down the river for money. These are the political whores who took money, to support the most damaging bills that would put control of the global internet into the hands of the Hollywood directors.

Get the money out of politics. Vote out these people is the one way to clean house and clean out the corruption out of this government.

Political Whores for SOPA- PIPA

Read more: http://www.politicolnews.com/congressmen-who-received-money-for-sopa-vote/#ixzz1k3w9n2v9

__._,_.___

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


COUNTDOWN TO VICTORY: 286 DAYS TO THE 2012 ELECTIONS


A Shrinking Obama

Is that all there is? Watching Obama deliver the State of the Union last night (with precautionary blood pressure medication at my side) I was struck by how diminished the "hope and change" President has become. Long gone is the candidate who told his supporters, "We are the ones we have been waiting for." Nowhere to be seen was the man who said his election would result in the "earth healing" and the "oceans stopping their rise." Instead we got an hour of low expectations, distorted facts, divisive class warfare all wrapped up in the hope that the public has collective amnesia about what actually happened in the last three years while Obama was in charge.

Fact checking the speech would take all day. But we made a short video catching Obama on a few of his misstatements. You can watch it here.

My first shoe hit the T.V. set when Obama asserted that our oil imports have fallen under his watch. Indeed they have, but Obama counts on you not knowing why they dropped. Oil imports always drop when the American economy isn't growing and Obama's policies have guaranteed slow to no growth. Fewer people employed means less gasoline used. Imports have also dropped because oil industry engineers have developed new drilling techniques that have increased our domestic oil production. Obama has done everything he can to stop that increase in production, including cutting drilling back on federal land and restricting off-shore drilling. The increased production has come on private land by oil companies that Obama regularly demonizes.

Did you notice his intentional distortions on the taxes paid by millionaires compared to average folks? Here is what Obama said: "Now you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as the secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."

Yes that would be common sense if it were a factual description of reality. Instead it is an intentional effort to deceive. Obama is counting on Americans confusing tax rate with net taxes. Let's say you are a worker making approximately $50,000 a year. You would be in the 25% tax bracket and you would pay approximately $8,600 in federal taxes. Now let's say you are a millionaire and almost all of your income comes from dividends and capital gains. For years the U.S. has taxed that kind of investment income at 15% because we want to encourage the investment that creates jobs. So the $1 million in dividends times 15% would be $150,000 in federal taxes.

Yes the millionaire has a lower rate (15%) than the wage earner (25%), but the millionaire pays $150,000 compared to $8,600 for the worker. This is why, in spite all of Obama's attempts to claim otherwise, the top 1% in America pay into the federal treasury 38% of all taxes collected. The bottom 50% of all Americans pay less than 3% of all taxes collected.

This is what is so disgusting about what Obama is doing. He wants you to be angry at and despise those who have done well in the hope you won't notice how his policies are leading us down the road to European socialism and national bankruptcy. The man who campaigned in 2008 saying he would bring us together can only remain in power if he deeply divides us by class. Obama is a Hugo Chavez democrat.

Something else was obvious last night too. It was not only what he said but what he left out. There was no direct mention of Obamacare nor of the 3,000-page stimulus bill, both of which are politically toxic. Both issues should be a central part of the eventual GOP presidential nominee's campaign. There was very little on job creation, and there were zero proposals to get our horrendous debt under control. This man must not be given a second term.


The GOP Response

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gave the GOP response. It is a tough job to answer any President's State of the Union, and Daniels did a reasonably good job, even if his passion seemed in short supply. This sentence jumped out at me: Speaking of the Obama Administration, Daniels said, "The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperatures is a pro-poverty policy."

Eureka! There it is. Obama is a left wing extremist. His policies will promote poverty, not growth. Every conservative in America needs to make that point every day - at work, over the back fence, at church, at school or around the dinner table. The GOP nominee has to drive it home. We can win. We must win!

 

From the Desk of:
Steve Elliott, Grassfire Nation

Dear Patriot:

On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear oral arguments on whether Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from the ObamaCare lawsuit.

This was no surprise. The Supreme Court is the most isolated and powerful branch of government. Despite the overwhelming evidence indicating that Kagan should recuse herself, the Court has refused to take any action.

Let's review the facts...

The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN) has carefully documented Kagan's work on behalf of ObamaCare while she served as Obama's Solicitor General.

**According to JCN, Kagan engaged her department in the strategy to defend ObamaCare in court "before [ObamaCare] had even been signed into law."  So Kagan was an advocate for ObamaCare even before the final votes were cast.

**JCN also tracks how Kagan was involved in the "deliberative process" for her office's legal defense of ObamaCare. By definition, this means Kagan has knowledge of information (i.e. the Administration's deliberative process) which is protected and therefore the other justices may not be allowed to hear!

Go here to access JCN's full report:

http://www.grassfire.com/161/petition.asp?Ref_ID=500064

It is clear that Elena Kagan was an open advocate of ObamaCare and that, in her position as Solicitor General, she was involved in defending the legislation.

By any judicial ethical standards, she should recuse herself.

But now her colleagues on the Supreme Court are "circling the wagons" to protect their elevated station in our society!

But this goes beyond her personal sense of ethics...

THIS IS THE LAW OF THE LAND!

Federal law (28 U.S.C. 455) clearly stipulates the grounds for judges to disqualify themselves in cases, including if the judge's "impartiality might reasonably be questioned" or if the judge served in federal office as "counsel" or "adviser" or "expressed an opinion" on a matter.

Kagan has crossed all these lines and by law she must recuse herself for the ObamaCare case -- something she has already done dozens of times on other cases. But for ObamaCare, Obama's hand-picked advocate refuses to step aside.

To make matters worse, much of the facts of Kagan's open advocacy on behalf of ObamaCare was not disclosed during her confirmation hearings and has only come to light in the last few weeks after repeated Freedom of Information Act inquiries.

The Obama team hid the facts of Kagan's ObamaCare advocacy!

+ + Immediate Action Needed

Grassfire Nation has launched a national petition calling on Justice Kagan to recuse herself form the ObamaCare case or to be disqualified by appropriate legal means. Already, more than 20,000 citizens have signed. Now, with the Supreme Court "circling the wagons," it's time for grassroots citizens to let their voice be heard:

Please go here now to sign the petition:

http://www.grassfire.com/161/petition.asp?Ref_ID=500064

We have posted links to resources, including JCN's excellent report, so you can study up on this very important issue.

Again... we are just weeks away from the most important legal showdown in years. And as it stands right now, Obama's hand-picked justice -- who openly supported ObamaCare -- could cast the deciding vote.

Thank you for taking a stand!

Steve Elliott
Grassfire Nation

P.S. We cannot allow Obama's hand-picked advocate of his ObamaCare law to cast what could be the deciding vote on ObamaCare. Sign the petition today:

http://www.grassfire.com/161/petition.asp?Ref_ID=500064

Tea Party Response to the SOTU By Herman Cain

We have the Tea Party Response to the State of the Union by Hermain Cain and the GOP response by Mitch Daniels on the front page of PAN.

Click Here to watch both

Then share your ideas, thoughts, and opinions with the PAN Community

Share your thoughts and lets discuss the SOTUA by clicking here

Together we CAN and WILL win our country back! This is the Year of the Tea Party.

Let's DUMP THE CHUMP!

Darla Dawald, National Director

Tea Party Action List!

Holder Must Go Petition

http://www.grassfire.com/191/petition.asp?ref_id=500064    

Go here now to stand with Sheriff Joe and against Obama's jack-booted intimidation tactics:

http://www.grassfire.com/196/petition.asp?Ref_ID=500064

Sign the "Cut, Cap and Balance" Petition for fiscal sanity

http://www.grassfire.com/160/petition.asp?Ref_ID=500064

The Left is aggressively moving to transform our nation, but to succeed
they must silence conservatives and Tea Party Americans ...

  Help Grassfire and Patriot Action Network Now

and Receive Two Copies of Our

Official 2012 Tea Party Survival Guide ... 

Click here to see front and back cover

Order your "Tea Party Survival Guide" (now shipping)

  Includes the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence

It's Pocket Size Too!   

 

 Read more: 

Can Underdog Barack Obama catch Newt Gingrich?

Jan 25, 2012 05:13 am | Coach Collins

By Kevin "Coach" Collins

  "I'm absolutely confident we're going to win this thing," Barack Hussein Obama whistled past the graveyard and told a gathering of 50 people at Spike Lee's house the other night. 

Apparently Barack hasn't read the polls in quite a while, but then again neither have the likes of Karl Rove Ann Coulter or George Will.

 Just a month ago in a Christmas week release designed to make certain it was lost, Gallup unveiled an ugly picture for Barack Obama and the Republican establishment. Gallup says there is not only a high level of enthusiasm for throwing Obama out (64% of conservative Republicans are very enthusiastic about voting next November) but there is an alarmingly low amount of energy within Obama's core voters - "non- White" enthusiasm is at just 32%. 

Also included in Gallup's report based on its findings in Obama's 12 absolutely must have states, was news ... Continue Reading:Can Underdog Barack Obama catch Newt Gingrich?

comments | read more

American Minute January 24

Jan 24, 2012 05:13 pm | Coach Collins

By Bill Federer, staff writer

   James Madison's defense of religious freedom began when he stood with his father outside a jail in the village of Orange and heard Baptists preach from their cell windows. He wrote of another incident to William Bradford, JANUARY 24, 1774: "There are at this time in the adjacent Culpeper County not less than 5 or 6 well meaning men in jail for publishing their religious sentiments which in the main are very orthodox." Madison helped pass the Virginia Bill of Rights, which stated: "Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator, and the Manner of discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Convictions, not by Force or Violence; and therefore all Men are equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience; and that it is the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love, and Charity towards each other." As President, Madison wrote ... Continue Reading:American Minute January 24

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Why Patrick Cunningham is first Fast and Furious conspirator to plead the 5th

Jan 24, 2012 01:13 pm | Coach Collins

by Doug Book,  staff writer

Last week, Patrick Cunningham, chief of the criminal division of the Arizona US Attorney's office, informed Darrell Issa's House Government Reform and Oversight Committee investigating Obama Administration involvement in Operation Fast and Furious, that he would be pleading the 5th Amendment in his scheduled February 2nd deposition before the committee.  (1)

Cunningham worked with Arizona US Attorney Dennis Burke who resigned last year after his involvement in Fast and Furious had made him a prime subject of congressional investigators.

Document dumps and Eric Holder's testimony before the House committee in December have made the tactics of the Department of Justice in its bid to continue the Fast and Furious cover up quite clear: accuse all of those in distant Arizona of having provided the folks in Washington DC with misinformation concerning the criminal "gunwalking" operation in order to keep DC, Obama political appointees in the clear.

For example, according to ... Continue Reading:Why Patrick Cunningham is first Fast and Furious conspirator to plead the 5th

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41 Obama White House Aides Owed $831,000 in Back Taxes 

Black Man Disses Obama 

Today's Headlines: Wednesday, January 25, 2012  

Ed Meese: House Should Pass Resolution Condemning Obama for Unconstitutional Act

Gingrich on Obama's SOTU: He 'Doesn't Have a Clue What He Was Saying'

Rev. Luke Robinson: 'They Want Us to Be Silent Because the President Is a Black Man'

Pat Sajak says: "For Conservatives, MRC is Google, LexisNexis and YouTube all rolled into one..." Please make a tax-deductible gift to MRC today!

Watchdog: Administration's Efforts to Restrict Executive Pay at Bailed-Out Firms Failed 

Obama Touts 'Renewal' of American Global Leadership in State of the Union

GOP Response to Obama: 'We Americans Are All in the Same Boat'

Hoyer: No President in 30 Years Has Shown Obama's 'Willingness to Compromise'

New U.S. Ambassador to Russia: We Support 'Universal Values' Not 'American Values'

National Park Service Director: Enforcing Camping Ban Could Incite 'Reaction' at Occupy DC Protests

Fla. Retirees Divided on How to Fix Social Security 

PLO to Pursue U.N. Recognition, But U.S. Says 'No Shortcut' to Statehood 

COMMENTARY:

Obama Creates Unconstitutional Monster at Fed
By Terence P. Jeffrey
Did President Barack Obama's appointment of Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without a Senate confirmation vote violate the Constitution? The answer is plainly yes.

Obama vs. Catholics
By L. Brent Bozell III
At what point do our country's television networks notice that Team Obama has an ideological agenda against faith-based charitable organizations, most especially the Catholic Church?

Obama's Green Robber Barons
By Michelle Malkin
You'll be hearing much more from the White House about the "wealthy few" who aren't paying their "fair share" as Obama's re-election campaign doubles down on class-war demagoguery. Remember: "Fairness" is in the eye of the wealth redistributors.

State of the Union 2012
By Rich Galen
The State of the Union speech is a nice custom, highly anticipated in Washington, totally forgotten within hours of its delivery, but it links presidents in an unbroken line back to George Washington.

Both Obama and his speech writer are incompetent.

Obama Energy Fibs 

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:25 PM PST

(Steven Hayward)

Once again our friends at the Institute for Energy Research have issued the best smack down of Obama's amazing energy claims.  Read the link for the whole text, which isn't long, but their three charts reprinted below tell the story: oil and gas production are indeed increasing, but on private land, and falling on federal land.  Obama has nothing to do with the increase in oil and gas exploration.  And as the third chart, which John posted here once before, shows, leasing activity in federal land has slowed to a crawl.  That's not all Obama's fault, though.  Environmental groups now litigate to halt or delay virtually every federal lease that comes up for bid.  If Obama were serious about getting rid of counter-productive regulation, he'd support statutory changes that make these kind of purely obstructionist lawsuits harder to file.

The Ghost of David Stockman 

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:17 AM PST

(Steven Hayward)

People old enough to recall the fall of 1981 might remember the huge fuss that occurred when the Atlantic published William Greider's article "The Education of David Stockman," in which Reagan's budget director went overnight from whiz kid to Deep Throat.  For readers too young, or anyone wanting their memory refreshed, here's part of my account of the debacle in The Age of Reagan:

"I've never believed that just cutting taxes alone would cause output and employment to expand," Stockman told Greider.  It got worse: "Kemp-Roth was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate."  Greider thought "This seemed a cynical concession for Stockman to make in private conversation while the Reagan Administration was still selling the supply-side doctrine to Congress."  From the immediate sequel in the article, it appears Greider pressed Stockman on this issue, and Stockman admitted that Reaganomics was no more than its liberal critics had made it out to be.  Stockman: "It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down,' so the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down.'  Supply-side is 'trickle-down' theory."  Later in the article Stockman seemed to imply that supply-side economics was a "crackpot theory."

At first the article received only secondary notice in the media, with a few short wire service stories buried far back in the news pages of the major papers.  But when CBS Evening News led with the Atlantic story two days after the magazine hit the newsstands, it propelled it into a bombshell. The New York Times put the story on the front page: "Stockman's Views Touch Off Furor," and the story was the focus of the punditocracy for more than a week.  Typical of the media judgment of the episode was Hobart Rowen's column in the Washington Post: "Stockman is saying flat out that Reaganomics is a failure, and the economic arguments for it were fraudulent-and he knew it."  The New York Times editorial page said "The Reagan Administration's vaunted economic policy cannot work; the Administration knows that; and yet the Administration keeps on flogging it as just the medicine America needs," and went on to compare Reagan's "deception" to Lyndon Johnson's disastrous decision to pursue "guns and butter" in the 1960s.  Ecstatic Democrats claimed vindication, and read the entire article into the Congressional Record as though it was the equivalent of the Pentagon Papers.  Tip O'Neill was triumphant: "The architect of the Administration's program is admitting exactly what I and other critics have been saying for six months." . . . The Atlantic article finished off what little political momentum Reaganomics had left.

This episode is relevant because of Ryan Lizza's recent New Yorker article "The Obama Memos," especially its revelation of a 57-page memo on economic policy that Larry Summers sent to Obama during the transition period, in which Summers warned Obama about the limits of Keynesian stimulus spending and the broader fiscal abyss the nation was facing.  (You can view the actual memo here.)  Although Summers joined the Administration as director of the national economic council, Obama and his political team obviously ignored Summers.

Lizza's New Yorker article ought to be to Obama what Stockman's confessions to The Atlantic were to Reagan: a major media bonfire.  It has attracted some attention, but not as much as it ought to have.  My AEI colleague James Pethokoukis outlines 11 stunning revelation from the Summers memo, with quotes from the text:

1. The stimulus was about implementing the Obama agenda.

The short-run economic imperative was to identify as many campaign promises or high priority items that would spend out quickly and be inherently temporary. ...  The stimulus package is a key tool for advancing clean energy goals and fulfilling a number of campaign commitments.

2. Team Obama knows these deficits are dangerous (although it has offered no long-term plan to deal with them).

Closing the gap between what the campaign proposed and the estimates of the campaign offsets would require scaling back proposals by about $100 billion annually or adding new offsets totaling the same. Even this, however, would leave an average deficit over the next decade that would be worse than any post-World War II decade. This would be entirely unsustainable and could cause serious economic problems in the both the short run and the long run.

3. Obamanomics was pricier than advertised.

Your campaign proposals add about $100 billion per year to the deficit largely because rescoring indicates that some of your revenue raisers do not raise as much as the campaign assumed and some of your proposals cost more than the campaign assumed. ... Treasury estimates that repealing the tax cuts above $250,000 would raise about $40 billion less than the campaign assumed. ... The health plan is about $10 billion more costly than the campaign estimated and the health savings are about $25 billion lower than the campaign estimated.

For the other eight of Jim's observations, click here.

My question is, where is the CBS Evening News on this story?  Why isn't the New York Times all over it?  Oh, why am I asking such a silly question?  Mitt Romney's tax returns are so much more important, obviously.

Uncommon Knowledge with Epstein and Yoo 

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:41 AM PST

(Scott Johnson)

Obamacare constitutes a fundamental assault on limited constitutional government. The question isn't exactly whether it's unconstitutional, but whether the Supreme Court can get it right given the state of the doctrines it has fashioned to accommodate liberalism in the modern era. Liberalism has done its best to abrogate the limits on limited government, and its best is probably good enough. Obamacare calls us to return to first principles. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the Tea Party.

This week's installment of Uncommon Knowledge convenes two distinguished scholars of constitutional law to discuss the issues. Richard Epstein, the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University Law School, and John Yoo, professor at the University of California at Berkeley law school, examine the merits of various constitutional arguments for the Supreme Court's striking down Obamacare (as well as various other issues before the Court this term). Through our arrangement with the Hoover Institution, we are pleased to present this installment in its entirety. Please check it out.

NOTE: If you are viewing the site in our old blog format, please switch to the new format and access this video in the individual post in order to avoid the autorefresh function.

How About A State of Liberalism Address? 

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 03:55 AM PST

(Steven Hayward)

When Bill Clinton used his 1996 State of the Union address to kick off his ultimately successful re-election campaign, he uttered one of the few SOTU lines that people still remember: "The era of big government is over."  It did not matter narrowly that this was another Clinton lie; he went on in that speech to outline something like 97 small ways government could get bigger, from school uniforms to v-chips.  (Whatever happened to the v-chip anyway?)  The importance of the line was that it was a signal to the swing voters who had delivered the 1994 Republican landslide that it would be safe to re-elect him; he wasn't going to try a second-term re-run of Hillarycare.  The swinging Clinton was nothing if not skilled in wooing swing voters.

Obama tried for his equivalent last night with the line, "No bailouts, no handouts, no cop-outs."  This, from a specialist in all three departments.  I don't think I need to dilate this point much further.  About his argument for "fairness" in the tax code, however, it ought to be pointed out that the perceived inequities of the tax system is the system liberals built.  It was liberals, decades ago, who insisted on the payroll tax system for entitlement programs that delivers the perverse result that many working Americans pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes (actually nearly half of American households pay no federal income tax right now, so a truly "shared burden" would mean raising their taxes).  And as for Obama's call for a "minimum tax rate" on "millionaires and billionaires" (which I have a hunch is somehow going to start at $250,000), um, didn't we already try that with the Alternative Minimum Tax?  Gee, that's been a real success.

One wonders, by the way, how a new 30 percent minimum tax rate on the rich might affect state and local governments, for one simple reason.  In all the fuss about Mitt Romney's 14 percent tax rate, I'm curious why no one recalls that in 1992 Ross Perot's tax returns showed that he paid almost no income tax at all because he'd invested something like $700 million of his fortune in tax-free municipal bonds.  (Take note, Team Romney and everyone else: somehow this didn't stop millions of working class voters from voting for Perot.)  Question: Would Obama's minimum tax rate for the rich strip the tax-exemption from municipal bonds, and if so, what effect will that have on the borrowing costs for state and local governments?  This could get interesting.  (There's an interesting corollary question here: if we keep the tax-exemption on municipal bonds, what does it say that you can still get a big income tax break if you invest in government, but must pay a much higher rate for investing in the private sector?  That will tell you all you need to know, as if you don't already, about liberalism.  I've already got my bet placed on where liberals will come down on this question.)

There's one other glaring contrast with Clinton that is becoming more apparent: the Obama Administration's hostility toward people of faith, which Clinton did not share.  We saw already how the Supreme Court unanimously smacked down the Obama Justice Department, which wanted to extend anti-discrimination law to churches to the effect that churches would be restricted from hiring people of their own faith for key positions.  Last week the Obama Administration announced its intent to compel health care providers, including Catholic hospitals, to provide contraception services that go against their religious doctrine.  Michael Greve takes up the story in the LibertyLawBlog:

[T]he IFR [interim final rule] is obviously unconstitutional and unlawful, and the administration will receive another judicial trashing for its "extreme" and "extraordinary" positions on matters of religious freedom (see the Supreme Court's recent, unanimous decision and opinion in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC). Let's pause, though, over the so-called process that produced this abomination: it's a perfect illustration of Obamacare in action. . .

This "process" has been playing out while Mrs. Sebelius's office has issued hundreds of waivers for employer health plans that fail to comply with the ACA's and HHS's exalted standards, such as "mini-med" plans used by McDonald's. Without those waivers, the ranks of the uninsured would swell. Hiding the ACA's inanity is sufficient reason to suspend the legal requirements; First Amendment objections apparently aren't.

One of Clinton's few good points was his support for religious freedom.  He backed legislative acts, and issued administrative rules, to support religious freedom and autonomy from government during his eight years in office-a disposition that largely went unnoticed by friends and critics alike.  I ascribe this to Clinton's Arkansas upbringing and membership in the Southern Baptist Church-a decentralized Protestant denomination that is very harmonious with America's democratic character.   As is well known, Obama's religious outlook is thoroughly imbued with the radical liberation theology of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  Wright's liberation theology is not really theological at all (I used to call liberation theology "Marxism with salsa" back in its Latin American incarnation in the 1980s), but above all it supports massively increased political power over everyone, including especially fellow people of faith suffering from false consciousness.  If there's anything that liberals hate more than the rich these days, its people of faith who are unwilling to see the divinity of government.

It's almost enough to make you miss Bill Clinton.  Almost.

Great Moments In Prior SOTUs 

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 07:05 PM PST

(John Hinderaker)

One reason why presidents feel free to bloviate without restraint in SOTU speeches is that they know hardly anyone will ever go back, months or years down the road, and recall what they said. It is a feel-good exercise of the moment, intended to be free of consequences, other than the immediate political ones.

Still, some might wonder: what was President Obama touting in his SOTU two years ago? The answer-Solyndra:

Of course, as the Democrats like to say, that was then, this is now. Still, those who pay attention can probably figure out that a president who is now 0 for 3 in his SOTU forecasts is probably going to go 0 for 4. But two years from now, absent a suicidal spasm by Republican primary voters, Obama will be long gone, and no one-not even we!-will bother to remember what he said tonight.

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