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Cyprus Buys Time, Keeps Banks Closed Until Thursday
Mar. 18, 2013
The Cypriot government has decided to extend its single-day banking holiday through Thursday, keeping banks closed and buying parliament a little more time to mull over a deal with European Union creditors that would impose a financial transaction tax as high as 9.9 percent on depositors, according to reports from both the Associated Press and Reuters.
"Tuesday and Wednesday are bank holidays," one source told Reuters.
Cyprus: Seize money from bank deposits as part of an EU bailout 18-2013!
The Cypriot government will formally announce the holiday extension later on Monday, the source added.
SHOCK & AWE
The Cyprus bailout deal has sent shockwaves through Europe and the U.S. - shockwaves that have the small Mediterranean country scrambling to amend the original bailout agreement.
"The Cypriot government is now trying to modify the terms of the original plan and in particular to get a better deal for small savers with less than €100,000," the AP reports. "The weekend deal foresaw a one-off charge of 6.75 percent on those savings, rising to 9.9 percent for those above the €100,000 mark."
NSA Whistleblower Warns National Press Club: U.S. Government Engaged in a 'Direct Assault' on Free Speech
Mar. 18, 2013
(Photo: National Press Club
A former executive of the National Security Agency (NSA) is continuing his crusade against creeping encroachments on American liberty, speaking out at the National Press Club on Friday.
Thomas Drake had been with the NSA for 32 years and was the senior technical director when he decided he could no longer support the agency's actions. For the past several years, he has been raising awareness as a whistle-blower about domestic spying, waste, and fraud, and was even prosecuted under the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking classified information (the charges have been dropped).
Featured prominently on TheBlaze's premiere of "For the Record," Drake asked the audience at the National Press Club to consider a cause dear to their own hearts: press freedom and the First Amendment.
The National Press Club wrote of the event (all subsequent emphasis added)
In a passionate plea for the sanctity of the First Amendment, Drake warned that journalists are being increasingly frozen out of government sources.
"How else will the press report the real news when their sources dry up and the government becomes a primary purveyor of its own news?" he asked in one of many disturbing scenarios posed to the audience. He quoted George Orwell and John F. Kennedy to the same effect: It is a slippery slope from government secrecy to tyranny.
Club President Angela Greiling Keane has made press freedom a priority for her presidency this year. Had Drake been convicted, "it would have had a chilling effect on whistleblowers and journalists, who often receive and keep defense documents," she said in introducing Drake.
Obama Administration Caves to Putin on Missile Shield for Europe
Sunday, 17 Mar 2013
By Kenneth Hanner
Buried in the news made late Friday made by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that the U.S. planned to deploy missile interceptors in Alaska and California was the equally important news that the Obama administration was going to stop long-held plans to fully deploy a missile shield in Eastern Europe.
The Pentagon insisted that the change in deployment had nothing to do with trying to assuage Russia and everything with the threat from North Korea, which in recent months has sent a long-range missile into space, detonated a nuclear device, and, last week, sent a barrage ofmissiles into the Sea of Japan.
But the issue of the missile shield has long been seen as a sign of NATO's commitment to protect Europe and former Soviet satellite states against a potentially belligerent Russia, which has made the anti-missile deployment a key target in their diplomatic efforts with the U.S.
On March 26th, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Perry case, which will determine if Proposition 8 - the citizens initiative approved by the people of California in 2008 to protect marriage - is constitutional or not. More importantly, the question of same-sex "marriage" and the right of Americans to protect marriage will be decided.
It is imperative that political leaders, the media, and the culture see that we care about protecting marriage enough to stand up and march for it.
The March is being organized by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) alongside a broad coalition of pro-family organization, state partners, African-American, Latino, Catholic and Protestant leaders. Speakers include Gary Bauer (American Values), Bishop Harry Jackson, Dr. Robert George (Manhattan Declaration), Penny Nance (Concerned Women for America) and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.
Here's the schedule of events for the March on Tuesday, March 26th:
8:30am - Gather at the National Mall location between 10th Street and 12th Street NW & between Madison Drive NW and Jefferson Drive SW
9:30am - March to Supreme Court and then return to the National Mall location.
11:00am - 1:00pm - Rally begins at National Mall location.
Saturday, March 23, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
Seating is very limited, but as of now there are about 80 spots left. When inviting people, keep in mind that we want the most active and involved people to attend. This is a training event, so we want to train the best, brightest, and most dedicated to become Citizen Watchdogs!
In Liberty,
Matthew M. Hissey
(267) 838 2380
Grassroots Director Americans For Prosperity Pennsylvania
Updated PA Leadership Conference Agenda Released
The conference which will be held April 19-20, 2013 at the Radisson Penn Harris Convention Center in Camp Hill (Harrisburg), PA.
Registration includes admission to all conference functions EXCEPT the pre-dinner reception. Registration DOES include the Friday evening dinner with speaker Steve Hayes of Fox News/The Weekly Standard (do not register separately for the dinner); the Saturday breakfast with John Gizzi and Saturday lunch with pollster/commentator Scott Rasmussen. It also includes all panels, workshops and speakers. The only function NOT included in the registration fee is the pre-dinner reception with Steve Hayes, which is priced separately.
The 'Early Bird' registration period for the
2013 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference
has been extended until midnight Saturday, March 23rd!
Be sure to enter the promo code to save $5.00 off a single registration
It will be a vital addition to your ministry when you attend this very important luncheon. ABSOLUTELY FREE! Olive Tree Ministries and our event hosts invite you to join us for a Middle East Briefing with Pastor Victor Styrsky on April 4th and 5th. Victor a speaker your will love! His straight forward and passionate heart drew enthusiastic response last Fall when his powerful message about Israel reached audiences throughout Delaware and Pennsylvania region. Victor has just returned from Israel where he hosted over 50 pastors on life - changing tours and briefings. As the First State, Delaware need to be on God's radar in support fo Israel, the apple of His eye! Won't you become part of our initiative here in this area to bring together Pastors, Rabbis and congregational Leaders for Israel? NOW is the time! We will look forward to having you join us. Staff of Olive Tree Ministries.
Click above to register for either or both events Bring spouses and guests. You will be linking directly to the CUFI registration pages. Your guests are welcome but each individual person must register as indicated on the registration pages.
$25 OFF Bus if you register before April 22 $25 OFF Participation if you register before April 22
June 19 - 21 we will convene at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC for our fourth annual National Conference & Legislative Briefing.
And here's some really great news: This year's registration fee is only $229! Register by April 15th and you'll receive our "Early Bird" rate of just $189!
We also offer again this year special benefits for Patriot Eagle and Patriot sponsors.
We have some exciting new wrinkles planned for this year's event, and our list of confirmed speakers already includes:
Steven Emerson - Journalist, author, and the Executive Editor of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. A. M. Rosenthal, late-managing editor of The New York Times, described Emerson as "one of the nation's best national security correspondents."
John Guandolo - Former FBI agent and one of America's leading authorities on the Muslim Brotherhood and its inner workings in America. Guandolo spoke at our conference in 2011 and received rave reviews from conference attendees!
Ezra Levant - Canadian lawyer, author, newspaper columnist with Sun Media, and former publisher of the Western Standard. Hauled before a Canadian "human rights commission" because he published the Danish cartoons that satirized Muhammad, Levant's personal account of a politically correct government inquisition is something you won't want to miss!
The National Conference & Legislative Briefing will begin on Wed. evening, June 19th, and conclude on Friday, June 21st at noon, with additional optional training sessions Friday afternoon.
It will again feature our very popular Capitol Hill Awards Luncheon and our signature gala banquet-and of course, our Legislative Briefing, where Members of Congress will brief you on various issues and answer your questions.
So make your plans now to join us in our nation's capital for what promises to be our best National Conference & Legislative Briefing ever!
More details to come!
Coming March 25th & 27th: Two Skills Clinics for Pennsylvania Conservatives
Holding Congress accountable is tough work, and it can seem even more daunting when you're tackling the task alone. Whether you are new to the fight or a seasoned activist, the Sentinel Skills Clinic will help you better engage Congress and have your voice heard. Join fellow Pennsylvania conservatives as we share the tools to take meaningful action at this crucial time in our country's history.
Lancaster Skills Clinic
Homewood Suites by Hilton Lancaster 200 Granite Run Drive Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17601
· Navigating Sentinel and the Heritage Action Dashboard · Effective Meetings with your Congressman · Twitter 101 · And more!
We're asking $5 to cover a pizza dinner at the door.
Register for your local clinic today and bring your friends,
Russ Vought Political Director Heritage Action for America
PS: Don't see a clinic near you? Talk to our Pittsburgh or Philadelphia regional coordinators to start planning a local skills clinic now.
2013 RedState Gathering -- Early Bird Special
Dear RedStater,
We announced earlier this week that we'll be headed to New Orleans the first weekend in August for this year's RedState Gathering. As a member of our RedState family, we'd like to extend exclusive Early Bird registration and pricing to you (just use the promo code EARLYBIRD on the registration page).
The 2013 RedState Gathering will be held August 2-3 at the Westin Canal Place in New Orleans, LA. We'll have two full days of speakers and activities and you can expect a good mix of elected officials and potential candidates for the 2014 cycle (we'll keep you informed as additions are made).
The Gathering has always been a unique event, in that all speakers, even the most in-demand and influential, pay their own way and make their own travel arrangements. This helps keep our costs low, a savings we are happy to pass along to our conference attendees. Additionally, we strive to get you up close to the speakers, ask them to take your questions, and we take care of nearly all your meals during the conference. Bottom line: fewer frills, more thrills and access.
We are thrilled to once again be joined by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who will be hosting a reception for all attendees and appear at the Gathering podium as a keynote speaker. A huge hit in 2012, we're looking forward to Gov. Jindal playing an even larger role this year as he welcomes us to his home state.
Now, more than ever, true conservative activists must come together to exchange ideas and strategize for the future. That's what this year's Gathering is all about. We hope you'll join us.
P.S. Don't delay! You'll receive 20% off if you register today - just use the promo code EARLYBIRD. Click here.
Glenn: Help us get in millions of home
Why should you support the "Get TheBlaze" movement to get TheBlaze in millions of homes across the country? For starters, how about a network that will cancel out the damage Al-Jazeera will be doing in America as it replaces Current in your lineup? Check out Glenn's "why" in this exclusive letter HERE.
Ready to take action? Click here to contact your TV provider and urge them to add TheBlaze.
ATTENTION: Are you a Verizon FiOS Subscriber? They've created a new form for you to fill out to request TheBlaze! You can complete the form HERE. And don't forget to make your request public by posting on their Facebook page. Thank you for supporting us!
Hi All - I just spoke w/ Lisa Lnancollas@aol.com (717 437 1327) who lives in Lewistown, Pa and is majorly involved in fighting the smart meters............and it's more than just electric, it's water, furnaces/ac's and wells too
We need to share this information. I asked her if she'd speak to groups in our area and she said yes, but would like to include Mike Reese who's written several bills that we want to get out of committee and approved:
2.signs in our yards saying NO SMART METERS......put them around like election signs
3.Let our State Reps know how you feel ie Warren Kampf....tell him you're in favor of the bills against smart meters
4.Do neighbor alerts........call your neighbors if you see trucks coming into the area
5.Write letters to the editors....remember if they get several letters, they're more likely to put at least one in.....educate the public
6.Prepare handouts
7.Send certified letter to electric company and get return receipt of name of person who signed for it
Be aware:
Water Smart Meters.........(IF YOU LET THEM IN, you're giving permission.) YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LET THEM IN
Well Smart Meters......are coming and will limit the amount of water you use.
If you get someone knocking on your door asking if you want to save money on your heat/ac, do not say yes or they'll put a clip on your unit that will limit your usage of air conditioning. The fan will work, but your usage will be CONTROLLED.
IF you get a new wall mount (thermostat & it may be required w/ a new ac unit because of the wiring) for your AC DO NOT GET ONE WITH A GPS in it........there is a cheaper model that has no GPS........ask questions BEFORE you start or consider any changes!!!!!!!!
Important Announcement from SFL
You're probably wondering why you've been getting more emails from me and Sustainable Freedom Lab after having had next to none for quite some time.
Well, the truth is that I've been very busy. As always, I spend enormous amounts of my time researching, writing, and speaking to the public about the threats of Agenda 21 and Regionalism.
I've also been working on important projects behind the scenes.
Now I'm finally ready to reveal the first of these "secret" projects: The DVD version of "Stopping Agenda 21 in Your Community".
Like the title suggests, this DVD program offers step-by-step training on how you can fight back against those who would bring Agenda 21 into your community. The test audience who saw this program during the limited streaming we held last Fall felt it was critical viewing for anyone concerned about the erosion of our property rights.
If you've been wanting an interesting, clearly written, how-to-manual for identifying and fighting UN Agenda 21, here it is. Agenda 21--All the information you need to understand what is happening in your town, why it's happening, who is behind it, and what you can do to stop it. BEHIND THE GREEN MASK: U.N. Agenda 21 is 172 pages of truth. Part history, part current events, part hand-to-hand combat, and part blueprint for keeping your freedom, this is one book that you'll put to work immediately. Boots on the ground and all hands on deck is the order of the day. Awareness is the first step in the Resistance.
Awareness about Agenda 21 is finally spreading throughout the country, due in no small part to your efforts. But knowing it is there isn't enough. Now we need to educate ourselves on how to combat it. That's where you come in.
American Policy Center has recently released a booklet that explains everything you need to know to start fighting back against sustainable programs both locally and nationally. The booklet is called Special Report: Agenda 21 and How to Stop It and is available in the APC store for only $5.95.
I wrote this 35 page booklet in order to give activists a succinct resource they can refer to if they suspect Agenda 21 or Sustainable Development is being implemented in their area. It includes my own research coupled with incredibly helpful graphics created by Carroll County, Maryland Commissioner Richard Rothschild.
In the booklet you will find answers to several roadblocks that grassroots anti-Agenda 21 activists often face, including a definition of property rights and "Resolution to Protect Citizens' Property Rights," which many concerned citizens are already using to tie the hands of power hungry politicians.
This booklet is a great resource for anyone interested in preserving their property rights. It includes all the information to put up a first line of defense and step by step instructions for how to proceed from there. If you face Agenda 21 or Sustainable development in your area or are simply concerned with the national fight this booklet is a must read.
P.S. - The American Policy Center store has recently updated our inventory to include everything you need to fight back against Agenda 21. The revamped catalogue includes the "Stop Agenda 21 Action Kit", which provides users with everything they need to know about Agenda 21 in their own living room, as well as ways to share it with other concerned activists and critical knowledge on how to fight back. The store also offers DVDs of past successful conferences and symposiums, books and articles that deal with the issues of sustainability and Agenda 21 and individually packaged manuals and workbooks to aid you in your activism. You don't need to look any farther than the American Policy Center Store for everything you need to combat Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development in your area.
It's time to opt out of the creepy federal data-mining racket.
By Michelle Malkin
Last week, I reported on the federal government's massive new student-tracking database, which was created as part of the nationalized Common Core standards scheme.
The bad news: GOP "leadership" continues to ignore or, worse, enable this Nanny State racket. (Hello, Jeb Bush.)
The good news: A grassroots revolt outside the Beltway bubble is swelling. Families are taking their children's academic and privacy matters out of the snoopercrats' grip and into their own hands. You can now download a Common Core opt-out form to submit to your school district, courtesy of the group Truth in American Education.
Parents caught off guard by the stealthy tracking racket are now mobilizing across the country. According to the
New York Daily News
, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, echoing parents across New York City, blasted the tracking database in a letter to government officials: "I don't want my kids' privacy bought and sold like this." This Wednesday, prompted by parental objections, Oklahoma state representatives unanimously passed House Bill 1989 - the Student Data Accessibility, Transparency and Accountability Act - to prohibit the release of confidential student data without the written consent of the student's parent or guardian.As I noted in last week's column, the national Common Core student database was funded with Obama stimulus money. Grants also came from the liberal Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which largely underwrote and promoted the top-down Common Core curricular scheme). A division of the conservative Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. built the database infrastructure. A nonprofit startup, "inBloom, Inc.," evolved out of this strange-bedfellows partnership to operate the invasive database, which is compiling everything from health-care histories, income information, and religious affiliations to voting status, blood types, and homework completion.
And it gets worse. Research fellow Joy Pullmann at the Heartland Institute points to a February Department of Education report on its data-mining plans that contemplates the use of creepy student-monitoring techniques such as "functional magnetic resonance imaging" and "using cameras to judge facial expressions, an electronic seat that judges posture, a pressure-sensitive computer mouse and a biometric wrap on kids' wrists."
The DOE report exposes the big lie that Common Core is about raising academic standards. The report instead reveals Common Core's progressive designs to measure and track children's "competencies" in "recognizing bias in sources," "flexibility," "cultural awareness and competence," "appreciation for diversity," "empathy," "perspective taking, trust, [and] service orientation."
That's right. School districts and state governments are pimping out highly personal data on children's feelings, beliefs, "biases," and "flexibility" instead of doing their own jobs of imparting knowledge - and minding their own business. And yes, Republicans such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush continue to falsely defend the centralized Common Core regime as locally driven and non-coercive, while ignoring the database system's circumvention of federal student-privacy laws.
Why? Edu-tech nosybodies are using the Common Core assessment boondoggle as a Trojan horse to collect and crunch massive amounts of personal student data for their own social-justice or moneymaking ends. Reminder: Nine states have entered into contracts with inBloom: Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina. Countless other vendors are salivating at the business possibilities in exploiting public-school students.
Marxism in Education - The Infiltration of Our School Systems by the Common Core Standards
Details
Written by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Right Side News has been reporting on progressive education reformers and the Common Core Standards being implemented in our public schools across the nation. Here is an excellent article with videos detailing how the Obama Administration is requiring the public schools in your county through grants (bribes) to adopt Common Core Standards.
Bottom line: the Obama Administration is using your tax money to indoctrinate your children to a Marxist mindset. You can make a difference, as explained below the videos by downloading an OPT-OUT form and submitting that to your local school district.
Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, Noisy Room Blog
I caught Glenn Beck on The Blaze and his excellent showcasing of Obama's Common Core Standards that are now in 45 states, including my state of Idaho. Common Core is Marxism for children. It is state run propaganda and is meant to dumb down and control our little ones. It is evil and it has been a long time coming. Obama pushed it through slyly and quickly after coming into office, but I can tell you, this has been brewing since at least the 1990s.
A little background... When my children were in school in the 1990s, my husband and I requested to see the school curriculum for their school in Las Vegas, Nevada. We were refused and basically told we were too dumb to understand what the teachers were instructing our son and daughter in. The last straw came when they wanted to put my daughter in the second grade on Ritalin instead of disciplining her. I was pulled in front of four teachers and accused of not raising my daughter correctly, as well as basically being an abusive and stupid parent.
I promptly told these teachers that they could pound sand and pulled our children (our son was in third grade at the time) out of school that very same day. I left the Fortune 500 and home schooled both of them till high school and in retrospect, should have kept them out even then. My children could not do the simplest of math or read when we pulled them out. I tested them and started them all over again with the ABEKA home schooling system, which at the time, cost a great deal of money.
Forty-five states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the Common Core State Standards.
Has Communist Ideology Overtaken America? Education is crucial. Today I want to share two very interesting lists with you, and rather than adding an extensive amount of my commentary, I want to give you the chance to examine the facts for yourself. It is my opinion that many communist goals have already been accomplished. I also believe that advancement has been made in other areas. But, you owe it to yourself to do your own research. I believe not only in the freedom of speech, but also in the responsibility of free thought. So please don't take my word for it. Examine the facts for yourself.
Again, I want to share two lists with you. The first is a list that was entered into 1963 Congressional Record. The second is the 10 planks of The Communist Manifesto.
If you can't see this happening in America, and a ton of progress being made, then I offer two potential explanations:
You are one of the "useful idiots" of communist teaching.
I am one of the "village idiots" that your Mama probably warned you about.
Some of these points will be open for debate and some will not. In some cases it is blatantly obvious that they have achieved their goals. It is even rumored that our own President has deep communist ties. You might want to check that out as well but I will withhold my opinion at this point. Let's just lay it out and you can interpret it.
This list was originally printed in "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen. It was entered into Congressional Record in 1963 as the 45 goals of "The Communist Takeover of America."
If I Were the Devil - (BEST VERSION) by PAUL HARVEY audio restored
America needs a history lesson
Sign up now for Hillsdale's newest online courses - available FREE to every American!
Did you know that over 500,000 other students have already registered for one of our free online courses?
As Ronald Reagan once said during a speech delivered on our campus in 1978, "Hillsdale deserves the appreciation of all who labor for freedom...Your creative outreach on national issues enables little Hillsdale to cast a long shadow."
As a school of only 1,400 students, we reach over 350 TIMES that number with our online courses on the Constitution and America's founding principles.
Now is your chance to join with your fellow citizens!
Register now for this free "American Heritage" online course so you can better understand - and defend - the principles of liberty. This is the type of education America's Founders thought necessary to preserve our republic. Lectures in this not-for-credit online course are delivered by members of Hillsdale's history department faculty, and readings are drawn from the American Heritage Reader used in the American Heritage core course taught on Hillsdale's campus.
Course Schedule
Approximately 40 minutes in length, lectures will be released each Monday according to the schedule below. Once available, each week's materials can be viewed at your convenience.
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March 17, 2013, 3 PM
Dear Members and Friends,
Last week was certainly a miraculous one--both in Rome and DC.
Besides the election of Pope Francis I, the Democrats in the US Senate, lead by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), proposed a serious budget--something Senate Democrats haven't done in four years.
Senator Patty Murray
We congratulate Congressional Republicans, through smart strategic maneuvering, for finally forcing their Democrat colleagues to submit a budget.
We also congratulate Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for releasing his budget proposal which, like Senator Pat Toomey's 2012 budget proposal, would balance the budget in ten years without increasing taxes. (Ryan's previous budgets would have taken nearly twenty years to produce a balanced budget.)
Of course, Ms. Murray's proposal does not balance the budget in the foreseeable future, nor does it tackle entitlements. Instead, it mandates another $1.5 trillion in new taxes.
By contrast, Mr. Ryan's budget not only tackles entitlements, it also defunds
ObamaCare. To read more, click the following link:
Naturally, we urge the passage of Ryan's budget in the House and the defeat of Murray's in the Senate (see Action Alert below). If both bills pass their respective chambers, as is likely, the resulting Conference will be extremely
contentious.
In another important vote, an Assault Weapons Ban, known as the 'Feinstein' bill, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee (10-8) along a strict party line vote. (Yes, every Republican voted 'no.')
Even though the odds are against its passage by the full Senate, we urge all of you to contact your Senators, this week, and let them know that you support the 2nd Amendment and not the Feinstein bill.
Action Alert
Call the Capitol Switchboard @ 202.224.3121 and ask to be connected to your US Senators. Tell them to vote 'no' on both the Murray Budget and the Feinstein bill.
Call the Capitol Switchboard @ 202.225.3121 and ask to be connected to your US Congressman/woman. Tell him/her to vote 'yes' on the Ryan Budget.
Upcoming Events
On Monday, March 18, Senator Pat Toomey will headline a Veterans event regarding the recent controversy over the ranking of Military Honors for Drone operators.
Dom Giordano and Association friend Joe Eastman will be among those in attendance.
Veterans Military Honors Event with Senator Pat Toomey
When: Monday, March 19, 2013; Doors Open, 1:30 PM
Where: VFW Post 928, McDade Blvd. & Sutton Avenue, Folsom, PA
This Wednesday, the Zionist Organization of America will host one of the nation's leading national security/anti-terrorist experts: Frank Gaffney.
Mr. Gaffney will discuss "Iran, Terrorism and You: Issues Facing America and Our Ally Israel & How You Can Make a Difference."
Iran, Terrorism, and You with Frank Gaffney
When: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 6:30 PM
Where: Congregation Mikveh Israel, "the Synagogue of the American Revolution,"
44 North Fourth Street, Old City, Philadelphia.
Cost: Suggested $10 donation to help defray event expenses.
Please RSVP by calling 610-660-9466.
Tomorrow, the Association will begin its March Pot of Gold Money Drop Campaign.
Our goal is to raise $5,000. If everyone contributed $5, we'd exceed our goal several times over.
Hope you had a terrific St. Patrick's Day!
On behalf of the Association Board,
Teri Adams
The Independence Hall Tea Party Association is a regional, tri-state (DE, PA,NJ) grassroots organization officially formed in May, 2009 after a successful Tax Week Tea Party.
Its mission is to educate the general public regarding the principles of limited government as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Visit us @ www.IndependenceHallTeaParty.
While it is unfortunate that we are at the point in this country that we need to pass legislation on this issue, it is a necessity. Daryle Metcalfe's HB 357 is stuck in the House Judiciary Committee. There are now 75 co-sponsors ( I believe all republican) out of a possible 102. The Chair of the committee, Ron Marsico, has federal "supremacy" clause issues and will need heavy & relentless pressure to bring this up for a floor vote.
The names on the House Judiciary committee list are all republicans(excluding Caltagirone) down to Toohil. Stevens & Toepel are from Montgomery & O'Neill from Bucks. They have not co-sponsored. Krieger, M.Keller, Rock, Saccone have. Please put pressure on those Republicans that haven't co-sponsored.
You especially need to press your own State Representative and others in your county that haven't co-sponsored. [NO southeast PA State Representative has co-sponsored except for Paul Clymer, including Kathy Watson, Marguerite Quinn, and Bob Godshall. Kathy doesn't like Daryl Metcalfe or his grandstanding methods but adamantly claims a sterling 2nd Amendment record (someone want to research that?); Marguerite is waiting to hear from a lawyer on the constitutionality of the bill (mail her a copy of the Constitutionality article below); Bob is waffling as usual.
Go to www.legis.state.pa.us to read the bill & find the county legislators. Hit the General Assembly button to find county reps, Legislation to enter the bill # (History shows all latest co-signers) and House for all legislators. You all most likely know this. Let's get this on the floor before the session ends and on to the senate! FYI--The Chair is Marsico, not Marisco.
Kathy Bessler, CCG VP for Activism
Pennsylvania, Help pass the 2nd Amendment Preservation Act!
Your action is needed right now to support the right to keep and bear arms.
HB357, The Second Amendment Preservation Act, to nullify federal gun laws in the State of Pennsylvania has been introduced - and needs your help to move forward.
The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. Having a hearing and committee vote scheduled is the first step that's needed towards passage.
The Tenth Amendment Center requests your immediate help by contacting your state senator to express your support for this legislation. We urge you to CALL and EMAIL. Strongly, but respectfully, inform your representative that you are concerned with federal infringements on the right to bear arms. HB357 can be viewed here.
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Contact the Committee Chair. Politely encourage him to schedule a committee hearing for HB357.
Ron Marisco, Chair (717) 783-2014
2. Contact the rest of the members of the committee. Make sure they're aware that support for HB357 is strong. Let them know, respectfully, that you expect to see a YES vote from them on HB357
3. Encourage your local community to take action as well. Present the 2nd Amendment Preservation Act to your city county, your town council, or your county commissioners. Various local governments around the country are already passing similar resolutions and ordinances. Local legislative action is a great way to strengthen a statewide campaign against 2nd Amendment violations
5. Share this information widely. Please pass this along to your friends and family. Also share it with any and all grassroots groups you're in contact with around the state. Please encourage them to email this information to their members and supporters
We cannot succeed with out your help, and the funding to mount principled and effective campaigns against unconstitutional "laws," regulations and mandates.
1.In Response to RedState, Mitch McConnell Doubles Down on Surrender
Mitch McConnell wants to clear the air based on my earlier RedState post. In the post, quoting Yahoo! News, I noted McConnell said, "When it came to Obamacare, we gave it everything we have, everything we have, and we just lost."
In response to yesterday morning's post, Mitch McConnell's press team sent out an email blast with the transcript of the speech. They reached out to my office insisting I fix a quote from a news story that itself has not changed the quote. Nonetheless, the McConnell team insists the actual quote is, "We gave it everything we had, and we just barely lost the legislative fight."
2.The Marketplace Fairness Act is More Unfair Than Status Quo
The advent of the internet has simplified life for millions of consumers in this country.But for state governments, many of which are hungry for more tax revenue to purvey their rapacious welfare states, e-commerce has complicated their ability to collect all sales taxes owed to the state - at least without directly taxing the consumer, something the statists are too scared to do.
Most states have been collecting sales taxes for over 50 years - long before the internet was invented.The tax was structured so that the seller would automatically collect the tax from the buyer on behalf of the state.Many jurisdictions have multiple layers of sales tax - some of them collecting city, county, and state taxes.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3.Barack Obama to double down on sequester stupidity and cancel Easter Egg Roll?
4.Colorado Planned Parenthood Clinics Not Regulated By Standard State Health and Medical Guidelines
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM), which currently faces a lawsuit in Colorado for malpractice and health standard violations, is not licensed or regulated as a health clinic under Colorado state policy. A Media Trackers investigation has revealed and PPRM has confirmed that while individual PPRM doctors and nurses are certified at the state level, the clinics themselves only meet federal level standards and regulation dating back to the 1980s. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Drones in Wonderland Cindy Simpson For now, we're supposed to trust an administration that holds, potentially unrestrained by the right to due process, all the keys -- to detention facilities and the drones. More
World Opinion: Getting it Wrong Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison We need to make an effort to show "a decent respect for the opinion of mankind." But not to the point where it cripples us. More
Why the NRA is Right about Hollywood Selwyn Duke Much fire has been directed at gun advocates in general and the National Rifle Association in particular. In response, the organization has implicated Hollywood and popular culture in general for mainstreaming mindless violence. More
Looking Beyond the Budget Duel Christopher Chantrill The administration appears to have believed their own lies involving ObamaCare. The upcoming result? The most almighty train wreck you ever saw. More
Outsourcing the Poor Jonathon Moseley Despite the hopes of liberals that Pope Francis will be one of their own in a surplice, serious divergences between the Church and modern liberalism will remain. More
Stopping the Inevitable Doug Lucas 'A democracy can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.' But why should a parasitic class have the right to vote? More
The lessons of CPAC March 18, 2013 Andrew Malcolm of IBD does the best job so far of summing up CPAC and explaining what it says about the state of conservative politics. More
So, how can the GOP triumph in 2016? In a nutshell: find a charismatic candidate able to mobilize the great middle but without alienating core GOP supporters.
The Catholic Church has chosen a new Pope and the caterwauling of non adherents that are disappointed that the Church rejects "liberation theology" is sickening.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that if a request were to "come forward" that the papal election be monitored by an international organization the U.S. government "would take it very seriously."
"The health overhaul is shaping up to be exactly what most Americans feared at the time of its passage: an onerous, wildly unaffordable monster whose full nature is yet to be seen."
How should we deal with Genocide, for example? After World War II when we finally learned what the Nazi death camps had done, we resolved "never again," never more to permit genocide.
Another victory for the US Muslim Brotherhood, as the AP is reporting that "religious terms" such as Islamic extremism and Jihad will be removed from the document known as the National Security Strategy.
"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
Arkansas Fourth District Rep. Tom Cotton appeared on CNN's State of the Nation yesterday along with his colleague Hawaii Second District Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (video below). Our friend Rep. Cotton set forth a few significant truths about the American effort in Iraq that should not be obscured by Rajiv Chandrasekaran and his media colleagues.
In the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, Naval War College professor of national security affairs Stephen Knott also sought to remind readers of a few truths that nicely complement Rep. Cotton's. Professor Knott's column is behind the Journal's subscription pay wall. Here it is:
At 5:34 a.m. on March 20, 2003, American, British and other allied forces invaded Iraq. One of the most divisive conflicts in the nation's history would soon be labeled "Bush's War."
The overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime became official U.S. policy in 1998, when President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act-a bill passed 360-38 by the House of Representatives and by unanimous consent in the Senate. The law called for training and equipping Iraqi dissidents to overthrow Saddam and suggested that the United Nations establish a war-crimes tribunal for the dictator and his lieutenants.
The legislation was partly the result of frustration over the undeclared and relatively unheralded "No-Fly Zone War" that had been waged since 1991. Saddam's military repeatedly fired on U.S. and allied aircraft that were attempting to prevent his regime from destroying Iraqi opposition forces in northern and southern Iraq.
According to former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Hugh Shelton, in 1997 a key member of President Bill Clinton's cabinet (thought by most observers to have been Secretary of State Madeleine Albright) asked Gen. Shelton whether he could arrange for a U.S. aircraft to fly slowly and low enough that it would be shot down, thereby paving the way for an American effort to topple Saddam. Kenneth Pollack, a member of Mr. Clinton's National Security Council staff, would later write in 2002 that it was a question of "not whether but when" the U.S. would invade Iraq. He wrote that the threat presented by Saddam was "no less pressing than those we faced in 1941."
Radicalized by the events of 9/11, George W. Bush gradually concluded that a regime that had used chemical weapons against its own people and poison gas against Iran, invaded Iran and Kuwait, harbored some of the world's most notorious terrorists, made lucrative payments to the families of suicide bombers, fired on American aircraft almost daily, and defied years of U.N. resolutions regarding weapons of mass destruction was a problem. The former chief U.N. weapons inspector, an Australian named Richard Butler, testified in July 2002 that "it is essential to recognize that the claim made by Saddam's representatives, that Iraq has no WMD, is false."
In the U.S., there was a bipartisan consensus that Saddam possessed and continued to develop WMD. Former Vice President Al Gore noted in September 2002 that Saddam had "stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." Then-Sen. Hillary Clinton observed that Saddam hoped to increase his supply of chemical and biological weapons and to "develop nuclear weapons." Then-Sen. John Kerry claimed that "a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his [Saddam's] hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
Even those opposed to using force against Iraq acknowledged that, as then-Sen. Edward Kennedy put it, "we have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing" WMD. When it came time to vote on the authorization for the use of force against Iraq, 81 Democrats in the House voted yes, joined by 29 Democrats in the Senate, including the party's 2004 standard bearers, John Kerry and John Edwards, plus Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Sen. Joe Biden, Mrs. Clinton, and Sens. Harry Reid, Tom Harkin, Chris Dodd and Jay Rockefeller. The latter, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed that Saddam would "likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years."
Support for the war extended far beyond Capitol Hill. In March 2003, a Pew Research Center poll indicated that 72% of the American public supported President Bush's decision to use force.
If Mr. Bush "lied," as the common accusation has it, then so did many prominent Democrats-and so did the French, whose foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, claimed in February 2003 that "regarding the chemical domain, we have evidence of [Iraq's] capacity to produce VX and yperite [mustard gas]; in the biological domain, the evidence suggests the possible possession of significant stocks of anthrax and botulism toxin." Germany's intelligence chief August Hanning noted in March 2002 that "it is our estimate that Iraq will have an atomic bomb in three years."
According to interrogations conducted after the invasion, Saddam's own generals believed that he had WMD and expected him to use these weapons as the invasion force neared Baghdad.
The war in Iraq was authorized by a bipartisan congressional coalition, supported by prominent media voices and backed by the public. Yet on its 10th anniversary Americans will be told of the Bush administration's duplicity in leading us into the conflict. Many members of the bipartisan coalition that committed the U.S. to invade Iraq 10 years ago have long since washed their hands of their share of responsibility.
We owe it to history-and, more important, to all those who died-to recognize that this wasn't Bush's war, it was America's war.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran is a Washington Post reporter who has written extensively, and inaccurately, about U.S. involvement in Iraq. Years ago, I criticized his reporting here, here, here, and here.
Now, for the tenth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq, Chandrasekaran is back with what he claims are "five myths about Iraq." His analysis is as distorted as ever.
Parts of Chandrasekaran's piece are just silly. For example, he cites as "myth" the claim that "the Americans have all left" Iraq. Not so: 220 U.S. military personnel remain.
But has anyone said that every last American military-type has left Iraq? Chandrasekaran's argument is a bit like saying I didn't clean my house because I failed to dust the nightstand in the basement guest room.
Turning to more important questions, Chandrasekaran deems it a myth to say that "the troop surge succeeded." He agrees, as he must, that the surge helped bring about a sharp decrease in sectarian violence. But another goal, he insists, was to bring about a grand bargain between the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. This hasn't happened.
By the same kind of reasoning, Chandrasekaran could argue that the Union's Civil War effort didn't succeed because, although it defeated the rebellion, it didn't lead to a harmonious reconstruction or to real freedom for most southern Blacks. Under any fair-minded analysis, a military operation succeeds if it accomplishes its core military objectives, even though some hoped-for political consequences don't follow.
The military objectives of the surge were (1) to curtail the sectarian violence that was tearing Iraq apart and (2) to deal a major, Sunni Arab assisted blow to al Qaeda (a goal Chandrasekaran neglects to mention). The surge accomplished both. That's more than good enough for government work.
Al Qaeda in Iraq has staged a comeback. But that's due to post-surge developments including decisions by the Obama administration. The revival of al Qaeda in Iraq does not demonstrate that the surge didn't succeed, any more than the rise of the Ku Klux Klan shows the Civil War effort to have been a failure.
Tomorrow, I will attend an AEI program that looks back at the Iraq war. I hope, as a result, to have more to say about the surge and related matters.
We wrote extensively about Tom Perez during his scandal-ridden tenure at the Department of Justice, and Paul has written about him here, here and here in the context of President Obama's nominating Perez to be Secretary of Labor.
There are many good reasons to oppose Perez's nomination, but perhaps the most fundamental is that Perez stands in opposition to the founding purpose of the Department of Labor. The legislation authorizing the Labor Department says:
The purpose of the Department of Labor shall be to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.
Yet Tom Perez is committed to immigration policies that will damage the welfare of working Americans and set back their opportunities for profitable employment. Senator Jeff Sessions said it well in a press release this morning:
This is an unfortunate and needlessly divisive nomination. The top priority of the Secretary of Labor should be to create jobs and higher wages for American workers. But Mr. Perez has aggressively sought ways to allow the hiring of more illegal workers. ...
His views on illegal immigration are far outside the mainstream. Mr. Perez previously served as the President of the Board of Casa de Maryland, a fringe advocacy group that has instructed illegal immigrants on how to escape detection, and also promoted illegal labor sites and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. As a councilman in 2003, Mr. Perez advocated for allowing illegal immigrants to be able to use foreign identification, known as matricula cards, in place of a valid U.S.-issued ID to work and receive public services. By nominating Mr. Perez to this important post, the President has placed his drive to promote his flawed immigration policies over the needs of the millions of unemployed Americans. We need a Secretary of Labor who fights to create jobs for American workers, not one that undermines legal work requirements. It is plain that if the policies of Mr. Perez were to be enacted, jobs for Americans would be harder to come by and wages lower. He is the wrong man for this job.
Obama's appointment of Tom Perez to head DOL is not just ill-advised, it is perverse.
This semester I taught Xenophon's neglected treatise The Education of Cyrus, which many observers have compared to Machiavelli's Prince. Seems now we could use a modern-day financial Xenophon to update it as The Education of Cyprus, where, according to news out within the hour, there is going to be a four-day "bank holiday" to prevent a total run. We keep being reassured that this is a one-off event; that surely no other government would take this step against its citizens' bank deposits. Besides, the Cypriot Haircut is really just going after Russian oligarchs, who are even less worthy of respect than the guilty 1 percenters of Mitt Romney's America. (By the way, I second Roger Kimball's question: just why, exactly, do we persist in calling Russian gangsters "oligarchs"? "Oily-garchs," maybe. . .)
Surely our government would never imitate the Europeans in such a Machiavellian maneuver? Hmmm. A few weeks back I wondered why the Left hasn't (yet) called for a straight-up wealth tax to capture some of the value of the immense fortunes (Buffett, Gates, Googlepeeps, Facebookies, etc) that have accumulated largely tax-free over the last generation.
Actually there have been persistent rumors for a while now that "Progressives" are casting a greedy eye toward 401K assets. Byron York reported on this last fall:
The other goal for the safety net is to radically remake the retirement system. Social Security would remain in place, but progressives are frustrated that 401(k) plans are used mostly by higher-income workers. So they want the government, in Konzcal's words, to "provide a universal IRA with an automatic enrollment to all Americans, as well as shifting 401(k)s over to a public-private, defined-benefit plan." Such a scheme would not only involve massive new federal spending, but would also create a vast new pool of previously private money under the government's control.
The Committee on Oversight and Reform is investigating the latest scandal involving Tom Perez, who is reported to be President Obama's choice for Secretary of Labor. Committee Chairaman Darrel Issa has confronted the Department of Justice (where Perez now serves as Assistant Attorney General) with charges that Perez arranged a quid pro quo for the City of St. Paul, Minnesota to drop the Supreme Court case of Magner v. Gallagher.
In exchange for dropping its case, the U.S. agreed not to intervene in an unrelated False Claims Act case that had the potential to return over $180 million in damages to the U.S. treasury. Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and House Oversight Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Patrick McHenry join with Issa in pressing the charge of quid pro quo.
Why did Perez and others in the Justice Department want the City of St. Paul to drop its appeal in Magner v. Gallagher? Because, as explained below, it was afraid the Supreme Court would invalidate one of the pet methods of proving racial discrimination in housing cases.
In the Magner case, slumlords sued the city to prevent the enforcement of its housing code on the grounds that the code disproportionately decreased the amount of housing available to minorities. The City argued that the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (FHA) prohibits only intentional discrimination, not neutral practices like code enforcement that happen to impact particular groups disproportionately.
The slumlord's theory is called "disparate impact." It originates in employment discrimination cases. There, plaintiffs are allowed to prove a prima facie case of discrimination by showing that a neutral practice, such as a test or running criminal background checks on applicants, excludes African-Americans (for example) at a significantly higher rate than it excludes others.
The employer must then justify the use of the practice. Plaintiffs seek to impose, and from liberal judges sometimes obtain, a very high burden on the employer to prove the "business necessity" of the disputed practice.
Given a high enough burden of proof, the ban on employment discrimination becomes a vehicle for virtually eliminating merit selection and, in effect, imposing quotas on employers. For if reasonable selection devices that disfavor minorities cannot clear an unreasonably high bar, employers will abandon them one by one until merit can only be taken into account to the extent it produces no differences in racial outcomes.
Disparte impact theory is firmly established, by virtue of Supreme Court jurisprudence, in employment cases (though most judges still resist the high burden of proof plaintiffs seek in evaluating the job relatedness of a challenged practice). In housing cases, such as Magner, the doctrine has enjoyed considerable success in lower courts, but the Supreme Court hasn't decided its applicability under the FHA.
Magner was the case in which the Supreme Court was expected to do so. And many observers thought the Court was poised to hold that the FHA does not permit claims based on disparate impact.
Perez probably thought so too, or maybe he just didn't want to take the risk. In any event, documents reviewed by the Committee on Oversight and Reform indicate that Perez, in effect, bought St. Paul's agreement to drop its appeal of Magner in exchange for DOJ's agreement, over the objections of career attorneys, not to join a fraud lawsuit against the City.
Score one for the slumlords and one for the "civil rights" bar.
The fraud suit that DOJ stayed out of is unrelated to Magner, although it too involves claims of race discrimination. In that case, a private whistleblower charged that St. Paul falsely certified that it was using federal funds to create jobs for low income workers of all races, when in fact (surprise, surprise) it was only focused on employing minorities.
Career DOJ attorneys characterized the City's behavior as a "particularly egregious example" of false certifications. The Department of Housing and Urban Development concurred in the recommendation to sue, as did the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota.
But Perez caused DOJ not to intervene as part of the deal to prevent the Supreme Court from deciding Magner. The fraud case against St. Paul was then dismissed on grounds that would not have applied had the U.S. been a party.
Score one for discrimination against low-income whites and one against the U.S. Treasury.
For Perez, these consequences (though probably not displeasing) were beside the point. Through his horse trading, he had protected a dubious legal theory that probably could not have withstood the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.
The deal Perez brokered raises significant legal and ethical questions, as well as serious questions about his fitness to serve in Obama's cabinet. We expect to have more to say about the matter.
A letter from Reps. Smith, Issa, and McHenry and Sen. Grassley to Eric Holder about the quid pro quo can be found here.
September 25, 2013, is the 224th anniversary of the passage of the Bill of Rights by Congress.
On that day, ACT! for America is going to remind America and the world that free speech is something we cherish and will defend.
We've declared September 25, 2013, to be "Freedom of Speech Day." It's part of our "Americans United to Defend Free Speech" campaign.
YOU can be part of "Freedom of Speech Day" by hosting a "Freedom of Speech Day" event that day. To find out how you can be part of this historic event click on the image below.
When a poll finds that six in ten Muslims in America believe criticism of Islam should be banned...
...when American Muslim leaders pressure our Department of Justice to find a way to criminalize speech critical of Islam...
...when our State Department is assisting the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in its goal to criminalize free speech...
...We need to stand up NOW and wake up America!!!
Please also sign our open letter to Congress and the 50 state legislatures, urging them to introduce and pass resolutions opposing implementation of UN Resolution 16/18.
The OIC's goal is to use UN Resolution 16/18 to pressure countries to criminalize speech deemed "offensive" to Islam. (See this article in the Saudi Gazette.)
Ten days ago legislation we supported in South Dakota, the Free Speech Defense Act, was signed into law.
As you can see, we're making progress!!
Now is the time to ACT! Let's send a loud and clear message to our friends and neighbors, to elected officials, and to Muslim organizations intent on destroying our freedom of speech, that we will not stand by and let this happen!
Requires Holder Response to 2011 letter re: DOJ NVRA case in Louisiana
Monday, March 18, 2013
(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Sen. David Vitter announced his commitment to block the nomination of Thomas Perez as Secretary of the Labor Department until the Department of Justice responds to his 2011 letter related to spotty enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act in Louisiana. Perez was closely involved in the controversial New Black Panther voter intimidation case before the Department of Justice.
"Thomas Perez's record should be met with great suspicion by my colleagues for his spotty work related to the New Black Panther case, but Louisianians most certainly should have cause for concern about this nomination," said U.S. Sen. David Vitter. "Perez was greatly involved in the DOJ's partisan full court press to pressure Louisiana's Secretary of State to only enforce one side of the law - the side that specifically benefits the politics of the president and his administration at the expense of identity security of each and every Louisianian on the voter rolls."
In the 2011 letter, Vitter asked the DOJ to be consistent in their efforts to enforce the National Voter Registration Act. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Vitter highlighted that DOJ filed a lawsuit against Louisiana alleging the state has not complied with Section 7 of NVRA, yet has done nothing to enforce Section 8 in other states. Thomas Perez is specifically named in the letter (bolded below).
Section 7 of NVRA requires certain government offices, such as those who provide welfare assistance, to provide voter registration forms. Section 8 requires states to conduct voter roll cleaning to purge ineligible felons, illegal aliens and deceased voters from corrupting the election process. The two provisions act together as counterparts.
The text of Vitter's 2011 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder is below.
Between the St. Patrick's Day hangovers and the bracket-filling for March Madness, this is not likely to be a productive day for the American economy.
Obamacare Is Coming - and It's Gonna Be a Pain in the . . .
At one point during my conference with chief human-resource officers in Orlando Friday, our host and moderator shifted to the topic of Obamacare, and said, "I think we all have a feeling that there may be some challenges in implementing it," and the audience laughed, quite knowingly. Folks, as bad as Obamacare's complicated rules and regulations sound to us laymen, it sounds worse when you listen to the professionals who have to try to make it work.
Inc., which bills itself as "The Magazine for Growing Companies," is not a political magazine, but their article this month on "What's Your Obamacare Strategy?" makes an awfully effective (and probably unintended) political argument. They look at how companies are preparing for the law, and spotlight the real-world consequences -- and in the process, confirm the central points of the Republican objections to Obamacare.
"How will it affect your company? Good question. Like Tolstoy's unhappy families, every company will be made unhappy in a different way by the new law. Or maybe not; for smaller companies, it could mean subsidies that make offering health benefits more affordable. Companies with 50 or more full-time employees, on the other hand, could face a range of penalties for failing to offer affordable coverage."
The magazine goes on to profile four companies: an Indianapolis brewery that expects to have 60 full-time employees by 2014 and that does not currently offer health insurance, which faces the choice of paying a penalty of about $60,000, or providing health insurance, which will cost $150,000 to $200,000. The co-owner/vice president laments that he could buy a lot more equipment and supplies with either sum.
Here's the deal: For most companies, offering health insurance will cost a lot more than $3,000 per employee -- particularly when insurers have to cover all preexisting conditions. The so-called "Affordable Care Act" has actually given companies a greater incentive to drop their health-insurance plans and just pay the fine, letting their employees try their luck in these "exchanges," which no one thinks will be ready on time.
The cheeriest firm is a small digital advertising shop with eleven employees (average age, 25). They're happy; some of their youngest employees went back onto their parents' coverage because Obamacare requires employer health plans to cover adult children up to age 26.
Hardest hit is Oren Elliot products of Edgerton, Ohio, a manufacturing firm with 43 employees that is unlikely to expand anytime soon. Elliot tells the magazine, "Now we're forced to remain under 50 employees or pay a penalty for not offering insurance. We'll have to change our entire philosophy." Finally, a large staffing firm based out of Orlando thinks the changes under the law will be manageable but worries about premium hikes; the managing partner declares, "We may have to tighten our belts."
Folks, the chief human resource officers seem like really nice people, so try not to yell at them too much when they tell you that your premiums are going up.
The Inc. article concludes, "Yes, it's a lot to take in. But you really do not have any choice. And remember: the clock is ticking."
The president made many promises before the federal health reform bill became law. He said, "If you like your plan, you can keep it." He said the cost of a family insurance policy would drop by $2,500 in his first term. He said everyone would be covered. In short, he said, "Fear not."
But reality has arrived. Family premiums have increased by $3,065 over the past four years. Experts say more sticker shock is coming this summer when insurers release their Obamacare-priced premiums. This could be as early as July. By 2014, many American families will know the president's promises were nothing but political hot air.
A proposed federal rule brings broken promises to a new and disturbing level. As U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, says, millions of spouses and children will be stuck in a "no man's land" without insurance.
And then they'll get to pay the extra tax for not having health insurance!
This weekend, liberals scoffed at Paul Ryan's declaration that Obamacare will ultimately destroy the existing American health-care system. Apparently they haven't been paying attention.
"We believe that young people, seniors, families, businesses are in for a very rude awakening as Obamacare is rolled out," Ryan said in an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It still has nearly two years to go before it's fully implemented and we're showing that there's a better way of going and this is a better plan to balance the budget."
When asked by "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer if including the repeal in the House budget was a waste of time since there would not be enough votes to do so, Ryan said no.
"I really believe it's going to destroy the healthcare plan, the healthcare system in America. We believe the law will collapse under its own weight and that people will be eager for alternatives, as the gory details unfold in the future with its implementation," Ryan said.
The RNC Prescription for 2016: Fewer Primary Debates and an Earlier Convention
The Republican National Committee's panel focusing on reform efforts -- the Growth and Opportunity Project -- turned in their report last week, and this morning -- probably as you're reading this -- RNC chairman Reince Priebus will unveil them at the National Press Club.
This weekend, he previewed them a bit, including an effort to cut down on the number of primary debates in the 2016 cycle and to hold the convention earlier:
"I'm calling for a convention in June or July," Priebus said on CBS News's "Face The Nation. "We are going to set up a commission that's going to make that decision. I'm going to be a part of that, I'm going to chair that commission. But no more August conventions."
The RNC chairman argued that Mitt Romney's inability to use funds slated for after he was nominated left him vulnerable to Democratic attacks in 2012, in the lead-up to the late August convention.
Priebus also urged other changes in the presidential nominating process, including reducing the number of GOP primary debates and shrinking the primary season.
"I would limit the [GOP primary] debates to a reasonable amount -- I don't know, maybe seven or eight, but not 23, Bob. It's ridiculous," Priebus said.
One of the major topics that people discuss is the debate issue -- controlling the debates and tying the nomination process to the debate calendar is something we're going to look at. Now, we didn't have that opportunity two years ago; there is no mechanism to tie the nomination process to the debate calendar. But we have that opportunity now. We can do that with a three-quarters vote of the Republican National Committee. Here's a hypothetical. The RNC could hypothetically say, "Look, here's the debate calendar. Here are the moderators. We're going to have one debate a month starting on this day." And adherence to the calendar will be a requirement to achieving the nomination to the presidency -- either through bonus delegates or penalties of delegates subtracted. There is one major reason that a presidential candidate needs the Republican party: To get on the ballot in November, a presidential candidate must get a majority of delegates at a national convention to vote for him or her. If the presidential candidate can't make that happen, he or she is not on the ballot. So that is one idea that we will be looking at.
If you have ten presidential candidates, and seven out of ten or eight out of ten will take whatever two-hour slot that is open to them, then you end up with a debate any time some cable network decides to hold one. You can't control that situation. Our endeavor is to come up with some idea that helps us control that situation.
Guess Who's Getting Ready to Run for Mayor of New York City?
The Anthony Weiner comeback story . . . is beginning.
The Atlantic looks at his recent filing with New York City election authorities and notices he's spent $115,000 already . . . clearly he's getting ready to run for something.
Anthony "Disgraced Congressmember" Weiner has filed initial paperwork with the City of New York, suggesting that he has already spent about $115,000 toward a bid for Mayor.
This isn't entirely a surprise. Last summer, rumors began to circulate that Weiner was planning a comeback. Nor is it a surprise that he'd aim for the city's top job. Before Mayor Michael Bloomberg finagled a third term in 2009, Weiner's name was mentioned among the possible top candidates for the job. The intervening years, of course, have not been kind to the one-time Democratic star. Or, rather, Twitter hasn't been.
So what did Weiner spend money on? According to the filing, five things: rent, taxes, phones, polling, and consulting.
His pollster, David Binder research, was also the Obama campaign's pollster. Obama paid that firm $3,416,740 in this past cycle.
So who will run the "Anthony Weiner for Mayor" campaign's Twitter account?
ADDENDA: Readers, may I ask you for something? May I trouble you to forward this e-mail to somebody who you think would enjoy it? Let them know it's free? Thank you.
As usual, if your Morning Jolt suddenly stops coming, e-mail representedlists@newsmax.com. (For those of you who missed it, Newsmax handles the distribution, advertising, and some marketing, but not the content. Every word you see is written by me . . . except the "Hey, why haven't you booked your NR cruise cabin yet?" messages from Jack Fowler.)
Of course, if you're having trouble getting the Jolt, you may not be able to read this message about who to contact if it's not arriving.
As usual, check your spam filter first; we are sending this to oodles and oodles of people and apparently some e-mail systems interpret e-mails to lots of people as spam. Apparently e-mail systems have all kinds of tripwires and malware detectors and content filters, and on any given day the Jolt's content can set it off. Really, if I type H-O-T-A-I-R-.-C-O-M without the dashes, apparently some e-mail systems won't carry it because of some reason the tech guys tried explaining to me, and I continually fail to grasp entirely.
Finally . . .
Robert George: "It's always interesting to hear pundits who've never run a campaign declare elected politician in leadership 'doesn't understand politics.'"
Also, I came across this hard-to-believe quote this weekend:
Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog
Time and time again, the liberal defenders of government power have attacked any call for reform as a plot by the wealthy. Even now New York Times editorialists pound their keys about the "Concentration of Wealth", invoking presidents from Andrew Jackson to Theodore Roosevelt. But in our America, the "Concentration of Wealth" is not found in the hands of a few billionaires. It is found in the hands of the government.
The editorialists talk about the income gap and how much wealth is held by the top 1 percent of the country, but they are leaving something out. Their statistics deal with individuals, not institutions. And it is institutions which threaten our liberties, not individuals.
The top 10 wealthiest men and women in America barely have 250 billion dollars between them. That sounds like a lot of money, until you look at annual Federal budgets which run into the trillions of dollars, and the country's national debt which approaches 15 trillion dollars. And that's not taking into account state budgets. Even Rhode Island, the smallest state in the union, with a population of barely a million, has a multi-billion dollar budget.
As the 10th richest man in America, Michael Bloomberg wields a personal fortune of a mere 18 billion dollars, but as the Mayor of the City of New York, he disposes of an annual budget of 63 billion dollars. In a single year, he disposes of three times his own net worth. A sum that would wipe out the net worth of any billionaire in America. That is the difference between the wealth wielded by the 10th wealthiest man in America, and the mayor of a single city. And that is the real concentration of wealth. Not in the hands of individuals, but at every level of government, from the municipal to the state houses to the White House.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has released its long-awaited study on the 2012 elections, with detailed recommendations about how the party can improve its future.
The report, entitled the "Growth and Opportunity Project," was compiled by a special committee consisting of former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, veteran GOP adviser Sally Bradshaw, former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, Puerto Rico committeewoman Zori Fonalledas, and South Carolina committeeman Glenn McCall.
News spread quickly after two high school students were found guilty of raping a 16-year old. However, a report by CNN�s Poppy Harlow, and subsequent discussion featuring anchor Candy Crowley, in the wake of the decision has quickly gone viral. Numerous outlets are lambasting the news network for what appeared to be a sympathetic discussion about the teenage offenders. Watch that reportHERE.
Last week, 63-year-old Catholic grandmother Rae Stabosz says she was attacked and knocked to the ground while filming outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Wilmington, Del. Stabosz told TheBlaze she�s part of a regular group that prays outside the clinic. On Wednesday afternoon, when she and another woman were getting ready to leave for the day, an ambulance pulled up to the front of the building. Stabosz took out her iPhone and began to record what was happening. What happened next will astound you. See itHERE.
Did you watch last night's the third episode of Mark Burnett�s epic series �The Bible� on History Channel? If so, you might have made the same connection that many on social media outlets are making: The guy playing Satan bears a striking resemblance to someone living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Take a look at a photo of Satan and see for yourselfHERE.
A member of the social news site Reddit posted an image online and then began a thread to identify the image. The man claimed he found it recently and noted that the orange, floating vessel had U.S. Air Force decals on it. Some have speculated that it was a pod filled with drugs. Another joked �good try North Korea.� But the majority sided with it being a target drone. Take a look at the photos and weigh in with your guess on what it is and where it is from HERE
Five of the top six cities for good jobs in the U.S. are located in Texas, a state that also enjoyed a budget surplus of roughly $8.8 billion in 2012. The surplus is no coincidence, at least, that's what Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) told TheBlaze HERE.
Last week, TheBlaze brought you the story of a German family who immigrated to the U.S. seeking political asylum in order to homeschool their children � something unlawful in their native country � but who may soon be deported by the Department of Homeland Security. On Monday morning, Glenn Beck characterized the story as �nothing more un-American than this� in an interview with the family�s lawyer while also vowing to give $50k to the defense. Get the full reportHERE.
Even though healthy food proponent First Lady Michelle Obama isn�t joining the Middle East trip, President Barack Obama will be on a special diet while at his hotel in Jerusalem later this week. That�s because the historic King David Hotel has already cleaned its kitchen of any remnants of leavened products in preparation for Passover which begins next Monday night. Learn what is excluded from the Passover dietHERE.
TheBlaze has obtained an exclusive copy of Colion Noir�s first episode for NRA News. The episode is called �Politics and Ignorance� and it hammers the left for trying to use inner-city violence to push gun control. See itHERE.
Perhaps you haven�t seen some of the most recent photos from correspondents embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps. The images attached to this story, compiled by Business Insider�s Geoffrey Ingersoll, from January, February, and March 2013 are so good, we thought they were worth a post. Check them outHERE.
The course we're on invites our enemies to attack us and our real and potential allies. And so the war intensifies. You won't hear about this on the evening news, or read about it in the dying dead tree media, but that's the way it is.
Many young conservatives who were at CPAC want more attention paid to fiscal rather than social issues - a fact not only emphasized by some of the straw poll questions but by the opinions expressed by many of the participants at the three-day conference.
Researchers found that children who had been immunized were 14.4 times as likely to develop narcolepsy as were similar children who had not been immunized. The increased risk of narcolepsy does not settle the issue of whether the vaccine should continue to be used. But the findings will be grist to a mill that has now been grinding for more than 200 years.
The 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) began its last day Saturday with an overwhelming call for conservatives to stick to their principles. Many conclude CPAC with a call to resist rebranding, with one Tea Party leader comparing the stakes to The Hunger Games.
When talking about background checks for gun owners, Sarah Palin calls for Obama to be first in line. Wish she had done this five years ago when she was running on the GOP ticket. Maybe if Obama had been vetted in 2008, he wouldn't have received so many votes from the naive and unsuspecting. Related [...]
Video: Congressman: DHS Must Explain Ammunition And Armored Vehicle Purchases
Mar 18, 2013 01:01 pm
Those of us watching Obama closely know that he promised to create and arm a new domestic army equivalent to the military. It has been happening right under Congresses nose without a peep. Now finally we see some concern. We can only hope this concern is sincere and won't disappear when NJ Congressman Leonard Lance [...]
Mar 18, 2013 12:55 pm Suspension of military tuition assistance; Obama's budget cut retaliation up-close and personal This week the Air Force joined with the Army and Marines in cutting tuition assistance due to "sweeping" federal budget cuts. When faced with a budget crisis-whether real or imagined like Obama's sequestration-too many politicians will threaten first responders before they cut their [...]
News Industry 'More Undermanned And Unprepared To Cover Stories
Mar 18, 2013 12:36 pm Newsroom personnel cuts, shorter and fewer news stories or video "packages," and less coverage of live new events are taking a toll on the overall newspaper/television industry. According to a new study from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, the news industry in 2013 "is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories, dig deep [...]
EU Theft Of Private Bank Accounts A "sacrifice" To Mainstream Media
Mar 18, 2013 12:31 pm The mainstream media downplaying of what is happening in the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus this weekend is already muddying the water. Tens of thousands of unwitting little people have had their bank accounts ripped off over the long weekend by their own government, in a fashion where their ripped off funds were already a fait [...]
Mar 18, 2013 12:25 pm When IT security is a focal point of the State of the Union address, as it was in President Obama's February speech, government IT pros had better take notice. Foreign adversaries are "seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems," the president warned. "We cannot look [...]
Mar 18, 2013 12:24 pm Liar, liar, Obama is a liar! There is no other way to put it. In an encore, not to the song by the Three Dog Night, but to an earlier article I wrote, Barack Obama stated on a show that the White House did not stop the tours; they had nothing to do with that. [...]
Video: Botched Abortion Leads To Attack On Citizen Journalist
Mar 18, 2013 12:19 pm
This short clip shows the power of Citizen Journalism. Every person with a smart phone can report the news as it happens. We here at The Western Center for Journalism rely on citizen journalists to help us report the news hidden from view by the Obama loving left-wing media. In this report we see the [...]
Mar 18, 2013 12:18 pm The opposition will congregate in dark corners. They will whisper with their mouths, while their eyes will scan the room for spies wearing strange spectacles. The spies will likely be men. How many women would really like to waft down the street wearing Google Glass? It won't be easy. Once you've been cybernated, there's no [...]
Mar 18, 2013 12:17 pm What exactly is nullification? We generally hear the term when a jury decides to nullify a criminal prosecution by acquitting an obviously guilty defendant. Most prominently the O.J. Simpson verdict probably typifies the term. Nullification is now a growing topic in states moving forward legislation for the purpose of nullifying Federal Law and the overreach of Federal [...]
Elizabeth Warren Claims Success Of America Is Due To Government Regulation
Mar 18, 2013 11:46 am Washington, D.C. is filled with stupid people. From the people we elect to the people who are there trying to get something from the people we elect. But I have to give this Stupidest Politician Award to Elizabeth Warren. Yes, I gave it to the supposed part Native American for a good reason. Earlier this [...]
Mar 18, 2013 11:38 am An important component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the establishment of so-called Health Insurance Exchanges, given the acronym HIX. Driven by the questionable notion that getting everyone insured was the most important problem to be solved in health care, and energized by the earlier concept of managed competition, HIX are [...]
Video: The Agenda To Demonize American Patriot Heroes!
Mar 18, 2013 11:27 am
In this timely report from infowars.com we see the agenda of government is to demonize the Founding Fathers and by extension the Constitution they drafted. Related posts: An American Patriot Reveals Diane Feinstein To Be An Un-American Hypocrite Editor's note: this letter is from Marine Corporal Joshua Boston... OBAMA'S HIDDEN AGENDA: They Are Coming For [...]
New Highs For Stocks Belie Underlying Economic Weakness
Mar 18, 2013 10:54 am As the stock market has been advancing into all-time high territory this week, many Americans are wondering how the economy can be so great while they're struggling so hard to make ends meet. Let's correct that perception immediately: the stock market is not the economy, and should not be conflated with it. The stock market [...]
Mar 18, 2013 10:51 am Over the last several weeks, there have been several crisis points reached. Some large some small but all telling of the growing dilemma within the EU. In Spain, not only have there been huge protests over the austerity cuts in many cities across the country, but for the last several weeks the police have refused [...]
Mar 18, 2013 10:42 am NEW YORK - On the evening of March 23, 1.3 billion people will go without light at 8:30, and at 9:30, and at 10:30, and for the rest of the night - just like every other night of the year. With no access to electricity, darkness after sunset is a constant reality for these people. [...]
Here's a breakdown of OBAMA'S words against himself, brought to you by Congressman Rob Woodall (R-GA)! Related posts: Congressman Puts Up Blank Board, Claims It's Obama's Plan To Cut Spending This ingenious presentation was made on the House floor by... Jeff Kuhner Blasts Obama's Hypocrisy - Sealed Records Filling in for Michael Savage, Jeff Kuhner [...]
Vegetarian Protesters Compare Themselves To Oppressed Blacks
Mar 16, 2013 07:34 pm An ongoing complaint by members of an animal rights organization offers further proof the civil rights struggle of the 1960s has been hopelessly watered down by today's constantly offended leftists. A group of disruptive vegetarians associated with Direct Action Everywhere now say backlash against a recent protest is no different than a segregated lunch counter [...]
Video: "Don't You Dare Tell Me How To Best Defend Myself!"
Mar 16, 2013 07:22 pm
NRA Radio's Cam Edwards talks to Laura Carno from I Am Created Equal: Related posts: The Fiscal Cliff - Would Women Handle It Differently? Laura Carno, founder of "I Am Created Equal", gives her... Sorry Liberals, This Woman Doesn't Need The Government's Help... Laura Carno is the founder of IAmCreatedEqual.com. Please watch this...
Mar 16, 2013 07:15 pm With the news coming out of DC that many "conservatives" in Congress are no longer willing to fight to repeal ObamaCare and the recent compromise on the "fiscal cliff," I have just about given up on the GOP. The Republican Party controls the purse that funds the Federal government, but one would never know that [...]
Video: Fmr. Marine Calls FBI About Obama's Identity Document Fraud
Mar 16, 2013 07:10 pm
Here is recorded audio from Pete Santilli's telephone calls to both the US Secret Service and FBI demanding an investigation into Barack Hussein Obama's ineligibility to be president... Related posts: Larry Elder On Obama's Identity And Felony Document Fraud I still am mystified that good conservatives continue to dismiss... Sheriff Joe Arpaio: I'm Not Going [...]
You Didn't Learn This In High School Government Class
Mar 16, 2013 07:08 pm KrisAnne Hall posted this video of her participation in a town hall style forum that was broadcast on a social media channel. I admit that I have never heard of her before last night. I ran across this video on social media and had to find out some bio on her (you know, just what [...]
Mar 16, 2013 07:04 pm Tuesday night's NBC News story, "America's Hopes for a New Pope," was typical of how the liberal media tried to force the Roman Catholic Church further to the left. The tone of the coverage was that the Catholic Church, in picking a new pope, had to make peace with "diversity"-liberals, feminists, and homosexuals demanding state [...]
Video: More People Are Killed With Hammers Than With Guns!
Mar 16, 2013 06:58 pm
I guess Congress needs to refocus on banning hammers instead of guns, according to FBI statistics! Dianne Frankenstein (sorry, Feinstein) needs to focus her efforts on banning hammers and not guns! Related posts: Obama's Assault Weapon Ban A Prelude For Banning All Guns You can set your watch by the Left's gun-grabbing strategy.... Barack Obama: [...]
Mar 16, 2013 06:51 pm "Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." - Martin Luther This morning, I did a radio interview concerning our recent First Amendment victory at Boca Raton, Fla. (which happens to be [...]
Video: NSA Whistleblower Shines Light On Government Secrecy
Mar 16, 2013 06:47 pm
Former National Security Agency executive turned whistleblower Thomas Drake was charged under the Espionage Act. Drake says the government aggressively went after him for exposing waste and illegality within the NSA. Drake is now a strong advocate for open government and continues to speak out against a culture of government secrecy. Related posts: Justice Dept. [...]
Video: Dems Vote To Fund Food Stamp Promotions On Mexican Soil
Mar 16, 2013 06:45 pm
At Thursday's Budget Committee mark-up, Sen. Jeff Sessions offered an amendment to prohibit any further funds from being expended on the controversial U.S.-Mexico food stamp partnership, which allows USDA to advertise food stamp benefits in foreign consulates. This commonsense amendment was voted down unanimously by the panel's Democrats. Related posts: State Gets $5 Mil Bonus [...]
Mar 16, 2013 06:37 pm Mitt Romney's CPAC speech Friday showed America and the world what it had lost last election cycle: a class act with a talent for managing difficult financial propositions and cultural conundrums. A Romney presidency would have sent a much-needed signal to the wealthy that hording dollars against wealth redistribution is no longer necessary. Trust-fund babies [...]
Obama went on his apocalyptic sequester "road show" proclaiming the sky would be falling if Congress wouldn't cancel the "draconian" cuts to the budget. Everyone except the "low information voters," as Rush Limbaugh calls them, knew the "draconian" cuts amounted to about one percent of the budget for 2013 and was actually an increase in [...]
Mar 16, 2013 01:38 pm Knowing most people would give him a wide berth because he is black and because of all the hysteria surrounding his runs for the White House, Barack Obama seized the opportunity to upend America. He knew he had four to eight years to achieve his goal: the radical transformation of the U.S. from a constitutional [...]
Video: King Obama Couldn't Eat At Hill Meeting Without Food 'Taster'!!
Mar 16, 2013 01:33 pm
A major (Obama) presidential secret revealed!! Related posts: America Doesn't Want To Eat Obama's Dog Food Anymore American Life League has put together a video entitled "Hooking... Restaurant Owner Dies Shortly After Meeting Obama The owner of Akron restaurant Ann's Place died yesterday, hours...
Divide And Conquer: The Two Party System Is Destroying Us
Mar 16, 2013 01:23 pm I have a problem with those on the right who say Obama is the problem . I always state that the left is blind to reality. Liberal voters are being misinformed into keeping their politicians in power. If I am to believe that's the case, than it's only logical to believe that those on the [...]
Video: Senator: Benghazi Survivors 'Told To Be Quiet' By Administration
Mar 16, 2013 01:13 pm South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham talks about his search for answers on the Benghazi attack... Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Related posts: Obama Hiding Benghazi Survivors' Identities Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sounds off on this and more... Senator: I Will Hold Obama Accountable For Benghazi U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) spoke with Fox [...]
When The Accused Is A Democrat, Even Sex Crime Charges Seem To Vanish
Mar 16, 2013 01:06 pm Last year, a 27 year old elected Democrat who represents Scottsville in the Albermarle County Virginia Board of Supervisors was charged with a serious sexual crime. As the charges go, while he was a law student, Christopher Dumler committed the vilest type of criminal sexual assault on a fellow female law student. Both were at [...]
Senator McCain said that no one is going to be killed by a Hellfire Drone who is not an "enemy combatant." Tell that to Anwar al Awaiki's 16 year-old son, whom BOZO vaporized. Related posts: John McCain: Hero Or Whore? I was raised to honor the sacrifices of veterans, especially... ForgeryGate: Dear John.... An Open [...]
The weekend brought another example of why our Founding Fathers thought it was so important to have a constitution and the Bill of Rights to restrain the power of government.
The fiscal crisis is far from over in Europe. The latest country in need of a bailout is Cyprus. The political elites in the Eurozone decided to help finance the Cypriot bailout by confiscating or taxing a certain percentage of people's bank accounts.
If you have 100,000 euros or less, they were going to confiscate or tax your account 6.75%. If you have more than that, they were going to take 10%. Not surprisingly, there was a run on ATM machines until they ran out of money.
Reacting to the fear and outrage, the political elites this morning announced a more progressive system: Those whose accounts have 100,000 euros or less will lose only 3% of their money. Those with 500,000 euros will lose 10%, while anyone with more than that will lose 15%. As it turns out, most of the "big" bank accounts in Cyprus are held by Russians, and this is being used as an excuse to take their money.
Some commentators on CNBC this morning remarked that while America has got its share of problems, "That would never happen here." Unfortunately, it has happened here.
What we are seeing in Europe is the destruction of the rule of law. We saw it here in the auto bailout. Bondholders, who were supposed to be protected from bankruptcy, were in fact wiped out. Their money was essentially confiscated.
When they objected, President Obama denounced them as greedy speculators, who didn't want to pay their fair share, even though he knew full well that the entities holding the bonds in many cases were representing the interests of average Americans and retirees.
Even though we are told that we have freedom of religion, men and women of faith are now being ordered to pay for medical services they find morally reprehensible or be fined into bankruptcy.
It's no wonder that a recent Pew poll found that a majority of Americans feel that the federal government is a threat to their freedom and liberty.
Trust But Verify
Speaker John Boehner was on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, and I think he missed a real opportunity during a critical part of the interview.
I am not a "Boehner basher." Sometimes I think my fellow conservatives have unrealistic expectations of what a House speaker can do on his own to defeat an elected president, especially when Obama controls the Senate. You cannot govern the United States from the House of Representatives alone. If you could, there would be no need for the Senate or the presidency.
But during his interview, Speaker Boehner was asked whether he trusted President Obama. I'm sure when he got the question, Boehner was mentally reviewing the dozens of polling briefings he's gotten since November, telling him all the reasons why the GOP lost -- it is too harsh, inflexible, "scary," etc. But that is no excuse for the speaker to say in response to the question about trusting Obama, "Absolutely. There's no issue there."
There is not enough space to describe how bad that answer is. At a minimum, Speaker Boehner could have repeated what he had already said -- that negotiating with Obama is "like dealing with Jell-o."
Here's what I think Speaker Boehner should have said: "Well, given how much trouble our country is in, I certainly would like to be able to trust this president or any president. Unfortunately, the president has given us repeated reasons not to trust him."
Then the speaker should have reminded the American people of some of Mr. Obama's past statements and actions. For example:
President Obama repeatedly promised that Obamacare would lower costs. He also said that people who liked their current health insurance would be able to keep it. We know both of those things are not true.
Obama promised that his administration would be the most transparent in history. Yet we still can't get answers on "Fast and Furious" or the Benghazi disaster in which Americans died.
Obama said the sequester was Congress' idea, when it came from the White House. He said it was the Secret Service's decision to end the White House tours. But his own press secretary said it was the White House's decision.
A top White House aide called the charm offensive "a joke," adding that it was only being done to impress the liberal media. And the Washington Post recently reported that virtually everything this White House does is aimed at wiping out Boehner's GOP majority and putting Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker's chair.
During a 2011 pre-Super Bowl interview with Bill O'Reilly, Obama said, "I didn't raise taxes once."
I could go on, but you get the point. I think the most important question is how many Americans trust Barack Obama? I'm going to stick with Reagan's maxim: Trust but verify.
I don't know if John Boehner understands this or not, but the Republican coalition is perilously close to falling apart. Some of the danger is related to policy, but a lot of it is related to exchanges like this one.
There is a growing frustration with the fact that the left will demonize any conservative who dares to speak up, while our leaders have convinced themselves that they must be nice to an opposition that wants to destroy them.
Another Disastrous Nomination
Today Barack Obama announced that he is nominating Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor. Like Chuck Hagel, Perez' nomination is another "in your face" pick by Obama. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) called the selection "an unfortunate and needlessly divisive nomination."
Perez is currently a top official at the Justice Department who runs the Civil Rights Division. Under his leadership, the Justice Department has moved to block overwhelmingly popular voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina, and launched an investigation of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Last week the Justice Department's inspector general released a scathing report on the management of the Civil Rights Division, including Perez' involvement in the dismissal of voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party. The report accused the division of being rife with "deep ideological polarization." That's not the kind of management we need at the Labor Department or anywhere else in government.
I've been thinking a lot about the recent headlines -- and, frankly, I'm angry. We seem to be in retreat on almost every front. Worse, it seems that some of our "friends," who we thought we could count on to defend our values, are unreliable at best.
I know many of you are as disappointed as I am. But I am not giving up! And I need to know:
Here's why I believe we have a good chance to take back the Senate:
Democrats are on defense. There are 22 Democrat Senate seats up next year, compared to 14 GOP seats.
2014 is expected to be a bad year for Democrats. The party occupying the White House almost always takes a beating at the ballot box in sixth-year mid-term elections. It's a historical trend known as the "sixth year itch."
Already, four Senate Democrats have announced they are retiring next year. And more Democrat retirements are expected as the year goes on -- because they know it will be a bad year. Without the benefit of incumbency, these seats can be good takeover opportunities for us.
Here's the kicker: Democrats are defending seven Senate seats in states that voted for Mitt Romney last year. Obama's average vote in these seven states was a pathetic 41%.
CWF plans to tie Barack Obama's radical record around the necks of every one of the Democrat candidates running in these seven states -- so we can win all seven races, take back the Senate and make 2014 the beginning of the end of the Obama nightmare!
But, my friends, I can't do it without your generous financial support.
An important component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the establishment of so-called Health Insurance Exchanges, given the acronym HIX. Driven by the questionable notion that getting everyone insured was the most important problem to be solved in health care, and energized by the earlier concept of managed competition, HIX are intended to help individuals and small businesses purchase health insurance coverage. By January 1, 2014 these exchanges must exist in every state.
Managed competition is a purchasing strategy based on microeconomic principles, whereby maximum value is supposedly obtained for both consumers and employers. At the heart of managed competition is an all-powerful sponsor, whose role is to establish rules of equity, select participating plans, manage the enrollment process, create price-elastic demand, and manage risk selection. Its proponents acknowledge that it will tend to succeed based on the extent of high-quality, cost-effective, organized systems of care already in ... Continue Reading:A Look at HIX: Health Insurance Exchanges
The Obama administration has been on a bullet-buying binge lately, but now, there's opposition coming from a group you may never would have expected it from ...
California Democrat Dianne Feinstein gave an interesting answer to Republican Senator Ted Cruz's question on the constitutionality of her gun grabber bill now before the Senate.
After reminding Cruz she is not a sixth grader, Feinstein said ...(more)
On ABC's This Week, hosted by Martha Raddatz, Speaker of the House John Boehner appeared to downplay the problem of national debt while loudly proclaiming his wonderful relationship with President Obama. "The president and I, as I have made very clear, have a very good relationship ...(more)
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, in a CPAC appearance on Saturday attacked Sen. Marco Rubio for supporting "amnesty" for illegal aliens.
"If amnesty goes through, America becomes California and no Republican will ever ...(more)
Monday Brief
The Bible, As Seen on TV
March 18, 2013
The Foundation
"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it." --James Madison
Inspiration
"The History Channel's broadcast of the second-part of its five-part miniseries based on the Bible, wasn't just the top-rated show on cable television [on its first] night, it was the top-rated show in all of television: 'The Bible commanded HISTORY as #1 in all of television from 8-10pm, with 10.8 million total viewers and in Adults 25-54 with 3.8 million. In addition, The Bible garnered 3.2 million Adults 18-49. Over 50 million cumulative viewers have seen at least a portion of the series since it began on March 3.' 50 million cumulative viewers represents about fifty-times the viewers that new phenom, HBO's 'Girls,' enjoys. ... For two decades we Christians have been pushing the entertainment industry to produce respectful stories about our faith, and for decades we've been ridiculed and marginalized by a provincial Hollywood and media class that have no idea how the real world works. Finally, though, we are enjoying a slow-motion breakthrough and the ratings and box office continue to prove us right. Things are only going to get better. Christians are learning their trade and flexing their muscle in Hollywood. We're in the midst of a wonderful revolution." --Breitbart's John Nolte
Government
"[T]he scariest news over the weekend came from the tiny country of Cyprus. ... Individuals who have deposits of at least $130,000 (equivalent) in Cypriot banks will pay what the New York Times called a 'one-time tax' of 9.9 percent of their deposits. Smaller depositors will have their funds confiscated taxed to the tune of 6.75 percent. ... Naturally the ATM networks were shut down to prevent the good people of Cyprus (or Russia) from getting to their money before the government could take it away. Chancellor Merkel said that making the depositors help pay for the bailout is the right thing to do. 'That way,' she said, 'those responsible will contribute in it, not only the taxpayers of other countries.' I have $12.75 in the bank in Alexandria, Virginia. How does that make me responsible for creating the national debt? ... Think about what will happen when officials of the Obama Administration come to work this morning and read that the EU could force Cyprus to confiscate legally deposited funds. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, as of last Monday there was $6.8 trillion on deposit in U.S. banks. ... I can certainly hear the clack-clack-clack of keyboards drawing up the talking points explaining why rich people with deposits of over, say $50,000 should be willing to do their fair share in paying down the national debt. ... Sample Talking Point: If you can afford a 401(k) and $4/gallon gasoline, you're making too much." --columnist Rich Galen
Marriage is the fundamental building block of all human civilization. All Americans, especially conservatives, should respect this crucial institution of civil society. This is why 41 states and the federal government affirm that marriage is between a man and a woman.
But these laws are on the line. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in cases that challenge the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California's Proposition 8. The Court should uphold these laws and respect the constitutional authority of citizens and their elected officials to make marriage policy.
Next Tuesday, March 26, as the Supreme Court hears these cases, thousands will come to our nation's capital to March for Marriage.
Make your voice heard in support of marriage between a man and a woman-and urge the Court to respect your constitutional authority. We don't need an activist Court creating a Roe v. Wade on marriage.
Last Thursday, at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Senator DeMint highlighted the importance of marriage for America and limited government, and stressed the unity of social and fiscal conservatism:
We cannot hope to limit government if we do not stand up for our core civil society institutions, beginning with marriage. Marriage is the foundation of America's cultural stability and economic prosperity, and the courts have no business overruling the people's democratic decisions in the states. People can love whom they want and live the way they choose, but no one is entitled to redefine a foundational institution of civil society that has existed for centuries.
In two weeks, the Supreme Court will hear arguments against the right of states to protect marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Judicial activism is to blame for the Court even considering these cases. The Supreme Court should uphold these laws. It must recognize that the American people should make these decisions, not unelected judges.
We are told that the social issues divide Americans and that we should stop talking about them. We cannot.
Economic and social conservatism go hand-in-hand. They're natural allies.
We are only now beginning to have a national conversation about marriage. The people of France are already having this debate in their country. The Supreme Court cases provide a unique window of opportunity to explain what marriage is and why it matters. And all Americans need to be equipped for this conversation.
Working with the National Organization for Marriage, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Family Research Council, Heritage has produced a short pamphlet making the case for marriage in everyday language. It helps you articulate what your heart knows. And it walks you through the most frequently asked questions-the things you're likely to hear from neighbors and friends. You can read and download the pamphlet online.
Americans and their elected officials have constitutional authority to make marriage policy. When Americans hear the case for marriage as the union of a man and a woman and its importance to children and limited government, by and large they support it and stand for this timeless institution. All Americans, especially conservatives, should make the case for marriage. And the Supreme Court should respect our constitutional authority to do so.
Ryan T. Anderson is the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at The Heritage Foundation.
D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: Opportunity and Return on Investment
By Brittany Corona
Very few government programs can claim a positive return on taxpayer investment. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) is one of them.
Launched in 2004, the DCOSP provides scholarships of approximately $8,500 for K-8 students or $12,000 for high school students from low-income families to attend private schools of their choice.
According to a congressionally mandated evaluation of the DCOSP, 82 percent of students who received a voucher and used it to attend private school graduated from high school. That's a 12 percentage point difference between voucher users and the control group that did not use the vouchers to attend private school. Just 70 percent of those students graduated. Roughly 60 percent of students in D.C. Public Schools graduate high school.
After weeks of legal battles, Governor Bentley was finally able to sign Alabama's first private school choice program into law, giving students in under-performing schools the opportunity for a better education.
Number of the Week
$25 Billion Experts estimate that Obama's universal preschool plan could cost $25 billion or more.
The federal government already spends $20 billion a year on 45 early childhood education and child care programs, not to mention that there is little evidence to suggest government-funded preschool will benefit children.
"Today we made history in Alabama. We made history for the many parents and children that are stuck in failing schools."
-Alabama State Representative
Chad Fincher (R-Semmes)
Don't Miss
New Heritage Research: Universal Preschool's Empty Promises
A massive federal preschool expansion would further entangle Washington in the education and care of the youngest American children. Expanding federal intervention in education to include infants, toddlers, and three-year-olds and four-year-olds will crowd out private preschools, increase costs for taxpayers, and fail to create lasting academic benefits.
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.
Pa. Law Enforcement Wants Easier Access to Your Internet Activities
Should law enforcement have easier access to Pennsylvanians' Internet records?
March 17, 2013
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG - Law enforcement officials say they should not have to go to a judge before seeking personal data about Internet users in Pennsylvania.
The state House is set to vote early next week on a bill that would allow law enforcement to obtain permission from a district attorney or attorney general - instead of requiring a warrant from a judge - to force internet service providers to turn over potentially sensitive personal data about what Pennsylvanians are doing online.
Advocates for the change say law enforcement should be given easier access to the data in order to track down and arrest predators targeting children on the Internet, but there are red flags being raised by civil liberties advocates.
Embracing the false notion perpetuated by the open-borders lobby that the Party will continue to lose elections until it pushes amnesty, the Republican National Committee (RNC) today told its members they must support "comprehensive immigration reform."
Administration Admits it Released over 2,000 Illegal Aliens from Detention
On Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton admitted that the Administration released 2,228 illegal alien detainees back onto the streets under the guise of budget cuts.
House Gang of Eight Briefs Leadership on Amnesty Bill
Last week, the bipartisan group of eight Members of the House of Representatives briefed their respective party leaders on the progress of their amnesty bill.
Last Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on how to measure border security. Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) announced that the hearing, entitled "Border Security: Measuring the Progress, Addressing the Challenges," is the first of several hearings the Committee will hold on border security.
Colorado Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Enable Sanctuary Policies
On Friday, March 8, Colorado Representative Joe Salazar (D-Thornton) introduced House Bill 13-1258, legislation that would enable state and local jurisdictions to adopt sanctuary policies. The bill does so by repealing current state law, which prohibits state and local sanctuary policies.
The Great Cyprus Bank Robbery By Rich Galen My fear is that what's happening in Cyprus becomes a standard mechanism for helping to reduce what is known as the "sovereign debt" -- the money countries owe. Think about what will happen when officials of the Obama Administration come to work this morning and read that the EU could force Cyprus to confiscated legally deposited funds. I can certainly hear the clack-clack-clack of keyboards drawing up the talking points explaining why rich people with deposits of over, say $50,000 should be willing to do their fair share in paying down the national debt.
EU to Cyprus: About that savings account - yeah, we're taking it
The mainstream media likes to mock conservatives' caution about the regulations that lead to an overreaching government - wonder what the scoffers were thinking when they saw the news out of the EU this weekend? Eurozone finance ministers demanded Cypriots pay up to 10% of their bank deposits in exchange for a bailout. Did the progressive loving Europeans gleefully accept the tax? Nope, they swarmed the banks, shutting them down for two days. #Trapped. Glenn's reacts on radio today.
Get TheBlaze: Are they listening?
The first wave of the Get TheBlaze campaign was absolutely incredible. The amount of time and energy spent calling cable and satellite operators was truly humbling. But that was just the beginning. Glenn announced phase 2 on radio today. Get involved and help #GetTheBlaze on your TV provider by going HERE.
Is Bloomberg the most dangerous man in America?
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, affectionately known as Mayor McFacist, could very well be the most dangerous man in America. Why? Well, for starters he makes Soros look like a welfare recipient. But mainly he is not afraid to cram massive progressive control right down your throat. Glenn has more on radio today & on TheBlaze TV tonight.
U.S. disses homeschooling Christians seeking asylum
It is against the law to homeschool your children in Germany. So when one Christian family was threatened with harsh punishments - possibly even the custody of their children - the family packed up and fled to America. They came in the right way - has the Obama administration welcomed them with open arms? Nope. See the shocking response HERE.
If there's one thing you can be absolutely certain of when watching TheBlaze TV it's this: TheBlaze absolutely does NOT support rapists. Unfortunately for CNN, they can't make the same promise. Check out this bizarre segment where the news anchor seems more upset that the "promising" lives of two rapists were derailed, failing to pay much attention to the real victim in the case, the girl who was raped. MORE
Why is Texas the #1 place to do business? Gov. Rick Perry explains to TheBlaze. STORY
ATTENTION ALL COLLEGE STUDENTS: Glenn wants you to join him in his Dallas studio this Thursday for a college edition of Ask Glenn Anything! Want to attend? Email tickets@theblaze.com for more.
Did you know that Buck Sexton from Real News has his own show TheBlaze Radio Network? And you can listen to all of his shows FREE whenever & wherever you want! The Buck Sexton Show is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and SoundCloud - and of course, you can listen to Buck LIVE on TheBlaze Radio Network every Saturday, 12pm to 3pm ET.
It's no secret that Glenn has been collecting various important artifacts from history - in particularly the ones that progressive historians would rather forget. Edmund Burke is generally considered the founder of conservatism. He is also noted for supporting the American Revolutionaries. Burke was once given a Bible as a gift from George II...who has it now? Find out HERE
Get the eighth episode of Glenn's e-book thriller series WRATH & RIGHTEOUSNESS
Great news! The eighth episode in the WRATH & RIGHTEOUSNESS e-book series has been released! 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? Download the previous episodes HERE and get eighth episode in the 10-part series HERE. Have a question or comment about the series? Visit our newly updated FAQ page.
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Glenn: Help us get in millions of home
American Policy Center has recently released a booklet that explains everything you need to know to start fighting back against sustainable programs both locally and nationally. The booklet is called Special Report: Agenda 21 and How to Stop It and is available in the APC store for only $5.95.
Has Communist Ideology Overtaken America? Education is crucial. Today I want to share two very interesting lists with you, and rather than adding an extensive amount of my commentary, I want to give you the chance to examine the facts for yourself. It is my opinion that many communist goals have already been accomplished. I also believe that advancement has been made in other areas. But, you owe it to yourself to do your own research. I believe not only in the freedom of speech, but also in the responsibility of free thought. So please don't take my word for it. Examine the facts for yourself.
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EU to Cyprus: About that savings account - yeah, we're taking it
