912 Patriots of Lower Bucks - Your Daily Updates ALL in ONE Place!
January 22, 2013
Quote:
"We can meet our destiny -- and that destiny is to build a land here that will be, for all mankind, a shining city on a hill. I think we ought to get at it."
~ Ronald Reagan in the final 1980 presidential debate
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)
If you wish to unsubscribe (and we hope you don't) please click the "safe unsubscribe" link.
Obama's ATF Nominee on DOJ's Fast and Furious Design Team
by Matthew Boyle19 Jan 2013
As part of President Barack Obama's 23-point gun control plan, he nominated Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones-who currently doubles right now as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives-to be the ATF director.
Jones was personally a part of the high-ranking Department of Justice unit that first met on October 26, 2009, to create the new DOJ policy that was used to justify "gunwalking" in Operation Fast and Furious. In Fast and Furious, the ATF "walked" roughly 2,000 firearms into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. That means through straw purchasers the agency allowed sales to happen and didn't stop the guns from being trafficked, even though they had the legal authority to do so and were fully capable of doing so.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican citizens-estimates put it around at least 300-were killed with these firearms.
Obama nominated Jones after he said in his gun control plan that the "ATF has not had a confirmed director for six years. There is no excuse for leaving the key agency enforcing gun laws in America without a leader. It is time for Congress to confirm an ATF director."
According to a congressional report from House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley, Jones was one of several senior DOJ officials in the meeting. Before the meeting, then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden disseminated a strategy that became the new law enforcement platform on which gunwalking was based.
Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog
Forget Wal-Mart and skip your local gun show. The murderers of tomorrow will not be found wearing orange vests at your local sporting goods store. They won't have NRA memberships or trophies on their walls.
You won't find them in America. Look for them in Obamerica.
67% of firearm murders took place in the country's 50 largest metro areas. The 62 cities in those metro areas have a firearm murder rate of 9.7, more than twice the national average. Among teenagers the firearm murder rate is 14.6 or almost three times the national average. Those numbers are from six years ago. They have grown worse since.
Those are the crowded cities of Obamerica. The places with the most restrictive gun control laws and the highest crime rates. These are the places where the family is broken, money comes from the government and immigrants crowd in from some of the most violent parts of the world bringing with them their own organized crime. These are also the places that have run by Democrats and their political machines for almost as long as they have been broken.
Obama won every major city in the election, except for Jacksonville and Salt Lake City. And the higher the death rate, the bigger his victory. He won New Orleans by 80 to 17 where the murder rate is ten times higher than the national average. He won Detroit, where the murder rate of 53 per 100,000 people is the second highest in the country and twice as high as any country in the world, including the Congo and South Africa. He won it 73 to 26. And then he celebrated his victory in Chicago where the murder rate is three times the statewide average.
Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog
We often talk about a culture war, but we don't usually talk about what that means beyond protests over movies and art exhibits.
Culture is programming. The culture war is a programming conflict. Ideas are code. They're viruses. They're memes.
Our form of code is communication. A man alone isn't an island, he's one of those feral wolf children that sometimes turn up in abusive households or backward countries. And those children are never fully human because they are missing something basic. They have never been shaped by talking with another member of their species.
The communication that we engage in, through reading and talking, comes to define who we are. It programs us with concepts and ideas, which we bash up against other concepts and ideas, both very sophisticated and very simple.
Brainwashing is the hostile takeover of a human mind. The most effective way to brainwash someone is to take a lonely individual and embed him into a peer group which bombards him or her with love and acceptance that is conditional on accepting an idea or belief.
That is how cults do it and it works frighteningly well. Governments attempt to replicate it on a national scale, but it never works as well as it does in a compartmentalized cult or ideological cell. And as a history of Communist groups around the world shows, the two can be very hard to tell apart.
The second most effective way is to take that individual and place him at the disposal of people who have complete control over him. This is how police extract false confessions on a regular basis, sometimes even without meaning to. And at the opposite end of the law enforcement scale, this is how Stockholm Syndrome works.
People adapt to the group. Unlike animals, we are verbal creatures. We depend less on non-verbal signals for flocking behavior and more on direct communication to tell us where the group is going and what we are supposed to do to fit in with it. That is why controlling communication also means control of the group.
Can You Guess How Many Straw Man Arguments Were in Obama's Speech?
The Blaze | Mytheos Holt | Jan. 21, 2013 5:20pm
President Obama has an, at times, well-deserved reputation for delivering his speeches well. Certainly, the president made an impression today when he delivered his second inaugural address calling for a bolder, more expansive government that would be committed increasingly to the principles of liberalism, with characteristic soaring rhetoric.
Unfortunately, another characteristic was also in evidence in Obama's speech: namely, his tendency to argue against positions that nobody holds (and by extension, to mischaracterize his opponents' views so as to make them easier to argue against). In logic, this unfortunate tendency is referred to as a "straw man fallacy" and it was well-worn in President Obama's speech today - so well-worn that at times, he seemed to cough up a new straw man fallacy with every sentence. How many of these arguments in bad faith did the President use? Read on as we list each one and explain their fallacious nature.
Hint: one logical fallacy every 2 minutes, on average.
Topic: Resisting Federal Gun Control and Registration
Where: Warminster VFW Post,
645 Louis Dr, Warminster, PA
(1/10th Mile east of Street Rd (Rt 132) Between Rts 263 and 332)
When: Monday January 28 2013, 7 to 9 PM
The recent tragedy in Newtown, CT has shocked our country. Unfortunately, the media and liberal politicians are using this evil act to demonize the 2nd Amendment and law-abiding citizens. Draconian gun control is being called for to exploit this tragedy. It is yet another step in their ultimate goal of weakening the American citizenry and consolidating further power and control into the federal government.
THE THREATS
Vice President Biden's task force released recommendations that calls for many semi-automatic rifles and 30 round magazines to be banned.
Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) is introducing legislation that will affect up to 75% of all lawfully owned guns and 100% of all law-abiding gun owners. This bill could require amongst other things:
current gun owners to register themselves as if pre-criminals
registration of firearms and creation of federal tracking database
force owners to pay an annual tax in order to keep their guns.
ban the production and/or sale of many firearms and magazines
require that firearms be surrendered to the government upon the owner's death and not be able to be transferred to living relatives, etc.
Mr. Obama has publicly stated that he will use Executive Orders to implement gun control if Congress should resist implementing severe gun control measures. This is an unconstitutional usurpation of authority and all about CONTROL.
History has demonstrated repeatedly - Gun registration is precursor to gun confiscation!!
A CALL TO ACTION
This meeting will bring together concerned, law-abiding gun owners to discuss:
these gun control activities in Washington DC, and
the ACTIONS we should and will take together as a free people to stop this legislation and power grab.
Now is the time to get actively involved, and draw a line in the sand. If we lose the 2nd amendment, there will be no limits to what can done to us.
Spread the word and pass this notice on.
Citizens of Bucks, Montgomery and other counties welcome.
Rep. Metcalfe will be holding a press conference on Tuesday, January 22, beginning at 11 a.m. in the Capitol Media Center, Representative Metcalfe will be joining with other legislators to announce the reintroduction of the "Pennsylvania Open Workforce Initiative." This package of legislation would make Pennsylvania the 25th Right to Work State.
UN Agenda 21 Seminar will be held at
Friendship Fire Hall - 610 South 2nd Avenue, Lebanon PA, 17042
January 26th from 9:00 to 12:00.
Registration will take place from 9:00 to 9:30 and then the Seminar will begin at 9:30 sharp.
John Anthony's presentation is 90 minutes long and this will be followed by Bill O'Neill's presentation on the success success of dealing with Sustainable Development in Lower Makefield, PA.
Not supported by TPP - individual - Saturday, Feb. 2nd - Rally on 2nd Amendment Rights from 12-3 National Mall across from White House.- call Lil at 215/547-6136 if interested in going by car, train.
February 15 - March 27, 2013 - Debt Ceiling: Sometime in this date range we are expected to reach the debt ceiling (Technically we have already hit the debt ceiling, but this is the date range when we will reach a point where the Treasury can no longer implement "extraordinary measures" to meet our spending obligations.
February 28, 2013 - Sequestration: The "fiscal cliff" bill created a new manufactured crisis that will happen sometime at the end of February. This is when the sequestration can was kicked down the road.
March 31, 2013 - Continuing Resolution: The current Continuing Resolution that the government is operating under expires on March 31. This means that they will have to pass a CR between now and then.
April 15, 2013 - Budget Resolution: This is the date by law in which both Houses should have a budget resolution passed. We are already hearing that the President is late in submitting his budget, the House is reporting that they will not meet their deadline for a budget, and the Senate... well they haven't passed a budget in over 1,350 days.
Any questions, holler.
Lil
Rob Boysen Lil Boysen Bill Harper
Tea Party Patriots PA State Coordinator, S.E. Region Co-Coordinator Co-Coordinator
Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots Group Coordinator Communications Coordinator, Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots-Lower Bucks
Price: $30/per person includes buffet dinner at Cactus Willies, Maryland
Departure: The bus leaves from St. Isidore Church at 8:00 AM
Snacks will be provided Contact Sandy 215-538-1390 for details
Bring your lunch
Entertainment on the bus
CCG Patriots,
There is no more fundamental Constitutionally guaranteed right than the RIGHT TO LIFE. Over 55 million babies have been robbed of their right to life since Roe v. Wade in the mass genocide of abortion. If you believe that abortion is a crime against the innocent and a plague which must be removed from our land, please DO something about it! Join us and tens of thousands of other believers in every American's right to life at the 40th annual MARCH FOR LIFE in Washington DC on January 25th.
You will make your voice heard on behalf of the innocent babies who are murdered every day and will be inspired and encouraged to fight on as courageous pro-life leaders in Congress share their passion for life. Following the rally, in the Congressional office building, you will have an opportunity to meet personally with Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick and other pro-life legislators to encourage them to support vital pro-life legislation. We must continue to push for the complete defunding of Planned Parenthood which, according to Sandy, in 2011-12 was subsidized with half a Billion dollars of our money which supported the killing of 333,964 babies.
One of the most enjoyable ways to participate in the March is to join Sandy Slater, president of the Bucks County Pro-Life Coalition and CCG Press Liaison, on the bus trip from St. Isidore's Church, that she organizes every year. Sandy will update you on pro-life legislation on the trip down so you can talk to your representative. Snacks, water, a comfortable ride with fellow pro-lifers, and dinner at a great buffet are all included for only $30. Contact Sandy to sign up today (see attached flyer and info below).
Please
copy and post this flyer
at your church (or organize your own church bus/van). We must engage others in ACTION to fight this holocaust. Hope to see you there, Jaime
From SANDY SLATER :
You may know that the wonderful founder of the DC March for Life, Nellie Gray died at the age of 86 this past August. She had led the March for Life for 40 years. She is being succeeded by a board member, Jeanne Monahan. This March also marks the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.
The purpose of the e-mail is to advise you that our Federal Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick again will meet with the participants in this event who are from Dtistrict 8. Because of the crowd and the number of congressmen who tried to accommodate us in DC last year, he would like to have a separate room for Bucks County District 8. This should enable better organization. I know some of the churches who are going to the March but probably not all. Therefore you may get another e-mail as well.
If you are planning to go to the March and would like to meet with Rep. Fitzpatrick, please respond to this e-mail to advise and possibly your number. He is making himself available between 2 & 5 PM on the day of the March 1/25/13. I do not know the place yet.
Another reason for the e-mail is if you have a particular concern or question, and these should be directed toward pro-life, you may want to formulate that beforehand to help him in helping you. There are many pro-life bills that have been introduced but they will have to be re-introduced
Sandy
600 Memorials for 55 Million Babies
Next Tuesday, January 22, 2013, the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling which legalized abortion on demand, pro-life advocates across America are being urged to memorialize the 55 million pre-born babies who have been aborted since that ruling 40 years ago on that date.
When people want to express their sorrow for tragic deaths, they often bring symbols of their grief to the sitesof the deaths, including candles, flowers and messages. When children are killed, those symbols often include stuffed animals and balloons, such as for the recent school massacre in Newtown. Pro-lifers can help commemorate the 55 million pre-born babies who were aborted before they could even take a breath.
RNC for Life is urging those who value the sanctity of life to remember those innocent babes by placing flowers, balloons and stuffed animals at the approximately 600 abortion facilities across America next Tuesday. We also encourage you to pray silently in front of the abortion facility after placing your memorial.
You don't have to spend much time at the abortuary and you don't have to spend much money on the symbols you place there. But these memorials - hopefully 600+ of them - will send a message to all who see them: Some of the 55 million innocents were killed HERE and we grieve for them.
We hope that these spontaneous memorials will be placed at every abortuary, accompanied by sweet reminders of unborn children and even messages to those innocent babies. We are confident that, in seeing these hundreds of memorials with thousands of participants, America will come to realize the magnitude of the horror that abortion is and has been for four decades. A flyer suitable to distribute is available here which will give you specific suggestions.
Please forward this to everyone you know who believes in the sanctity of Life. We must not let this infamous anniversary go by without memorializing these babes who have been murdered in the womb at the rate of about 3300 EVERY DAY!
Thank you for your help.
Dear NR Friend,
It's time to lift ourselves off the mat, shake off the cobwebs, get reoriented, and start to fight back, to fight for our principles, to fight for our great nation.
It's time to honestly assess the conservative movement's priorities and to forge the way ahead.
That's why our friends at the National Review Institute are sponsoring an important, must-attend conference this January 25-27 in Washington, a critical summit where we can meet, talk, and forge The Future of Conservatism.
Your participation is vital. The National Review Institute's conservative summit will feature a tremendous line-up of leading conservatives and libertarians (and even a controversial figure or two) who will take part in developing a new and revitalized message for our movement. Confirmed speakers to date include
Gov. Scott Walker (WI), Gov. Bobby Jindal (LA), Gov. Bob McDonnell (VA), Rep. Paul Ryan (WI), Sen. Ted Cruz (TX), AG Ken Cuccinelli (VA), Mark Steyn, William Bennett, Charles Krauthammer, Jim DeMint, Larry Kudlow, Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, Jonah Goldberg, Michael Mukasey, Artur Davis, Rich Lowry, Mona Charen, Ralph Reed, Monica Crowley, Joe Scarborough, Mia Love, Robert Costa, Andrew McCarthy, John Allison, James Pethokoukis, Harold Hamm, Arthur Brooks, Maggie Gallagher, Kellyanne Conway, Kathryn Lopez, Reihan Salam, Mark Krikorian, Jay Nordlinger, John O'Sullivan, Heather Higgins, Peter Thiel, Darcy Olsen, Rob Long, Charles Kesler, Ed Whelan, John Podhoretz, John Fund, Ross Douthat, John Hood, Yuval Levin, Amity Shlaes, Tim Phillips, Travis Brown, and many more.
Be there as we listen to, engage, talk with, and derive inspiration from top conservative thinkers, writers, and politicians. The Future of Conservatism Summit will be a critical and memorable gathering, where wide-ranging discussion and debate will forge a successful vision for the movement and the cause of liberty.
The cost for the Summit, which includes participation in all events (receptions on Friday and Saturday nights, dinner on Saturday, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, lunch on Saturday and Sunday, plus panel sessions, debates, speeches, and "Night Owls") is only $250 a person (which doesn't even cover the per-person food bill!).
The agenda / itinerary is still being finalized as new speakers are being added, but here are some highlights:
Lunch speeches Governors Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal, Senator Ted Cruz, and former Congressman Artur Davis
Dinner speeches by Jim DeMint and Bill Bennett
Breakfast speeches by Congressman Paul Ryan and Gov. Bob McDonnell
Rich Lowry discusses the state of the movement with Charles Krauthammer
a Saturday "Night Owl" with Mark Steyn, Jonah Goldberg
a Friday "Night Owl" with Laura Ingraham, Kathryn Lopez, Monica Crowley, Mona Charen, and Mia Love
Larry Kudlow hosts a panel on "The Way Out of the Fiscal Mess"
Hugh Hewitt and Mark Krikorian debating immigration policy
Panels on "Selling Capitalism," the Constitution, what's being achieved in the states, demographics, energy, foreign policy, marriage,
and much more
If you've been to a previous NRI Summit, you know how invigorating they can be. They are -- and later this month will once again be -- an ideal opportunity to learn, to contribute, to network, to energize.
Please join us (NRI has made this especially affordable so you can attend). Get complete (developing) information www.nrinstitute.org/summit. You can also register there.
And you can get a special rate on a great hotel room at the Omni Shoreham Hotel -- do that here.
"FrackNation," a film by investigative journalist Phelim McAleer, will be broadcast on Jan. 22, 2012 at 9 p.m. ET according to The Hollywood Reporter. AXS TV is a cable network owned by Mark Cuban, Ryan Seacrest and entertainment companies AEG and CAA.
In a press release, McAleer said of the film, "FrackNation has been described as the first 'pro-fracking film.' I would describe it as pro-journalism and pro-truth. It asks hard questions of the environmental movement and its campaigns. And they seem to not like difficult questions."
In the film, McAleer travels across the U.S. and interviews people on both sides of the fracking issue, including farmers who have leased their property for natural gas drilling and say it is safe, as well as others who want to lease their lands, but cannot due to bans on the practice. He also scrutinizes claims made by Josh Fox, the anti-fracking filmmaker of Gasland.
The new documentary film was funded through Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website, and was co-directed by McAleer, his wife Ann McElhinney and their colleague Magdalena Segieda. "FrackNation's" debut will come just a couple weeks after the anti-fracking drama "Promised Land" starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski hits movie theaters nationwide.
The timing is intentional and meant to urge debate following "Promised Land's" release, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cuban said "Of course the timing is relevant."
"Promised Land" will merely be the newest entertainment media attempt to demonize the practice of fracking, following episodes of TV programs like "Rizzoli & Isles." The U.S. news media, when they talk about fracking also often portray it negatively. The New York Times ran an entire series of misleading reports in 2011 about fracking and continued to attack the process, even after the paper's ombudsman criticized the Times' coverage.
McAleer has made two previous documentaries, Not Evil Just Wrong and Mine Your Own Business.
Friendship Fire Hall - 610 South 2nd Avenue, Lebanon PA, 17042
January 26th from 9:00 to 12:00.
Registration will take place from 9:00 to 9:30 and then the Seminar will begin at 9:30 sharp. John Anthony's presentation is 90 minutes long and this will be followed by William O'Neal's presentation on the success of his efforts in dealing with Sustainable Development in Upper and Lower Makefield.
If you choose to pay the registration for this event in advance you can send payment to
Sue Rodkey (Treasurer)
814 Walnut Street
Lebanon PA, 17042
Cost is $20/person or $30/couple - Twp Supervisors get in free. Make checks payable to The Lebanon 9-12 Project. Please RSVP to us, central.montco.ptpp@gmail.com if you want to go so I can give them a headcount.
Sam Rohrer, President of the PA Pastors Network, will be speaking at the Coalition for Advancing Freedom's January meeting. January 22, 2013 at 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Hilton Garden Inn, 815 East Blatimore Pike (Rt 1), Kennett Square, Pa
E15, a higher blend of ethanol and gasoline, has rolled out in a handful of states. But its use in older vehicles is generating warnings from AAA, which says E15 could be harmful to pre-2012 vehicles.
The AAA says the Environmental Protection Agency and gasoline retailers should halt the sale of E15, a new ethanol blend that could damage millions of vehicles and void car warranties.
AAA, which issued its warning Friday, says just 12 million of more than 240 million cars, trucks and SUVs now in use have manufacturers' approval for E15. Flex-fuel vehicles, 2012 and newer General Motors vehicles, 2013 Fords and 2001 and later model Porsches are the exceptions, according to AAA, the nation's largest motorist group, with 53.5 million members.
"It is clear that millions of Americans are unfamiliar with E15, which means there is a strong possibility that many may improperly fill up using this gasoline and damage their vehicle," AAA President and CEO Robert Darbelnet tells USA TODAY. "Bringing E15 to the market without adequate safeguards does not responsibly meet the needs of consumers."
On Monday, President Barack Obama nominated former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be his next Secretary of Defense in succession to Leon Panetta. Chuck Hagel's record is one of being a frightening and dangerous apologist for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hizballah, as well as for the Iranian terrorist regime, while being arguably one of the most vicious and hostile critics of Israel. The ZOA believes that appointing Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary would also serve to confirm the fears that many have that President Obama is no friend of Israel and is not serious about stopping Iran's nuclear program.
ACTION:
Please call your U.S. Senators to urge President Obama not to nominate Chuck Hagel and to vote against his appointment if Hagel's name goes forward for Secretary of Defense. You can reach all U.S. Senators through the Capitol Hill switchboard: 202-224-3121.
Call Sen. Casey 202-224-6324
Call Sen. Toomey 202-224-4254
New Jersey:
Call Sen. Lautenberg 202-224-3224
Call Sen. Menendez 202-224-4744
Delaware:
Call Sen. Carper 202-224-2441
Call Sen. Coons 202-224-5042
BACKGROUND:
In 2009, Hagel signed a letter urging President Obama to begin direct negotiations with Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist group committed in its Charter to the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews, a position President Obama has not taken up.
In a 2006 interview with former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller, Hagel said that "the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people" on Capitol Hill ('Hagel named to intelligence board,' Jewish Telegraphic Agency, October 29, 2009).
In July 2006, at the outbreak of the Lebanon war, Hagel argued against giving Israel the time to break Hizballah, urging instead an immediate ceasefire ('Key Republican breaks with Bush on Mideast,' CNN.com, July 31, 2006).
December 2005: Hagel was one of only 27 senators who refused to sign a letter to President Bush urging him to pressure the Palestinian Authority (PA) to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections.
June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran's nuclear program at the G-8 summit and was one of only two senators in to vote against renewal of the Libya-Iran sanctions act.
November 2001: Hagel was one of only 11 senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush not to meet with the late Yasser Arafat until his forces ended the violence against Israel.
In July 2001, Hagel was one of only two senators to vote against extending the original Iranian sanctions bill.
October 2000: Hagel was one of only four senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.
If you want to understand what is happening to our beloved country please watch this important movie. Please share it with everyone.
Individuals sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood's sinister agenda have infiltrated the Obama Administration.
Brainwashed by the Muslim Students Association and then propelled in to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the David Horowitz Freedom Center tracks the path of Huma Abedin and other Muslim sympathizers who have navigated their way into positions of great influence in the Obama Administration. Everything is revealed in the explosive new Freedom Center pamphlet, "The Muslim Brotherhood in the Obama Administration," written by Frank Gaffney, national security expert who served as Assistant Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center is committed to educating the public on the Muslim Brotherhood's sinister Agenda. That is why we are giving away this pamphlet for FREE.
This is a major push forward for APC in the battle to stop Agenda 21, and I need you to look it over and sign your approval to it.
Let me explain this vital project.
Across the nation, individuals and local activists have been working to stop the ravages of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development. And we have won some astounding victories.
We've made Agenda 21 a major issue.
But we are vastly outgunned by the Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are pushing this agenda from the UN all the way to your city council.
They are flooding state capitals with lobbyists, money, and a flood of issue documents. They are rich, powerful and well organized.
We aren't. We are a rag tag band of dedicated activists with passion for the cause of freedom and little else.
That has got to change.
Our activists need the tools necessary to win.
That's just what my "Stop Agenda 21" project is designed to provide.
A Message from Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn:
You know how much government protection we get these days. It is expensive, and it seeks to make the world safer for all of us. Or so it claims.
In truth the government has many priorities beyond our safety and well-being. One of those is environmental protection. This article tells the story about high fuel economy and what it costs in driver safety. Every year tens of thousands of people are killed in traffic accidents. That number will rise if we make our cars ever lighter. Unless, that is, the government becomes powerful enough to repeal the laws of physics.
Bob Norton, its author, is the parent of a current Hillsdale College student and a long-time executive in the auto industry. Now he works for a foundation in Milwaukee.
I hope you enjoy this article.
Visit our website, www.hillsdale.edu, for more information about Hillsdale College.
Inaugural Address
Did you watch the President's address today?
Here is our summary:
"I am the President, deal with it."
There was no reaching out to the "other side." There was no interest in compromise. In fact he did exactly the opposite. Obama declared today in his inauguration address that he intends to "fundamentally transform" America into the land of big government that will right all wrongs. He in effect said "hands off entitlements" and more needs to be done to ensure equality of outcomes. This assumes that some very wise people --- like themselves ---- need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people ---- like the rest of us --- and impose those decisions by government fiat. Regardless of how well it is dressed in rhetoric it is tyranny by the administrative state. History makes it clear how this will end up.
Remember that just days ago Organizing for America was changed to Organizing for Action. In his address he stated more than once that "now is the time for action."
The next four years will separate the Patriots from the "sunshine patriots".
RedState Morning Briefing
For January 22, 2013
1.The Loyal Opposition
Congratulations Mr. President on your second inaugural.
Saying that makes some of you really enraged. I said the same on twitter shortly after his official swearing in. Several of the replies were embarrassing and atrocious. Some accused the man elected by a majority of Americans of treason. Some accused him of willfully destroying the nation.
I believe the President's policies are destructive and will harm our economy, our nation, and our sense of national self long term. I believe his policies have the effect of turning us into subjects of the government, not citizens in charge of it. Because of his expansion of the social safety net funded through class warfare, Mr. Obama's policies will cause too many Americans' fortunes to rise and fall with those of the government, unable to chart a course for themselves apart from government.
But I do not think the President means to do this maliciously. I do not think he is treasonous. I do not hate him. I am not outraged by it. The President has done what he set out to do. I cannot be outraged by him doing what he set out to do. I am far more outraged by the Republicans not doing what they said they would do.
We have too many outrage pimps on both sides of the aisle whipping the respective bases into a frenzy and fury against the other side. I don't have enough time or energy to be outraged about it all. There are things to be outraged by, but not everything, and certainly not with full energy dedicated to every perceived slight and grievance.
What I am finding is that among conservatives there is too much outrage, piss, and vinegar. It makes our ideas less effective. We have become humorless, angry opponents of the President instead of happy warriors selling better ideas. We are not even selling ideas.
Conservatives, frankly, have become purveyors of outrage instead of preachers for a cause. Instead of showing how increasing government harms people, how free markets help people, and how conservative policies benefit all Americans, we scream "Benghazi" and "Fast & Furious."
2.Saving the National Republican Rules from the Ginsberg Blunders in Tampa
In the years before our 2012 Republican National Convention, the RNC's Standing Committee on Rules (one member per state and territory) met to consider possible changes to The Rules of the Republican Party each time the RNC met.That Committee, one third of our RNC members, worked diligently, debated carefully every proposed amendment, reviewed its years of work at its meeting in Tampa, and adopted a report to send to the whole RNC for its consideration.
Some of the proposed rules changes incorporated in the report of the Standing Committee on Rules were intended to open additional channels by which power in the RNC could flow more easily from the bottom up.The deliberations of the Standing Committee were productive.Acting independently, members of the Standing Committee generally agreed that it's a good idea to increase the opportunities for power at the RNC to flow from the bottom up.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3.A Retreat Emanating from the GOP Retreat?
Republicans came into their annual retreat at Williamsburg, Virginia looking for a starting point in the upcoming debt and budget battles.It appears that they have emerged from the retreat with a full blown plan.
They will pass a bill this week that will suspend the debt ceiling law until May 18.The debt limit increase will be tied to a requirement that the Senate passes a budget - with the threat of cutting off pay for senators in the event they fail to come through with one by April 15.Note that there is no requirement that the Senate pass a budget that balances in 10 years, just that they pass any budget.
The underlying rationale behind this strategy is to defer the debt ceiling fight until after the FY 2013 CR is dealt with and the FY 2014 budgets are formulated.The idea is that the House would unite behind a pro-active budget/debt plan in March from which they would harness as their demand for any long-term debt ceiling increase in mid-April. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Killing Conservative Talk Radio, One Market at a Time Daren Jonescu If you want to view the concrete reality of today's political and media scene more clearly, just look at the case of a little radio show on a little radio station in a little town in the heart of Minnesota. More
Red Lines and Boiling Frogs Glenn Fairman In these latter days of the republic, a conservative is surely the equivalent of a bristling prophet sounding in the wilderness, calling the people to awaken and repent. More
What Hath Roe Wrought? Janice Shaw Crouse By their recent abandonment of the "pro-choice" rhetoric, it is obvious that abortion supporters recognize that pro-life forces are prevailing with the American public. More
Obama: Fox, Lion, or Emperor? Cindy Simpson It's not difficult to envision a grown-up Obama as caesar, reclining in a royal box overlooking an arena, giving an executive-order thumb up or down as the crowd roars in approval. More
Obama's No-Show at the OK Corral Geoffrey P. Hunt Despite the huffing and puffing, the strutting and strumming, the histrionics and hyperventilating, the 2nd Amendment isn't going anywhere. More
Obama's Perfect Second Inauguration January 21, 2013 The real oath of office was administered yesterday, as per the Constitution of course, so the polite term for today's TV event is "ceremonial," a pleasant euphemism for "let's pretend." A kickoff to his second term that is the perfect symbol of the man. More
Tom Brokaw v. Founding Fathers January 21, 2013 Thursday Jan 17, Tom Brokaw was given time on MSNBC to tell the Founding Fathers the self-evident truths they laid their lives on the line for are farfetched. More
Protection For Obama's Kids, Gun-Free Zones For Ours?
These NY Women won't comply with gun confiscation
January 20, 2013
Flashback: Palin Predicts Obama Admin. Using Health Care to Curb Second Amendment Rights
"It's been an interesting off-season. And I'm going to have to make some drastic changes. I'm not going to jump the gun and do it right away, but I will be making some drastic changes..."
Declaring these places to be "gun-free zones" is tantamount to making them free fire zones for would-be mass murders who know that they are less-likely to face armed resistance in these places when they undertake their evil acts.
The two men share strikingly similar biographies. Muhammad and Washington were students of history, restorers of justice and fierce warriors who led their respective nations through successful revolutions.
Powell, a Republican who endorsed Barack Obama for president, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he expected Hagel to garner the Senate's confirmation despite any controversies.
During Obama's 1st term as president, the debt of the federal government increased by $5.8 trillion, which exceeds the combined debt accumulated under all presidents from Washington through Clinton.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." ~ Ronald Reagan
Most things that we read in the popular media about radical Islam are fantasies. They are promulgated in the mistaken belief that such dogmas will appease terrorists, or at least direct their ire elsewhere. But given the recent news -- murdering in Algeria, war in Mali, the Syrian mess, and Libyan chaos -- let us reexamine some of these more common heresies.
According to the former ombudsman, Arthur Brisbane, the current worldview at The New York Times is one of "political and cultural progressivism" that causes some topics to be treated "more like causes than news subjects." CAMERA's study provides objective documentation that demonstrates exactly how The New York Times' abandoned journalistic standards to turn coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict into the supposedly "progressive" cause of indicting Israel.
The visit of yet another high-profile delegation to Pyongyang -- whether official or not -- did not bode well. If either former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson or Google's Eric Schmidt achieved some marvelous breakthrough with this journey, we have yet to hear about it. But this latest expedition did produce one surprise.
"Proof of Heaven" is the sort of book I almost never read, but I'm glad I made an exception. I would say this book constitutes a piece of circumstantial evidence for the defense of heaven. Which makes for an interesting read, even if you decide to dismiss it.
What if there was a plan afoot to return the Blind Sheik to his terrorist Islamist brethren? A plan so outrageous might exist that no one would believe it, unless it was said to come from this administration. What if the Benghazi offices had no security because it was part of a plan to trade the "captured" American attache Chris Stevens for the convicted, unrepentant terrorist, (no, not Bill Ayers, the OTHER American hating terrorist).
What if that was why the military was told to stand down during the initial attacks? Suppose the only reason everyone was killed is because of the unexpected heroic efforts of two real American heroes, whose resistance was thought by the attackers to be a breach of the deal which was supposed to allow for the easy capture of the American diplomatic officials! The idea was to trade the terrorist sheik for the American Diplomats safe return to ... Continue Reading:A Benghazi-Algeria connection to free the Blind Sheik?
Every nightly newscast in South Florida, and probably a lot of other television markets around the country, includes what could fittingly be called the "Minority Crimes Report (MCR)." The MCR tells us how many people were shot, killed or maimed in the area's minority neighborhoods the night before. The cumulative effect of these shootings produces the equivalent of a Sandy Hook massacre every few days, but that doesn't fit the media's narrative so that fact is never mentioned. Any objective review of the number of gunshot murders in America tells us they aren't happening in Hasidic neighborhoods; or Scandinavian enclaves. The "hoods" where Blacks and Hispanics live are the killing zones of America.
When the MCRs aren't describing the carnage and blood running in the streets of these neighborhoods they tell us heartbreaking stories about young lives cut short, local ministers leading "Marches Against Violence" and gun buy backs that serve ... Continue Reading:Murders in "the hood" are the elephants in the room no one wants to face honestly
Bang for your buck: that's what the Freedom Center provides. Ammunition for the culture war against the Left: that's what your contribution buys. So please act now and help us in the fight we are waging on many fronts for America's future. America is under assault from within and without. There is no time to lose.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: The Obama Presidency and the Tragic Fate of the Civil Rights Movement
by Joel B. Pollak21 Jan 2013
President Barack Obama takes office today on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for the second time as the first black president of the United States. If his election and re-election represent the fulfillment of Dr. King's vision in a superficial sense, Obama's goal of "fundamentally transforming" the United States into a government-centered social democracy represents one of the deeply challenging aspects of Dr. King's legacy.
The great tragedy of civil rights movements--not just in the United States, but across the world--is that the end of discrimination has been closely tied to the start of state-directed redistribution. The result is that many of those who were formerly held down by the state believe that their success depends on state intervention. And the terrible irony is that the state's role ensures that many who begin their freedom on the bottom rung, stay there.
In the U.S., the end of Jim Crow in the South was swiftly followed by the Great Society, which created perverse incentives for individuals not to work and families to split apart. In South Africa, affirmative action actually came before the end of apartheid, because the white minority government wanted to create a small black middle class as a buffer against political change. "Black economic empowerment" after apartheid enriched a few wealthy, politically-connected blacks while the many of the poorest became poorer.
Jan 21, 2013 01:30 pm A nationwide flu outbreak could be a sufficient excuse to call up the National Guard Rapid Response Parallel support module to take control of a "national emergency" with possible declaration of martial law protocols. According to a North Carolina police lieutenant, in some three to six months declarations of martial law could be made throughout [...]
Reasons For Murders In "the Hood" No One Wants To Face Honestly
Jan 21, 2013 01:22 pm Every nightly newscast in South Florida, and probably a lot of other television markets around the country, includes what could fittingly be called the "Minority Crimes Report (MCR)." The MCR tells us how many people were shot, killed or maimed in the area's minority neighborhoods the night before. The cumulative effect of these shootings produces [...]
Jan 21, 2013 01:19 pm Joe Biden the gaffe machine was at it again Saturday. Speaking at the Iowa State Society inauguration ball, the Vice President said, "I'm proud to be President of the United States" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary): Read More at newsbusters.org . By Noel Sheppard. Related posts: Bill Maher: If I Had A Son I [...]
A Benghazi-Algeria Connection To Free The Blind Sheik?
Jan 21, 2013 01:15 pm What if there was a plan afoot to return the Blind Sheik to his terrorist Islamist brethren? A plan so outrageous might exist that no one would believe it, unless it was said to come from this administration. What if the Benghazi offices had no security because it was part of a plan to trade [...]
Between Feminism And Gun Control, Women Are Screwed
Jan 21, 2013 01:10 pm Mid-20th century Feminism has taught us that women don't need men, that we can do anything men can do from business to close combat, that taking on the worst behavior of promiscuous men is desirable, and that we can avoid the physical and emotional consequences that result. Chivalry is long since dead: Feminism declared it [...]
Jan 21, 2013 01:09 pm TEHRAN, Iran (OfficialWire) - Iran's Intelligence Ministry says the West has launched a "currency war" against Tehran to destabilize the Islamic Republic. The director of the ministry's economy department, who was unnamed in the Monday report from the semiofficial Fars agency, says that expanding domestic production can help counter Western sanctions imposed on Iran over [...]
Jan 21, 2013 12:59 pm ALGIERS, Algeria (OfficialWire) - Algerian bomb squads searched a gas refinery laced with mines on Monday, looking for more explosive traps a day after the discovery of more bodies throughout the site raised the toll from the terrorist siege well past 80. Special forces from the Algerian military stormed the plant on Saturday to end [...]
Video: Mark Levin: A Neurosurgeon Calls In About Death Panels
Jan 20, 2013 11:16 am
If you are over 70 and need stroke care, they are not going to treat you, they are going to give you "comfort care". You must listen to this Neurosurgeon speaking out. It is scary. Related posts: Mark Levin Calls For Obama's Impeachment Should He Try This... Democrat Chuck Schumer said recently that it is [...]
Video: Plouffe: Obama Is Going To Push His Gun Ban Through Congress
Jan 20, 2013 11:03 am
Team Obama is going to push for the Gun ban as hard as they pushed for Obamacare, the Bank Bailouts, Tax Increases and all the other legislation they have pushed through Congress. As long as Obama is in the White House the Second Amendment is at risk. Related posts: Plouffe Asked: Why Does Obama Want [...]
Jan 20, 2013 10:59 am Obama reminds me more of an ancient pharaoh than an American president. There's a un-subdued haughtiness that makes me wonder when he'll declare "So let it be written; so let it be done!" He carries himself as someone assured his throne atop the tribal pyramid is due to Divine right and nothing less. I never [...]
Jan 20, 2013 10:54 am You can't! It will drive you crazy if you try. If you have an IQ that is even slightly higher than that of a donkey, you will try to use logic, reason, and reality. All of those concepts are lost on the Liberals. Monday, I watched Obama address the Nation; and if I didn't know [...]
Ron Paul may be retired from Congress, but he is using his soapbox to denounce Obama's Foreign policy. Here he suggests we keep our nose out of everybody's business. Related posts: Paul Ryan's Foreign Policy: Neo-Con Or Reagan-like? While the establishment media have focused their attention on Paul... Ron Paul's Foreign Policy Explained Presidential candidate [...]
Jan 20, 2013 10:24 am Algerian bomb squads scouring a gas plant where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign workers hostage found "numerous" new bodies on Sunday as they searched for explosive traps left behind by the attackers, a security official said, a day after a bloody raid ended the four-day siege of the remote desert refinery. The official, who [...]
Jan 20, 2013 10:21 am In an era where lying has become an art form, is it possible to hold those who take a solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution to that pledge of honor and responsibility? The oath to be taken by the president on first entering office is specified in Article II, Section 1, of the [...]
Students Subjected To "White Privilege" Propaganda
Jan 20, 2013 10:14 am By now, it should come as no surprise that America's public schools are being used primarily for the dissemination of radical leftist ideology to the next generation. Well-meaning parents are too often completely uninformed about the vile indoctrination their children receive from teachers and administrators. For example, most traditional parents instill in their children the [...]
Israel Leader Says Iran Key Issue, Not Settlements
Jan 20, 2013 10:02 am Two days before national elections, Israel's prime minister on Sunday shrugged off international criticism of Israeli settlement construction, charging instead that Iran's suspect nuclear program the real threat to regional security. Speaking to his Cabinet, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had told a group of visiting U.S. senators over the weekend that "the problem is not [...]
Jan 20, 2013 09:58 am Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, fired from his command in Afghanistan last May and now facing a court-martial on charges of sodomy, adultery and pornography and more, is just one in a long line of commanders whose careers were ended because of possible sexual misconduct. Sex has proved to be the downfall of presidents, members of [...]
Russell Simmons Wants Peace Keepers In Schools, Not Armed Guards
Jan 20, 2013 09:57 am Peace Keepers is a mostly Black male violence mediation group founded by Mr. Dennis Muhammad in 2008, a member of Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. Unarmed, they squash "beefs " (disputes) between urban men before triggers are pulled. Here in New Orleans and elsewhere, they have hotlines people can call when tempers flare. Media mogul [...]
Video: Busted: 1940 Census Confirms Obama Alias; Born In 1890
Jan 19, 2013 12:56 pm
The evidence of Obama identity fraud is overwhelming and growing nearly everyday. For the educated this is breaking story just confirms what we have suspected all along. Let's hope the uninformed start to listen. Related posts: BUSTED! Arpaio Team FINDS THE MAN Who Forged Obama BC! There is proof that Barack Obama's birth certificate, which [...]
Jan 19, 2013 12:36 pm Conservatives have long joked that the national press corps see Barack Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Today, Newsweek - at least what's left of it, an online product for tablets and e-readers - made it official. Next to a side shot of Obama's head, the "Inauguration 2013" cover story pronounces: "The Second [...]
Video: Libtalkers: Some People Deserve To Be Shot In The Face
Jan 19, 2013 12:28 pm Hypocrisy reigns as Liberal talk-show hosts displace the kinder, gentler face of tyranny. Related posts: Obama Takes A Shot At Fox News Obama: Don't listen to your 'Uncle Jim' who watches Fox... Heckler Spits In Face Of Grandmotherly Romney Supporter Once again we see an Obama/abortion supporter who cannot keep...
Obama Executive Orders Designed To Ban Owners, Not Guns
Jan 19, 2013 12:15 pm Photo credit: Gregory Wild-Smith (Creative Commons) Realizing that a shooting war with American citizens would not bode well for an Obama legacy which will already require a blanket guarantee of willful amnesia on the part of historians, the president's handlers on Wednesday decided it best to propose an Executive ban on gun owners rather than [...]
Dem. Jerrold Nadler: "2 To 4 Self-defense Shots Are Enough," He's A Jackass - Period
Jan 19, 2013 12:05 pm For liberals facts are never really important. "Truth" to liberals like Democrat New York City Congressman Jerrold Nadler is what he "feels" it is. Nadler has said: "Hunters don't use large ammunition clips, and as far as self- defense, I mean who are you defending yourself against? If you're defending yourself against a robber... two [...]
Republicans: Don't Sell Us Out On Protecting The 2nd Amendment
Jan 19, 2013 11:36 am The Republicans in Congress look like they are about to sell us out on the question of protecting the Second Amendment. The way they took a dive on the "fiscal cliff" gives us an idea of what they will probably do when confronted with Barack Obama's fearsome attacks on gun ownership. They won't listen to [...]
Video: Unintended Consequences Of Obamacare Are Hurting Americans
Jan 19, 2013 11:20 am
The unintended consequences of Obamacare are coming into focus as the program kicks into gear. Watch out America, if you are able to keep your current coverage, it is going to cost much more. Related posts: The Unintended Consequences Of Internet Regulation Would you be outraged if the Department of Justice shut... The Unintended Consequences [...]
As President Barack Obama prepares for his inauguration, Breitbart News sat down with radio talk show host Mark Levin, the bestselling author of the blockbusters Liberty and Tyranny, Ameritopia, Men in Black, and Rescuing Sprite. Levin painted a stark picture of the reality facing the country - the rise of tyranny - but he also offered hope in one word: "fight."
"I don't think Obama knows exactly what he's going to go for in his second term," Levin said, "as he will look for opportunities to exploit as events unfold. I am sure they've drawn up a partial a list, and we already know that it includes, but is not limited to, gun control; attacks on the First Amendment such as religious liberty; amnesty for illegal aliens; union expansion; institutionalizing Obamacare; institutionalizing voter corruption; de-industrialization via the EPA; destroying the capitalist-based economy via tax increases, smothering regulations, massive deficit spending, and endless borrowing; and hollowing out our military; etc. This will effect all of us. It will do extreme damage to the nation in many respects. I think Obama sees himself as correcting historic wrongs in this country, as delivering the fruits of the labor of other people to people who he believes have historically been put upon. I think there's a lot of perverse thinking that goes on in his mind, radical left-wing thinking. He was indoctrinated with Marx and Alinksy propaganda. You not only see it in his agenda but in his words -- class warfare; degrading successful people unless, of course, they help finance his elections, causes, and organizations; pretending to speak for the so-called middle class when, in fact, he is destroying their jobs, savings, and future. Obama's war on our society is intended to be an onslaught in which the system is overwhelmed."
Pro golfer Phil Mickelson said he will make �drastic changes� because of federal and California state tax increases that kicked in this year. Could that mean retirement or relocation for Mickelson? See the interviewHERE.
As the debate over gun control continues, so does discussion about the role mental illness plays in it. NBC News reports experts saying the weight of adding mental illness into the mix might carry some unintended consequences. See the report that wonders if you are "too sick to own a gun"HERE.
While repeating the oath of office during Monday�s public swearing-in ceremony, President Barack Obama had trouble spitting out some of the words. Watch the videoHERE.
Could Chuck Hagel, the man President Obama wants to become Secretary of Defense, secretly be a pawn of George Soros? It is a question that liberals would not bear hearing, and one that many conservatives, no doubt, would not bear going unanswered. TheBlaze looked into this allegation. Our review of the evidence isHERE.
After delivering some Anti-Obama lyrics, Grammy-nominated rapper and Chicago native Lupe Fiasco was escorted from the stage during a pre-inaugural event in D.C. on Sunday. Watch the video from the eventHERE.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has launched a new campaign aimed at targeting gays and lesbians. However, the ads also appear to be mocking heterosexuals. See the ads and weigh in via TheBlaze comment sectionHERE.
The fruit of the manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella), also known as the �little apple of death.� This tree is native to many Caribbean islands and is also found in parts of Florida. On his radio show Monday, Beck shared a story about his casual encounter with the highly poisonous plant during a trip to a tropical island to celebrate his anniversary. See the tree and learn the nasty things that could happen to you just by brushing against itHERE.
Real News from TheBlaze -- The Biography of a Presidency: Investigating Obama's record on the economy, secret wars, Obamacare and more - Tune in to Real News tonight for the answers -- 6pm ET or on-demand on TheBlaze TV.
Last December, S.G. Collins, the writer and director of Postwar Media based in Amsterdam, released a YouTube video saying that the technology at the time of the moon landing was not sophisticated enough to adequately fake such an event. See the clipHERE.
The five children of college professor Ryan Cordell were told they could have the dog they so desired if they could get 1 million "likes" on a photo on Facebook. See the photo they posted and meet the puppy dad was forced to deliver HERE.
Welfare has become a major political issue in the United Kingdom. During the 13 years when Labour was in power, it seems not to have occurred to most Britons that Labour's open-door immigration policy, combined with the U.K.'s liberal welfare benefits, were likely to lead to abuse. Now, people are starting to notice.
The Sun, a tabloid published in London, is the U.K.'s largest-selling newspaper. It focuses mainly on soccer and celebrities, but its news coverage, to the extent it exists, can be entertaining. This story sounds like something out of The Onion, but it evidently is legitimate. The Sun interviewed Natalija Belova, a 33-year-old Lithuanian who has come to love the British welfare system:
A MIGRANT mum thanked the UK yesterday for letting her claim £14,500 a year in benefits.
Natalija Belova, 33, told The Sun how she spurns full-time work - yet can afford foreign holidays and buys designer clothes.
The Lithuanian said: "British benefits give me and my daughter a good life."
She has milked soft-touch Britain for £50,000 in benefits and yesterday said: "I simply take what is given to me."
Overjoyed Natalija told how she lives a life of luxury thanks to our "strange" system, declaring: "It's important to have nice things and good holidays."
It is noteworthy that Ms. Belova qualifies for much of the state's largesse because she had a child out of wedlock after arriving in England:
The graduate, who became a single mum after she arrived here, rakes in more than £1,000 a month in handouts - £14,508 a year - to fund her love of designer clothes, jaunts to the Spanish sun and nightclubbing.
She bragged: "I have a lovely, fully-furnished flat and money to live properly on. There's no chance we're leaving. British benefits give me and my daughter a good life."
But she does have one criticism. Natalija moaned: "I think they should help pay for private nannies, rather than just free nursery."
At one point Ms. Belova had a job, but she came to see that as foolish:
Natalija told how she did work when she first came here - as a casino croupier - but said she found herself made redundant four years ago.
After falling pregnant with daughter Alexandra - now approaching three - it came as a shock how much she would be entitled to from the State for doing nothing.
Speaking at her two-bedroom pad that came fully furnished in Watford, Herts, courtesy of the taxpayer, grateful Natalija said:
"In Lithuania the benefits system does not pay enough. I have a friend over there who is a single mother. She only gets £20 a month in child benefit, plus some discounted help with gas and electricity - and some housing help. It's not enough to keep a normal level of life, like here.
"If I was on benefits there, I couldn't afford nice clothes or the holidays abroad."
She went on: "I am sure people will say I should return to Lithuania. But that won't be happening. Being in Britain offers me far better benefits."
Ms. Belova could find work if she wanted to, but it isn't worth her while. She is too well-educated, she thinks, to accept a low-paying job:
She is careful to work fewer than 16 hours a week so that the benefits keep rolling in. But her wages boost her income to more than £400 a week.
On top of that she gets free childcare, fruit and milk vouchers - and even a clothes allowance for "job interviews".
Natalija said: "It is a strange system in this country. Basically, the fewer hours I work, the more I can earn on benefits. But that's the way it is and it is not my fault."
She fell pregnant by an "on-off boyfriend" after her redundancy. Natalija said casually: "We decided not to stay together."
She insisted she would be prepared to get a full-time job - but only if the salary tops £25,000. Natalija said: "I am a highly educated woman and I speak six languages. I would never apply for a supermarket checkout job or a cleaner.
"I am over-qualified. These jobs are beneath me. They are for people who don't have the education I do."
Ms. Belova on vacation in Spain
Occasionally, Natalija Belova needs to rest from her labors:
Natalija, who has three credit cards and loves to go on sprees at designer clothes stores, crowed: "After our holiday to Malaga, we went to Lithuania over Christmas and spent £1,000."
She continued: "I love to buy clothes on my credit cards and often have a blow-out at stores like Roberto Cavalli and the Armani Exchange. I will pay off my credit cards eventually. I use my pay to cover the minimum repayment.
"I also enjoy going to nightclubs and parties with my friends. It's important to go out and get dressed up. It's good for my self-esteem."
Increasingly, we live in a world that is beyond parody. The situation in England is about to get much worse, as the European Union will require the U.K. to welcome tens of millions of new immigrants from Eastern Europe who will be eligible for British benefits. The Conservatives are trying to put a cap on welfare benefits, but Labour will vote against any limits.
Does Britain's welfare mess have any relevance to the United States? As Steve Hayward might say: discuss.
President Obama's second inaugural address is now available online. It provides a roadmap to the expansion of the administrative state that Obama intends to accomplish in his second term.
The work of the speech is to assimilate his now permanent campaign into the founding principles of the United States. It is therefore not as forthright as the Second Bill of Rights promulgated by FDR in 1944, but Obama is picking up where FDR left off with his own bad faith thrown in for good measure.
To make his case Obama wreaks serious intellectual destruction. The whole speech merits a close look. Here, for starters, is one paragraph toward the end of the speech with brief interruptions:
It is now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.
Equal opportunity is the law of the land. The implicit proposition that men and women do not earn equal pay is a lame shibboleth given new life during the campaign just past. What is he saying? We need something along the lines of a Federal Evaluation of Efforts Department to match performance with rewards.
Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law - for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.
Sorry, but our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. It is historic to have Obama insert the contrary proposition into his speech on such a solemn occasion. He could do some good taking the cause of our gay brothers and sisters to the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, but you can be sure that's the last thing on his mind.
Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.
Oh, oh. I know I waited a little long in line to vote on election day. I felt good doing so, but I know it's not my cause that Obama is championing. What is Obama talking about here? He must be setting us up for expedited and enhanced amplification of the Democratic vote through Internet voting or some such scheme, in the name of the Founding Fathers, of course.
Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.
I guess the engineers are "expelled" by expiration of their visas. I thought Obama took care of "bright young students" in the run-up to election day. This is a guy who really prefers not to make a reasoned argument. Demagogy comes naturally to him, even in an inaugural address.
Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.
I'll let you translate that for yourself. I will only say (by way of translation) it's going to be a long four years.
The Washington Post reports today that al Qaeda's successful attack on the Algerian natural gas plant has greatly boosted al Qaeda's prestige in Africa. Along the way, the Post notes rather casually:
The assailants were well-trained and armed with what appear to have been weapons from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi's arsenal.
The overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi has turned out to be a terrible blunder. It has empowered radical Muslims, led directly to the Benghazi debacle, and scattered Gaddafi's armory among terrorist elements, including al Qaeda. There has been, of course, no accountability for the Libya decision, either with respect to the Obama administration or others outside the administration who supported Obama's policy.
All of which reminded me of Andy McCarthy's column in National Review. McCarthy criticizes John McCain for his support of Obama's failed Libya policy, and contrasts McCain with another Republican who gets less respect as a foreign policy expert:
[T]he senator and his allies in the Obama-Clinton State Department had a brilliant notion: The reason the "rebels" of eastern Libya hated America so much had nothing to do with their totalitarian, incorrigibly anti-Western ideology. No, no: The problem was that we sided with Qaddafi, giving the dictator - at the insistence of, well, McCain and the State Department - foreign aid, military assistance, and international legitimacy. If we just threw Qaddafi under the bus, the rebels would surely become our grand democratic allies.
This, of course, was a much more sophisticated theory than you'd get from lunatics like Michele Bachmann. Sit down for this, because I know it's hard to believe anyone could spout such nutter stuff, but Bachmann actually opposed U.S. intervention in Libya. She claimed - stop cackling! - that many of McCain's heroes might actually be jihadists ideologically hostile to the U.S. and linked to groups such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the terror enterprise's North African franchise. She even thought - yeah, I know, crazy - that if Qaddafi were deposed, the heroes would get their hands on his arsenal, ship a lot of it to AQIM havens in places such as Mali and Algeria, and maybe even turn rebel strongholds such as Benghazi into death traps for Americans.
Good thing we listened to McCain, no?
McCarthy moves on to Egypt:
Now, however, McCain says he will push for American taxpayers to fork up another $480 million for Morsi. Or, to be accurate, borrow another $480 million. You see, the United States is already so deep in the red that a $16.3 trillion debt ceiling is not high enough. In fact, we're such a basket case that our debt-service and "entitlement" payments alone put us in a quarter-trillion-dollar deficit hole even before we borrow and print another trillion-plus for such ancillary expenses as the Defense Department, the Obama family's vacations, and the $80-odd million that funds "democratization" programs at McCain's International Republican Institute. But hey, no problem - what's another $480 million on top of the $2 billion-plus the Obama administration has already extended to Morsi's regime . . . to say nothing of the sizable U.S. taxpayer chunk of the $4.8 billion IMF loan the Brotherhood government is also about to get its mitts on?
Naturally, "extremist" conservatives like Michele Bachmann are wet blankets when it comes to this gravy train, too. Get this: She thinks that when you get to the point where you have to borrow in order to pay the interest on the loans you already can't pay off, somebody needs to cut off your credit line - not inflate it by another two or three trill. Even more daft: She thinks that if you subsidize an organization, like the Brotherhood, that promotes sharia and Hamas, you're apt to get more sharia and more terrorism.
Andy notes something of which I was unaware-an effort to kick Michele Bachmann off the Intelligence Committee because she had the temerity to suggest that it was a bad idea for the Secretary of State to employ a staffer with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
McCain, between praising his Islamist "heroes" and championing ever more funding for Islamist Egypt, made certain to lambaste Bachmann on the floor of the Senate over her concerns about Brotherhood infiltration of our government - leading other influential Republicans to follow suit. And now, aping that display, People for the American Way - "PAW," the outfit created by a hard-left Hollywood icon to smear Robert Bork and derail his Supreme Court nomination - is campaigning to have Bachmann booted from the House Intelligence Committee.
There is a war on over the course of American foreign policy and the security of the United States. The Left has aligned with the Brotherhood - some naïvely relying on the fiction that the Brothers are not the enemy vanguard, others seeing the Brothers as comrades in the quest for a utopian, post-American future. In opposition, the GOP can either continue looking to McCain for leadership or rally behind Bachmann the way the Left always circles the wagons around its stalwarts.
McCarthy isn't sanguine about which way the GOP will jump.
All of this reminded me of the dark days of 2008, when the original TARP bill was cobbled together virtually overnight in response to panicked assertions by President Bush's advisers that a financial collapse was in the offing. I didn't blame Bush at the time for going along with the advice he was getting, but with hindsight, TARP was a huge mistake. Once the bailouts started, there was no turning back, and the result, a mere four years later, is that the relationship between the the federal government and the private sector has dramatically changed, perhaps forever. Whatever the result of letting one or two major banks fail might have been, it would have been far better than the state capitalism that we have been bequeathed by the Obama administration.
So once again, it is worth asking, who had the foresight back in 2008 to see where all of this was going and to stand vigorously against it? Well, Michele Bachmann, for one. The Political Guide recalls:
Congresswoman Bachmann has opposed the TARP program from its inception, and voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which created the TARP program. With the initial collapse of Bear-Stearns and the panic which ensued afterwards, Congresswoman Bachmann called for calm, and mocked the repeated assertions of "too big to fail."
As it became obvious that a government program would be created to address the financial crisis, Congresswoman Bachmann stated that Congress was being told that the consequences of inaction or even of deliberative action would be severe; but that the consequences of hasty action were just as dire. She noted that Secretary Paulson is asking taxpayers to pony-up $700 billion to buy Wall Street's debt without a vote by the American people. She stated that shareholders in companies that receive government funds should not make a profit off those funds, and referred to the taxpayers as the "forgotten man."
As the TARP program came into focus, Congresswoman Bachmann noted that the US people had been told numerous times that financial commitments to Bear-Stearns, AIG, and Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac would solve the problems and each time more bailouts were requested. She stated that the bailouts should stop and that Fannie and Freddie should be placed into receivership.
Just before the initial vote on the EESA, Congresswoman Bachmann noted that if a lack of credit was the problem in the economy, suspending mark to market rules and other items would have a larger and better effect than the infusion of cash. When the vote initially failed in the House, Congresswoman Bachmann stated that the plan was rushed, unworkable, and short-sighted.
When President Bush and President-Elect Obama asked for the second half TARP, Congresswoman Bachmann again stated that the measure was rushed and done without proper consideration. She stated that Congress was committing the next generation to servitude in passing the legislation.
When President Obama had the stock purchased with TARP changed from preferred to common stock, Congresswoman Bachmann noted the illegality of the move and cited it as further evidence that the program was out of control.
Unfortunately, not enough people-not even enough conservatives-listened to those warnings at the time.
Michele is a personal friend, which has not stopped me from occasionally expressing frustration with the fact that she has been known to go off half-cocked, and instinctively tries to fight every battle rather than picking her spots. Michele's combativeness has come at a price; in November she eked out her narrowest win yet. The Minneapolis Star Tribune gleefully headlined: "Humbling year ends in silence for Bachmann."
Now the Minnesota Republican is hardly heard from anymore, barely uttering a word in public during the simmering build-up to the "fiscal cliff" deal in Congress, which she opposed.
Gone are the boisterous rallies opposing Obamacare, the rousing church testimonials and the controversial TV utterances about Islamist moles in government that raised money even as they rained down critical headlines.
Since her wafer-thin re-election in November in the state's most solidly Republican district, Bachmann has sharply dialed down her national profile, staying off television and remaining in the background of a raging congressional debate over taxes, her signature issue as a former IRS attorney and deficit hawk.
There is nothing wrong with keeping a lower profile for a while, but let's hope that Michele has not fallen silent for long. With respect to the major issues of the last few years, she has been not just a bellwether, but a prophet.
I'm confused. I hear there is some kind of celebration of a black leader going on in Washington today, Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, except that it's somebody else. I think I'll skip whoever this poser may be, and celebrate Dr. King instead for his conservative principles.
Scott writes movingly below about King's prophetic gifts and courage, and rightly so. I appended a brief note about how King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" contains a short treatise about natural law that is a serious difficulty and deep embarrassment for today's liberals, who wish to acknowledge and empower nothing higher than an individual's own will:
One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.
In addition, as with his "I Have a Dream Speech" in Washington in 1963, King in Birmingham called for America to live up to its principles and promises, rather than attacking America's principles and promises as fraudulent like Obama's long-time pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, or most other Zinn-Chomsky style leftists today. (Interesting, by the way, that a Southern Baptist preacher would invoke the Roman Catholic figures Augustine and Aquinas in this argument.)
People forget these conservative and deeply American strains to King's message. At the time of his death he was contending against the Black Panthers and the more radical fringe of the New Left (even as he turned against Vietnam and started saying dodgy things about socialism). "I can't agree with the move toward a kind of Black Nationalism," King told the New York Times in a cautiously worded criticism of Stokely Carmichael. King's murder swung events toward radicalism. Washington DC civil rights leader Julius Hobson, for example, argued that "The next black man who comes into the black community preaching non-violence should be violently dealt with by the black people who hear him. The Martin Luther King concept of nonviolence died with him."
On Saturday, CNN took note of the fact that many conservatives consider King a hero. And look at who they quote:
"He was against all policies based on race," says Peter Schramm, a conservative historian. "The basis of his attack on segregation was 'judge us by the content of our character, not by the color of our skin.' That's a profound moral argument."
Go Peter! (By the way, there's almost no one, except perhaps Peter Myers, who can express the full greatness of Frederick Douglass better than Peter.) And see also more of this tribute from Human Events. I suspect if there were a rigorous content analysis done of who invokes which parts of King, you'd find conservatives cite King's thought much more than liberals, who only invoke his out-of-focus image and legacy. In this respect, Clarence Thomas is the real heir to King today-not Jesse Jackson or Obama.
When Martin Luther King, Jr., brought his nonviolent campaign against segregation to Bull Connor's Birmingham, he laid siege to the bastion of Jim Crow. In Birmingham between 1957 and 1962, black homes and churches had been subjected to a series of horrific bombings intended to terrorize the community. In April 1963 King answered the call to bring his campaign to Birmingham. When King landed in jail on Good Friday for violating an injunction prohibiting demonstrations, he took the opportunity to meditate on the counsel of prudence with which Birmingham's white ministers had greeted his campaign.
King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was the result. Reading the "Letter" fifty years later is a humbling experience. Perhaps most striking is King's seething anger over the indignities of segregation:
I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.
In addition to King's witness, King's prophetic call permeates the "Letter." Why did King presume to come from Atlanta to Birmingham? King writes:
I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth century prophets left their little villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Graeco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.
King's prophetic call must have been both a source of strength and of concern. His strength was manifest; he rarely let his concern show. Perfection is not a condition of the prophet's call, and King was both imperfect and aware of his imperfections. His unbending strength is all the more remarkable.
It is difficult to comprehend that King was only 39 years old at the time of his assassination in Memphis on April 4, 1968, or that the prospect of his death weighed so heavily on his mind. He seems too young to have accomplished so much, or to have maintained his judgment under such trying circumstances. The magnitude of his own trials must have had a deep impact on him.
In the speech he gave in Memphis the day before his assassination, he movingly recalled his first confrontation with death:
You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?"
And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, you drown in your own blood - that's the end of you.
It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states, and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School." She said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."
Here he paused to look back on what he had achieved with the time he had been granted:
And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream. And taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, been in Memphis to see the community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.
Looking beyond his accomplishments, he likened himself to Moses, the prophet par excellence, and testified to the source of the prophet's voice:
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
(First posted on Martin Luther King Day 2005.)
UPDATE 2011: Dr. Art Fougner writes from Forest Hills to note: "Recently, our Medical Society of the County of Queens honored Dr. John W. Cordice with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Cordice was a young surgeon on duty at Harlem Hospital when Dr. King was brought in with his near fatal injury and was one of the team that saved his life. Thought you'd appreciate the circle's being completed." Dr. Fougner is past president of the society.
STEVE adds: I used to assign King's "Letter from the Birmingham Jail" in some of my classes, as it disorients liberals to see the conservative themes-especially the higher law/natural law tradition-emerge from it. The authentic King was no friend of relativist, truth-denying post-modern liberalism, or identity politics in general.
First it was our land, now Obama lets China have THIS
Yesterday, WND brought you the latest on China's efforts to acquire more U.S. land.
But the takeover plan doesn't end with our soil.
Look what Barack Obama is letting the Chinese have now ...
One gun-running scandal may not have been enough for Barack Obama. This Republican superstar is now raising big questions about ANOTHER possible smuggling operation. Can you say COVER-UP?
It's not only guns that are missing from the shelves. It's ammunition, too. And you won't believe what federal authorities are intentionally doing to cause this, and how it's even harming local POLICE departments. Just what is going on here?
As President Barack Obama prepares for his inauguration, Breitbart News sat down with radio talk show host Mark Levin, the bestselling author of the blockbusters Liberty and Tyranny, Ameritopia, Men in Black, and Rescuing Sprite. Levin painted a stark picture of the reality facing the country - the rise of tyranny - but he also offered hope ...(more)
A newly released GAO report finds that "...absent policy changes...the federal government continues to face an unsustainable fiscal path." The Government Accountability Office completed its annual audit of the government and the news is just sad. It is no surprise, and it ...(more)
Could real estate on American soil owned by China be set up as "development zones" in which the communist nation could establish Chinese-owned businesses and bring in its citizens to the U.S. to work? ...(more)
When Republicans won historic landslide victories in 1994, it was due in large part to the fact that a relatively moderate Democrat Party had promoted and passed an "Assault Weapons Ban" (AWB) which cut across the grain of gun owners of all parties and all walks of life ...(more)
Monday, January 21, 2013
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
Hope
Today begins the second and final act of the Obama presidency. Suffice it to say that I do not believe the state of our union is what it should be. The national debt has exploded -- more than $6 trillion in the past four years alone. Taxes are higher. Government is bigger. The private sector is smaller.
Abortion continues. Our First and Second Amendment liberties are under siege. Marriage is on the verge of being redefined. America is being fundamentally transformed.
Welcome to Jimmy Carter's second term.
It is tempting to stop here and throw in the towel. Perhaps some of you have. But I cannot do that. The fight for faith, family and freedom did not end on November 6th, and it does not end today. I want my children and grandchildren to enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities I've enjoyed.
America has been through difficult times in the past. From the Great Depression to World War II. From the struggles for civil rights to the riots of Vietnam. From Watergate to the Carter malaise. We cannot give in to despair or become paralyzed by fear. We must fight. We must persevere.
As many of you know, I had the great privilege and honor of serving all eight years in President Ronald Reagan's administration. Ronald Reagan loved America, and he believed in the genius of the American people. His sense of hope and optimism was infectious.
Looking ahead, I believe conservatives are well positioned to make a comeback in 2014. Seven Democrat Senate seats are up next year in states Mitt Romney won, mostly by wide margins. In fact, Obama's average share of the vote in these seven states was just 41%!
When it comes to House elections, Democrats will be fighting a historical trend known as the "Sixth-Year Itch," when voters tend to punish the president's party at the ballot box. The average loss in a sixth year election is 30 House seats!
Do you remember what the 2006 elections were like for Republicans in the sixth year of the Bush Administration? Next year it's the Democrats' turn.
Beyond 2014, I believe the conservative movement has a great farm team of young, principled, dynamic leaders. Senator Marco Rubio. Governor Bobby Jindal. Rep. Paul Ryan. Governor Susana Martinez. Governor Mike Pence. Senator Tim Scott. Governor Bob McDonnell. Senator Ted Cruz. Governor Nikki Haley.
My friends, I can't predict the future, but I know this much: The president's policies won't work. Socialism has not succeeded in Europe. Conservatives have the right solutions, and our values are worth defending.
As Ronald Reagan said in the final 1980 presidential debate:
"We can meet our destiny -- and that destiny is to build a land here that will be, for all mankind, a shining city on a hill. I think we ought to get at it."
Lupe Fiasco KICKED Off Stage At Obama Inauguration Party Rapper Lupe Fiasco Escorted Offstage
Vatican Wrongly Supports Obama's Gun Grab
posted on by Tad Cronn
I miss Pope John Paul II. Even though he had been targeted by would-be assassins, he still came down firmly for the right of an individual to defend himself, his family and his state.
In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, the pope cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church that "legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the state. ... Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of causing harm sometimes involves taking his life."
That's why it's so disheartening to hear Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi lining up behind President Obama's gun restrictions.
Fifty years ago in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream for America. It was a vision that gave "all of God's children" an opportunity to flourish. Today, as we remember and honor King's legacy, it's quite evident that millions of Americans are struggling mightily to grasp the dream that King envisioned.
King's famous speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, is worth reading in its entirety. Take note of this particular passage:
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What would King say about that promissory note today? On a day when President Obama will outline his vision for the next four years, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe the country is headed on a wrong track. Four years of big-government solutions have left the country pessimistic and discouraged.
The politics of division and class warfare, the centerpiece of Obama's campaign rhetoric, are the antithesis of King's dream.
Obama's agenda -- one that will likely include more reckless spending, bigger government and new challenges to our values and institutions -- threatens the very nature of the American dream. Heritage's president, Ed Feulner, wrote after November's election, "We will see unfold over the next four years a crucial battle for the soul of America."
Ironically, it was Obama, while running for president four years ago, who outlined an agenda that gave great hope to disaffected Americans. Instead, he squandered the opportunity.
Today, Obama renews his ambitious agenda to remake America. Policy debates on gun rights, immigration, the national debt and countless other issues are already beginning to play out in Washington.
Conservatives must get to work to save America. It won't be easy. Obama is transforming his powerful campaign apparatus into an aggressive lobbying machine. The President will never need to face voters again, creating the possibility of an even more radical agenda. If the past four years proved to be difficult, just wait for what's ahead.
Along the way, conservatives will face tactical and strategic decisions that determine the future of the republic. There will be plenty of opportunities to critique Obama and oppose his agenda. Oversight by the U.S. House will be crucial to keep a check on the administration. Starting with the debt ceiling debate, lawmakers must stand firm for the principles that voters sent them to Washington to uphold.
It's equally important for conservatives to articulate a positive vision for America. That was sorely lacking over the past year. Opposing Obama at every turn will only get conservatives so far. We must also explain how our policy solutions will lead to a better life for all Americans.
That's great advice. And the place to start is stressing a fundamental American value: The United States is, and has always been, the land of opportunity. Government doesn't create opportunity. It might redistribute it or regulate it. But ultimately, it's the hard work and determination of Americans who make this country great.
"The American dream reminds us that every man is heir to the legacy of worthiness," King said in a 1961 speech at Lincoln University. It's time for conservatives to take that message to Americans from all walks of life.
School Choice Week Makes Its Way Across the Country By Rachel Sheffield
The third annual National School Choice Week is around the corner. And so is "the first-ever nationwide, whistle-stop train tour" to commemorate the week.
The Whistle-Stop Train Tour will make a cross-country trek, with "14 very special events along the tour's route" in support of school choice; hosted by "[p]arents, students, community leaders, education organizations and elected officials of both parties." The train-a historic railcar dubbed "The National School Choice Week Special"-will set out from Los Angeles's Union Station on January 25 and will end its journey in New York on February 2.
The train tour is just one of many events that will take place during National School Choice Week.
Across the country, a "record-breaking 3,000 events [are] being independently planned for National School Choice Week 2013...to demonstrate overwhelming support, and demand, for school choice...while shining a positive spotlight on the hundreds of organizations, thousands of schools, and millions of Americans working every day to increase access to great schools in our country."
Indiana Parents and Teachers Rally to Stop Common Core Standards
"Indiana parents and teachers should be in control of standards and testing, not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.," commented a parent at last Wednesday's rally at the Indiana state capitol building. Legislators will vote this week on a bill that would repeal the Common Core standards.
Number of the Week
6,000 A record 6,000 charter schools are in operation today, serving approximately 2.3 million American students.
The number of charter schools has grown dramatically, nearly 50 percent since the 2007-2008 school year.
"Thirty years ago, my uncle Martin Luther King Jr. talked about America's 'promissory note' to deliver to all its people the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He dreamed of an America where all children, regardless of their color or religion or other circumstance, would enjoy the full exercise of those rights.
"For our children, a decent education is an integral part of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For parents faced with school violence, pervasive drug use, and sexual license, a choice among different types of education is no less important."
The Newtown Tragedy: Complex Causes Require Thoughtful Analysis and Responses
"All Americans had a visceral reaction of shock and pain to the killing of 20 schoolchildren and six staff members in Newtown, Connecticut," write The Heritage Foundation's John Malcolm and Jennifer Marshall. "In responding to this attack, Americans must consider with great reflection and care how best to proceed, in a manner consistent with our laws and our traditions, to protect innocent lives."
National School Choice Week is planning "the first-ever nationwide, whistle-stop train tour in support of school choice." Check it out here!
About The Heritage Foundation Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute -- a think tank -- whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
Inauguration Day By Rich Galen For foreigners, the only thing nuttier than watching the way we elect our Presidents is watching the way we inaugurate them.The pomp and circumstance involved in a modern U.S. Presidential inauguration would have moved Louis XIV to modesty. But if nothing else, we should all celebrate the continuity of democracy it represents.
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson normally keeps his political views extremely private, but now he's breaking his silence because of oppressively high tax rates. Mickelson was non-specific but said he would soon announce 'drastic' changes in reaction to the government taking about 63% of his total income. Glenn reacts on radio today to yet another example of how progressive tax policies don't work.
Glenn Beck's Misfit Ball is tonight!
Millions of Americans continue to suffer economically and more Americans are dying overseas (2 more died today in Algeria, where terrorists have taken over a gas field) but that's not stopping President Obama from celebrating himself today! But what about all those people who weren't invited? Those the President deems 'enemies' of progress? Glenn has the antidote - the first annual Misfit Ball! Don't miss it tonight at 5pm - check out the preview and the list of hated-by-the-President celebrities who will be attending!
Tonight's Primetime Lineup on TheBlaze TV
5pm ET - The Glenn Beck Program: Don't want to sit through "That Guy's" inauguration? Glenn has a much better alternative, join TheBlaze for the Misfit Inauguration Ball!
6pm ET - Real News: The Biography of a Presidency: Investigating Obama's record on the economy, secret wars, Obamacare and more.
7pm ET - Wilkow!:Was MLK Jr. a Republican? Watch Wilkow! tonight and get the answer.
Have a question for Glenn? E-mail your questions to AskGlenn@TheBlaze.com or tweet them using #AskGlenn!
How the Payroll Tax is hurting small business
Last week most Americans were surprised to learn that their paychecks were a little lighter than usual. That's because this administration has allowed the payroll tax to go up 2% for the new year. As the owner of a small company, Glenn explains exactly how impactful this and other measures this administration has enacted have been on the engine that drives jobs in America: small business. MORE
Planned Parenthood loving President using 2 Bibles during inauguration
Glenn interviewed Live Action's Lila Rose on radio today on the sorry state of abortion in America. Despite using as many Bibles as possible to be sworn in, Obama is totally cool with your tax money going to fund abortions. Lila explains just how much of your hard earned income is going to snuff out the lives of the unborn and more on radio today.
Set up? Tania sends Glenn out to inspect deadly poisonous tree
Last week we reported how Glenn's wife Tania 'accidentally' flushed her wedding ring down the toilet just hours before their anniversary weekend. The story took an even stranger twist during the weekend getaway 'celebration' when Glenn was sent out to closely inspect a giant hive surrounded by deadly poisonous tree. Glenn tells the amazing story of how he survived on radio today. Check it out (and see pics of the hive/trees) HERE.
Obama exits Inauguration: "I'm going to take a look one more time." WATCH
Meet the newest host on TheBlaze Radio: Doc Thompson's morning show debuted today. Check out the new program & TheBlaze Radio program lineup HERE.
Purchase quality, carefully crafted products while supporting small businesses throughout America. . . Discover remarkable small businesses tirelessly working to gain your trust at The Marketplace by TheBlaze.
"It really grips you....I lost a lot of sleep reading it." -Tim LaHaye, co-author of the LEFT BEHIND series
Glenn's e-book thriller series Wrath & Righteousness examines the eternal battle between Light and Darkness while asking one of the fundamental questions of our existence: what is mankind's relationship to the spiritual world? The seventh episode in the 10-part series is available HERE. Download the previous 6 episodes HERE to catch up. Have a question or comment about the series? Visit our FAQ page.
The B.S. of A. takes you inside Glenn's Libertypendence Park: Disneyland and Disney World don't hold a candle to Glenn Beck's Libertypendence Park. Take a look!
Watch Glenn on DISH!
TheBlaze, Glenn's TV channel, is available exclusively on DISH channel 212. Click HERE for more details.
~ If you come across an issue or story that you think would be of interest to the group, forward it to this email address so we can include it in the daily newsletter. Please include any links to the associated story with your email so that we can source it for the newsletter. J
You have received this mailing because you subscribed to our mailing list or signed up at a meeting. If you have any problems with this mailing, please reply to this posting. Thank you for your support.
You won't find them in America. Look for them in Obamerica. 
President Obama has an, at times, well-deserved reputation for delivering his speeches well. Certainly, the president made an impression today when he delivered his second inaugural address calling for a bolder, more expansive government that would be committed increasingly to the principles of liberalism, with characteristic soaring rhetoric.
Did you watch the President's address today?
Remember that just days ago Organizing for America was changed to 
Mickelson fed up with high taxes 
