Quote: 

A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

Thomas Jefferson

Obama Signs Executive Order Allowing Control Over All US Resources

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin previews next week's FY2013 budget proposal.

 

House Budget Trailer: America Deserves A Better Path

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)

Currently, Star is a regular commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. She debated Jesse Jackson on BET; fought for school choice on Larry King Live; and defended welfare reform on the Oprah Winfrey Show. 

Watch Star Parker and Allen West: Conservative Black Forum  

Historic two-hour forum brought together America's top modern conservative black leaders for the first time.

Watch here: 

Monumental

In Search of America's National Treasure 

On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. (local) in more than 450 major movie theaters, audiences will come together for a live, one-night only theatrical event called MONUMENTAL: IN SEARCH OF AMERICA¹S NATIONAL TREASURE, hosted by Kirk Cameron.

The two-hour show will include special guests, live music, and a showing of Kirk's new documentary film MONUMENTAL.

Audiences will be inspired as they come together at the same time in cities across the country to rediscover the people and the principles that made America the strongest, most free and prosperous nation on earth.

Kirk Cameron will take audiences on a journey through live conversations with special guests, live music from top artists, and his new documentary MONUMENTAL. Trace the heroic and harrowing travels of the early Pilgrims. Encounter the unlikely men and women who risked everything for liberty. Experience the stories of faith that guided education, government, and civic life. Hear from inspiring leaders on simple and practical ways to keep America's ideals alive, beginning at home. A high-energy patriotic event, MONUMENTAL will unite audiences in a celebration of America's unique story of faith and freedom.

OFFICIAL SITE - http://www.monumentalmovie.com  

Monumental Trailer

CALLING ALL PATRIOTS!!

VALLEY FORGE PATRIOTS MONTHLY MEETING

FRIDAY, APRIL 13^TH, 6:00 pm

PHOENIXVILLE COUNTRY CLUB

355 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD

Come on out and help us make plans to Get Out The Vote (GOTV) for the primary election on April 24.

We need everyone to participate leading up to the most important presidential & senate election of our life time.

We are also honored to have William E. Been author of "Masters of Audacity and Deceit" discuss the important elements of his book including: Progressivism's Threat to America, the New World Order and George Soros, Wall Street, Mainstream Media and the Democrat Party, and Housing Crisis, Financial Crisis and the Great Recession.

Don't miss this chance to get together with your fellow Patriots and participate in a stimulating discussion.

You can sign up at www.meetup.com/vfp-teaparty09/ or at www.vfpatriots.com

Dear Fellow Patriot,

We have a choice in this years Pennsylvania Senatorial election that will have far reaching consequences for Pennsylvania. 

Roger Howard is challenging Dominic Pileggi in the 9th district. Dominic has never been challenged and with the lack of any reformative legislation coming from Harrisburg along with the redistricting fiasco, he is very vulnerable. Can you imagine replacing the third most powerful Republican in Harrisburg? 

Right now what stands in our way is the ability to get the message out. We are ordering yard signs and if we had an extra $1000.00 we could double what we are ordering. 

Can you make a small donation of $10, $25 or $50. It would make a big difference. Please go to the web site now

www.roger4pa.com

Important Conference in PA

 PA Leadership Conference (PLC) - On Friday and Saturday, March 23rd and 24th, the Commonwealth's largest gathering of conservative leaders and activists occurs in Harrisburg. The Friday Keynote Speaker is Fox News' Senior Political Analyst Britt Hume. Other notable speakers include Senator Pat Toomey, Herman Cain and Grover Nordquist.

The PA Coalition is once again well represented with several members on the speaking docket including our Director of Health Care Reform, Dr. Nick Pandelidis who will speak concerning aspects of the proposed PA Health Care Exchange and PA Coalition President Greg Wrightstone will be moderating the Energy Panel titled "Marcellus - How Shale we Proceed?"    Please stop by the PA Coalition's table at PLC to receive a free piece of Marcellus Shale and pick up literature on the PA Health Care Exchange. We are proud to be able to sponsor noted film-maker Ann McElhinney whose newest film "FrackNation" is to be release in June. This film will confront and expose the anti-Marcellus zealots and neo-Luddites who oppose responsible development Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. Go to PLC to register or learn more.

Additionally, in a recent email, we regretfully omitted listing a free market candidate who is running against Union Lackey Mark Mustio: 

Sue Means

The Committee to Elect Sue Means

3485 South Park Road

Bethel Park, PA 15102

www.ElectSueMeans.com

Constitution 101:
The Meaning and History of the Constitution

Available to you, your family, your friends,
and all Americans.

Weeks One & Two Now Available - Sign Up TODAY!

Dr. Larry P. Arnn

Over the years, many friends of Hillsdale, those who never attended college here, have said to me: "Dr. Arnn, I wish I could take Hillsdale's Constitution course!"

In response to these requests, this past year, for the first time ever, Hillsdale College offered the "Introduction to the Constitution" lecture series at no charge. Frankly, I wasn't sure what sort of a response a course like this would have.

That's why I was excited to see that YOU and almost 200,000 other people from all over the United States registered for "Introduction to the Constitution."

Thank you very much for registering and participating. I hope you learned a lot from the series.

I was thrilled, not only by the response, but at what it indicates: Americans are willing and eager learn about the Constitution and to defend the principles of liberty that made America so prosperous!

And this re-awakening of national interest in the Constitution comes not a minute too soon.

Now, for the first time ever, Hillsdale College is offering a no-cost 10-week online Constitution course based on the class Hillsdale College students must complete for graduation:

"Constitution 101: The Meaning and History of the Constitution"

This course on the U.S. Constitution is available online at no charge to anyone who wants to understand and defend the timeless principles of liberty upon which our nation was founded!

I am proud to be teaching part of our NEW "Constitution 101" course and hope YOU will be one of my students again!

"Constitution 101" begins on February 20, 2012, and concludes the week of April 30. It will cover such topics as the Declaration of Independence and its connection to the Constitution, how the Constitution is structured to protect individual liberty and ensure good government, the crisis of constitutional government faced by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and modern challenges to the Constitution during the "Progressive" era.

It is my honor to teach the first class, "The American Mind," and the final class, "The Recovery of the Constitution." All of the classes will be taught by Hillsdale College professors - the top teachers in their field and the same ones who instruct our students here on Hillsdale's campus.

Classes listed in Blue have been posted on YouTube and can be viewed by clicking on the link for each class below. 

The U.S. Constitution

A Reader 

Editorial Note: Just received a couple of copies of the reader.   Not just a short course pamphlet this; with the heft of 'Atlas Shrugged', it is well worth getting whether or not you choose to take the course. 

Hillsdale College is a private, coeducational, residential, liberal arts college with approximately 1,400 students. Founded in 1844, the College remains, in the words of its Articles of Association, "grateful to God for the inestimable blessings resulting from the presence of civil and religious liberty and intelligent piety" in our nation, and dedicated to "the diffusion of sound learning" that is "essential to the perpetuity of these blessings."

Hillsdale College is distinguished by its rigorous core curriculum, by its principled rejection of federal and state taxpayer funding, and by the pledge of its Board of Trustees to resists any attempts by the government to regulate its internal affairs.

Hillsdale College promotes the principles of liberty nationwide through its national speech digest, Imprimis, which has a monthly circulation of over 2 million, and through several outreach programs. In 2008, Hillsdale launched its Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C. The College will also launch the Hillsdale Graduate School of Statesmanship in fall 2012.

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 March 23rd, 2012, marks an important and unfortunate anniversary. It will have been exactly two years since President Obama forced his unpopular health care takeover onto the American people. Americans for Prosperity has educated the public about the dangers of government interference in the health care market for the past several years, and now the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments and make a ruling on that very issue. As you are most likely aware, the U.S. Supreme Court will be considering the constitutionality of several elements of the President's health care bill. This may be our best chance to overturn this offense against our health care freedoms. That's why Americans for Prosperity will be hosting a Hands Off My Health Care rally for free-market grassroots activists from across the country at the Supreme Court on March 27th. Details can be found below.

Dear Group:

Please join us and Americans for Prosperity - Pennsylvania as we ride to DC to tell the Supreme Court to STOP THE OBAMA HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER!

Join us on the bus March 27th!  We have buses leaving from ALL OVER PA!  Click here to find your stop and sign up!

 Will you join me, Americans for Prosperity-Pennsylvania and your fellow Patriots to make sure our side is heard too?  Click here to sign up for the bus!

Please sign up here for our March 27th Rally to DC.   Here are a list of locations we are leaving from:

CENTRAL

BERKS

LEBANON

LANCASTER

YORK

HARRISBURG

CAMP HILL 

GETTYSBURG

ALLENTOWN

WEST

BUTLER

ALLEGHENY

MONROEVILLE

FAYETTE

SOMERSET

EAST

SCRANTON

LEHIGHTON

MEDIA

KING OF PRUSSIA

QUAKERTOWN

DOYLESTOWN

LANGHORNE

Don't forget to click here and sign up today (seating is limited)!

SIgned....group leader.

In Liberty,

Jennifer Stefano
Pennsylvania State Director
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF)
P.O. Box 843
Washington Crossing, PA 18977

Shalom ZOA Members, Friends and Supporters of Israel,

UPCOMING EVENTS:

On March 19 is a special evening with activist extraordinaire Pamela Geller. Plus, we have special discount tickets of Aish's annual Israel Event. Contact our Office at 215-338-9188 for ticket information.

SamRohrer

UNITEPA912 & The 912 Gazette is proud to announce our endorsement of the

"Only Choice"...Sam Rohrer!

Mike Souders-Organizer

www.unitepa912.com

+God Bless America+

Dear Patriots,

I would encourage you to go and meet Sam. Please listen very closely to what and why he thinks like he does. I know he is a moral man.

The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom is being held Friday, March 23 atnoon, local time, outside federal buildings, Congressional offices and historic sites across the country. The theme for the Rally is "Stand Up for Religious Freedom-Stop the HHS Mandate!"

Thousands of Americans of all faiths will be participating in these peaceful rallies, organized by the Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society to oppose the new mandate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that requires all employers provide free contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs through their health plans, even in violation of their consciences.

Religious leaders and other public figures will speak out against the HHS Mandate at each Rally site. Holding signs reading "Stand Up for Religious Freedom" and "Stop the HHS Mandate," participants will offer hymns and prayers for our nation and pass out literature to the public about why the HHS Mandate is unconstitutional and Un-American.

The Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom will be a peaceful, family-friendly, non-partisan, ecumenical event. For more information, please see the Rally Guidelines and Protocols, below.

Reading

Madison Building

400 Washington Street (Map)

E-mail the Rally Captain

{ For Ticket Information } 

From July 16 through July 18, 2012, Christians United for Israel will be holding its 7th Annual Washington Summit. We're going back to stand with Israel in our nation's capital. This year - more than ever - we need you to join us!

In the coming months, critical decisions are going to be made about Iran, Israel and the world. Finally, Washington is beginning to focus on the issue of a nuclear Iran. Many of our leaders want to confront this looming threat. But others want to keep kicking the can down the road. The debate is far from over.

• We know that when thousands of CUFI activists arrive in DC and on Capitol Hill, we can change the conversation.
• We can remind our leaders that a nuclear Iran is not only a threat to Israel, but to the US as well. And we can demonstrate to our elected officials that their constituents care enough about this issue to show up at their DC offices.
• We know that we can create a sense of immediacy that's otherwise lacking.
• We know that the more of us who show up and speak out -- the louder our voice and the greater our impact.

We stand at a critical juncture in history. Don't be silent! Don't miss your chance to make a difference! Don't pass up your opportunity to defend America and bless Israel!

Our leaders need to remember that we are watching them and we need to remember that God is watching us.

Nullify Now! Philadelphia

LISTEN LIVE TO REPATRIOT RADIO

"BETTER THAN EVER"

(all times are eastern)

Monday 3-4pm "Bordering on Insanity" - Sue Payne and Frosty Wooldridge

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

Awesome 1: 20 Million Extra People Will Lose Their Private Health Care Under ObamaCare
Awesome 2: And This Is Going to Cost Double What We Said It Would

-Ace

If you like your doctor, you can have this other doctor over here.

As many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided coverage because of President Obama's healthcare reform law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a new report Thursday.

The figure represents the worst-case scenario, CBO says, and the law could just as well increase the number of people with employer-based coverage by 3 million in 2019.

The best estimate, subject to a "tremendous amount of uncertainty," is that about 3 million to 5 million fewer people will obtain coverage through their employer each year from 2019 through 2022.

Given the CBO's flacking for ObamaCare, and the reliability of government "estimates" (I won't get you pregnant if I just put in the tip), I'm thinking the "worst case" scenario is really the most likely scenario.

But the good news is -- this will cost double what the CBO claimed it would.

The Congressional Budget Office has extended its cost estimates for President Obama's health care law out to 2022, taking in more years of full implementation, and showing that the bill is substantially more expensive -- twice as much as the original $900 billion price tag.

In a largely overlooked segment of the CBO's update to the budget outlook released Tuesday, the independent arm of Congress found that the bill will cost $1.76 trillion between now and 2022.

That only counts the cost of coverage, not implementation costs and other changes.

"The bill spends more than the president promised, it covers fewer people -- probably 2 million fewer people -- and it taxes more than was expected," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.

Sessions notes that while we're dismantling our Navy to save $2.1 trillion, ObamaCare itself costs $2.6 trillion (when you take into account all costs).

Seems like we don't have that money, and people don't like this program.

Breitbart.com notes that while this double-the-costs story broke yesterday, the networks all failed to mention it.

Instead, Dianne Sawyer chose to lush about the economy "heating up."

LINK: http://ace.mu.nu/

News from The Hill:

Supreme Court rules out television cameras for healthcare arguments
By Sam Baker

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected calls to allow television cameras into its chambers during arguments over President Obama's healthcare law.

The court said it would release same-day audio recordings of the arguments, scheduled for March 26-28. It cited the "extraordinary public interest" in the case, which could lead to President Obama's signature domestic achievement being struck down in the midst of the campaign season.

Read the story here.

RedState Morning Briefing

For March 19, 2012

1. Barack Obama's Energy Policy: Unicorn Farts as the Fuel of Tomorrow

On Friday, the President of the United States accused his Republican opponents of being members of the Flat Earth Society because of their demands that the nation increase drilling.

In no small bit of irony, the President who bitterly lamented the rise of ATM's and internet travel options accused the GOP of wanting to bitterly cling to the past.

But what of Barack Obama's energy policy? He likes to tout wind and solar technologies and batteries, but it seems while he accuses the GOP of being flat earthers, the reality is that the President is himself anti-science when it comes to the reality of domestic energy needs.

His solution to fueling our cars amounts to using unicorn farts as gas - which has just as much a chance of happening as the mythic battery powered cross country run.

The facts are pretty simple. As a matter of both science and reality, battery technology is neither good enough nor cheap enough to supply American needs relating to transportation. Even were there batteries available for vehicles, the cost of conversion for the tens of millions of cars on the road right now would be cost prohibitive and increasing fuel standards, resulting in smaller and smaller cars, penalize families. Try piling a family of four in a Prius for a trip to grand mom's house for Spring Break. The luggage and leg room will make for an exciting time.

Even beyond the family car, a battery will not put an 18 wheeler on the road, a 747 in the air, or a locomotive on its rails. Americans depend on crude oil right now and in the future. To cling to the hope of a battery that can meet American automotive needs is anti-science and as realistic as fueling our future with unicorn farts.

2. Flashback to 2009: Administration Policies Sought to Discourage 'Overproduction' of Oil

In May 2009, four months into the Obama presidency, retail gasoline prices averaged $2.32 per gallon. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) wrote Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to express concern about the impact that the Administration's budgeted changes in tax policy would have on the oil and gas industry. Secretary Geithner clearly laid out the Administration position in his letter of response (pdf link).

That was then, this is now.

In just three years' time, retail gasoline prices are up 68%. $4.00+ gasoline prices loom as a key reelection vulnerability for the President; in response, the Administration's rhetoric has shifted to "energy friendly", but its original energy-hostile policies have not changed a whit.

3. 'Intellectual Bankruptcy', Dr. Krugman?

Paul Krugman's op-ed, "Natural Born Drillers" (New York Times, March 15), purports to show with a hard look at the numbers why no thinking, perceptive person could possibly believe that "Drill, Baby, Drill" is a solution to the nation's energy and economic woes:

"[G]iving the oil companies carte blanche isn't a serious jobs program. Put it this way: Employment in oil and gas extraction has risen more than 50 percent since the middle of the last decade, but that amounts to only 70,000 jobs, around one-twentieth of 1 percent of total U.S. employment. So the idea that drill, baby, drill can cure our jobs deficit is basically a joke."

Hmmm. Shall I take the strawman, or the phony statistics first?

: It's heads. Strawman!

Deploy the Reductio ad Hitleram  

NO. 3.
"Hey, you're into organic food? Just like Heinrich Himmler! He was as crazy about it as you are! He had this great plan to feed the entire SS on nothing but organic food. Problem was organic food requires about four times as much land to produce as non-organic food and the Nazis just couldn't grab enough of it. Anyway, not being a Nazi myself I prefer to stick to non-organic food. It's cheaper, and it means there's more land to spare to feed the people who need it. You know, Third World people and Untermenschen like that."  

Tell a joke:  

Q: What's the only thing worse than an incompetent liberal president?

A: A competent liberal president.  

"180" Movie

Check out the video '"180" Movie Changing the Heart of a Nation.'

This is a fantastic documentary that I could not stop watching. Another great tool especially during the current narratives occurring in the political spectrum right now. Must Watch! Darla D.

45 Muslim Doctors Planned U.S. Terror Raids

March 15, 2012

Where's the Coverage? Egyptian Parliament Declares Israel Enemy #1

On March 12, 2012, the Arab Affairs Committee of the newly-elected Egyptian parliament issued a report declaring Israel Egypt's "number one enemy."

According to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, the committee's statement also called for Egypt to, among other things:

· "Reconsider its entire relationship and agreements with this enemy"
· Expel the Israeli ambassador and recall the Egyptian ambassador from Israel

· Support the armed Palestinian struggle against Israel (remember, the Muslim Brotherhood is the parent of Hamas)

· Re-adopt the total Arab boycott of Israel

The house then voted unanimously to support the report. The Egyptian parliament is dominated by leftist parties, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (note the Orwellian terminology), and their even more reactionary allies, the Salafi party.

Last month, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified on Capitol Hill that the Muslim Brotherhood has "pursued social ends" and a "betterment of the political order," and added:

The term "Muslim Brotherhood" ... is an umbrella term for a variety of movements, in the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence...

Clapper later clarified that "he is well aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a secular organization." Is he also aware that they are not working to "pursue social ends" or a "betterment of the political order" and have not "eschewed violence"?

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Rapid Rise of U.S. Mosques: Sign of What's To Come   Mar 17, 2012 12:27 pm

BENADOR: Are "Moderate Muslims" really "Moderate?" Meet the Suave Mohammed ...   Mar 17, 2012 12:38 pm

Boosting Breivik   Mar 17, 2012 12:31 pm

Rapid Rise of U.S. Mosques: Sign of What's To Come   Mar 17, 2012 11:27 am

The Obama Administration's Attack on Clean Elections   Mar 17, 2012 10:45 am

Senator Rand Paul Steps Up to Protect Property Owners from Outlaw Federal Agencies   Mar 16, 2012 09:25 pm

South Africa: Where Christianity is tainted with anti-Semitism   Mar 16, 2012 02:52 pm

BENADOR: Are "Moderate Muslims" really "Moderate?" Part One   Mar 16, 2012 12:08 pm

Global March to Jerusalem: International Campaign to Delegitimize Israel   Mar 15, 2012 11:28 pm

The New Egyptian Parliament Takes Aim at the Camp David Accords   Mar 15, 2012 11:19 pm

Egyptian-Israeli Natural Gas Contract Casualty of Arab spring?   Mar 15, 2012 11:06 pm

Fossil Fuel Production on Federal Lands at 9 Year Low   Mar 15, 2012 09:27 pm

School Choice Momentum Continues Across the Country   Mar 15, 2012 09:18 pm

Side Effects: Doctors Fear Obamacare   Mar 15, 2012 09:11 pm

Iranian Involvement: Marches to Israel's Borders March 30, 2012   Mar 15, 2012 06:12 pm

Calls for Heredia of the Arizona Democratic Party to Retract Slanderous Statements   Mar 15, 2012 10:30 am

A Practical Guide to Situational Awareness   Mar 15, 2012 10:21 am

Under Oath, Alamoudi Ties MAS To Brotherhood   Mar 15, 2012 10:11 am

Does the Market Really Want 'Smart Meter Version 2.0'?   Mar 15, 2012 10:04 am

The Consensus Wants You   Mar 15, 2012 09:55 am

NY Times Refuses to Run Anti-Islam Ad... After Running Anti-Catholic Ad

• Posted on March 14, 2012 at 8:27pm by Tiffany Gabbay 

Soldiers Deck of Cards

Don't miss this.  It is awesome!

A Just War

With the War in Afghanistan dwindling in in the rear-view mirrors of an administration gunning for an exit in time for the election and a conflict in Syria cresting the hill just below the sunset, it may be time to revisit the just war.

 

Whether a war is just or not has nothing to do with multilateral approval. An unjust war can be approved of by a hundred nations. A just war may be entirely unilateral. International parliamentary procedures are a process and like all processes do not make a course of action just or unjust, they only make it legal under international law. Legal and just are not the same thing.

Czechoslovakia was carved up by the Nazis with the assent of most of the civilized nations of the day who agreed that it was the best thing to do for world peace. That wasn't the last time such a thing happened and we keep witnessing repetitions of that horror over and over again.

International law is neither international nor law. It is not consistently applied, and therefore isn't law. It is not international as the majority of the world does not subscribe to it, despite signing agreements to the contrary. What we call international law is not a judicial process, but a political one, an extension of existing international and national power structures which is selectively used to justify their actions.

And even if all these were true, process does not make right, it only achieves a consistent result or a consensus. It cannot tell you whether a course of action is right, only whether it came through the same sausage factory as every other decision did. The sausage factory process achieves a certain amount of consistency which is the next best thing to fairness, it does not however make a thing just.

A just war has nothing to do with multi lateralism or getting a vote through the UN Security Council where the butchers of Beijing rub shoulders with the pet representatives of Vlad the Impaler.

The wars we fight may be roughly divided into three categories.

1. Defensive wars - These are wars fought in response to an attack or a planned attack. They may be fought preemptively to deny a known enemy an advantage, whether it is a weapon or territory so long as it occurs within the context of an existing conflict, whether overt or covert.

2. Moral wars - Wars of aggression fought to prevent another nation from carrying out some unspeakable act such as genocide.

3. Interest wars - These are wars fought primarily to protect commercial interests, maintain regional stability, improve the position of an ally or otherwise alter the map in your favor.

Obviously there is a certain amount of overlap between these three types of conflict. Nations are run by people and people do things for complex reasons. Interest wars are often passed off as moral wars or defensive wars. Often wars have all three components with varying degrees of emphasis and sometimes one type of war turns into another type of war in the middle.

Most wars are primarily interest wars, because few leaders will launch a war from which there is nothing to gain. These gains however are not necessarily national or corporate in the crude, "No Blood for Oil" type of way. If the modern West still fought wars as simple as that, the price of gas would be much lower and Saudi Arabia would be an American colony. 

Friday Afternoon Roundup - And Away We Go...

 

AND AWAY WE GO...

As regular readers know I am headed out to LA to speak at the Skirball Center on "Israel 50 Years Later". The event presented by Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and the David Horowitz Freedom Center will take place at 7 PM on Tuesday March 20th at 2701 Sepulveda Blvd.

You can register and find more information at the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors website. Here's a brief excerpt of the topic.


We read the headlines and each day brings the news that Israel appears to be standing over an abyss, between terrorism, nuclear weapons, international delegitimization, social problems and a host of other challenges, it's not unreasonable to wonder whether Israel will survive.

But to look back at Israel's history is to recognize that its situation has always been precarious, that it has always faced existential challenges that seemed on the verge of tearing it apart.

Israel has faced destruction time and time again, and while today's threats are of a different character than in the past, they are a continuation of a small country's long struggle against the historical imperatives of the West and the East.

Israel exists in defiance of history. In defiance of Longfellow's exclamation in The Jewish Cemetery at Newport that, "What once has been shall be no more". It is predictably unpredictable. There is no one set future for the Jewish state, only many possible futures.

In Israel: 50 Years From Now, we will explore those possible futures, both the good and the bad, in relation to the trends in Israel and the world. Through those possible futures we may begin to see whether the Jewish state will be able to defy the prediction in Longfellow's poem or whether it will once again become a Jewish cemetery.

Read more:

THE INTERFAITH TASKFORCE FOR AMERICA AND ISRAEL (ITAI)

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

Friday, March 16, 2012

Dear ITAI Members and Donors:

ITAI ON THE MOVE...ITAI liaison with the mainline Protestant churches Rev. Arthur Knight has arranged for Joseph Puder to present before the Camden County, NJ Interfaith Ministerium, at Unitarian-Universalist Church in Cherry Hill, NJ, on April 4, 2012...

THE MAINLINE PROTESTANT CHURCHES AND ISRAEL

By: Joseph Puder

During the upcoming General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) scheduled for April 25-May 4, 2012 in Tampa, FL, and the 220^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), June 30-July 7, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA, anti-Israel actions in the form of petitions and overtures calling for some form of boycott, divestment or sanctions against the Jewish State and those who do business with the state are expected to be brought to the floor for a vote.

Influential elements within the mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. and specifically the UMC and PCUSA, have, within the past few years, initiated divestment campaigns against the Jewish State, with some condemning Israel as an "apartheid state."  These churches seek to emulate the campaigns against the "apartheid" regime of South Africa. The punitive measures against Israel, they explain, are in response to Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza. Some go as far as accusing Israel of racism against the Palestinian Arabs.   

These "protectors" of human rights have ignored the endemic efforts by the Arabs/Palestinians to destroy the Jewish State through war, terrorism, and their anticipated success at demographic warfare based on their claims of right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.  And, they have ignored the pervasive teaching of hatred of Jews in Palestinian schools, mosques, and through the Palestinian media. 

Sabeel, the Jerusalem based Ecumenical liberation Theology is an Arab Palestinian Christian institution, which has become a major source of the anti-Israel narrative employed by elements of the mainline Protestant churches.  This dhimmified Arab-Christian group habitually condemns, as human rights violations, Israel's efforts to defend its people from Arab-Palestinian terrorist attacks (road blocks and the construction of the protection fence have eliminated attacks by more than 95%).  Sabeel also encourages anti-Semitism by employing deicide imagery; depicting the Palestinians as the crucified Jesus and the Israelis as the crucifers or, in simple terms, as the modern Christ killers.

Mainline Protestant churches have not sought to divest from Arab Muslim states such as Egypt and Iraq who routinely engage in the "ethnic cleansing" of Christians. Nor do they organize boycott campaigns against Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey for the brutal persecution of their Kurdish minorities.  And, they have not considered labeling Saudi Arabia and Iran as "apartheid states" for discriminating against religious and ethnic minorities.  Additionally, in Saudi Arabia religious worship by Christians or Jews is outlawed and punishable.  The righteous indignation of these Mainline Christians churches finds expression only against Israel. 

When Israel is irrationally singled out for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions for alleged human rights violations against the Palestinians, the only explanation seems to be a deep rooted bias against the Jewish state - which, as the collective, is more acceptable than being anti-Semitic/against individual Jews.  

In the recent issue of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) - a bulletin published by the World Council of Churches (which represents the U.S. mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches), an article entitled "It's Time for Palestine," was featured along with an advertisement for "World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel, May 28-June 3, 2012.  The article calls for member churches faith based communities and civil society organizations to join together in 2012 for a week of advocacy and action in support of an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine.

What is offensive about the term "illegal occupation of Palestine" is that it ignores historical facts.  Israel won the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 defensive war in which the forces of Jordan, Egypt and Syria joined in order to "drive the Jews into the sea." Prior to 1967, the West Bank and Gaza were illegally occupied by Jordan and Egypt respectively. The UN Resolution 242 of 1967 called for "territory for peace."  This meant that Israel, in exchange for peace, would give up territories - the resolution was specific in its wording and did not say all the territories. At Khartoum in September of 1967 the Arab response to this was No Peace, No Recognition, and No Negotiations with Israel.  This then was in keeping with actions previously taken by the Palestinian-Arabs when, in 1947, they rejected the UN Partition Plan that would have given them a state in the West Bank and Gaza.  This action was preceded by their rejection of the terms of the 1937 Peel Commission in which recommendation was made for a state that would have given the Palestinian Arabs 68% of Mandatory Palestine.

In the aftermath of war in 1967 Jordan refused to commit to peace, and the Palestinians re-committed themselves to an armed struggle that they hoped would eliminate the Jewish State and replace it with a so called "secular, democratic Palestine."  Today, as then, there are no examples of a secular democracy in the Arab world - including the Palestinians in Gaza (under Hamas) and in the West Bank (under the Palestinian Authority) - all of which are undemocratic and call for Islamic law (Sharia) to govern in its territory.

In the March 29, 2011 issue of the UMC publication Faith in Action titled "It's Time for Palestine" Rev. John Calhoun writes: "The winds of change are blowing.  For millions across the Middle East, the future will be radically different from the past...Unfortunately, one state's undemocratic, militaristic rule over millions of civilians suffering under its administration looks likely to continue unchanged.  That state is Israel, and those living under its illegitimate control are the Palestinians of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

One mustn't be surprised by the outrageous comments of Rev. Calhoun when using such phrases as "undemocratic and militaristic" with reference to Israel, as the UMC promotes the writings of Palestinian Rev. Mitri Raheb, a lead author of the unbalanced and anti-Israel Kairos Palestine Document of 2009, and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, author of the highly inflammatory book Peace Not Apartheid as the basis for their study materials.

Rev. Calhoun has conveniently overlooked the fact that Gaza is governed by the Islamist terrorist regime of Hamas, which has attacked Israeli civilians with thousands of rockets, and which has vowed never to recognize the Jewish State.  He ignores the fact that it is the obligation of the Israeli government to defend its civilian population under attack from Gaza's Hamas terrorists.   Moreover, most Arabs living in Eastern Jerusalem are the envy of the Arabs elsewhere in the Middle East because of the freedom, democracy, access to health services, and higher standard of living they have achieved under Israeli administration.

Mahmoud Abbas, like his predecessor Yasser Arafat, has had ample opportunities to make a genuine peace with Israel.  Prime Minister Ehud Barak made far reaching concessions to Arafat in July 2000 at the Camp David Summit.  Arafat chose the path of war instead and launched an Intifada in September 2000. In 2008, Mahmoud Abbas rejected the most extensive concession made to date, by the former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. 

This mantra of "occupation" used by the Palestinians and their supporters in the Mainline Protestant churches is merely propaganda.  In reality, Palestinians have governed themselves since 1994, following the Oslo Accords. As historical facts bear out, they could have achieved complete sovereignty in 2000 and 2008, had they cared more for their independence than the destruction of the Jewish State.

For the Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the PCUSA, however, historical facts and truth do not matter. The IPMN continues to push the anti-Israel Kairos Palestine document, and seek punitive measures against Israel, thus exposing their anti-Jewish bias.

RJC Troubled by Results of Latest Gallup Poll about Israel  

The "Israel Gap" Between Rs and Ds
is Large and Growing  

Washington, D.C. (March 16, 2012) --  The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) today released an analysis of support for Israel broken down by political affiliation that reveals a clear "Israel Gap" between the parties. Republican support for Israel is 25 points higher than Democratic support, and according to Gallup, only a bare majority, 53% of Democrats, express sympathy with Israel.

"Democrats are suffering from an 'Israel Gap' and it's gotten worse under President Obama," said Matthew Brooks, RJC executive director.

Gallup, in a poll released recently, asked American voters, "Are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?" An overwhelming 78% of Republicans chose Israel, with 21% choosing the Palestinians or both/neither/no opinion. Among Democrats, a bare majority of 53% chose Israel, with 47% choosing otherwise. Among Independents, support for Israel was 56% with 44% choosing otherwise.

Over the last dozen years of Gallup polling on this question, there has been a clear trend: Republican support for Israel has risen steadily, moving from 60% to a high of 85%, while Democrat support has been relatively flat, at around 50%. Independent support has also moved upward over time, from 42% to a high of 60%.

Gallup's data over time shows a clear difference between Republicans and Democrats on Israel, with strong and increasing support for the Jewish state among Republicans, and lower and relatively unchanged support among Democrats. 

This unmistakable trend should be a wake-up call to Jewish Democratic leaders and those who care abut Israel, indicating that significant efforts should be made to rebuild strong support for Israel in the Democratic Party.   

Source: Crosstab data and graphs supplied by Gallup. February 2012 poll analysis is here - CORRECTED LINK:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/153092/americans-continue-tilt-pro-israel.aspx 

How many of you knew there was a reverse side to our PA State Seal?  

Seal of Pennsylvania

Seal of Pennsylvania (Reverse)

The reverse side, or counterseal, pictures Lady Liberty dominating Tyranny in the form of a lion, along with the warning across the top, "Both Can't Survive."  

If Obama's Past Isn't A Concern, Why Cover It Up?

Posted 03/14/2012  

Friday, March 16, 2012

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


COUNTDOWN TO VICTORY: 235 DAYS TO THE 2012 ELECTIONS


Bishops Battle On

The nation's Catholic bishops have been under tremendous pressure to compromise with the Obama Administration on its mandate requiring religious institutions to pay for abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives in their health insurance plans. There have been mixed signals in recent days about whether a compromise is in the works.

Wednesday the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a five-page statement clarifying its position entitled "United for Religious Freedom." In short, the Catholic Church is not backing down and will fight on, united in its opposition to the mandate. Consider these excerpts:

"We wish to clarify what this debate is -- and is not -- about. This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive... This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block.

This is not about the Bishops' somehow 'banning contraception,' when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church ... to act against Church teachings. ...This is not a fight we want or asked for, but one forced upon us by government on its own timing. ...

"So what is it about? An unwarranted government definition of religion. ...Government has no place defining religion and religious ministry. ...And if this definition is allowed to stand, it will spread throughout federal law, weakening its healthy tradition of generous respect for religious freedom and diversity. ...

"We will continue our vigorous efforts at education and public advocacy on the principles of religious liberty and their application in this case (and others). ...We will continue to pursue legislation to restore the same level of religious freedom we have enjoyed until just recently. And we will continue to explore our options for relief from the courts...

"Most importantly of all, we call upon the Catholic faithful, and all people of faith, throughout our country to join us in prayer ... for the complete protection of our First Freedom... Prayer is the ultimate source of our strength -- for without God, we can do nothing; but with God, all things are possible."

Radical Islam: The Focus Of Evil In The Modern World

Twenty-nine years ago this month, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech before the National Association of Evangelicals in which he described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and "the focus of evil in the modern world." Today, thanks to Ronald Reagan's belief in America and commitment to freedom, the Soviet Union no longer threatens us. But evil remains in the world. The focus of evil in the world 29 years later is radical Islam. Let me give you a few recent examples.

In a speech several days ago, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again lashed out at Israel and the United States, saying, "You [the West] have made investments and are losing face for the sake of a bunch of criminals and are not aware that the Zionist regime is like a rotten tree that you have invested in, but you will lose face. ...the Zionist regime is a dead entity which cannot be brought back to life."

Referring to the recent sanctions imposed by the Obama Administration, Ahmadinejad said, "They sat and plotted for several months, made coordination and conspiracies, schemed the way that from that side, the head of the Big Satan [President Barack Obama] could say that they imposed sanctions on Iran..."

The mullahs in Iran may see Israel as a "rotten tree," but they see America as the "Great Satan." They know America is the greatest force for freedom and liberty in the world. Their desire to destroy Israel is surpassed only by their wish to demolish America.

Underscoring that reality are the comments of Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force. In a speech two weeks ago, Gen. Naqdi said that Iran's "independence and unhindered advance toward perfection is subject to removing the despotic powers [America] and the Zionists. ...As long as America exists, we will not rest. In revealing the truth about America and the Zionists, we must raise public hate against the despotic powers and create the environment for the destruction of America."

The Basij is best known as the regime's "morality police." It was the Basij that brutally attacked pro-democracy protestors in 2009. Tens of thousands of Basij sought martyrdom during the Iran-Iraq War by clearing minefields in advance of the Iranian Army. They are loyal to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and no less fanatical than Hitler's SS.

Part and parcel of radical Islam's hatred of the West is its intolerance toward other faiths. Recently Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, was asked about the proposal of a Kuwaiti politician who wanted to prevent the construction of new churches in Kuwait. Sheikh Abdullah went further than a mere ban on new construction. According to various news reports, he "stressed that Kuwait was a part of the Arabian Peninsula, and therefore it is necessary to destroy all churches in it."

As Raymond Ibrahim notes, the Grand Mufti is not some unknown, fringe cleric, but the highest authority on Islam in Saudi Arabia. He writes, "Imagine what would happen if a Christian counterpart to the Grand Mufti, say the Pope, were to declare that all mosques in Italy must be destroyed; imagine the nonstop Western media frenzy that would erupt."

Many liberal politicians and commentators have been talking an awful lot lately about a so-called "war on women." They are trivializing the government's latest assault on religious liberty. Yet when it comes to radical Islam's very real war on women, these liberals are often silent.

This week a Moroccan teenager committed suicide by ingesting rat poison in order to avoid being forced to marry her rapist. Some on the left vocally opposed the war in Afghanistan after 9/11. But they have little to say about honor killings in the Muslim world or the Taliban throwing acid in the faces of young girls going to school.

This is the reality of radical Islam. It is an ideology of hate. It is the focus of evil in the modern world, and Western Civilization must find the will to combat it and defeat it.
 

ILLUSION OF PERMANENCY: OUR DENIAL AS A NATION

By Frosty Wooldridge
March 8, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

After the five part series on the ramifications of adding 100 million legal immigrants to the United States of America, I received countless letters stating that legal immigration did not constitute a problem. Illegal immigration, however, remains the main problem.

As you can imagine, my jaw continues dropping to the floor when I read such outlandish balderdash. In other words, my bringing to attention the exploding consequences of legal immigration fails to alert most Americans.

Here's a sample from a reader in California our most overpopulated, over-immigrated and overwhelmed state in the nation-not to mention it runs $25 billion in debt, ruined educational systems, exploding jails, gridlocked cities, horrific air pollution, water shortages, bankrupted hospitals, English is a foreign language and it's our first failed state.

Read more: 

Libertarian Scare Tactics Against Enforcing Immigration Laws  Last week anti-tax activist and President of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, declared that ending birthright citizenship would result in a "tax on every child being born."
Full Story

Five Years Later Illegal Aliens Caught in New Bedford Still Not Deported  Many of the 361 workers detained were deported, but others remain in legal limbo.
Full Story

Importing Foreign Doctors No Solution for Ongoing Healthcare Crisis  It is expensive to produce doctors. It is a significant investment by both the individual pursuing a medical degree and our government to help subsidize their education and residency training.
Full Story

Gutierrez Goes to Bat for Illegal Alien Facing Deportation  The reason Gabino Sanchez could be kicked out the country: Nine misdemeanor convictions, in South Carolina and Georgia.
Full Story

Illegal Aliens Thumb Noses at U.S. Immigration Law  President Obama continues to call for amnesty for illegal aliens to bring them out of the 'shadows.' Well, the Administration must be blind because many of them are right in the spotlight. In fact, they brag about it.
Full Story

The Foundation

"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself." --Thomas Jefferson

Government & Politics

ObamaCare Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

ObamaCare was built upon so many lies and deceptions it's hard to keep track, but this week revealed three in particular. What was it that Nancy Pelosi said about having to "pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it"?

Lie Number 1: "Now, add it all up, and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years." --Barack Obama in a September 2009 speech to a joint session of Congress

The Congressional Budget Office at the time did confirm Obama's numbers, but the CBO scores legislation only as written, without any assumptions or reality checks, and therefore accounted for just six years of spending because most provisions of the law don't kick in until 2014. There were other revenue and cost games, too, since it was paramount that the cost be less than the Iraq War so Democrats could sell it as saving money. We weren't fooled then and neither were millions of Americans, but Democrats rammed it through anyway.

This week, the CBO released an updated report that includes three more years of ObamaCare inside that 10-year window. The estimated cost over a decade is now an eye-popping $1.76 trillion, or nearly twice what Democrats told us in 2009. Not only that, but it won't be until next year that we get a truer 10-year cost estimate, assuming the law isn't repealed or overturned by the Supreme Court. That estimate will surpass $2 trillion. Let's hope Justice Anthony Kennedy wakes up on the right side of the bed the day he makes his decision.

Lie Number 2: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." --Barack Obama in August 2009, but repeated often

Obama and his fellow Democrats insisted that ObamaCare was not a government takeover of health care, and that, while all the uninsured would be cared for, none of the currently insured would lose coverage. However, The Hill reports, "Four million Americans can expect to lose their employer-provided healthcare by 2016, according to the revised figures, far more than the 1 million people estimated last year." You can check our math, but that's approximately four million more people than Obama promised in his 2009 speech. By 2022, the CBO says that number could reach 20 million. More employers dropping coverage in favor of paying the penalty means a revenue increase, too, improving ObamaCare's bottom line.

As if to make good news out of broken promises, CBS headlined, "CBO lowers health reform cost estimate." This bit of deception referenced the provision meant to cover the uninsured when the real news was about the overall cost increase. It's true that the coverage cost was revised lower, but that's only because some two million fewer people will be insured than originally estimated, not because of any great savings.

Lie Number 3: "Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." --Barack Obama in the aforementioned September 2009 address

The Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule this week establishing state health care exchanges, and those plans will collect from each premium payer a $1 surcharge to fund abortions. Obama's HHS will use accounting gimmicks to circumvent the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits direct taxpayer funding of abortion. Former Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and other Democrats made a grand show over this issue in 2010, refusing to vote for the health care takeover until Obama included a ban on funding abortion. They got their wish, but Obama hasn't upheld his end of the bargain.

It's becoming more and more important that this unconstitutional atrocity be either struck down by the Supreme Court or repealed by our alleged representatives. The White House has already mapped out a desperate strategy to boost public support. Perhaps it's no wonder that the law's supporters are organizing a prayer vigil as the Court hears arguments March 26. To whom they will be offering prayer is another matter.

What are some other ObamaCare lies? And will the Court overturn it?

Obama Is Losing the Contraception Battle

The media narrative that women are leaving the Republican Party in droves over the free contraception debate doesn't hold up in the very polls that these same news outlets have executed. The Washington Post and The New York Times have frequently reported and editorialized (pretending they know the difference) about how the GOP is losing women because of its stance against the free contraception mandated under ObamaCare. But just as there is no GOP "war on women," there is also no mass exodus of women from the Republican Party.

A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed Obama's approval rating actually dropped four points after the Sandra Fluke controversy erupted. Similarly, Obama lost ground to Mitt Romney in head-to-head matchups before and after the Fluke episode. The New York Times poll also discovered a post-Fluke drop in female support for Obama. Humorously, the bird-cage liner explained it away by reminding readers about margins of error and other statistical anomalies that can affect poll findings -- all valid points that the paper neglected to make during the Bush years.

This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award

"When we start using religion as a bludgeon in politics, we start questioning other people's faith, we start using religion to divide, instead of bring the country together, then I think we've got a problem." --Barack Obama, bludgeoning defenders of religious liberty who oppose his new contraception mandate

Campaign Trail: Spinning the Winning

By all appearances, Rick Santorum had an outstanding week. It began with Saturday's convincing win in Kansas and continued through Tuesday with narrow wins in Alabama and Mississippi -- states Newt Gingrich sorely needed to win to justify his continued presence in the race. Perhaps the bigger story is Mitt Romney's third place finish in the latter two states. Apparently his friendship with NASCAR team owners didn't translate into votes from NASCAR fans.

On the other hand, the media narrative isn't all there is to the story. Thanks to superior organization, Romney's very close third place finishes translated into a fair number of delegates. Adding wins in Hawaii, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, he actually padded his delegate lead this week. The Associated Press has his delegate count at 495 to Santorum's 252, with 1,144 needed to secure the nomination.

After his wins, Santorum took some justifiable shots at the supposedly "inevitable" Romney, who had to spend a lot of money for his showing. Supporters of the former Pennsylvania senator also increased their calls for Gingrich to drop out, arguing that it's already a two-man race. Indeed, the former speaker staked much of his campaign on winning in Georgia and much of the South, and he has thus far failed to do so outside of his home state and neighboring South Carolina. However, the delegate math makes it highly unlikely that either Gingrich or Santorum will win the nomination outright, though they can certainly continue to make it difficult for Romney.

Ron Paul, still with no wins and just 48 delegates under his belt, isn't going anywhere either. On the contrary, as blogger Ed Morrissey points out, "Ron Paul's campaign has worked hard to get its own people into the county and state conventions in order to swing the actual delegate allocations to Paul, and they have significant organizations in these states to push that strategy. Paul needs that not to win the nomination at a brokered convention -- no one thinks Paul can get the nod after having won no states -- but to push for his platform and to get a significant speaking slot, either for himself or his son, or both."

This Week's 'Braying Jackass' Award

"These [Republican] guys don't have a sense of the average folks out there. They don't know what it means to be middle class." --Joe Biden to 87 wealthy Democrats who paid a minimum of $10,000 per couple to attend that particular fundraiser

New & Notable Legislation

Senators Mark Begich (D-AK) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced S. 2188, the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2012." The bill is the Senate version of H.R. 822, which passed the House last November by a vote of 272-154. It would permit any concealed-carry permit holder to carry a concealed handgun in any other state that also issues such permits. Illinois is the only state that has yet to acknowledge that the Second Amendment exists -- all 49 other states permit, to varying degrees, carrying a firearm.

From the Left: Voter ID Challenged

The Department of Justice unilaterally blocked a voter identification law in Texas, claiming it unjustly restricts minority voting rights as outlined in Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This follows a similar action in December against South Carolina's voter ID law, which that state is currently fighting in federal court. The DOJ used statistical gymnastics to claim that the Lone Star State's law discriminates against Hispanics, claiming that Hispanics were 46.5 percent more likely than non-Hispanics to lack proper voter ID. This may seem to be a big difference, but the disparity is derived by comparing the 6.3 percent of Hispanic voters who don't have a driver's license to the 4.3 percent of non-Hispanics voters without them. Additionally, election ID cards in Texas may be obtained free of charge with the same amount of effort as it takes to obtain a library card or board an airplane, as Texas Governor Rick Perry pointed out.

While the Civil Rights Act gives the DOJ the power to review voter laws in the South post-Jim Crow, it has been almost 20 years since the DOJ has challenged one. Georgia passed a voter ID law in 2005 that the DOJ cleared, and Hispanic voter turnout in the state has increased 140 percent. However, the landscape has changed since the 2010 election. Widespread Republican victories on state and local levels produced a series of voter ID laws meant to curb the increasing level of voter fraud taking place among immigrant populations and in urban areas.

Meanwhile, a similar Wisconsin law was blocked because, in the words of Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess, it would "impermissibly eliminate the right of suffrage altogether for certain constitutionally qualified electors."

Recent actions by the Supreme Court have upheld Indiana's voter ID law and also expressed a strong dislike for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act because it essentially places the burden on states to prove their innocence rather than on the DOJ in proving their guilt. This suggests that if the South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin cases rise to that level of judicial review, the High Court might be sympathetic. That will take time, though, and it will certainly drag on past the 2012 elections, giving the DOJ all the time it needs.

Of course, the United Nations Human Rights Council is also looking into U.S. voter ID laws, so the whole matter will no doubt be resolved satisfactorily once the likes of China, Cuba, Libya and Saudi Arabia weigh in.

IRS Goes After the Tea Party

Dozens of Tea Party groups around the country that applied for nonprofit tax exempt status have received letters from the Internal Revenue Service demanding detailed information about the workings of their organizations. According to IRS rules, certain nonprofit organizations are allowed to have political expenses as long as active electioneering is not their primary activity. It is within the agency's right to question how the money collected by these organizations is spent, but the questionnaires received by the Tea Party groups are outrageously intrusive and probe into areas the IRS has no business investigating. Some of the questions include not just how many members a particular Tea Party group may have, but what the members' backgrounds are, who they associate with, and what is discussed at group meetings.

These questionnaires traditionally precede full-blown audits by the IRS that can cripple an organization's ability to function -- probably just what the government has in mind. The agency claims it's merely doing its job in a nonpartisan fashion, but no leftist nonprofits have reported receiving the same high level of attention. Jay Sekulow, an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice, represents 20 Tea Party groups in a harassment case against the IRS. Sekulow reports that some of the applications for tax-exempt status have remained dormant at the agency for close to two years. The timing of the IRS follow-up, just months before a major election, is curious at best.

Economy

Gas Prices: Chu, Task Forces and Taxes

Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been spending his time lately walking back comments he made about gas prices in 2008. He said then, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe," which is roughly $10 per gallon today. In congressional testimony this week, however, Chu said, "I no longer share that view." It is an election year, after all, but even still, Chu wouldn't say he regretted his 2008 comments. "Let me not comment on that," he deflected. We think it remains clear that the administration wants high gas prices to serve their agenda to increase the use of alternative fuels. The trick is keeping that part of the plan hidden.

To that end, the president says that while "we don't have a silver bullet" to fix gas prices, he does have a solution: "[W]e've set up a task force to look into speculation to make sure that folks aren't taking advantage of the situation on the global oil markets." Behold the brilliance.

Don't tell Obama that we need more supply, either. "[D]o not tell me that we're not drilling. We're drilling all over this country," he jeered. "There are a few spots we're not drilling. We're not drilling in the national mall. We're not drilling at your house." However, most drilling is taking place on private land, and, according to the Institute for Energy Research, fossil fuel production on federal lands is at a nine-year low. Even Obama tacitly acknowledges the supply problem when he floats the idea of tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That's a cynical political move and an improper use of the reserve, but a tacit admission nonetheless.

It's also possible that taxes have something to do with high prices. We know that doesn't fit with his re-election narrative, but as it turns out, oil companies pay more than their "fair share." In fact, the Tax Foundation estimates that between 1981 and 2008, oil and gas companies paid more in taxes than they earned in profits. Just remember, though, the oil companies are the greedy ones.

What can be done to lower gas prices?

Income Redistribution: Picking (More) Winners and Losers

On the surface, Barack Obama's idea of spending $1 billion for a National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) sounds plausible, but the details tell the real story. To kick things off, the president will bypass Congress and immediately spend $45 million -- originally intended for the departments of Defense and Commerce and others -- on a "pilot institute" on innovation with the exact location yet to be determined. We suspect the location could depend on the need to pick up a swing state's electoral votes.

Of course, the push will be for manufacturing that focuses on "green" technology, so industries that don't create politically correct widgets need not apply. After being burned by continuing scandals such as the Department of Energy's subsidies to Solyndra and at least 19 other politically correct companies, as well as the fallout from a $10 million award to Philips Corporation for making an "affordable" $50 LED light bulb to replace the 79-cent incandescent variety, it appears the government will use the NNMI as a handy scapegoat for more failures certain to come.

Critics point out that it's another case of government interference in the market, but as Pam Villarreal, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, noted, "I'm a little bit confused that he hasn't renewed the research and development tax credit [in the FY2013 budget]. ... Why have a new initiative when you haven't extended the existing ones you have?" The answer is quite simple: The administration can't control who qualifies for the tax credit, but they get to pick the sites where NNMI will locate and who qualifies. Call it another innovation in command and control economics.

'Buffett Rule' Doesn't Apply to Buffett Subsidiary

Billionaire Warren Buffett gladly lent his name to Barack Obama's "soak the rich" tax proposal. Known as the "Buffett Rule," it says that millionaires ought to pay no less than 30 percent in taxes. When it comes to Buffett's own corporate empire, however, he sure likes to hang on to his money. Last November, NetJets Inc., owned by Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway holding company, contended it was due a rebate of $642.7 million in imposed taxes, interest and penalties. It argued that a federal rule assessing a ticket tax to NetJets clients didn't apply. Last week the IRS struck back, countersuing the company for $366 million.

While it's quite possible NetJets isn't, as the IRS sees things, guilty until proven innocent, this seems like hypocrisy on Buffet's part. He advocates that people of his station pay their "fair share," but the business owner in him is fighting tooth and nail -- and paying lobbyists quite handsomely -- to avoid what he sees as "unnecessary" taxes. Then again, he's getting a taste of what the rest of us have to put up with on a smaller scale when we run afoul of the tax man.

Security

Warfront With Jihadistan: U.S. Soldier Kills 16 Afghans

The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating rapidly. Just weeks after U.S. troops accidentally burned terrorist-defaced Korans, setting off the usual outrage, rioting and killing among adherents of the Religion of Peace™, a U.S. soldier threw napalm on the fire allegedly by methodically murdering 16 Afghan civilians last Sunday. Nine of the dead were children and three were women. Eleven of the victims were from the same family. The shooter, reportedly a staff sergeant with two children of his own at home, was assigned to a Special Operations Forces detachment that, ironically and sadly, was training local self-defense forces to protect Afghan villagers from the Taliban. The soldier, whose identity hasn't been disclosed, surrendered and is now in U.S. custody. Investigators say that alcohol played a role in the shootings and that the soldier had seen a close friend grievously wounded by an IED the day before.

Naturally, the Taliban vowed revenge for the murders, and unfortunately the incident lent credence to their claim that foreign troops are callous killers of Muslims. The Taliban failed to note their own frequent mass murders of Muslims. Barack Obama, in the first of his many -- and, in this case, actually appropriate -- apologies, called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to express his "shock and sadness" and to make clear that the U.S. will "hold fully accountable anyone responsible." He added, "We're heartbroken over the loss of innocent life."

Needless to say, this event hasn't helped relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan, nor will it help to stop the erosion of support at home for the Afghan war. Karzai is calling for U.S. troops to pull back to U.S. bases, and the Taliban is suspending negotiations (not that those were going anywhere). Here at home, even Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich joined others in Washington who claim it's time for the U.S. to quit, saying that the U.S. mission is "not doable" and it's time "to back off that region." However, the U.S. ambassador warned against leaving Afghanistan earlier than planned, and both Obama and visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out any dramatic changes to the late 2014 withdrawal date.

The diminished support here at home and the erosion of trust, such as it is, between U.S. and Afghan forces will only increase the risks our troops face. This matter could incite further incidents of Afghan soldiers turning on and killing U.S. troops, as well as emboldening Taliban fighters. The now-muddled Afghan mission and the approaching withdrawal date will also affect troop morale, which can only further raise the risks. The U.S. outlook for Afghanistan is very grim, indeed.

Department of Military Correctness: Enterprise's Final Deployment

The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) departed on its 22nd and final deployment this week. When the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier returns later this year, it will be deactivated and eventually decommissioned, marking the end of more than 50 years in service. We certainly hope CVN-65 doesn't share the same fate as the previous Enterprise -- the World War II carrier CV-6 was dismantled for scrap. There are possible plans to preserve the island of the carrier, but nothing is finalized.

With the decommissioning, the Navy will no longer have a ship named "Enterprise," unless that name is bestowed upon CVN-80. The unfortunate tradition now is to name carriers after undeserving politicians -- the USS Ronald Reagan being an exception. Jimmy Carter and John Murtha happen to serve as the most offensive examples. Indeed, ship names have become little more than political cookies. We mean no disrespect, but naming a ship the USS Gabrielle Giffords after the former Arizona Democrat representative is not terribly appropriate. She has bravely persevered in her recovery after being shot in the head last year, but how about a ship named after a Founding Father first?

What are appropriate names for naval ships?

Culture

'Non Compos Mentis': The Obama Flag

The Democrat headquarters in Lake County, Florida, flew an American flag that was a disrespectful insult to our nation and to the veterans who have given life and limb defending it. The flag bore a picture of Obama in the blue field instead of the 50 stars. The counterfeit flag flew just below Old Glory until local veterans complained. A small group of veterans took pictures and gave a copy of the federal flag code to Nancy Hurlbert, chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party.

She says the flag flew without complaint since she received it as a gift two months ago, and she not only didn't understand the complaint, but also implied that is was based on racism. "It leads me to believe that it's not about the flag," she said. "Certain elements cannot accept Barack Obama as president." Though Hurlbert took the flag down, she wouldn't promise to not fly it again. First, she said, "We want to find out what our legal rights are." Pardon us, but we believe the veterans already supplied that information to her.

To add insult to injury, the flag, which is available online for $12.95, is made in China. We wonder if leftists would be upset at its burning, or if that would be considered free speech.

Share some words of wisdom with Florida Democrats.

Village Academic Curriculum: Heating Up the Classroom

Once upon a time, science class meant studying things such as biology, gravity and the speed of light. Now, if some groups have their way, science classes across the country will become labs for developing global warming alarmists. Next month, several national organizations -- including the National Research Council, part of the congressionally chartered National Academies -- will unveil science education standards that teach as fact manmade global warming. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the groups "are working from a document they drew up last year that says climate change is caused in part by manmade events, such as the burning of fossil fuels" and that "rising temperatures could have 'large consequences' for the planet." In other words, no debating theory, no questioning the source, no examining all of the evidence, just calling a political position "settled science."

That's because the "proof" of man-induced global warming is hardly settled science. In fact, the global warming camp can't even meet its own standards for what constitutes reliable evidence that the earth is heating up -- namely that "[i]n order to separate human-caused global warming from the 'noise' of purely natural climate fluctuations, temperature records must be at least 17 years long." Not only have temperatures not "warmed" over the last 17 years but they've actually been dropping since 2005. Naturally, climate alarmists have no answer for this; hence, their need to propagate their indoctrination of our school-age children. Get ready -- the debate over global warming guidelines in the classroom is about to get hot, even if the climate isn't.

Administration to Defend Mt. Soledad

In a rare move to defend religious liberty, the Obama administration decided to defend the Mt. Soledad War Memorial, which includes a 29-foot cross. The Justice Department filed briefs Wednesday asking the Supreme Court to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court's 2011 ruling that the memorial is an unconstitutional "establishment" of religion. Frankly, we're rather shocked to find ourselves in total agreement with something written by the Obama DOJ: "The decision below, if permitted to stand, calls for the government to tear down a memorial cross that has stood for 58 years as a tribute to fallen service members. Nothing in the Establishment Clause compels that result, because the Establishment Clause does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm." Thirty-four members of Congress filed a separate legal brief in support of the memorial. We have followed this case for several years, and we hope the Supreme Court takes it up and acknowledges the First Amendment.

Faith and Family: 'Wrongful Birth'

An Oregon couple won a wrongful birth lawsuit last Friday and was awarded nearly $3 million. What is "wrongful birth," you may ask? The couple convinced a jury that their daughter should not have been born because she has Down syndrome, which the woman's doctor assured her was not the case while the girl was in utero. The couple contends that they would have aborted their daughter and now face the financial burden of raising her. It is appalling that a jury voted 12-0 and awarded this couple $3 million for the admission that they would have killed their child if they had only known. Granted, raising special needs children can be expensive, but we mourn the fact that the culture of death is so pervasive -- at least in Oregon -- that a human being can be legally declared to have been wrongfully born.

And Last...

We Tennessee boys ain't from around there, but we hear that New Yorkers sometimes make fun of the smell emanating from New Jersey. Given the news up there this week, that's little wonder. Police, firefighters and other Trenton city workers were down to their last bit of toilet paper after funding got clogged in the city council. Fortunately, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals came to the rescue, providing six months of free rolls. Of course, they're printed with a message from PETA: "Slaughterhouses are so filthy that more than half of all meat is contaminated with fecal bacteria." We'd say toilet paper is the only suitable place for a PETA slogan, but we don't want to be accused of a nasty smear.

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

Today's Headlines:  Friday, March 16, 2012

After Film Warning Kids Not to Call Others 'Jerks,' Sebelius Tells Kids to Say: 'You're Being a Jerk'

65 Percent of Union Members Say Obama is More Liberal Than They Are

Obama Administration to Defend Cross on Mt. Soledad War Memorial

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Obama Administration Takes Credit for Job-Creating Trade Deal, As Republicans Ask What Took So Long

Obama Calls Critics of His Alternative Energy Plans: 'Founding Members of Flat Earth Society'

CBO: Regulations, Taxes Can Hurt Small Businesses

Afghan Soldier Killed a U.S. Marine Last Month, But Pentagon Didn't Reveal the Treachery

Sen. DeMint: GOP Medicare Reform Plan Is 'Kryptonite' to Democrats

DEA: An Established 'Nexus' Between Drug Traffickers and Terrorism Exists

Obama Administration Spending Millions to Keep Nursing Home Residents Out of the Hospital

COMMENTARY:

Hard-Rocking Hypocrisy
By L. Brent Bozell III
You know it's election season when Republican candidates get angry phone calls from liberal musicians telling them not to use their old music (such as "Survivor" whacking Newt Gingrich for using "Eye of the Tiger" from 1982). Meanwhile, Democrats are handed new anthems on a silver platter written with their re-elections in mind.

Rush and the New Blacklist
By Patrick J. Buchanan
The left has captured and now controls the culture, establishing a new regime called Political Correctness. The new mortal sins are not filthy talk or immoral conduct, but racism, sexism, homophobia and nativism.

The Myth of "Middle-Class" Uncle Joe
By Michelle Malkin
The Obama White House is once again drawing on the fantastical myth of a middle-class Joe Biden to portray Republicans as out-of-touch elitists. Although Biden's family came from humble beginnings, the wheeler-dealer politician and his family (including two lobbyist sons) have reaped the benefits of public office for nearly a half-century.

An Apple a Day
By Rich Galen
I have become something of an iPad geek. Since I ordered my iPad 3, I have been tracking its progress from Shenzhen, China, to Chek Lap Kok, to Hong Kong, to Anchorage, to Louisville where it sat until yesterday afternoon when it started on the last leg of its trip to my desk in downtown Your Nation's Capital.

NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:

The Battle of Athens: Restoring the Rule of Law

In 1946 a group of WWII veterans took on the corrupt officials who had gone too far by taking the ballot boxes with intent to rig the votes.

The Troubled Mind of Eric Holder

The position of Attorney General of the United States of America ought to command the highest level of respect. It is among the highest stations in American life: chief law enforcement officer of a constitutional republic that stands, like no other country in the world, for the concept of equality before the law.

Yet during the tenure of Eric Holder, the Justice Department has become anything but a neutral arbiter. Indeed, who you are - and how that identity fits into the political schema of the left - is the most accurate predictor of what kind of treatment you'll receive from the DOJ.