912 Patriots of Lower Bucks - Your Daily Updates ALL in ONE Place!
April 29, 2013
Quote:
"Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country; he should lisp the praise of liberty, and of those illustrious heroes and statesmen, who have wrought a revolution in her favor."
~ Noah Webster, On the Education of Youth in America, 1788
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U.S. DELIVERS STRONG WARNING TO ISRAEL
Amid fears Iran about to cross so-called red line
AARON KLEIN
TEL AVIV - According to informed Middle Eastern security officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a strongly worded message to Israel - do not attack Iran.
The officials told WND that Hagel informed the Israeli government the Obama administration will not accept any unilateral Israeli attack against Iran and that Israel must not strike Tehran without coordination with the U.S.
Hagel further told Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cannot decide alone whether Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold, or the so-called Red Line previously outlined by the Israeli leader.
In a speech at the United Nations in September, Netanyahu drew a red line on a drawing of a bomb, depicting the point where he said Iran will have enough medium-enriched uranium to move rapidly toward building a nuclear bomb.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu draws a red line on the image of a bomb at the U.N. Sept. 27, 2012.
Netanyahu said at the U.N. that Iran could reach that point this spring or summer. By contrast, Obama has resisted setting any such deadlines.
Last week, Israel's former military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin, said, "If Iran continues to enrich uranium at its current rate, toward the end of the year it will cross the red line in a clear manner."
The information comes after a former International Atomic Energy Agency senior nuclear inspector warned that Iran has discovered a way to circumvent Israel's red line and that the red line may have already been passed.
Last fall, an IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program showed a dip in the amount of 20 percent enriched uranium. Commenting on the report, the former deputy director-general for safeguards at the IAEA and senior nuclear inspector Olli Heinonen explained in a recent opinion article how this decrease is likely a gimmick.
He wrote that Iran has the capability to reconvert the uranium material back to the gas needed for its nuclear program. The converted 20 percent enriched uranium, now in a less worrisome oxide form, can "be converted back into centrifuge feedstock within a week."
The time has come for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to confront US President Barack Obama.
A short summary of events from the past three days: On Tuesday morning, the head of the IDF's Military Intelligence Analysis Division Brig. Gen.
Itay Brun revealed that the Syrian government has already used "lethal chemical weapons," against Syrian civilians and opposition forces. Brun described footage of people visibly suffering the impact of chemical agents, apparently sarin gas.
Hours later, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Netanyahu had told him on the telephone that "he was not in a position to confirm" Brun's statement.
It is hard to imagine the US was taken by surprise by Brun's statement. Just the day before, Brun briefed visiting US Defense secretary Chuck Hagel on Syria. It is not possible he failed to mention the same information.
And of course it isn't just the IDF saying that Syrian President Bashar Assad is using chemical weapons. The British and the French are also saying this.
But as a European source told Ma'ariv, the Americans don't want to know the facts. The facts will make them do something about Syria's chemical weapons. And they don't want to do anything about Syria's chemical weapons.
So they force Netanyahu to disown his own intelligence.
Thursday afternoon, in a speech in Abu Dhabi, Hagel confirmed, "with some degree of varying confidence," that Syria used chemical weapons, at least on a "small scale."
What the administration means by "some degree of varying confidence," is of course, unknowable with any degree of varying confidence.
Then there is Iran.
Also on Tuesday, the former head of IDF Military Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, said that Iran has already crossed the red line Israel set last year. It has already stockpiled 170 kg. of medium-enriched uranium, and can quickly produce the other 80 kg. necessary to reach the 250 kg. threshold Netanyahu said will mark Iran's achievement of breakout capability where it can build a nuclear arsenal whenever it wants.
Yadlin made a half-hearted effort Wednesday to walk back his pronouncements. But his basic message remained the same: The die has been cast.
Due to American pressure on Israel not to act, and due to the White House's rejection of clearcut reports about Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, Iran has crossed the threshold. Iran will be a nuclear power unless its uranium enrichment installations and other nuclear sites are destroyed or crippled. Now.
True, the Americans set a different red line for Iran than Israel. They say they will not allow Iran to assemble a nuclear bomb. But to believe that the US has the capacity and the will to prevent Iran from climbing the top rung on the nuclear ladder is to believe in the tooth fairy - (see, for instance, North Korea).
Iran has threatened to use it nuclear arsenal to destroy Israel. Have we now placed our survival in the hands of Tinkerbell? And yet, rather than acknowledge what Iran has done, Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon carry on with the tired act of talking about the need for a credible military option but saying that there is still time for sanctions and other non-military means to block Iran's quest for the bomb.
Perhaps our leaders are repeating these lies because they want to present a unified US-Israel front to the world. But the effect is just the opposite.
The strange dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and the day after
ByJudi McLeodSunday, April 28, 2013
Wonder how history will record the day after timeline of the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on April 25, 2013; both the peculiar way it went down with five living presidents and their wives and a crowd of 10,000 in attendance-and in particular the fateful day that followed.
At the pageant rich ceremony, when the U.S. Army Chorus performed the exquisitely moving Battle Hymn of the Republic, not everyone had goosebumps.
While listening to the hymn's soul-stirring words, you can see for yourself on the YouTube capturing the momentous event what the five presidents and their wives were doing as it was being sung. On the far left of the stage, Michelle Obama was wearing her trademark frown. Hillary Clinton preened from behind her husband's shoulder, and you can see for yourself President Barack Obama gesticulating and yakking away to Barbara Bush during most of the five-minute performance below.
Reporters noted that former President George W. Bush, moved by the opening of the his presidential center four years after his departure from the White House, teared up during his address.
Nobody, of course, mentioned the elephant called The Fundamental Transformation of America up on the stage, and no president past or present commented on the must-be millions of Americans, who now cry daily at the loss of individual rights and freedoms under the Transformation being forced upon them.
Now we move to the day that followed the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas to Washington, D.C. and to South Bend, Indiana.
In Washington, Barack Obama closed his address to Planned Parenthood, the largest public-funded abortion provider in America by saying, "God Bless You" to Planned Parenthood as the trial of House of Horrors abortionist Kermit Gosnell was ongoing.
We are so blessed that over the last four years thousands of churches in over 60 countries have stood in solidarity with Israel through CUFI Sunday. From the largest cities to the smallest towns, from mega churches in the American heartland to underground churches in China, Christians have come together to express their love and support for Israel.
We pray that your church will participate in the fifth annual CUFI Sunday on May 5, 2013. CUFI will provide you with all the materials you need to implement a successful CUFI Sunday, including videos, literature and Pastor John Hagee's personal sermon notes for your use.
Please click hereto participate in CUFI Sunday. As you'll see, you don't have to be a pastor to ensure that your church stands with Israel on CUFI Sunday.
The date we've chosen for CUFI Sunday -- May 5th -- is close to Israeli Independence Day. As the Jewish State celebrates her 65th birthday, there is no better present we can send than the news of thousands of churches standing in solidarity with her!
We look forward to uniting in action and prayer on behalf of Israel with you and your congregation on May 5, 2013.
May God Bless You and Those that You Love,
Pastor John Hagee National Chairman
David Brog Executive Director
Brigitte Gabriel to Speak
in Baltimore, MD!
Brigitte Gabriel
Leading Global Islamic Terrorism Expert
CLICK HERE to view Brigitte's special video invitation!
It is my privilege to invite you to a special event featuring Brigitte Gabriel, Founder and President of ACT! for America. This event is free and open to the public and will be held at the following:
Central Christian
7411 Rossville Blvd. Baltimore, MD 21237
Monday, May 6th at 7 pm
Ms. Gabriel will speak on the rise of Islamic radicalism in your community and in our nation. Her story of survival as a persecuted Christian living in a bomb shelter for 7 years will have you captivated and inspired! She will share how the events of 9/11 compelled her to start ACT! for America, the largest national security grassroots organization in the U.S.
The recent assaults at our embassies have been a sobering wake-up call to America. The lesson is that we should be displaying strength to our enemies, not appeasement which only demonstrates our weakness. Without question, the threats of radical Islam to America have increased.
These are just some of the threats Brigitte will discuss:
Suppression of criticism of Islam
Homegrown jihad
Terrorists infiltrating our borders
The Muslim Brotherhood and creeping sharia law in America
Misrepresentation of history in our public education
You will hear first-hand how ACT! for America is successfully rolling back the tide of radical Islam...how we are winning legislative victories...how we don't have to live in fear or resign ourselves to the inevitability of the threats arrayed against us...and how we will prevail.
I encourage you to forward this email to everyone you know. For those who are not familiar with ACT! for America, please share this short video with them.
I know those of you who have heard Brigitte will agree, not only do you not want to miss this, but you will want to bring your relatives and friends with you. It will be an event people will be talking about for a long time to come!
Invite your friends and come join us in Baltimore, MD! We look forward to seeing you on May 6th
Guy Rodgers Executive Director
$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!
As Israelis celebrate their 65th Independence Day this year, we should all take time out to reflect on the miracle of Israel's independence. We must also ask ourselves the question, "What can I do to ensure that this miracle of Israel survives and thrives?"
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.
From a trusted friend:
As some of you may know, I am associated with Coventry Christian Schools as a parent of a graduate (2010) and as member of the Board of Trustees. Last October we spent a wonderful evening honoring Mark Niehls at our revitalized Founder's Dinner and celebrated our shared heritage in the remarkable community that is Coventry Christian Schools. Our vision for future Founder's Dinners is to inspire and inform not only our alumni and current CCS families but to inspire and inform the Tri-County Area and even our region by hosting speakers and artists who can uniquely assist us in celebrating the heritage, core values, and mission of CCS while also lifting our vision for an even greater future built upon the foundation of our past. The caliber of our speakers and guest artists should provide us with wonderful opportunities to share our CCS story with new partners in Christian education. Proceeds from the dinner will be applied to our annual Coventry Kids Fund for CCS scholarships.
This year we are proud to announce that our distinguished guest and speaker is Dr. Benjamin Carson, and our dinner's theme is "Faith of Our Fathers: The Role of Faith in American Schools." Please join us as we welcome Dr. Carson to the Tri-County Area and celebrate the great things God is doing at CCS!
Dr. Carson is a highly regarded neurosurgeon and motivational speaker who has addressed various audiences across the country. He is one of the most honored and recognized physicians in the world and holds more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees along with hundreds of awards and citations. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. He is the author of five books and is the founder of the Carson Scholars Fund. The 2009 award-winning movie entitled Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Carson, premiered on TNT and is based on his memoir. Dr. Carson is an authentic disciple of Christ, has been married to his wife Candy for more than 37 years, and is the father of three sons.
The 2013 Founder's Dinner, which will once again be a part of our Homecoming festivities, will be held at the historic Sunnybrook Ballroom in Pottstown on Sunday, October 13th, 2013. Doors will open at 4:30pm, followed by dinner at 5:15. Dress will be business/professional. Tickets will be priced at $100 until May 15th, then will be $125, so reserve your tickets for the reduced price.
Due to Dr. Carson's international reputation and recent prominence in the media, including his recent speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, we fully anticipate that this event will sell out quickly once advertised to the public. Tickets go on sale to the public April 15. If you are interested in attending, tickets can be purchased online. I will send the link out to those who wish to go on April 15
th
. While online reservations are preferred because they facilitate efficient event planning, you may also complete a paper order form, which I can forward to you as well.
All of us at Coventry Christian Schools, look forward to sharing this very special evening with you and acquainting you with the school and its mission!
Blessings,
Christine Gordon
Sponsorships are available as well and are as follows:
Gold Sponsor $3,000
Two tickets at Speaker's Table
Two tickets at Headmaster's Table
Listed as sponsor on school website through 12 months post event
Listed as sponsor on pre-event print marketing
Mentioned by name at event
Full Page ad in Dinner Program
Silver Sponsor $1,500
Two tickets at Speaker's Table
Listed as sponsor on school website through 12 months post event
Half page ad in Dinner Program
Bronze Sponsor $500
Two tickets at Headmaster's Chairman's or Founder's Table
Listed as sponsor on school website through 12 months post event
·Quarter page ad in Dinner Program
Heritage Foundation weighs in on Common Core
By Rachel Sheffield April 11, 2013: Policy Analyst, The Heritage Foundation (courtesy of Citizens' Alliance of Pennsylvania)This coming school year, Pennsylvania public schools will begin implementing the Common Core education standards. Like many other states, Common Core standards are quickly making their way into the classroom. While proponents of the standards continue to champion their predicted benefits, there is significant cause for concern.First, the standards represent a massive federal overreach. The Obama Administration jumped on board from the get go, promoting national education standards, via policy and federal taxpayer dollars, as part of their education agenda. Billions of federal dollars have gone towards and are continuing to fund, the promotion and implementation of these standards nationwide. The federal government's involvement with the standards should be alarming. Pushing state and local leaders away from classroom curriculum is not only a breach in federalism but gives parents, teachers, and communities less say over what children learn in school. Education experts have also raised alarm over the quality of the standards. Sandra Stotsky, Professor of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, has particularly expressed concern over the English Language Arts. Common Core's ELA standards reduce emphasis on literature by promoting the study of "informational texts." Stotsky says
, "A diminished emphasis on literature in the secondary grades makes it unlikely that American students will study a meaningful range of culturally and historically significant literary works before graduation. It also prevents students from acquiring a rich understanding and use of the English language. Perhaps of greatest concern, it may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking."
Common Core goes SOCIAL MEDIA!!! Please share with everyone you know and help us make this a huge success. MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!! Not a TWITTER person.....grab a kid and have some fun.
Parent-Led Reform (@ParentLedReform) will host a Twitter Rally on April 16, 2013 which will start will go from 12:00p-2:00p (EST). We will discuss how the Common Core State Standards effect your family, community and schools? We invite you to participate.
There will be an expert panel and several organizations that will discuss#StopCommonCore. So far I know the panel will consist of:
I'll update with a live link for the Twitter Rally (or you can just follow the hashtag #StopCommonCore) and as the expert panel is finalized.
Update: Be sure to RSVP with the Facebook event invite, this will help keep you up to date with pertinent info.
The whole story on Common Core
Read the sourced and footnoted response to the National Review Online and get all the facts you need to know about Common Core HERE. Compiled by American Principles project and Glenn's research team.
Common Core is the new set of federal education standards being pushed by the Obama administration and several leftist organizations but it's even seeing some support from some conservatives.
defending Common Core, and Glenn gave the definitive response on radio today."Common Core is something that we didn't really get for quite some time and again it's something we've learned from the 9/12 project and concerned parents all around the country that have been bringing this to our attention. When we started in on this work, we thought it was pretty bad. The more we do, the worse it becomes," Glenn said.
Below are some of the points made by the National Review Online in defense of Common Core, followed by Glenn's response.
Today on radio, Glenn gave the definitive response. See that and get all the sources to back it up HERE.
Students in some Albany High School English classes were asked to participate in the unthinkable this week as part of a persuasive writing assignment. The objective? Prove why Jews are evil and convince the teacher of their loyalty to the Third Reich in five paragraphs or less. See the actual lessonHERE.
A concerned parent tipped off TheBlaze to the disturbing fact that NY public schools are teaching the U.N.'s Socialist-leaning Universal Human Rights. We also discovered that the schools are delivering this indoctrination using videos made by the Church of Scientology. Learn what our investigation revealedHERE.
TheBlaze has been at the forefront in uncovering the disturbing details of the nationalized curriculum standard known as Common Core. One of the most troubling aspects of this federal program is that government bureaucrats are currently mining sensitive and highly personal information on children through Common Core's tracking system. Watch the powerful segments from The Glenn Beck Program HERE.
Late last night the Indiana House passed House Bill 1427 which calls for a legislative review, public hearings and a fiscal analysis of the Common Core national educational standards.
"I feel it's a victory for everybody in the state of Indiana," said Erin Tuttle, one of two Indianapolis parents who - spurred by their concerns over the Common Core-tied homework their children were bringing home - led a statehouse push against the standards and started the advocacy group Hoosiers Against the Common Core.
In a situation very similar to what we are experiencing in Pennsylvania, the Chairman of the Education Committee refused to consider a bill that would have halted Common Core. A champion of local control, Senator Scott Schneider attached an amendment to an existing House Bill 1427 to include Common Core "pause" language.
"We had some pretty strong forces against us, some corporate interests against us, who quite frankly were disrespectful of my constituents," Schneider said.
And in Pennsylvania??
Here in the Keystone State, the House Education Committee Chairman Representative Paul Clymer is refusing to even consider holding hearings on Common Core, much less slowing or stopping implementation of Common Core. When responding to constituents, he uses the same tired talking points that defenders of this national mandate use: it is a state-led initiative, it is a continuation of our existing standards, and there should be no concerns on data collection from our students.
Action Item: Contact Representative Paul Clymer and Governor Tom Corbett along with your local legislators and respectfully ask that they halt the implementation of Common Core here in the Keystone state.
The wave of opposition to Common Core is growing into a tidal wave. We normally see many of our posts on Facebook receiving more than 2,000 hits with one last week getting >48,000 hits in less than 3 days. Our petition now has nearly 1,300 signatories, but we would like to grow that to more than 10,000 before the May 15th Senate Education Committee hearing. Please pass on this information to your friends and colleagues and ask them to sign the petition.
What the Petition Signers are Saying; Dennis from Lebanon County said: "We the people were meant to be heard not herded". Michael from Delaware County stated: "We oppose any Federal government involvement on how to education our children" Bernadette from Bucks County said: "We can not afford the consequences of these actions." Thom from Berks County said: "This standard places teachers in a position of teaching to pass tests and takes away from real instruction. We as a family do not feel it is in the best interests of our children OR our schools."
What information is being collected on your kids through Common Core?
TheBlaze TV subscribers can watch past episodes covering Common Core and CSCOPE. The March 14th episode focused on Common Core and the March 7th episode focused on CSCOPE. Not a subscriber? Sign up HERE.
Glenn has spent a lot of time over the past few weeks exposing some of the education initiatives in states across the country that are indoctrinating kids into the radical progressive agenda. Today, Glenn discussed an issue tied into Common Core that many people aren't aware of: data mining.
"We cover many important stories and topics on this program, but I don't think any could be more important than what we are covering tonight: the progressive takeover of America's schools,"
OK....when they look at you like you have a tin foil hat on your head......take some of this information with you. It is 126 pages. I have not read through the entire document (YET) but what I have read is enough to blow off the top of your head. I have highlighted some stuff. KIPP (Charter Schools) has a CHARACTER REPORT CARD on Page 39. So for now start on page 39 and work your way through to page 45. Remember FERPA laws were changed last year and I am sure not one parent is aware that permission to share information about our children no longer requires parental consent. Obama just slipped all these new changes in and I don't believe any parents were ever asked their opinions about these changes. And where was our Republican Congress when this happened???
AGENDA 21 is: The complete control and inventory of every human activity. After your friends read some of this information ask them if they still believe A21 is not real. Chapter 36 of A21 document is devoted to education.
Our government forgets there are still people alive that can think and see through their garbage.
Print this document and get a highlighter...........then start visiting your neighbors, school boards, elected officials and start screaming. GET COMMON CORE AND THE GOVERNMENT out of our class rooms. I think it is time to start a MASS movement for Home Schooling. I know Home Schooling will not be spared. This should be a movement to bring education back to the local level and DESTROY the Federal Department of Education. If our kids are not in school it will create an uprising at all levels. We should not settle for shutting down Common Core because they will masquerade it....they are already doing this in VA. VA supposedly never signed on to Common Core but GUESS WHAT........they ARE implementing Common Core and disguising it from the citizens in VA....of course they aren't doing a good job of hiding it and people in VA are catching on. Our schools have been in the process of a government take over (in earnest) for more than 20 years. If we don't shut down the Department of Education it will never stop. We have to cause a citizen uprising!!
Here is the U.S. Department of Education - Office of Educational Technology document:
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests"- Patrick Henry
To fix "THE SYSYEM" We must become "THE SYSTEM" - k. bracken "The change we seek has always required great struggle and great sacrifice." - Barack Hussein Obama "The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." - Ayn Rand
Yes, it's true: You can support ACT! for America-at no cost to you!An important message from Guy Rodgers, Executive Director
The next time you make an online purchase of almost anything, you could be helping ACT! for America-at no cost to you.
Sound too good to be true? It isn't.
All you have to do is sign up for "iGive"-a program that's been around since 1997.
The concept is as powerful as it is simple.
Every time an iGive member makes an online purchase at over 1,000 brand-name stores, a percentage of that purchase is donated to that person's charity of choice.
And with the holidays just around the corner, you could be helping ACT! for America with every gift you buy!
The concept isn't new. In the mid-1990s many supporters of non-profit organizations signed up with long distance telephone programs where a percentage of their bill was donated to their charity of choice.
But our investigation of iGive has convinced us that this program has an ease of use and sophistication that we find remarkable.
Imagine booking a hotel room on Orbitz-and having 1.6% of that purchase price donated to ACT! for America.
Or buying an Xbox at Best Buy-and having 1.2% of the purchase price donated to ACT! for America.
The same goes for buying merchandise at Amazon, Bath and Body Works, Advance Auto Parts, Game Stop, Kmart, Home Depot, Holiday Inn, Old Navy, NASCAR Superstore, Overstock.com, Mattel, J.C. Penney, Office Max, QVC, Radio Shack, Shoe Carnival, Pottery Barn-and on and on the list goes.
In other words, every time you make a purchase of merchandise you would buy anyway, you would be financially supporting ACT! for America!
All you have to do is log on below and follow the directions to create your account and download the iGive "button." (Note: downloading the "button" is key).
When I was first informed of iGive, I was skeptical. I've seen these ideas come and go. Often, they're too good to be true. Or there are all kinds of glitches and problems.
So I spent hours researching.
I looked at online customer reviews (which were very good). I read all of iGive's fine print, such as Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. I signed up and even emailed two tech support questions to see how good their tech support was.
And the more I dug, the more I liked what I saw. For instance, both of my tech support questions were responded to within 60 minutes. How often does THAT happen?
As you know from our Patriot Partner program, we're all about encouraging a lot of people to each do a little-to do something. When everyone does a little, together we accomplish a lot.
So consider what could happen.
If just 1% of ACT! for America members each purchased just $400 in merchandise in 2013, from all the available outlets, and the average percentage donated to ACT! was 1.5%, the total amount donated back to ACT! for America would be...
...$15,000. That's a lot of money, wouldn't you agree?
And if you were one of those ACT! for America members, it wouldn't cost you one thin dime to help ACT! for America receive $15,000.
If this idea really caught on, and eventually 5% of our members made purchases with iGive, that $15,000 could explode to $50,000, $75,000 or more!
What's more, that 1.5% figure might be low. Many of the merchants offer percentage donations that are much higher. One printer inkjet company I looked at offered 13%!
Every merchant website you visit tells you right at the top what percentage of your purchase price will be donated to ACT! for America.
Just think what we could accomplish with an extra $15,000, $50,000 or $75,000 in our fight against radical Islam!
One of the things I most wanted to know was their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Check it out for yourself. I confirmed the terms with a company representative. And I like what I learned. As security-conscious as I am, I have no hesitation using the service-and I'm already doing so.
I know there are many people out there who would love to support ACT! for America, or give more than they're giving, but in these tough economic times they simply can't.
Well, here's a way that everyone who believes in our mission can easily support what we're doing-at no cost to them.
It doesn't get any better than that.
There are already chapter leaders who have signed up for the program, and the feedback I have been getting from them has been all positive. They love the idea and many of them are already using it.
So please, join me and these ACT! for America chapter leaders who are already signed up and using the iGive service.
Yours for a safe and free America
Guy Rodgers
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.
The critically-acclaimed film, The Third Jihad - Radical Islam's Vision for America educates about the nature of radical Islamic ideology. Law enforcement agencies across the country have used the film in their counter-terror training.
Understanding the threats of terror is the first step in preventing deadly attacks.
Please consider supporting our efforts
"This fantastic documentary is both entertaining and educational" - Dove Foundation
Rev. C.L. Bryant's documentary Runaway Slave has been a runaway hit! The film recently won the Crystal Dove Seal, and has been making waves across the country.
Runaway Slave is the story of C.L. Bryant, a former NAACP Chapter president who realized that the Democrat Party and progressive movement was hurting Africa-Americans and keeping them stuck on the government dole. Rev. Bryant discusses the impact of progressivism on the African-American community and how freedom works with a host of leaders including Dr. Alveda King, Herman Cain, Allen West, Dr. Thomas Sowell, and many others.
The Crystal Dove Seal award is given to films that are family-friendly and provide wholesome, educational content. Runaway Slave is an important movie for all audiences, and it has a message that should be heard if we want to achieve a society where character is king.
Congratulations to Rev. C.L. Bryant and the Runaway Slave team on their achievement!
It's 1984 and an African American man is on a simple journey to pick up groceries for his mother -- a simple act of love. His simple journey quickly turns bad, and ends up becoming an enduring suffering. The man is wrongly identified and convicted as the perpetrator of three sexual assaults in the Richmond area. He spends the next 27 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, while the guilty perpetrator remained free. He served his time with a grace few of us could muster, confident that one day the truth would emerge, and that justice would be served.
The man's name is Thomas Haynesworth. And the man that cared about him enough to fight for his release -- and for justice to be served -- was Ken Cuccinelli, Republican Attorney General of Virginia and Gubernatorial candidate.
Sadly almost no one has heard about this caring side of Ken Cuccinelli. To learn more about his extraordinary history of caring for the most vulnerable, click here to read my editorial at The Blaze today.
We have been bashful in talking about and showing our care for the public. But when we don't show our care, the care debate doesn't just stop, the political left and their willing allies in the mainstream media soldier on in painting a picture for the public that we do not care about them and even want to harm them. And if the public buys the left's picture, as was the case with Romney and many others, public policy debates and elections are over.
For as Jack Kemp famously said, "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Think about this in terms of our own daily lives, do we truly listen to those that we believe don't care about us?
Caring is the gateway to speaking with Americans; if they don't think you care, why do we think they'll support you?
Please take a moment to call our State Senator Chuck McIlhinney at 215-489-5000 to get Pennsylvania out of the business of running liquor stores. This is certainly not a core function of government. It is time to return this retail function to the private sector where it belongs.
There was an article in the National Review national magazine about this effort titled "Quakers and Bootleggers" by writer Kevin Williamson as well here:
Also tell Senator McIlhinney that you do not support efforts where government picks winners and losers as far as who gets licenses to sell wine, spirits and malted beverages in the Commonwealth. We should let the free market decide that on it's own, as when we let the free market and competition enter a retail arena, we see greater consumer choice and lower prices.
Thanks,
Rob Ciervo
Newtown, PA 18940
RedState Morning Briefing
For April 29, 2013
1.Faith, love, and children
President Obama became the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood on Friday.Not surprisingly, he didn't have anything to say about Kermit Gosnell, or the wave of medical emergencies at abortion clinics, or the sex-selection abortions Live Action discovered at Planned Parenthood.Obama didn't even use the word "abortion" in his speech.Abortion is so wonderful that even the most strident abortion radical ever elected to the White House can't bring himself to say the word.
If the abortion industry didn't enjoy the nearly religious devotion of the Left, it would be Occupy Wall Street's favorite example of a big business that pays big bucks for political influence, so it can operate with ridiculously lax oversight, weak safety standards, and lavish subsidies.Kermit Gosnell preyed relentlessly upon poor black women, while treating his assistants like sweat shop labor.The excuses offered by Planned Parenthood when its staff is caught flaunting the law on undercover video are reminiscent of tobacco company executives trying to claim that smoking isn't bad for you.The Democrat Party has expressed a willingness to shut down the entire government to protect Planned Parenthood subsidies.When a prominent charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, tried to decouple from Planned Parenthood, the response was straight out of "The Sopranos."You are required to fund this organization, and you are not allowed to stop.They've got a lot of money, political clout, and media influence available to enforce that directive. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
2.A Well That Never Runs Dry
Here we go again: In a press release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Obama Administration unabashedly takes credit for the nation's surging oil and gas production, without a scintilla of evidence that any of their policies or proposals is actually responsible for said surge. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3.The Permanent Cessation of Deportations
One question that proponents of endless amnesty can never answer is how they ever plan to stop future waves of illegal immigration if they continue to telegraph the message that deportations are taboo.That as long as they can reach our shores and "become part of the fabric of society," they are here to stay.
4.CNN: Anthony Foxx to be next Secretary of Transportation
Anonymous sources have Anthony Foxx being chosen to be the replacement for current Secretary Ray LaHood; I don't particularly expect much from Foxx, but then I didn't particularly expect much from LaHood, either, which makes it all good. Foxx, for those who don't remember, is the first-and-won't-seek-a-second-term Mayor of Charlotte, NC; he's apparently being 'rewarded' for the his work in hosting the 2012 Democratic convention that flipped the state back to full Republican control. Note the use of scare quotes; I'm not exactly sure how this is a step up.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
5.Breaking Bad and 3 Lessons in Morality
Let's get the review out of the way first: Breaking Bad is the best show on television right now. When it wraps, I may conclude that it is one of the best shows of all time, but I'll resist waxing hyperbolic now for the sake of some credibility. Suffice it to say, this is a show that warrants your attention both for its value as entertainment and as a serious examination of real moral issues. Beyond that, even, the show offers (at least) three distinct moral lessons that are-conservatives would do well to take note of this fact-not spoon-fed to the audience but nonetheless undeniable. So in a mostly spoiler-free fashion, let's look at these lessons.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
Reports of the Obama Presidency's Death Are Exaggerated Daren Jonescu Did anyone imagine Obama could remain "almost a god" forever? That Obama has lost some of his luster is certain; that this betokens a defeat for progressivism shows a grave misunderstanding on the part of conservatives. More
Never Let a Dead Child Go to Waste Jeffrey T. Brown. Esq. It is time to choose whether we are a people that honors the grieving or sells their tears. More
The Void of Reason Keith Riler Obama has stepped into the abyss. Will the nation follow him? More
Taking all Comers Ted Vaughan Obama's abuse of the DREAM Act may end up generating nightmares. More
Lying about the law? How can you tell? Robert Potts When President Obama accused 2nd Amendment supporters of "lying" about recent gun control legislation, he seemed to be assuming that anyone (legislators included) could even understand the legislation well enough to lie about it. This is impossible. More
Give Us a '50s President, Too Rev Michael Bresciani Barack Obama told Planned Parenthood last week that we should be terrified of returning to the '50s. Lots of people beg to differ. More
Obama doubles down on failed budget strategy April 28, 2013 So we have a president who is the captive of his delusions, who is still going to punish the American people if he doesn't get his way on spending. More
Russians wiretaps of Tsarnaevs leaked April 28, 2013 Mama Tsarnaev talked jihad with her darling son Tamerlan - the one she named after one of history's most brutal jihad conquerors - according to 2011 wiretaps by the Russians. Their jihad, it turns out, was not simply exercising every day. More
The promotion of the food stamp program, includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA with a statement advising Mexicans in the U.S. that they do not need to declare their immigration status in order to receive financial assistance.
The suspected Boston Marathon terrorist bombers wanted to attack New York - and specifically planned to blow up Times Square before they were captured...
Now U.S. citizens are experiencing delayed flights across the country as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) furloughs each of its employees one day every other week.
American policies toward Islam are stuck in the dubious notion that Moderate Islam is the norm, and that it is our duty to help those who so profess in order to hinder Militant Islamism, our sworn enemy.
"the FAA management has stated in meetings that they need to make the furloughs as hard as possible for the public so that they understand how serious it is."
It was only a few months ago that a prominent mosque in Virginia hosted a controversial imam who urged immigrant Muslims in the US to wage war for Islam.
Did you know that if everyone who visited our FSM website this year donated just $1, we would easily exceed our annual budget?
Your gift will be an investment in freedom.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, The Family Security Foundation relies upon the thoughtfulness and (tax-deductible!) generosity of visitors like you.
"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
The Saudi national questioned by police in the investigation into the Boston Marathon attack shares the same last name as a major Saudi clan that includes scores of al-Qaida operatives.
Some in the clan are senior al-Qaida members while others are reportedly being held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.
Hamas has been asked by Turkey to aid the so-called rebels in their fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.
There is a disagreement within Hamas about whether to collaborate with the rebels, sources within Hamas said.
The Gazan group was specifically asked to help the rebels construct underground tunnels and to advise the jihadist-saturated rebels on adopting some of the tools Hamas previously put to use to confront Israel.
AUDIO: Sen. Rand Paul on immigration bill, Benghazi: more >>
AUDIO: Cover up; Saudi connection to Boston marathon?: more >>
AUDIO: How stimulus money funded an ACORN school: more >>
Daily Email - April 26, 2013 Top StoryHow Pothead Terrorists Almost Outsmarted the Police By Cliff Kincaid | April 26, 2013 The local police reacted heroically to the Boston terror bombings, and it is tragic that MIT police officer Sean Collier was a victim of the terrorists' shooting spree. However, the inescapable conclusion, after the media get done praising local police reaction to the bombings, is that law enforcement at all levels broke down, leaving law-abiding [...] From the AIM Blogs No Respect: Newspaper Reporter Ranks as Worst Job in the Country By Don Irvine | April 25, 2013 Guest ColumnAmerica's Insane Asylum for Jihadists, Hustlers and Frauds By Michelle Malkin | April 26, 2013 In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon killing spree by foreign-born jihadists, see-no-evil bureaucrats in Washington are stubbornly defending America's lax asylum policies. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Tuesday that the screening process is rigorous, effective and extensive. These people can't handle the truth. Or tell it. The Tsarnaev brothers reportedly were granted [...] AIM Newswire Europe, tired of budget cuts, looks for alternatives
The U.S. intelligence community has uncovered strong evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria. Several blood samples, taken from multiple people, have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, an American intelligence source tells Danger Room. President Obama has long said that the use of such a weapon by the Assad regime would cross a "red line." So now the question becomes: What will the White House do in response?
In March, the Assad regime was accused of using chemical weapons during an attack on the city of Aleppo. The blood samples are taken by Syrian opposition groups from alleged victims of that strike. But American analysts can't be entirely sure where exactly the blood came from, when the precisely exposure took place.
"This is more than one organization representing that they have more than one sample from more than one attack," the source tells Danger Room. "But we can't confirm anything because no one is really sure what's going on in country."
What's clear is that the samples are authentic, and that the weapons were almost certainly employed by the Assad regime, which began months ago mixing up quantities of sarin's chemical precursors for an potential attack, as Danger Room first reported.
"It would be very, very difficult for the opposition to fake this. Not only would they need the wherewithal to steal it or brew it up themselves. Then they'd need volunteers who would notionally agree to a possibly lethal exposure," the source adds.
The Obama administration said Thursday that the Syrian government is likely to have used chemical weapons on a small scale against its own people, but it stopped short of threatening military action against President Bashar al-Assad.
In a letter to key lawmakers, the White House said U.S. intelligence agencies "assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin."
Despite the caveats, the disclosure puts President Obama under new pressure to respond because it is the first time that the United States has joined other countries in suggesting that the Assad government is likely to have deployed chemical weapons over the course of Syria's two-year-old conflict.
A senior administration official reaffirmed that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross the "red line" described by Obama many times in recent months in warnings to Assad. The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to be candid, said the administration was waiting for a "definitive judgment."
Don't worry, folks! The president has a plan!
Instead of outlining specific action, the administration reiterated its support for a comprehensive U.N. investigation inside Syria to gather concrete evidence. Assad has refused to allow the U.N. team into the country amid a dispute over the scope of the investigation.
AEI's Danielle Pletka asks, "So suddenly 'exposure' to sarin is not chemical weapons 'use'. Are women 'exposed' to rape? Is 'a whole bunch' of CW better than just a bit?"
Israel is closely following U.S. activity regarding Syria after the regime there crossed a red line. If the U.S. fails to act, it will be hard for Israel to believe that it will follow through on its commitment to thwart Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Taking action in Syria is much simpler and less dangerous than preventing Iran from going nuclear.
The editors of USA Today urge the administration to avoid a "mindlessly impulsive" response. Thanks, guys, that really helps clear things up.
Republican House Member Demonstrates Sebelius Doesn't Know How IPAB Law Works
Representative Andy Harris is a Republican from Maryland and a physician. He's on the Appropriations Committee, and on Thursday he had the chance to ask some questions of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the Independent Payment Advisory Board, also known as IPAB, which hopeless demagogues like you and me call "the death panel," because it will ultimately decide which medical treatments are insufficiently cost-effective to be covered by the government.
Harris asked Sebelius if she would have the authority of the IPAB board if its members don't get appointed. Obama has yet to nominate anyone to serve on the IPAB board. (Earlier this month, the administration testified that the nominations are coming; the Senate would confirm the members, and yes, they could -- and probably will -- face a filibuster.) She said if the appointments aren't made, it doesn't go into effect.
You're probably sighing a great sigh of relief, but you shouldn't. The problem is that no, that's not what the law says.
If appointments aren't made to the board, then she would have the authority to find the savings and determine which treatments are not cost-effective. Video of her testimony here.
If, with respect to a proposal year, the Board is required, but fails, to submit a proposal to Congress and the President by the deadline applicable under paragraph (3)(A)(i), the Secretary shall develop a detailed and specific proposal that satisfies the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (C) (and, to the extent feasible, subparagraph (B)) of paragraph (2) and contains the information required paragraph (3)(B)). By not later than January 25 of the year, the Secretary shall transmit-
(A) such proposal to the President; and
(B) a copy of such proposal to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission for its review.
But hey, why should we expect Kathleen Sebelius to be familiar with the fine print of Obamacare?
Another Anti-Voucher Democrat, Sending His Children to the Best Private School
Surprise, surprise, the Virginia chapter of the NEA teacher's union endorsed Terry McAuliffe for governor. Their endorsement is strangely quiet on the issue of vouchers. McAuliffe is pretty quiet on the issue of vouchers; here are his policy views on K-12 education, in their entirety, from his campaign web site:
Education is the single most important thing our kids need to build successful lives. Whether they're going to invent a product, start a business, or get the job of their dreams, it all starts with the basic skills and confidence that only a good education can provide, and right now we're not doing enough.
Total funding per student is down even as we've got more and more students entering our system. Only 87% of our kids are graduating high school on time.
As Governor, I will support our kids and our schools. We're going to take the best ideas from around the country and give teachers and administrators the resources and freedom they need to make Virginia a global leader in education.
If this were any shorter, it would be a haiku.
He makes Elizabeth Colbert Busch's policy-related sentence fragments look like Mandate for Leadership.
It was a bit of creative omission, reminiscent of his answer when someone at the Richmond town meeting asked where his kids -- aged 17, 16, 14, 9, and 6 -- go to school. He said one attends Gonzaga, a Catholic high school in Washington, and four go to the Potomac School in McLean. He didn't mention that Potomac is a private school.
So Terry McAuliffe, who has had four kids going to a roughly $30,000 tuition per student private school (perhaps there's a sibling discount), opposes the use of vouchers to send poorer kids to private schools.
NRO Digest - April 26, 2013
Today on National Review Online . . .
JOHN FUND: Two other abortion stories in Philadelphia could have connections to the Gosnell case. Evading Gosnell, Still
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: President Bush left behind an inconclusive war, but he made ultimate victory possible. The Bush Legacy
CHARLES C. W. COOKE: The second lady exemplifies a bloated class of people with irrelevant, unimpressive titles. Diagnosing Dr. Biden
ANDREW STILES: Despite sequestration, the FAA overspends, and then furloughs air-traffic controllers. Extravagance at the FAA
RICH LOWRY: The Obama administration uses the air industry as a political football. The FAA Fiasco
"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." --Patrick Henry
Since the bombs exploded in Boston last Monday, the terror attacks have dominated the news cycle. There are some important things to learn from this latest act of jihad against our nation.
1. The media are not only unreliable but also are often part of the problem. The 24-hour info-tainment industry mucked up the details so badly that, nearly two weeks later, the public is still trying to separate fact from fiction. During the pursuit of the suspects, CNN, for example, treated us to panic "reporting" about smells in the air and "canine dogs" barking. But the "Non Compos Mentis" Award goes to CNN's Susan Candiotti, who, we kid you not, observed, "Being in Watertown right now, the streets are empty. It's eerie. It's as though a bomb had dropped somewhere." As Comedy Central's Jon Stewart replied, "It's not so much a metaphor as what actually happened."
Of course, the media bedlam began five minutes after the blasts with talkingheads rushing to blame the Tea Party, the NRA or the Right generally. Yet once it became clear that the perps were two Muslim fanatics, the media suddenly went out of their way to avoid speculating on the cause or wondering whether it made any difference anyway. Suffice it to say, if TV news is your primary information source, caveat emptor!
2. Two demented young men with a simple pressure cooker and some fireworks and BBs successfully shut down a major U.S. city. That's not to diminish the damage they caused or the lives they took, but to point out that the jihadi threat is hard to counter. That didn't stop Joe Biden from brushing off the two brothers as "knock-off jihadis" (as opposed to the real thing, we suppose) and crowing, "If the purpose of terror is to instill fear, you saw none of that in Boston. The only way terrorism wins is if we change our way of life, if we yield. And our message to terrorists is: You cannot break us. You cannot change us. We will never yield. We will not be intimidated."
Except that the city was put under martial law -- people were kept home from work and school and told to "shelter in place." It shows other prospective terrorists what can be accomplished with little planning.
3. Our intelligence apparatus appeared too big to nimbly counter the threat. One of the biggest changes to our way of life after 9/11 was the massive growth of the government security bureaucracy. George W. Bush instituted a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security tasked with better enabling intelligence gathering and sharing among agencies. "They all worked as they should, as a team," Barack Obama said. If only that were true.
There were clues about Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older (deceased) brother, as early as 2011, when the Russians passed along a tip about him being "a follower of radical Islam," though the Russians haven't been as cooperative as we'd like in the aftermath. The CIA pushed to add him to a watch list, and the FBI interviewed him, asking if he was a terrorist. He denied it, and they found no "evidence" (presumably before he posted jihadist videos online, including a personal pledge to "dedicate my life to jihad"), so the matter died.
Then he spent six months of 2012 in Dagestan, which neighbors his native Chechnya -- famous for its own Muslim extremists -- and that's likely where he learned to make bombs. The FBI claimed his name and date of birth were incorrectly entered, so no flags popped up when he traveled -- except at DHS, where Secretary Janet Napolitano said the "system pinged when he was leaving," though not when he returned. DHS just failed to "ping" the FBI or CIA. Such failure to communicate is part and parcel of oversized government, but we fear the reality could be even worse -- that political correctness and a wrong-headed focus on "right-wing extremists" has DHS looking for hate in all the wrong places.
Then again, the Canadians just thwarted a terrorist plot in Quebec, and American Leftists onlyhope to be as politically correct as our northern neighbors.
4. Obama continues to tell the tale that he defeated terrorism. Ever since he "personally" killed Osama bin Laden, the president has been doing victory laps for the successful eradication of al-Qa'ida. Again, if only that were true.
The president's narrative and his ideology are the reasons Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger (captured) brother, wasn't classified as an enemy combatant. That classification would have enabled investigators to better determine if these two were "lone wolves" or part of something larger. During questioning, Dzhokhar indicated that the brothers planned to bomb Times Square, but before the FBI finished their 48-hour period of questioning he was Mirandized by a judge and immediately quit talking. No one seems to know who sent the judge, but FBI agents were "stunned" when she showed up.
5. Gun laws didn't stop them. Our friends on the Left might be shocked to learn this, but the two Boston bombers did not legally own the firearms they used in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is too young for a license, and Tamerlan never bothered applying for one.
In the end, we hope that the deaths of four people (three at the Marathon and one MIT police officer later) and the wounding and maiming of scores of others provides the impetus for some in our midst to remove the ideological blinders and start confronting the world as it is: One that is fallen and all too full of evil people.
Pentagon unblocks Baptist website to military personnel
April 26, 2013
Dear ##FirstName[AFA Supporter]##,
Within hours of an AFA Action Alert, the Pentagon said it had resolved the reasons it blocked the Southern Baptist Convention website, www.sbc.net, from military computers.
The block came just a few weeks after an Army briefing labeled Evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremist groups, and a separate email identified two prominent Christian ministries as "domestic hate groups."
In this case, the Pentagon said the block was a matter of website security and not an infringement on religious liberty. "In this case, security systems performed as expected in detecting a threat to DoD (Department of Defense) networks," Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said in a prepared statement.
"We determined that our web filters recently detected malware at the SBC website, which resulted in the block for some service members," Pickart said. "The department has verified that the Southern Baptist Convention website no longer contains malware that may pose a threat to our networks and will be unblocked today."
Pickart added the block did not have anything to do with the "hostile" or religious content. "The Department of Defense strongly supports the religious rights of service members, to include their ability to access religious websites like that of the SBC," he said.
Immediately after releasing the AFA Action Alert, dozens of military personnel and chaplains told AFA they could not access the Baptist website on base computers, while a few said their military computer allowed the site.
WHY THIS WAS IMPORTANT Had this issue not gained national attention, the sbc.net website would still be blocked today. Because hundreds of Baptist military personnel and chaplains depend on their denomination's website, it was critical that the site be unblocked quickly.
However, Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) recently noted during a congressional committee meeting, there is still a level of anti-Christian sentiment within the military, and cited several examples. You can read them here.
THANK YOU It is critical that we remain vigilant in defending religious freedom, especially in the military. Because of your actions, the Pentagon quickly resolved this issue and unblocked the sbc.net website.
Online version of this alert here
It is very important that you forward this alert to your friends and family members.
Sincerely,
Tim Wildmon, President American Family Association
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." ~ John Adams
Say It Ain't So Mitch...
McConnell Squashes Legitimate Obama Birth Certificate Concerns Posted On America's Conservative News Louise Hodges asked Senator Mitch McConnell to address a very serious quirk in regards to information on Ann Dunham's Passport files which cast serious doubt on Barack Obama's citizenship...
Obama's Borrowed More Per Household ($53,616) Than Median Household Earns ($50,502) By Terence P. Jeffrey CNSNews.com Under President Barack Obama, the federal government's debt has increased by an amount per household that exceeds the annual median household income.
The Strange Dedication Of The George W. Bush Presidential Center And The Day After By Judi McLeod CanadaFreePress.com Wonder how history will record the day after timeline of the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on April 25, 2013; both the peculiar way it went down with five living presidents and their wives and a crowd of 10,000 in attendance-and in particular the fateful day that followed.
LIGNET's Fleitz: US Intelligence Community, Not Russia Dropped Ball By Paul Scicchitano Newsmax.com "There's been a chilling effect on U.S. intelligence agencies to use all the tools available to them because they're worried about being prosecuted, or hauled before Congress or losing their job," he explained.
"Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." ~ James Madison
Is Anyone Shocked...
Breaking: Boston Bombers' Mother Also On Terror Watch ListRussian officials warned authorities in the United States about the mother of the bombing suspects in 2011, and she was also added to a terror watch list, according to CNN
Domestic Terrorist Says He Targeted FRC After Finding It on Southern Poverty Law Center Website By Fred Lucas CNSNews.comDomestic terrorist Floyd Corkins told the FBI that he found the Family Research Council as a target because they were listed online as an "anti-gay" group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Holder: Amnesty Is A 'Civil Right' By John T. Bennett World Net DailyU.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in remarks that largely have escaped notice, has claimed that "creating a mechanism for [illegal aliens] to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows ... is a matter of civil and human rights."
NY Officials: Boston Suspects Planned To Blow Up Times Square By Todd Beamon Newsmax.comThe Boston Marathon bombing suspects made an impromptu decision to drive to New York City and detonate their remaining explosives in Times Square, New York City officials said on Thursday.
Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog6 Comments
THE WAR THAT WON'T GO AWAY
After the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Obama asked, "Why did young men who grew up and studied here, as part of our communities and our country, resort to such violence?"
In Obama's speech, the willingness of the Tsarnaev brothers to kill the people of the country they had grown up in is a paradox. But it isn't a paradox; it's the point.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev carried out the marathon massacre not because they were on the outside, but because they were on the inside. Islamic terrorism was their way of expressing their American identity. When they detonated bombs at the Boston Marathon, they weren't doing it as Chechen Muslims, but as American Muslims.
There is a reason why second and third generation Muslims are more likely to turn terrorist than their immigrant parents. It is because they have become American, British, Canadian and Australian part of the way. They have gone deep enough to begin making a claim on the country. The Western Islamist seeks to align his internal Islamic identity and his external national identity by unifying them through Islamization.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were not fighting for Chechnya at the Boston Marathon. They were fighting against the American infidels who were barring the way to an Islamic America.
The new soft power strategy was big picture. It had nothing to offer the Americans fighting and dying while waiting for help to arrive.
Al Qaeda understood soft power as a weakness. Unlike the decrepit Clinton policy wonks, it was not impressed by the old strategy of refusing to engage while hiding behind the drones that were standing in for Bill Clinton's favorite terrorist-fighting cruise missiles. It understood that limited engagement was not some bright and new philosophy, but an unwillingness to take casualties and inflict collateral damage.
"We will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people," Obama announced in the Rose Garden and the terrorists laughed. They laughed because they had support from within the Libyan government. They laughed because the Libyan government had obstructed the arrival of rescue teams and denied the use of armed drones over Libyan airspace.
What sounded like a reasonable statement to an American audience was actually an admission that Obama would not act unilaterally to go after the killers.
Basri should have received the death penalty for the murder of 3 Christian schoolgirls. Basri said he and two others killed the girls and took their heads to the group's headquarters as a "gift" to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Basri claimed he was sorry "not just from my mouth but from deep in my heart." But he nevertheless joked and laughed as he described how it took two swipes of his machete to lop the head off one of the girls.
As we leave behind the celebrations of Israel's independence, it is important not only to look back at what Israel has achieved in the past, but also at what Israel is doing right now! Both indicators show that the Jewish State is leading mankind into a future that is vastly different both medically and technically from our current environment.
The world we are beginning to see is one where humans no longer suffer from dementia. The research by Professor Michal Schwartz and her team at the Weizmann Institute highlights the changes in the brains of the elderly that prevent immune cells traveling to repair brain trauma. It opens up the possibility of new treatments to prevent brain degeneration. Similarly, Parkinson's will be cured - maybe using the sugar substitute mannitol that researchers from Tel Aviv University found to protect the brain against the disease.
The "Big C" will one day be a thing of the past, thanks to specialists like Israel's Professor Alexander Levitzki of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The American Association for Cancer Research has just awarded him its 2013 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research. Other problems with the immune system will be resolved. Professor Rifaat Safadi's team from Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem has already identified the way the system's Neuroliglin 4 protein can either fight fatty liver disease or exacerbate it.
Whilst on the subject of medicine, Israel's Teva is the world's largest producer of generic medications. In the US, one in six prescriptions are for Teva products. CEO Jeremy Levin recently stated, "We are an Israeli company, and we will remain an Israeli company. At our Ashdod plant, whilst people (in Gaza) fire rockets, we make medicines."
but we're doing it anyway. The establishment media attacks, and the nullification movement keeps pressing on!
When MSNBC refers to our efforts to nullify as "cause for alarm" - you know we're on the right path. They'd never waste the energy doing this if it wasn't working.
Learn about their latest attack on nullification, get some insight from James Madison, and get advice on what you can do right now.
"Cowboy Joe" explains... Related posts: Danny Glover Is Wrong, Dead Wrong! His comments that he made to students at Texas A&M... Is A Civil War Coming? For anyone who has done even a cursory study of...
Apr 27, 2013 01:18 pm Yesterday, my colleague, Marty Biancuzzo, explained why America is on a path to inevitable economic and government collapse. After reading Marty's piece, another colleague asked me: What will America look like after a government collapse? It's an important question, and I want to give a satisfactory answer. But I can't do that in one short column, [...]
Video: Democrats Found Guilty In Obama Ballot Petition-Forging Scandal
Apr 27, 2013 01:09 pm
This is a major victory!! Related posts: Guilty Plea In Obama Petition-Forging Scandal! I sure hope Obama is nervous...we are uncovering his fraud... 2nd Guilty Plea In Obama Petition-Forging Scandal Massive voter fraud has been uncovered in Indiana. But is...
Apr 27, 2013 01:03 pm Here's an idea. How about an assault pressure cooker ban? In view of last week's events in Boston, it makes more sense than an assault rifle ban. (Keep in mind that Obamacare probably will not pay for the surgical removal of my tongue from my cheek.) It's now well known that a cheap pressure cooker [...]
Video: Insult To Injury: Bombing Suspects Were On Welfare
Apr 27, 2013 12:53 pm
Just another reason to abolish all welfare programs in their entirety, if you ask me... Related posts: Killing Welfare Reform: Obama Runs On Clinton Legacy While Dismantling It In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed bipartisan legislation to reform... New Ad Slams Obama's Position On Welfare Reform Unbelievable. Obama essentially wishes that welfare reform "never happened."... [...]
Apr 27, 2013 12:51 pm If you think communism is just some innocent threat to your daily life, try calling the fire department for emergency services after the communists control the Fireman's Union. Or maybe try going to the hospital for surgery after the nursing staff has been compromised. Hitler took power fairly quickly, before anybody really had a chance [...]
Apr 27, 2013 12:51 pm Health Care Politics: As ObamaCare rolls out, some of its biggest backers from labor to D.C. lawmakers are having second thoughts. It's a sign that the idea of ending this national nightmare isn't about to go away. Late last week, the 22,000-member United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers dropped a bombshell on the Obama [...]
Apr 27, 2013 12:46 pm PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea announced Saturday that an American detained for nearly six months is being tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that could draw the death penalty if he is convicted. The case involving Kenneth Bae, who has been in North Korean custody [...]
Video: MSNBC Pundit: Democrats Lost On The Sequester
Apr 27, 2013 12:43 pm
On MSNBC, Ezra Klein of the Washington Post says that Democrats now have lost the sequester: Related posts: MSNBC Takes Pride In Developing Its Stable Of Hosts In his quest to dominate the cable news arena,... How Sequester Affects Typical Obama Voters This is a parody about how sequester is affecting the...
Apr 27, 2013 12:41 pm It's hard enough to work and take care of your family, without worrying about some nut-job in the White House. I'm old enough to be his mother, so I see him entirely different. I see him as the spoiled brat granny's boy that you put at the kids' table. I babysat men his age. They [...]
Apr 27, 2013 12:38 pm According to Ali Alfoneh at the American Enterprise Institute, Iran has transformed from a Theocracy to a Military Dictatorship under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top clerics are now under the control of the Guards. The silent power shift was aided by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, [...]
Patriotic Americans are going to meetings.....lots of meetings....time for less talk, more action! Related posts: Video: Obama, All Talk, No Action ... Continue to Post... Matthews Warns Talk Radio 'Gonna Pay' If Any Anti-Obama Violence Chris Matthews, on Tuesday's "Hardball," ominously warned that the "activists...
Apr 27, 2013 12:18 pm What's the big deal? I mean, why are we surprised that an abortionist and his staff would, behind the walls of an always-lethal abortion clinic, commit one of the most horrific serial killings in American history? What did you think abortionists do, heal people? Why are we taken aback that there was no oversight and [...]
Neil Cavuto dishes out a dose of common sense... Related posts: NEIL CAVUTO & LIBERAL CONGRESSWOMAN HAVE MUST-WATCH SMACK DOWN DEFICIT DEBATE On his Fox News show this afternoon, Neil Cavuto spoke-spiritedly-with... Prejean Slams Olbermann, Calls Out Liberal Media Double Standards On Today Invited on Tuesday's Today show to promote her new book,...
Apr 27, 2013 12:11 pm You wouldn't know it from watching the news, but instances of violence in American society have fallen precipitously over the past decade. At the same time, more Americans than ever are playing video games. Yet, a bipartisan group of members of Congress continue to insist that video games might be responsible for random acts of [...]
Apr 27, 2013 11:50 am Dear Sirs and Madams, It must be getting tougher by the day to serve two masters. On one hand, you must serve the American people by upholding the U.S. Constitution; you have sworn to God that you would defend and protect it while serving in the capacity of protecting the office of the President of [...]
Apr 27, 2013 11:48 am ST. PAUL, Minn. - A national group of prominent GOP donors that supports gay marriage is pouring new money into lobbying efforts to get Republican lawmakers to vote to make it legal. American Unity PAC was formed last year to lend financial support to Republicans who bucked the party's longstanding opposition to gay marriage. Its [...]
Officials Found Guilty In Obama, Clinton Ballot Petition Fraud
Apr 27, 2013 11:44 am A jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations. They were found guilty on all counts. Former longtime [...]
General Electric Co. is quietly cutting off lending to gun shops, as the company rethinks its relationship to firearms amid the fallout from the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
This month, Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan's Outdoor Store in Bay City, Mich., said he received a letter from GE Capital Retail Bank in which the lender said it had made "the difficult decision" to stop providing financing services to his store. Other gun dealers have received similar notices.
GE is at least the second big financial firm to retreat from the gun business following the school shootings, which claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six adults in December.
Days after the killings, private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP said it would try to sell the gun company it owns-Freedom Group Inc.- which makes brands including Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin and H&R.
The moves highlight how companies, closely attuned to the concerns of investors and employees, have reacted to public horror caused by the attacks, even as complicated political considerations doomed new gun-control legislation in the Congress.
On Saturday, Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina promised that "explosive" congressional hearings over the Benghazi, Libya attacks are on the way. Gowdy, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the hearings are going to be "coming quickly." Watch the congressman explain what he's talking aboutHERE.
Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said there are "clearly more persons of interest" in the Boston Marathon bombing, despite some officials saying the Tsarnaev brothers acted alone. Rogers' comments came ahead of Friday's Wall Street Journal Report saying that the FBI has concluded the bomb makers "likely had additional training or expertise." Get the rest of this storyHERE.
President Barack Obama had several pages of cohesive one-liners during his White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech Saturday night. He took aim at Rush Limbaugh and Republicans, as is his habit, but he (and many others) also singled out CNN and MSNBC. Watch the entire speechHERE.
The chaos that unfolded in the minutes and hours following two deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon earlier this month was widely reported. But one of the finer details that has been given little attention until now is the role - or lack thereof - that clergy played directly following the carnage. Were faith leaders banned from the scene? Find out the answerHERE.
Russian authorities secretly recorded a telephone conversation in 2011 in which one of the Boston bombing suspects vaguely discussed jihad with his mother, officials said Saturday, days after the U.S. government finally received details about the call. There were additional recordings -- and we've got the details on themHERE.
Often referred to as "Nerd Prom," the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner was hosted this year by entertainer, comedian and late-night TV talk-show host Conan O'Brien. The annual gathering brings together journalists, government officials, politicians and media personalities for what's usually an evening of light-hearted banter and celebrity gawking. See some of the imagesHERE.
Around 10:30 p.m. last Wednesday, Matt Fugate was in his bedroom when he heard an unexpected commotion. When Fugate ran to investigate, he was shocked to find two men in his home assaulting his brother. One of the suspects was reportedly brandishing what turned out to be a pellet gun, but the "soft-spoken" resident of Evansville, IN knew what he had to do. "I raced for the gun vault and had my gun in my hand in 5 seconds..." Watch Matt Fugate tell his story to a local TV news crewHERE.
Real News' panel member Will Cain asks the important question, "Who are we fighting in the war on terror? I mean...who is the enemy? Specifically." Read Will's take on this vital issueHERE.
ABC's fast-talking, uber-quirky ensemble comedy "Happy Endings" has been a hit with critics but has suffered in the ratings. A quick reference in Friday night's episode, "The Ballad of Lon Sarofsky," caught our ear: a truly bizarre Glenn Beck mention. Watch the surprising momentHERE.
Who sent Joe Biden a porcelain bunny with red eyes? Why did Great Britain give the Obama's a dog toy? And do you think Hillary Clinton wanted to keep the large painting of her wearing "traditional Tajik clothing?" (It was a gift to the former Secretary of State from the President of Tajikistan.) We've combed through the 230 page report that documents gifts given to the President and other officials. Learn about some the strangest items listedHERE.
On Friday, President Barack Obama became the the first sitting president to address the Planned Parenthood National Conference. But rather than avoiding abortion, he tackled it head-on, defending a woman�s �right to choose.� Additionally, he heralded Planned Parenthood as an organization that has served Americans in their greatest times of need. Watch the speechHERE.
It�s been nearly a week since Glenn Beck first revealed additional information about Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, the Saudi national briefly considered a person of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing. According to Blaze sources, Alharbi was tagged as a 212(a)(3)(B) � the U.S. immigration designation for �terrorist activities.� The four remaining question we have about Mr. Alharbi are HERE.
NBC's Tom Brokaw declined his invitation to the 2013 White House Correspondents� Dinner for one specific reason: Lindsay Lohan. (She attended last year.) Brokaw also said there is now a �separation between what we�re supposed to be doing and what the people expect us to be doing, and I think that the Washington press corps has to look at that.� Get the rest of this storyHERE.
Can you believe this video? It's a phenomenon. In fact, it was sent to more than 289,000 people in just the first 24 hours! This video is the 'shot heard around the world' the establishment prayed would never come.Before it's banned, watch it here.
Two officials told the Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies added the mother of the Boston bombing suspects to a government terrorism database 18 months before the bombings. The mom called it �lies and hypocrisy� and said she has never been linked to crimes or terrorism. See the latest on this new twist to the story HERE.
Attention Junk Food Junkies! Hostess Brands LLC says it will reopen its eastern Kansas bakery this summer, with the hiring of an initial 250 people already underway. And something will be noticeably different about the company when it starts reopening bakeries - unions will not be involved. Get the full storyHERE.
Airplane landing gear thought to be part of one of the jets involved in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was found Wednesday in lower Manhattan wedged between an apartment building and the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque." See the photos and learn how the landing gear was discoveredHERE.
Tim Ralston could be known to many different people for many different things. On TheBlaze, you might consider him the inventor of the X-Caliber Shotgun adapter system (which we showed you a few weeks ago and you couldn�t get enough of). To several million viewers of National Geographic�s �Doomsday Preppers� series, he�s the guy who shot his own finger on the show. Meet Tim HERE.
In an extreme survival situation where the appropriate amount of ammunition for the type of firearm you�re carrying can�t necessarily be guaranteed, what would you do? Carry multiple types of firearms to increase your chances of coming across ammo you can use? You could do that, or you could have an adapter system that comes in a handy pouch that allows one 12-gauge shotgun to take 11 different types of ammunition. See the X-Caliber Gauge Adapter System in action HERE.
TheBlaze TV's Saturday night comedy show, The B.S. of A. gives us another sneak peak at one of the sketches from tonight's show. Watch it before everyone elseHERE.
We swear to you, the photo in this story is real. On Friday, Mr. Beck and "Psy" were both among the honorees at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards in New York City. The group honors ground-breaking pioneers in varied fields. Each honoree gets a distinctive red-tipped hammer. See more from the event - AND the photo mentioned aboveHERE.
Republicans in the Senate and House are expected to introduce on Friday a joint bill titled the Ammunition Management for More Accountability or �AMMO� Act. It is being proposed after several lawmakers have voiced concerns about some federal agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security, seemingly stockpiling large quantities of ammo. Get the whole storyHERE.
During Thursday night�s episode of The O�Reilly Factor on Fox News, Glenn Beck discussed TheBlaze's investigation into the government�s curious handling of the Saudi national who was questioned in the hospital after the Boston Marathon bombings. The two former Fox colleagues talked about the possible reasons for DHS detaining the Saudi man and O�Reilly said he�s willing to give Beck �a hearing.� Watch the entire segmentHERE.
This week, the state of Missouri�s proposed legislation that would make it illegal to enforce any federal gun control lawsenacted in 2013 and beyond, passed by an overwhelming majority in the state�s House of Representatives. The bill now moves on to the state Senate. Does it have a chance to pass and become law in the "Show-Me" state? Find outHERE.
Reports are leaking out in Federal documents, on what could be the biggest scandal in Barack Obama's entire Presidency.
Will this ruin the President? Will it dramatically change America? One wealthy Maryland citizen says it's definitely possible. Check out his full analysis, free of charge, HERE...
CNN contributor and former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile was born in New Orleans and much of her family was still in the city when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. In a column for CNN.com, Brazile says President Bush was �as good as his word� in responding to the disaster. Read the rest of Ms. Brazile's glowing statement about the former president HERE.
On Jan. 3, 2012, Jay Leone, who was 90 at the time, was confronted by a ruthless intruder at his home in Greenbrae, Calif. Police say a meth addict with an assault record broke into the residence, shot Mr. Leone in the face and then tore the place apart looking for valuables to steal. A gunfight between the two men ensued. It is now more than a year later and the attempted murderer is behind bars, so why does Leone not have his guns, bullets, watches and jewelry back? Learn the answersHERE.
On Thursday's episode of "The Price is Right," a woman blew her chance at winning the most expensive and arguably coolest prize in the show�s nearly 40-year history � a 570-hp Ferrari 458 Spyder. We�re talking about a Ferrari. Watch the video HERE.
If you caught any part of the first round of the NFL draft, you might have wondered how new players� names were on jerseys of the team signing them so quickly. Are there options for each player for each potential team (which would be a huge waste)? Are there few options for teams speculated to sign a specific player? Or is someone there actually sewing names onto the appropriate jersey in real time? Learn what we discoveredHERE.
Hyundai Europe recently released a TV ad showing a man trying to commit suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning by leaving his car running in the garage. The man in the ad fails to kill himself because the vehicle�s emissions are 100 percent water emissions. See this insensitive adHERE.
Many strange items and creatures have been found in New York�s rivers, especially near New York City. But the latest dragged to shore out of the Hudson about 83 miles north of the city is sure to furrow eyebrows. The giant head of a male in a Greek or Romanesq style was found in the river just south of Poughkeepsie. See the photos and the possible explanations for its origin HERE.
No amount of whitewashing will change the fact that this has been and continues to be the worst economic and employment recovery from a downturn since Franklin Delano Roosevelt extended the Great Depression by more than eight years with his statist New Deal policies and hyper-regulatory, business-intimidating agenda.
Making good on his State of the Union comments to provide "high quality preschool for every child," President Obama this month put forward his budget proposal for the Department of Education that includes new funding to create and expand a nationwide preschool program.
Capitol Hill pounced on the Obama administration's flailing rhetoric about red lines after a slip of admonition that the Syrian regime most likely used chemical weapons.
Today I will begin attempting a 13 Weeks Blogging Self-Improvement Program. Join me in testing out these four rules to help you organize your research and make new connections.
So, is this the policy that will make Iran de-nuke?
Despite growing evidence of Iran enriching uranium with the goal of building nuclear weapons and developing the missile technology to deliver them, a group of experts is recommending the U.S. do this ...
New marijuana laws give feds tool to deny gun ownership
If you live in a state that has relaxed its laws on marijuana -- even if only for medicinal purposes -- the feds have you and your right to own and possess a firearm in their sight.
School claims right to censor speech OUTSIDE of class
How is abortion -- not mentioned in the Constitution -- considered a constitutional right, but criticism of abortion -- grounded in the First Amendment's protection of speech and religion -- something that can be banned?
This school administrator says he's on solid legal ground censoring students' speech outside of class and he claims he can do it without violating anyone's free-speech rights.
Bureaucrats: Dead terrorist's rights trump public's
If you're outraged the Tsarnaev brothers could repay the welcome America gave them as immigrants by unleashing a bomb-and-murder spree, you're going to be REALLY outraged when you learn who picked up the tab for their living expenses while the terror plot was being planned.
And when you find out why you're not allowed to know the details of that funding ... Look out!
Whether the members of the administration just thought they'd get away with it, or perhaps other unfolding events would later make it unimportant, their testimony given on Benghazi is unraveling and Republicans are in the hunt ...
The New York Times reported Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has likely enabled massive fraud in the Pigford series of legal settlements, in which black, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers have claimed to be victims of past discrimination.
The cost of the settlements, which could exceed $4.4 billion, is the result of a process that "became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees," the Times notes.
State Dept Changes View On Syria In 24 Hrs, Can't Explain Why More
Friday, April 26, 2013
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer
The Abortion President
The famously misnamed Planned Parenthood is hosting its national conference in Washington, D.C. this week. Today Barack Obama became the first sitting president to address the event, sponsored by the nation's largest destroyer of innocent human life.
His speech was full of distortions and lies. As is so typical of the left, Obama accused the pro-life movement of wanting to "turn back the clock to ... the 1950s." He added that there is an "orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women's health." Isn't it amazing that in Obama's world, 1.2 million abortions a year is seen as progress?
It is obscene when Obama equates the killing of innocent unborn children with healthcare. Pregnancy is not a disease! Even accepting that there are occasions when a woman's life or health may be in danger, such circumstances are among the rarest of reasons why abortions are performed today.
If Obama cares so much about women's health, when will his administration speak up about the growing scandal where women are dying along with babies? It is outrageous that he is addressing Planned Parenthood's conference when a butcher like Kermit Gosnell, who collected the feet of his little victims, is standing trial for "after-birth" abortions - literally killing babies after they were born.
And, by the way, Planned Parenthood knew about the horrific conditions at Gosnell's clinic, but to this day refuses to condemn him. Obama too is silent.
But Obama was there today, pledging his fealty to Planned Parenthood, promising to be "a president who is going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way."
Let me translate that for you: While we are cutting back on education, cutting air traffic controllers, cutting our military, cutting benefits to our seniors, Obama will be there to make sure that your hard-earned tax money keeps flowing to Planned Parenthood to subsidize abortions and to make sure that no legislation preventing any abortion of any kind ever becomes law.
Did Welfare Pay For Jihad?
When news broke that the Boston Marathon jihadists had been receiving state welfare benefits, liberal Governor Deval Patrick's administration shutdown press inquiries citing privacy concerns for the accused terrorists. One administration official told the Boston Herald that such information was "confidential and not a matter of public record."
What about the public's right to know? The bombing was an assault against the public and the taxpayers of Massachusetts will be picking up the tab for that attack for some time. Were any of the materials used in the attack purchased with taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?
Here's an interesting question: Did the bombers have Obamaphones? Qualifying is pretty easy if you are receiving any form of federal or state welfare assistance.
If there is a Republican Party still in existence in Massachusetts, it ought to be demanding that the governor release all the records of welfare payments to these terrorist thugs. That is not a violation of their privacy, and the taxpayers have a right to know how their dollars are spent.
Ron Paul's Strange Think Tank
I have never been a fan of former Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Paul has played footsie with conspiracy theorists and apologists for radical Islam.
Paul recently launched a Washington, D.C., think tank called the Institute for Peace and Prosperity. But according to the Daily Caller its academic board is comprised of "9/11 truthers," apologists for Iran and one avowed secessionist. For example:
In an article questioning who was responsible for 9/11, Eric Margolis wrote: "I remain uncertain that Osama bin Laden was really behind the attacks," and then goes on to compare the attacks to Hitler's infamous Reichstag fire, which Hitler exploited to target his political enemies and suspend liberties. Margolis rhetorically asks, "Sound familiar?" Margolis is suggesting Bush was responsible for 9/11 and wanted it to happen to provide an excuse to take away our liberties.
Butler Shaffer, another member of the board, doesn't go quite that far. But he has been open to the idea that we attacked ourselves. In 2006, he wrote, "...how can any intellectually honest person categorically deny the possibility of the involvement of American political interests in 9/11?"
Professor Walter Block somehow thinks breaking up the United States is the answer to world peace. Block wrote: "A century and a half after the war against Southern secession, the foreign policy of our country is still hampered by this tragic event. ... When and if the U.S. ceases to imprison the Confederacy, we will be in a far better position to bring about world peace."
The executive director of Paul's institute defended the appointments, replying, "For the purposes of the institute, [Dr. Paul] wanted important academics who agree with him on the moral and practical necessity of a foreign policy of peace. He has such a board." There you have it. Paul picked these nuts to be on his board because there is a lot they agree on.
Obama vs. The Courts
The courts are rarely sources of encouragement for conservatives. The process is slow and many judges are left-wing activists. But they have the authority to block Obama's agenda, and there is news this week indicating that the Obama Administration may be facing major setbacks in two high-profile cases.
House leaders are in court right now trying to enforce a subpoena for documents on Operation Fast and Furious after Obama asserted a claim of executive privilege. In defending its position, the Obama Justice Department essentially told the court to stay out of it, saying it was a dispute between the executive and legislative branches.
The judge was having none of it. At one point she interrupted the Justice Department attorney and said, "You keep talking about the two [branches] as if the third one isn't there."
According to Politico, the judge was very skeptical of the administration's claim and "suggested that by refusing to enforce the House subpoena, she wouldn't really be sidestepping the dispute, but tilting the playing field in the White House's favor."
The second case involves Obama's executive order suspending our immigration laws. Federal immigration agents sued the administration claiming they were being ordered to ignore the law and break their oaths as law enforcement officers.
A federal judge in Dallas seemed sympathetic, writing, "The court finds that [the Department of Homeland Security] does not have discretion to refuse to initiate removal proceedings."
Final judgments are still pending in both cases, but these judges appear inclined to force Obama to obey the law!
A Republican media consultant recently showed us who he really is. In a conversation he thought was "off the record" Frank "Rat Top" Luntz has tipped his hand and reminded us why we can't trust him. When he thought only those in front of him would hear his words he attacked talk radio conservatives for destroying Marco Rubio's plans to erase our national borders.
A Fox News favorite, Luntz has a big mouth and awful horse tail brown toupee. (Does it ever occur to people like this that no one on earth has that color hair?) He is a stereotypical caricature of the out of touch "country club Republican" liberals and true conservatives both love to mock and hate. One look at him tells you he is not a guy you would want to have next to you in a fox hole. Everything about him says, "Please Mr. Liberal Alligator just eat the guy ... Continue Reading:Safe on a college campus, Fox News darling Frank "Rat Top" Luntz attacks talk radio conservatives
According to Ali Alfoneh at the American Enterprise Institute Iran has transformed from a Theocracy to a Military Dictatorship under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other top clerics are now under the control of the Guards. The silent power shift was aided by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was the first Military veteran to hold the post. His economic policies allowed the IRGC to create the economic leverage necessary to control the nation.
Ayatollah Khamenei is now just a figurehead used to camouflage the IRGC silent coup and keep the populace in line. The IRGC itself is a thugocracy, ruthless in its bid to control the nation. They are the actual power driving the nuclear program of the regime. It is unlikely that they will surrender that program as long it serves their purpose. The IRGC came to power by infiltrating the ... Continue Reading:Who is running Iran?
Every thinking American, whether conservative or liberal knows that when the feckless Republicans in the Congress fold and stab us in the back by erasing our borders Democrat Party control of our lives will be assured forever.
The sad truth is that we are reduced to hoping that the horrific terror attack on Boston will defeat the Democrats' plans to swamp our country with ready- made Democrat voters because there seems to be little reason to hope the Republicans will do so.
There are several reasons we should be concerned about the Democrat plan to erase our borders. Nevertheless, we cannot depend on Senate or Congressional Republicans to come clean and tell us the truth.
The 844 page ("You have to pass to find out what it contains) "comprehensive" immigration reform bill contains at least five dangerous elements.
More than any other nation in history, the United States has made itself a new home for immigrants in search of a better life. It embraces those who come to this country honestly-often with nothing more than their work ethic-in search of the promises and opportunities of the American Dream.
As a second-generation American, I think of this promise often. Each and every day, when I see my grandfather's Ellis Island records hanging on my wall, I remember what he went through to come to this country. I remember how he left behind all he had ever known in Hungary to escape discrimination and the destruction left in the wake of World War I; how he gave up everything so that he could offer his children and grandchildren the promise of freedom and opportunity in a new land.
His story is not unique. Since our nation's founding, millions of immigrants have come to our shores with a similar dream, each bringing with them new experiences and pieces of their cultures that together form part of what makes this nation great.
Over the past several decades, however, immigration policy has become confused, unfocused, and dysfunctional. America lacks a simple system to attract the qualified immigrants who can help our economy and contribute to our nation. Millions of unlawfully present immigrants are undermining America's core principle of the rule of law, while the legal naturalization process isn't working as well as it should. Large-scale immigration without effective assimilation threatens social cohesion, along with America's civic culture and common identity. This is particularly true when immigrants are assimilated into the welfare state rather than into a society of opportunity.
These numbers make one thing clear: America needs meaningful immigration reform. It must, however, be done in a deliberative and thoughtful manner. It must also seek to uphold the rule of law, welcome individuals through a legal framework, and discourage future flows of unlawful immigrants.
By recognizing these facts and beginning to work on solutions where we can all agree, we can rebuild an immigration process in harmony with our highest principles and best traditions.
Jessica Zuckerman is a policy analyst who works on national security issues at The Heritage Foundation. Her grandfather, Joseph (Jeno) Zuckerman, came to the United States on the S.S. Rotterdam in 1921.
Tell Your Senators Not to Tax the Internet
Earlier this week, we told you that pro-tax Senators are trying to ram an internet sales tax bill through the Senate. I'm glad to report that this effort has been slow-going this week, and a window of opportunity has opened for your work to make a difference.
Our team here in DC is working this issue through outreach to Senators and their staff. If the vote gets delayed through this weekend, it means Senators will hear from you during a week off, when they'll be in their states.
Please send an email now and get ready to bring the heat against the Internet Sales Tax through next week's recess.
Thanks for standing with us against tax increases.
Sincerely,
Russ Vought Political Director Heritage Action for America
There's likely an inverse relationship between the decline of the legacy media and the increasingly over-the-top desperation, self-congratulation and spectacle of the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, held last night. You would think the media would do themselves a favor and not televise the proceedings of their Otherness on C-SPAN, just as the Gridiron dinner is not open to cameras. Even Tom Brokaw has had enough; isn't this almost a "Cronkite Moment" for the major media? (Though memo to Tom: Lindsay Lohan isn't the real problem here. Looked in a mirror lately?)
Anyway, it put me in a frame of mind to recall on of Churchill's famous dismissals of newspapers from 1929:
Fancy cutting down those beautiful trees we saw this afternoon to make pulp for those bloody newspapers, and calling it civilization.
Wonder what he might say about Twitter. Perhaps something like, "Fancy compressing your thoughts into 140 characters, and calling it 'communication.'"
As we noted here a few weeks ago, The Economist has gone off the reservation on climate change, and in the current issue it has done so again on the issue of affirmation action and race-conscious policy. The issue is featured on the cover, which means it is the subject of the first "leader" (house editorial), "Time to Scrap Affirmative Action," as well as the focus of a long feature news story. In particular The Economist takes note of the important original research on the "mismatch hypothesis" by Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor.
From the conclusion of the leader (if you're not a subscriber, you can get access to 15 free articles if you register at the site):
Universities that want to improve their selection procedures by identifying talented people (of any colour or creed) from disadvantaged backgrounds should be encouraged. But selection on the basis of race is neither a fair nor an efficient way of doing so. Affirmative action replaced old injustices with new ones: it divides society rather than unites it. Governments should tackle disadvantage directly, without reference to race. If a school is bad, fix it. If there are barriers to opportunity, remove them. And if Barack Obama's daughters apply to a university, judge them on their academic prowess, not the colour of their skin.
Inside the news pages, the magazine's Briefing on the issue mentions what deserves to be the next major scandal in higher education-quotas to keep the numbers of Asians down at leading universities, reminiscent of the quotas to exclude Jews at Ivy League schools before World War II:
Such diversity programmes tend to benefit black and Hispanic applicants; unfortunately, they tend to penalise both whites and Asians. Ron Unz, a software developer and magazine publisher, examined Asian-American enrolment numbers at elite colleges in a 2012 article poignantly titled "The Myth of American Meritocracy". He found that the proportion of Asian-Americans at Harvard rose from around 5% in the early 1980s to more than 20% by 1993. After that, however, the proportion started to decrease, even as the numbers of college-age Asian-Americans rose. Mr Unz found similar patterns at other Ivy League universities. At the California Institute of Technology, by contrast, a first-rate university with race-neutral admissions, Asian-American enrolment rose.
In 1997 Thomas Espenshade of Princeton analysed the scores on SATs, a widely used test for college admissions, that different races needed in order to get into private universities. He found that Asian-Americans' SAT scores had to exceed those of whites by 140 points out of 1,600, those of Hispanics by 270 points and those of blacks by 450 points. A study by Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, found that black students with average grades and test scores were almost three times more likely than Asians with similarly average qualifications to get into medical school.
Not mentioned here is that the proportion of Asians declined simultaneously and converged at almost the identical percentage at most of our leading universities, almost as if admissions directors colluded on the outcome. Seems like an ideal subject for an investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights or the Justice Department. Don't hold your breath. More likely the Justice Department will investigate The Economist to find out why it has suddenly become so politically incorrect.
The Gang of Eight immigration bill shares several unlovely characteristics of the Obamacare legislation. Its supporters haven't yet claimed that we might have to pass the bill to find out what's in it (or what's not in it), but that seems to be the case. The Daily Caller's Neil Munro reports:
The Senate's complex immigration bill would instantly gut the popular E-Verify system that is widely used to exclude illegal immigrants from jobs, and then create an enforcement gap for several years before the arrival of a replacement system.
"There's no doubt that the bill eliminates E-Verify immediately upon signing," said Kris Kobach, secretary of state of Kansas, told The Daily Caller.
"If there's no statutory authority for E-Verify, there's no E-Verify," said Kobach, a lawyer trained at Harvard, Oxford and Yale universities, and a prominent advocate for reduced immigration.
The claim is vehemently disputed by the bills' advocates, including staffers working for Sen. Marco Rubio.
However, Rubio staffers were unable to show TheDC any text in the legislation that gives the current E-Verify system legal backing until the new system is mandated in several years.
Munro discusses the related politics and quotes Senator Rubio's assurances about the bills requirements, but then returns to the question of fact regarding the content of the bill:
In several emails to TheDC, Rubio's spokesman repeatedly denounced Kobach's analysis. But the spokesman declined to supply bill language that shows how E-Verify is enforced once it is canceled, and before a replacement is developed by contractors, deployed by agencies and approved by the courts. A PDF of the entire bill is available here.
"The existing system will continue and will be enhanced along the way," Alex Conant said in an April 23 email to TheDC.
However, despite repeated requests, Conant did not identify a paragraph in the bill showing how enforcement of E-Verify would continue uninterrupted once the program is canceled immediately after the bill becomes law.
"We create a transition from a temporary program to the permanent program," he said next.
"That whole section of the bill is about creating a permanent E-Verify system," he said in his next email.
Page "503 & 504 make clear that the transition & construction will not give people an opportunity in the system to stop using the system. This is clear to the business groups, the unions, and everybody else that has reviewed the legislation," he said in an April 24 response.
The headline on Munro's story reads "Immigration bill guts E-Verify for years," and it appears to be more accurate than Senator Rubio's assurances to the contrary. If so, one lesson is the importance of the kind of serious deliberation over the bill that the powers that be in the Senate, in another echo of Obamacare, have maneuvered to avoid.
Rep. Hank Johnson is, as they say in presidential nominating speeches, "the man who." Rep. Johnson is the man who worried that the island of Guam might capsize. In 2010 Johnson expressed concern at a hearing that the planned military buildup on the island of Guam might cause the island "to tip over and capsize." The testifying naval officer struggled manfully to reassure Rep. Johnson that the island would survive.
On Thursday Rep. Johnson spoke in favor of helium legislation before the House. But the real purpose of his speech, the Washington Post's Aaron Blake explains, was to attack Republicans for spending two days debating helium legislation rather than other important issues.
"Imagine, Mr. Speaker, a world without balloons," Johnson said. "How can we make sure that the injustice of there being no helium for comedians to get that high-pitched voice that we all hold near and dear to our hearts."
Johnson continued: "Too often lately, this body has sat deflated - not for lack of hot air, mind you. But seriously, ladies and gentlemen, unlike a noble element, this House has failed to act on Americans' real concerns."
Johnson concluded: "I'd like to float a simple idea: Stop wasting out time. Let's get to the business that is meaningful for Americans.
The Post contacted Johnson spokesman Andy Phelan to confirm that Johnson was speaking satirically. He was, according to his spokesman, being humorous: "He was emphasizing the fact that the Republican-led House was taking two days to pass a non-controversial bill while they should be working on more important issues such as creating jobs, fixing the sequester and on budget issues."
Well, what did you expect him to say? He's already used the "metaphor" shtick.
Let me translate. Back in 2010, Rep. Johnson was funny unintentionally. This time around, according to his spokesman, Rep. Johnson is being funny - intentionally. Hey, thanks for clearing that up.
In my tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on her birthday last week, I mentioned mentioned that, after he sold the Verve label, Norman Granz founded the Pablo label to continue recording Ella. To test the market for a new label, Granz put together an all-star concert featuring Ella and the Count Basie Band at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in June 1972 that was to be recorded and released (unsuccessfully, with distribution by mail only) on four Pablo albums. That memorable evening is now preserved on the three-disc set Jazz at the Santa Monica Civic '72.
The evening culminated in the performance of "C Jam Blues." Scott Yanow's Allmusic profile observes:
Fitzgerald's later years were saved by Norman Granz's decision to form...Pablo. Starting with a Santa Monica Civic concert in 1972 that is climaxed by Fitzgerald's incredible version of "C Jam Blues" (in which she trades off with and "battles" five classic jazzmen), Fitzgerald was showcased in jazz settings throughout the 1970s with the likes of Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Joe Pass, among others.
Tad Hershorn describes Fitzgerald's performance at the Santa Monica concert this way in his biography of Granz:
Fitzgerald and the Tommy Flanagan Trio swung through a list of numbers before the singer, backed by the Basie band, did "Shiny Stockings," a Cole Porter medley and a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You" that left the audience roaring their applause. Even then, she had really just been warming up for the finale, "C Jam Blues," the highlight of the evening. Dueling with each musician, she introduced them in song and imitated their styles and sound as they traded fours. Whether her interplay was with Al Grey's rambunctious plunger mute, Stan Getz's piercingly florid attack, the twists and turns of Harry Edison, the gruffness of "Lockjaw" Davis, whose exchange with the singer most audibly brought down the house, or the fierce incandescence of Roy Eldridge, Fitzgerald inspired some of the evening's most memorable and humorous peaks.
The live 1972 recording of "C Jam Blues" is available on a YouTube video that lacks a visual element apart from the title. Take a listen and I guarantee (no money back if I'm wrong) it will elicit a smile or two of pleasure.
Brian Ward and I convened on the first real Spring day here in Minnesota. Congressman Tom Cotton was our guest; you shouldn't miss this episode of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience, as we talked with Tom about the Boston Marathon massacre, immigration and gun control. Tom's view of what the House is likely to do with the immigration issue gives me more optimism about our country's future than I have had for a while. Along those lines, you also shouldn't miss Robert Costa's post at The Corner on the plan laid out by Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to craft immigration legislation in the House. To put it briefly, there is still reason to expect that the Gang of Eight's monstrosity will have a stake driven through its heart.
Add the Loon of the Week-a barbershop quartet figures in it-and a collective This Week In Gatekeeping prize for the "mainstream" media's Boston bombing coverage, and it is a podcast you won't want to miss.
You can listen to the podcast by playing it right here, or you can go to Ricochet to download or subscribe to the podcast in various ways, or you can hit the subscribe button in the graphic above to subscribe on iTunes or elsewhere. Or you can use Stitcher. There are many ways to experience the Hinderaker-Ward Experience, but I think the best is by subscribing on iTunes. That way, you never have to worry about missing an episode.
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President Obama really poured it on in his speech to Planned Parenthood yesterday (video below). Taken together with the introduction by Planned Parenthood's president, we get a full airing of the sacramental view of abortion that underlies the Democrats' mania on behalf of the practice. Obama's speech begins at about 6:30.
In the gospel according to Barry, we now have the blessing for the abortionist: "As long as we've got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we've got to fight to protect a woman's right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you've also got a president who's going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way. Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you."
Professor Kagan is retiring from his position at Yale. He gave his last lecture on Thursday afternoon to a packed auditorium. The Wall Street Journal's Matthew Kaminski attended and sought him out for an interview. Kaminski reports that Professor Kagan had a timely message:
Universities, he proposed, are failing students and hurting American democracy. Curricula are "individualized, unfocused and scattered." On campus, he said, "I find a kind of cultural void, an ignorance of the past, a sense of rootlessness and aimlessness." Rare are "faculty with atypical views," he charged. "Still rarer is an informed understanding of the traditions and institutions of our Western civilization and of our country and an appreciation of their special qualities and values." He counseled schools to adopt "a common core of studies" in the history, literature and philosophy "of our culture." By "our" he means Western.
Kaminksi capably profiles Professor Kagan and the whole thing is worth reading. Kagan is a remarkable man concluding an exemplary academic career.
It should be noted that Yale has posted videos and transcripts of Professor Kagan's lectures in his Introduction to Ancient Greek History course. In the introductory lecture, Professor Kagan explains why attention should be paid to the ancient Greeks.
Intending to smooth the waters over its cancellation of classes in lieu of a full day of left-wing indoctrination served up to placate a small number of protesters, Dartmouth College has sent out an email blast to alumni under the name of board chairman Stephen Mandel. Interim president Carol Folt is responsible for the disgraceful production defended by Mandel, but Folt is on her way out. She has been named Chancellor of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Public relations such as Mandel's message might have worked in the old days when information was at a premium. With information running free on the Web, however, this really doesn't cut it:
April 26, 2013
To the Dartmouth community:
As some of you know, a small group of students disrupted the Dimensions Welcome Show for prospective students on Friday, April 19, using it as a platform to protest what they say are incidents of racism, sexual assault, and homophobia on campus. Following the protest, threats of bodily harm and discriminatory comments targeting the protesters and their defenders ran anonymously on various sites on the Internet.
With tensions high across the Dartmouth community, Interim President Carol Folt, the Dean of the Faculty, and other senior leaders across campus agreed that the best course of action was to suspend classes on Wednesday, April 24, for a day of reflection and alternative educational programming. This decision was made to address not only the initial protest, but a precipitous decline in civility on campus over the last few months, at odds with Dartmouth's Principles of Community.
This unusual and serious action to suspend classes for a day was prompted by concern that the dialogue on campus had reached a point that threatened to compromise the level of shared respect necessary for an academic community to thrive. The faculty and administration together determined that a pause to examine how the climate on campus can be improved was necessary. This was an important exercise that the Board supports. It is also important to note that there will be an opportunity for faculty to hold the classes that were missed as a result of Wednesday's events.
Neither the disregard for the Dimensions Welcome Show nor the online threats that followed represent what we stand for as a community. As Interim President Folt indicated Wednesday in her remarks in front of Dartmouth Hall, the administration is following established policies and procedures with regard to any possible disciplinary action in both cases. As in every case regarding a disciplinary investigation, this process is confidential and respects the privacy of our students.
Dartmouth is not unique in the challenges it faces concerning campus climate and student life. We aspire to lead in responding to these challenges.
The Trustees and I are committed to addressing and supporting efforts necessary to resolve these issues, improving the campus climate and strengthening the institution. The Board's Committee on Student Affairs is working with senior leaders and consulting with outside professionals to make progress on this front.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and questions with me at Stephen.F.Mandel.Jr.78@Dartmouth.edu
Best regards,
Steve Mandel '78, P'09, P'11 Chair, Board of Trustees
Joe Asch's commentary on Folt's speech during Wednesday's indoctrination is a good counterpoint to Mandel's public relations. What Joe says about Folt's speech applies with slight adjustments to Mandel's public relations message:
How to understand these words? Perhaps we can start with a story yesterday on Yahoo News. A U.S. Department of Education press release announced that Dartmouth ranked 23rd nationally in a study entitled "25 Private Colleges with the Happiest Freshmen": 96.5% of Dartmouth freshman said that they were happy at the College. Princeton ranked first with 99.2% of freshmen professing happiness.
Yet according to Carol Folt, Dartmouth is rife with "on-line vile [sic] and vitriol... terrible posts, the hate speech, the violence, or threats of violence... terrible new wounds... alienation...hateful language anonymously carved into the benches in library meeting rooms years ago, cyber-bullying, terrorizing, no accountability, taking sadistic delight in hurting people... sexual assault, violence, discrimination, homophobia, intolerance, social divisiveness." She says that "these types of issues have been going on for a long time here at Dartmouth..."
You read words like this and you halfways expect the Co-op to start selling T-shirts that say Concentration Camp Dartmouth. But what is the truth?
First off, anyone with experience at the College knows that Dartmouth students are endlessly positive, friendly, supportive, and that they try very hard to do the right thing. That's a fair description of at least, say, 96.5% of undergrads. And we also know that the angry, aggrieved RealTalk students are but a small minority of students. They do have, mind you, a good argument that Dartmouth is far from perfect and that it has serious issues to work on, but their relentless focus on the negative obscures a fair, overall evaluation of the institution. Finally, as this space has documented, the B@B site is an isolated, poorly attended chat area; the number of chest-thumping fools who anonymously wrote hateful things there over the past couple of days can be counted on one or, at most, two hands.
The thing is, Carol Folt also knows these things, but what better, self-aggrandizing move than to set herself up as the protector of the poor and the oppressed - even while tarring the school and its students with a dirty, dirty brush, one that will hurt its reputation for many years to come.
That's not her only intellectually dishonest move. She describes the performers in the Dimensions show in this way, "Many of them said that even as they disagreed with the methods, they respected the right of their peers to dissent." How nice. Of course, people are allowed to dissent. That's the basis of Dartmouth, and the whole country, for that matter. But for the Dimensions kids who cried at the interruption to their carefully prepared performance, who were shocked at the anger that the self-indulgent protesters displayed to prospies, well, Carol's words of whitewash do not do justice to them. To test that proposition, put on a show yourself that illustrates something that you love very much, and have it invaded by uninvited screamers.
Folt's more serious sleight of hand, the one that tips us to her skewed politics, is her comment that the College will "privately follow our processes and policies." She seems to nod to the fact that the protesters will be somehow sanctioned, just as the anonymous writers on Bored @Baker will be. Her allusion to privacy seems to be an attempt to justify not criticizing the RealTalk protesters in her speech. Nonsense. This is where she should have shown honest evenhandedness. It is fair to criticize hate speech, as she forcefully did - the way to respond to speech is with more speech - but she should also have taken the time to point out that invasive, illegal demonstrations were an impediment to the Dimension's crew's own right to speech, a right guaranteed by the College's own regulations and the laws of the State of New Hampshire. She did not do that.
Carol Folt has used this entire situation to her own advantage, and in doing so, she willfully distorted the truth. But as a great many members of this community know, Carol Folt and the truth only have a passing relationship, particularly when twisting and inventing facts will help her advance her own ambition. She should be ashamed of herself, as are so many people today in Hanover.
Joe subsequently added two notes to his commentary:
Addendum: The Baker Tower Irregulars assure me that in signing up for posting privileges on Bored@Baker, the site confirms that it keeps no details of posters' identities. Even if the College attempted by subpoena to secure the names of posters, which no judge would allow, there is nothing to be found at the site to lead investigators to the identities of the posters of hateful, bombastic speech. There will be no College prosecutions.
As a coda to that comment, hateful speech on B@B is most often immediately reproached by other posters. The RealTalk folks did not quote their excerpts in context. Anonymity goes both ways. People on B@B are free to be stupid and aggressive, but others are equally free to criticize them.
Addendum: The D [student newspaper] reported that its poll showed 67% of students disagreed with the College's decision to shut down for the day. It's story quoted two students with pertinent, commonsensical remarks:
Roger Lott '14, one of many who criticized the College's response, publicly denounced the cancellation of classes at Dartmouth Hall on Wednesday, wearing a sign with the words "Dartmouth is a safe place, Stop scaring prospies. I paid for class. Where is it?"
"I personally have many hundreds of Bored at Baker posts that are abusive towards me," he said. "I never take any of those threats seriously."
Blake Neff '13 said he was skeptical of the nature of the threats protesters had received.
"I don't endorse threats, and I don't believe they should be threatened, but the simple reality is that so far, like in their letter to the administration, is that it was offensive comments made on an anonymous internet forum," he said. "If we're going to shut down the entire College every time someone says something like that, then we could never open the College."
These young men could never be administrators in an institution of higher learning.
The editorial published in the Dartmouth student newspaper on Wednesday - the Day of Getting Their Minds Right - speaks with greater maturity and sophistication than Mandel's public relations message. Here is an excerpt of the editorial:
[W]e find ourselves starkly at odds with the administration. While they have done an admirable job of condemning and responding to threats against Friday's protesters, no administrator has stepped forward to comment on the protest itself. This was a major event that has precipitated a dramatic polarization of our campus, and for the administration to leave the protest unaddressed is a gross abdication of responsibility.
By remaining silent, the administration has implicitly approved the protesters' tactics and strategy, thereby tacitly endorsing their disregard for Standard VIII of the Dartmouth Student Handbook. Beyond the administration's refusal to condemn the protest, Interim President Carol Folt and Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson met with the protesters yesterday morning.
From this collection of events, the message seems to be that, if you fly a political banner, are sufficiently angry and manage to break enough College rules, you can gain a stranglehold over the administration. We cannot shake the feeling that a handful of students have hijacked not only the broader campus conversation, but also the administration's control over the situation. Furthermore, these students and administrators refused to speak with The Dartmouth yesterday to add any context to their meeting and decision.
The decision to cancel classes for a day is also questionable. In the past, even the gravest of circumstances have not prompted days off from school. Two Dartmouth students have died since January 2012, events that Dean Johnson described as "tragic" and "unimaginable," and in 2001 married College professors Half and Susanne Zantop were murdered, sending shockwaves throughout the Hanover community. On a less serious note, the intense New Hampshire winter weather has frequently prevented many of the College's faculty and staff from traveling to work and made venturing outside a dangerous task for students. Yet classes have not once been canceled due to weather since 2007. While the gravity of and potential for today's events are admittedly great, we are not sure that they warrant the suspension of academic activity, let alone in the midst of midterm exams. The programming could easily have been scheduled for this weekend, when students will be more available and no instruction time would be lost.
When the students have it all over the administrators who are running the place, it really is time to move on.
This week, Rep. Dr. Michael Burgess (R-Tex) introduced H.R.1705, a bill to amend the U.S. Code to provide for certain forms of physical therapy under TRICARE, the military's health care program. Our friend Rep. Tom Cotton is co-sponsoring the legislation.
H.R. 1705, also known as "Kaitlyn's Law," would make sure that Tricare covers doctor-prescribed therapeutic exercises or therapeutic activities. When the doctors and therapists treating a patient covered by TRICARE agree that a particular form of therapy is needed, and can justify their decision on medical grounds, the patient would recieve reimbursement for that therapy.
That should be the law already. But sadly, the story of Kaitlyn Samuels, the daughter of a longtime Navy Captain, demonstrates the need for a legislation fix.
Kaitlin suffers from several serious diseases that leave her incapable of speaking or walking by herself. She also suffers from severe scoliosis. Without effective theapy, this condition would get progressively worse, with the increasing curvature of the spine diminishing lung capacity, popping joints out of socket, and eventually crushing her to death.
Traditional therapy didn't work for Kaitlyn, but her family found one therapy that did. Twice a week, for 30 minutes at a time, she would ride atop a horse, around and around in a circle, in an exercise that stretched her muscles, worked her back and legs, and kept her focused on sitting upright. The exercise is called "hippotherapy."
TRICARE paid for this therapy at first, but then reversed course. Not only that, it demanded that her family pay back $1,327.44 in fees it had reimbursed.
The Pentagon's decision was based on the claim that "hippotherapy for treatment of the Beneficiary's medical condition is an unproven treatment." Yet, the treatment has proven effective for Kaitlyn where more traditional approaches have failed.
In essence, then, the government takes the position that it will pay for physical therapy that wasn't working for Kaitlyn, but won't pay for the type of physical therapy that does work for her. And it took that position even as it admitted that there is reliable evidence supporting the value of "horse therapy." In addition, Kaitlyn's doctors presented sworn testimony as to its effectiveness on her.
Kaitlyn's law would reverse this injustice, not just for her but for the many military families in need of need of hippotherapy, as well as other non-traditional modalities, such as a ball, balance board, barrel or bench. This tweak would not impose a new mandate on private insurance carriers. It would simply precludes military insurers from second-guessing the treatment choices made by doctors and therapists in the context of rehabilitative therapy.
Because military families deserve this much, I'll conclude by asking Power Line readers who agree with the letter below, submitted by Tom Cotton and Dr. Burgess, to consider contacting their Representatives and Senators in support of H.R. 1705.
Here is the text of the letter:
Dear Colleague:
We have introduced H.R. 1705 the "Rehabilitative Therapy Parity for Military Beneficiaries Act," a bill to help dependent family members of military service members receive access to physical therapies under the TRICARE program.
Certain physical therapy services have been denied to TRICARE beneficiaries because TRICARE has determined the services do not fall within "traditional" physical therapy services. Specifically, therapies performed on non-traditional modalities, such as a ball, balance board, horse, barrel or bench, are currently not included in the TRICARE Policy Manual as covered services.
Our bill corrects this, and ensures that beneficiaries receive rehabilitative therapiesthat are prescribed by a patient's physician and included in a patient's individualized plan of care authorized by his or her physical therapist, to include, "Therapies provided on a horse, balance, board, ball, bolster, and bench".
This legislation aligns with the TRICARE's overall policy on physical therapy. In the TRICARE Policy Manual, Section 18.2, Chapter 7, 2.1, physical therapy is described to include "The treatment by physical means, hydrotherapy, heat, or similar modalities, physical agents, bio-mechanical and neuro-physiological principles, and devices to relieve pain, restore maximum function, and prevent disabilities following disease, injury or loss of a body part."
This bill has received strong support from military, healthcare provider, and patient organizations. If you have any questions or would like to become a cosponsor of H.R. 1705, please contact Sarah Johnson atSarah.Johnson@mail.house.gov in Rep. Burgess' office.
The Democrats proposed sequestration as part of a package to secure an increase in the debt ceiling, but they never expected it to go into effect. When it did, they felt double-crossed, apparently because they thought Republicans owed it to them to fold like a cheap suit, as usual. When the Republicans figured out that sticking with the sequester was a pretty good outcome-it represented a modest, but real, restraint on federal spending, which is what Republicans always say they want-the Democrats went to Plan B.
It's a strategy they have often used before: cut back on services that voters care about, and blame the resulting pain on those who "cut" the budget, i.e., prevented it from increasing as fast as the Democrats would like. They did this during the Clinton administration's temporary furlough of non-essential federal employees (better known as the government shutdown). They closed the federal parks during the summer, and blamed the unhappiness of those who had planned vacations around the parks on Newt Gingrich. The school district where I live did something similar a few years ago. They proposed a bond issue to increase education funding which failed at the polls, twice. Instead of giving up, they came around a third time. This time, they said that if the voters didn't go along with the tax increase, they would terminate all school bus service. Not cut teacher pensions or reduce the number of administrators, but stop all bus service. The third time was a charm, and the tax increase passed.
The Democrats thought that if they used the sequestration reductions as an excuse to cut back on services the voters want, the voters would blame Republicans, and the Democrats would be strongly positioned for the next round of budget negotiations. They thought, in particular, that laying off air traffic controllers in order to cause flight delays would be a powerful weapon against the GOP. But it hasn't worked out that way. Too many Americans have seen through the Democrats' game. And, more broadly, the general perception is that the federal government wastes a great deal of money, so that a two or three percent reduction in the growth of federal spending ought to be absorbed easily without cutting back on vital services.
So the blowback from flight delays has been against the Democrats, not the Republicans. You have to give the Democrats credit, though. They don't reinforce failure. When they see that they are getting clobbered, they take their losses and move on. So today The Hill headlined: "House passes bill to end air traffic furloughs in victory for the GOP."
The House on Friday passed legislation that would let the government redirect millions of dollars to air traffic controllers' salaries and expenses in a bid to end sequester-related furloughs that have caused flight delays around the country.
Members approved the Reducing Flight Delays Act in an overwhelming 361-41 vote, just a day after the Senate approved the same bill by unanimous consent. A two-thirds vote was needed, as House leaders called it up as a suspension bill.
The bill was sent directly to the White House for President Obama's signature.
The vote is a victory for House Republicans, who had been pushing for a restructuring of the $600 million sequester cut to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to avoid air traffic controller layoffs. In contrast, Democrats were looking for a broader solution to the sequester that included new taxes.
But Democrats abandoned that line as passengers filed thousands of complaints about delayed flights.
The sequester, of course, is not a problem that needs a "solution," as The Hill put it. Rather, it is the most meaningful effort in a long time to restrain the growth of federal spending.
One of conservatives' chief frustrations for a generation is that most Americans say the federal government spends too much money, and wastes too much money, yet it has proved more less impossible to convert this consensus into meaningful spending cuts. Perhaps the sequester will be seen, with hindsight, as the moment when the American people finally said "Enough," and meant it.
Earlier this week, Eric Holder had this to say to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund:
Creating a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in this country is essential. The way we treat our friends and neighbors who are undocumented-by creating a mechanism for them to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows - transcends the issue of immigration status. This is a matter of civil and human rights. (emphasis added)
I understand that "civil rights" rhetoric extends far and wide these days. But by what reckoning does a civil right exist to obtain American citizenship by virtue of being in the United States illegally? As Mark Krikorian says:
To equate amnesty for breaking the nation's immigration laws with civil rights betrays an incoherent and ahistorical understanding of the civil-rights movement. Law-abiding black citizens of the United States were not seeking exemption from U.S. law; they were seeking the application of such laws in the same manner they were applied to whites.
Assume that the Schumer-Rubio (et al.) immigration bill passes. What else will be deemed a "civil right" 20 years from now when, say, 20 million former illegal immigrants have been enfranchised?
And, in the shorter term, what kind of border enforcement can we expect from those for whom law enforcement and sovereignty concerns have morphed into a civil and human rights imperative.
Jennifer Rubin argues that Ronald Reagan's mythical status "has become a burden for the modern GOP." "The old guard," she says, "has become convinced that Reagan's solutions to the problems of his time were the essence of conservatism - not simply conservative ideas appropriate for that era." As a result, Republicans have lost their ability to connect with average Americans at an emotional level.
Rubin is sore that, for the most part, today's conservatives oppose gay marriage, amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, and all tax increases. Republicans who steadfastly oppose these liberal agenda items have made the Party "reactionary," according to Rubin.
There are interesting debates to be had about each of these three issues, and many others, about which conservatives disagree. But Rubin doesn't talk about the merits. Instead, she bypasses debate and proceeds directly to name-calling (e.g., "reactionary" "old guard," and "those who would pull [conservatives] back into the older, white, conservative enclaves that don't care much for modernity").
Hoping to make these names stick, she claims that those who oppose her agenda items are clinging to the fading memory of Reagan. But Reagan has little to do with it. Gay marriage was not an issue during his presidency. Reagan supported amnesty for illegal immigrants. And, although he did much to cut taxes, Reagan was not always a tax-cutter. Those who disagree with Rubin do so on the merits, not out of some blind adherence to Reaganism.
Rubin also claims that the positions she hopes Republicans will abandon aren't "necessarily conservative." She's right in the sense that you can be a conservative and hold one or more of the "dissenting positions." But I think Rubin is actually suggesting that the positions from which she dissents aren't truly conservative, and is using "necessarily" as a weasel word.
In any event, each of the positions Rubin wants Republicans to ditch is a fundamentally conservative position. Preserving the definition of marriage that has prevailed everywhere in all times, rather than replacing it with one whose consequences are unknown, is a quintessentially conservative approach.
So too is opposing a bill that would (1) reward those who thumbed their nose at American law and (2) eventually transform our country by converting 10 to 30 million Mexican citizens into American citizens. If anything, this brand of immigration "reform" entails more social experimentation, with more experience-based cause for apprehension, than the legalization of gay marriage does.
No discussion should be required to show that opposing tax increases is a conservative position. At the same time, there is no conservative position as to what the precise tax rates and exemptions should be (except perhaps no federal income tax at all). Thus, given the size of our debt, calls for some flexibility make sense, as Rubin says.
Rubin's overheated attack on conservatives with whom she disagrees looks like the product of two consecutive defeats in presidential elections. If so, it's an overreaction. The 2008 defeat stemmed from Bush fatigue (especially the Iraq War) and the financial crisis of 2008.
Romney's loss, to be sure, had much to do with his inability to connect with average Americans. But, as Rubin suggests (through a quote from Reince Priebus), this inability occurred at an emotional level more than at a policy level. It should also be noted that Rubin plugged Romney relentlessly during the 2008 primary season.
Rubin and many others are right to say that the 2012 election should give rise to new thinking. But a relatively narrow defeat shouldn't give rise to revision of conservative positions on a major scale, any more than the Democrats' comparable defeat in 2004 to a vulnerable incumbent required a revision of liberalism.
The Democrats stuck with liberal positions they considered meritorious; their only concession was to call these positions "progressive." Republicans should follow the same approach, minus the rebranding (the word "conservative" remains popular enough).
Efforts to demonize fellow Party members are antithetical to consideration of the merits. Thus, we should avoid what Rubin calls "search-and-destroy missions" against those in the Party with whom we disagree. Unfortunately, Rubin's confused denunciation of those who don't fall in line with her vision for a revived Republican Party represents her own, latest search-and-destroy mission.
Just in time for the Weekly Winston comes the fabulous news that the Bank of England has decided to put Churchill on the five-pound note. Now, can we please put Reagan on the twenty, or something?
Speaking of Winnie, who according to legend (surely apocryphal) was the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, loyal Power Line reader RS sends along this adaptation of Milne to remind us of why we shouldn't believe any of the "trigger" talk in the immigration bill, and should say "Pooh" to the whole thing (or perhaps rather that the bill is a bunch of poo):
Meanwhile, on the @ClimateFail front, Japan has announced that, contrary to earlier indications that they might keep their nuclear power, they're going to increase coal-fired electricity instead:
The Japanese government is moving to speed up the environmental assessment process for new coal-fired power plants as its power sector struggles with a surging energy bill in the wake of the forced idling of much of the country's nuclear power plants following the Fukushima power plant meltdown in 2011.
At present, it can take up to four years for approvals for new plants to be processed.
According to Japanese media reports, the government intends to make 12 months the maximum period for assessing and approving new coal-fired power plants as its utilities seek to develop more power stations to stem surging energy supply bills.
This will mean scuppering the pledge of the previous administration to cut greenhouse gas emissions:
Japan is likely to abandon an ambitious pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions by a quarter, the top government spokesman said on Thursday. Asked to confirm if the new administration would review Tokyo's 2009 pledge, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government was "moving in that direction in principle".
"I have been saying for some time that it is a tremendous target and would be impossible to achieve," he told a regular news conference.
Prediction: this kind of headline will come eventually to a Renewable Portfolio Standard state near you. But even if Japan doesn't move back into coal, there's always the likelihood that they'll use natural gas for the next . . . thousand years. That's the expectation of Charles Mann in this new, must-read article in The Atlantic, "What If We Never Run Out of Oil?", about the practically unlimited supplies of gas available in methane hydrates in the ocean, which the Japanese are working to unlock economically. Guess who's been backing research on this in the United States? The Obama Energy Department. I'm guessing they didn't check this with Bill McKibben.
It's a long article, but a typical Mann tour de force (if you haven't read his 1491 and 1493, they are terrific), but worth the time to go through the whole thing, after which you can't escape the conclusion that the anti-hydrocarbon crusade of environmentalists is over. They've lost.
The Age of Leach at the National Endowment for the Humanities now draws to a close. On Tuesday NEH Chairman Jim Leach announced his resignation effective the first week in May.
Leach's resignation calls for some kind of a reckoning. Judith Dobrzynski takes note of Leach's resignation here. From inside the world of the arts and the humanities, she tactfully takes the measure of Leach's tenure and finds it wanting. There is, however, more that can be said.
In a twist on the aphorism that has become a cliche, the Age of Leach involved repetition. Like history in Marx's aphorism, Leach repeats himself - but in his case it is one damn farce after another. In his capacity as chairman, perhaps most notably, Leach became an Obama mouthpiece, courtier, toady, ninny, relentlessly promulgating the Obama administration line. Surely this is not what Congress had in mind when it created an agency to support the humanities.
Speaking to a staff town hall meeting following his inauguration as chairman, Leach announced a new "bridging cultures" theme for the NEH. "In an era when declining civility increasingly hallmarks domestic politics and where anarchy has taken root in many parts of the world, it is imperative that cultural differences at home and abroad be respectfully understood, rather than irrationally denigrated," Leach said, and Leach was proud of that sentence. It was included in the NEH press release on his swearing in as chairman.
No sooner had Leach been sworn in as chairman than he began to give a series of speeches lecturing his fellow citizens on matters great and small. It has been my thesis that an enterprising editor could compile a book of Quotations from Chairman Jim derived from Leach's NEH speeches. The book would prove both entertaining and useful. It could be used in writing classes to teach students what not to do. Among the quotations, for example, we would find:
There is something about the human condition that wants to be allowed to make governing decisions at socially cohesive levels where citizens may have impact.
America at its wisest recognizes that what is at issue in the world is the fundamental question of how to advance civilized values and inter-relate in civilized ways.
It is the prospect of a Hobbesian jungle in the wake of the challenges of totalitarian man that is central to the concerns of this new century's first decade.
Human nature may be one of the constants of history, but 9/11 has taught that human conduct must change, not simply because of the destructive power of the big bomb,but because of the implosive nature of small acts.
To fail to study history, to refuse to derive lessons about the nature of man and the human condition resplendent in literature, and to refuse to think through philosophical and ethical quandaries of the day are invitations to magnify the misjudgments of contemporaries and repeat the mistakes of others in the near and ancient past.
[T]houghtful scholarship that is available but not pondered by policy-makers who might have limited interests or ideological biases is a prescription for social error with many costly dimensions.
On the assumption that this is neither a time for scholarly cave-sitting, nor vacuous citizenship, should it not be clear that little is more costly to society than ignoring or short-changing the humanities?
Government-to-government relations implicitly reflect national power contrasts whether or not military power is being asserted.
Certain frameworks of thought define rival ideas. Other frameworks describe enemies.
Leach seemed to think that giving speeches was a core function of his role as chairman. In his November 2009 speech at Washington's Press Club Leach announced that he was undertaking a 50-state "civility tour" aimed, as Inside Higher Ed reported, "at overcoming the divisiveness that marks so much political and social discourse in the United States today." Not even Bruce Springsteen goes on 50-state road trips, but then again Bruce Springsteen has to pay his own way.
Leach repeated himself endlessly on his 50-state civility tour. He proved over and over again the petty partisan purposes to which the call for "civility" could be put. Wherever he went on tour Leach discredited the call for "civility" by the likes of, well, him.
Leach continues his struggles with syntax and idiom to the end of his tenure. In the statement on his resignation this past Tuesday Leach shows, among other things, that he doesn't know the meaning of the word "corollary" but that he believes he has strengthened "the idea base of our democracy."
"I am grateful for the opportunity to have become associated with an agency that plays such a critical role in humanities research and public programming," he said. "America needs an infrastructure of ideas as well as bridges and no institution over the past half century has done more to strengthen the idea base of our democracy than the NEH. The humanities are an essential corollary to the nation's increasing focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)."
Inside the quotation marks are the words Mr. Leach composed at his leisure to reflect well on him and the job he has done as chairman of the NEH.
Gang of Eight Breaks Promise on Back TaxesA close analysis of the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill (S.744) shows that illegal aliens will in fact not be required to pay back taxes in order to receive legal status, which the bill calls 'registered provisional immigrant' (RPI) status. Full Story
Judge Says Obama Unilateral Amnesty Likely to be BlockedA court challenge by federal immigration agents seeking to block President Barack Obama's deferred-deportation initiative will probably succeed, a judge said. Full Story
Rubio's Charm Offensive on Immigration Misrepresents the Facts, and His Own PastSenator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) keeps telling the American people that the Gang of Eight's bill is not amnesty, despite the fact that virtually every illegal alien in the country will receive amnesty... Full Story
Amnesty Would Reshape Electoral CollegeThe immigration proposal pending in Congress would transform the nation's political landscape for a generation or more - pumping as many as 11 million new Hispanic voters into the electorate a decade from now. Full Story
Jeff Flake Plays Russian Roulette with TerroristsHow do you carry out meaningful background checks on 11 million people? The Gang of Eight has repeatedly offered assurances to the American public that illegal aliens seeking amnesty under their bill would have to undergo rigorous background checks. Full Story
April 26, 2013
On Today's Program
Why won't the media talk about Saudi national?
The response from the left on the Saudi national story has been predictably hypocritical. They were outraged upon learning that Saudi nationals were shuttled out of the country in the chaotic aftermath of 9/11 - this time around they mock the idea it could happen again. Glenn reacts and has the latest on radio today.
Glenn discusses Saudi national on TheO'Reilly Factor
Last night Glenn shared the latest details in the Saudi national case with Bill O'Reilly during a segment on The O'Reilly Factor. Not refuting any key questions with any with actual facts, many sources seem to be just taking DHS at their word. How did O'Reilly react? See the segment and get Glenn's thoughts HERE.
It's never been more important...
With so many outlets so unwilling to get to the bottom of the most important stories - such as the DHS cover up of the Saudi national in Boston - there is clearly a need for a news outlet that will. Call 1.800.996.2529 or go to GetTheBlaze.com and tell your cable provider that you want TheBlaze added to your channel lineup.
Glenn interviews Sen. Rand Paul
Glenn is one of Senator Rand Paul's biggest supporters but that doesn't mean they agree on everything. Glenn took issue with a few recent comments Sen. Paul made about drones and the pair had a chance to discuss their difference of opinion on radio today. How'd it end up? Find out HERE.
Glenn accepting TriBeCa Film Award today
Glenn received the TriBeCa Film Festival's "Disruptive Innovator of the Year" award along with the creators of the "Gangnam Style" music video. It's a pretty cool award that recognizes those who disrupt the status quo and go outside the box. Get an inside look at the even HERE.
Exposing the truth about guns: CONTROL
CONTROL, the latest book from Glenn Beck, hits bookstores nationwide! Backed up by hundreds of sources, Glenn exposes the truth about guns. What's the push to restrict your Second Amendment rights really about? Pre-order your copy today.
Shocker: Boston terrorists have a crazy mom
A few new revelations in the Boston Marathon bombing are coming out -- the first is that the terrorists were planning on going to NYC to set off more bombs in Times Square. The other big news is the mother of the two brother terrorists is giving interviews. She's totally cray cray - WATCH.
How bad are Chechen terrorists? Glenn recounts horrific Beslan siege
It's disturbing enough to know we have people in this country who seek to commit acts of terror on the general public. What should be even more disturbing is that some (including the Boston Marathon terrorists) are from Chechnya. Chechen terrorists are the worst of the worst - Glenn recounts the siege of a school in Beslan back in 2004. WATCH
Hyundai uses suicide to sell their car in despicable ad
There's something to be said for creative advertising. Making a commercial that cuts through the noise (especially with car commercials) is worth it's weight in gold. But that doesn't mean anything goes, as Hyundai recently found out when someone thought it would be a good idea to produce a commercial featuring a person trying to commit suicide. Watch the #adfail HERE.
Elvis Fisher cannot be related to Jeffy
Elvis Fisher, son of Jeffy & NFL Draft prospect, calls in to Pat & Stu to talk about his potential NFL future. Jeffy must be so proud! WATCH
Great news! The ninth 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 ninth 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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Late last night the Indiana House 
OK....when they look at you like you have a tin foil hat on your head......take some of this information with you. It is 126 pages. I have not read through the entire document (YET) but what I have read is enough to blow off the top of your head. I have highlighted some stuff. KIPP (Charter Schools) has a CHARACTER REPORT CARD on Page 39. So for now start on page 39 and work your way through to page 45. Remember 
Why won't the media talk about Saudi national? 
