Quote: 

If you see a story that you believe would be useful and important to our readers, simply respond to this email with a link and a brief description of why it is important.  (Even if it may be obvious)

Obama's Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston Bombers

The Blaze | Madeleine Morgenstern | Jun. 13, 2013 9:29am  

Seventy House Republicans are planning a politically risky showdown with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to try to force additional debate on an immigration bill they say will mean amnesty for illegal immigrants and have dire consequences for the country.

The 70 members are petitioning for a special Republican conference meeting on the bill, a "highly unusual" move to go head-to-head with the speaker, according to Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Steve King (Iowa) and Louie Gohmert (Texas), who are serving as spokespersons for the group.

Read More . . . 

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday he doesn't "intend" to push an immigration bill that violates Republican "principles."

Boehner spoke to reporters during his regular press briefing after TheBlaze exclusively reported that 70 Republican House members are planning a political showdown over immigration reform and a bill they say will mean amnesty for illegal immigrants and election security for progressives and Democrats.

"My goal is always to bring bills to the floor that have a strong Republican majority," Boehner said. "Immigration reform - it's a very difficult issue, but I don't intend to bring an immigration reform bill to the floor that violates what I and what members of my party - what our principles are."

How To Use The 2nd Vote App

There is an awesome application for computer and cell phone called  2ND VOTE (2ndvote.org)  Want to know what companies support conservative issue and what companies support liberal agendas.  It rates the companies and tells you how they finance different issues.  Please take a few minutes to watch a short video on this application.  Politicians understand only two things 1.  Getting power 2.  Keeping power.  Business too understands just 2 things 1.  Getting your money 2. Getting more of your money.  Start using the free market system while we still have it.  There is ALWAYS an alternative.

PLEASE SHARE WITH EVERYONE you know.  Post on FaceBook and Twitter.  This software was developed by a concerned conservative from Tennessee.

JUST GET THE WORD OUT!

Beyond Disrespect

Please stop using Gmail.  Gmail is part of Zgoogle and Google sits on the right hand of President Obama.  They track everything that you do.  James Rosen of Fox News used Gmail.

Google Needs Extra Time to Spy on Your Kids

It seems that Google is constantly falling afoul of conservatives, consumers, pundits, regulators and really everyone else on earth (except for the Obama campaign) for its privacy-infringing tendencies.

It got hammered for "alleged" spying in the Safarigate scandal, where it wound up agreeing to a record-breaking $22.5 million fine in connection with charges it surreptitiously tracked Apple Safari users who Google had said could opt out of tracking, and did what Google said was necessary to opt out. This spying of course enabled Google to grab data it shouldn't have had, to improve its highly profitable targeted ad business, and do it in a way that amounted to a violation of its contract with users. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

ANNOUNCING VALLEY FORGE PATRIOTS JUNE MEETING

NEW LOCATION AND NEW TIME (SEE BELOW)

• Friday, June 14, 2013

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

• Phoenixville Senior Center

153 Church Street, Phoenixville, PA (edit map)

• Meeting will start at 7:00 PM at the Phoenixville Senior Center

As part of our youth outreach program we have invited the Young Republicans of Chester County to meet with the VFP. The YR's Chairman, Rick Loughrey will be our main speaker and he expects to have several of their members also join the meeting. Rick is also the elected Recorder of Deeds for Chester County.

Valley Forge Patriots would like to learn more about the YR Organization, their mission and goals and to see what we can do to support each other.

In addition we will have committee reports and announcements.

The Senior Center does not serve food or drink. You may bring food and drink of your own as long as you clean up after yourselves.

Light refreshments will be served.

"The Dangers of 'Land For Peace', and What Price Appeasement?"

Are America and Europe Betraying Israel, and the Importance of Geography, Topography and Water Supply in the Peace Process.

Please join us for the next Philadelphia ZOA meeting

Featuring the dynamic father-and-son team of William and Mark Langfan

Tuesday, June 18, at 7:30 p.m., at the Congregations of Shaare Shamayim, 9768 Verree Road, Philadelphia 19115

This event is free and open to the public

Audit The IRS Rally: Save The Date!

Were you targeted by the IRS for your political beliefs? Did you receive extra scrutiny for promoting limited government, the constitution, and fiscal responsibility? If not, will you be next?

What: Audit the IRS Rally
When: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 from Noon - 2pm
Where: West Lawn of the US Capitol

Join us on Wednesday, June 19th at 12pm on the West Lawn of the US Capitol as we come together to rally against the IRS. It's time that Washington sees first-hand just how outraged the American people are by these discriminatory acts.

In the spirit of what Becky Gerritson of Wetumpka Tea Party so elegantly said in her testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee:

"We are patriotic Americans. We peacefully assemble. We petition our government. We exercise our right to free speech and we don't understand why our government tried to stop us. We aren't here as a serf or a vassal. We're not begging our lords for mercy. We are born free American citizens and we're telling our government that you've forgotten your place. Its not your responsibility to look our for our well being and monitor our speech. Its not your right to assert an agenda. The post that you occupy exists to preserve American liberty. You've sworn to perform that duty and you have faltered."

Becky Gerritson gives testimony to Ways and Means Committee on IRS targeting her Tea Party group

WE'RE GOING TO WASHINGTON, D.C! On Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Tea Party Patriots (and maybe some other grassroots groups), are putting together an "Audit the IRS" Rally in D.C. Right now, the bus situation is up in the air, but TPP is working on it. In the meantime, I suggest that as group leaders/coordinators, you put together car pools and get as many of your members to Washington, D.C. as possible on the 19th. PLEASE DO NOT WAIT FOR TPP to make bus arrangements! If they put something together, we'll know about it and get the word out immediately. Set up carpools and be on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol by 12:00PM. If you're carpooling and you live in the Philadelphia area, leave no later than 6:00AM, otherwise you'll spend 2-3 hours trying to get from Delaware to D.C. As far as parking goes, you can park your car at Union Station for $20.00 for the day and walk or take a cab over to the Capitol. Below is a link from the TPP website. Please pass it on to everyone on your groups' email list and get as many of your group members to D.C. as possible.

 

If you are a member or if you are interested in going with us, our group, the Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots-Lower Bucks will be carpooling. We will be leaving from our house at 6:00AM SHARP! (If you're late, you can catch up with us on I-95!) Our address is 3585 Aster Avenue, Feasterville Trevose, PA 19053. I will be driving and I'm asking for other volunteers to drive also.

 

Rob Boysen                                                                                   

Tea Party Patriots PA State Coordinator, S.E. Region            

Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots Group Coordinator                  

Coordinator, Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots-Lower Bucks

 

Lil Boysen

Coordinator, Communications

 

Bill Harper

Coordinator

 

Email:        Lil:    patriot1944@gmail.com 

                   Rob: freedomwatcher1949@comcast.net 

                   Bill:   uspatriot741776@yahoo.com 

 

Twitter:        Rob: @pennpatriot1949

                     Lil:    @gypsypatriot

 

Rob & Lil Home:               215-547-6136

Rob's Cell:                         267-278-0827

Lil's Cell:                            267-278-1656

Bill's Cell:                           215-431-8438

 

Announcing the 2013 National Conference

& Legislative Briefing!

June 19 - 21 we will convene at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC for our fourth annual National Conference & Legislative Briefing.

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:

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.

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!

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.

^th

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,

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

The Development of Common Core, Explained by Michael Chapman

The video says this is a clip from the 1989 National Governors'Assoc conference on Education:

Sr. Director of Mid-Continental Regional Education Laboratory, Dr. Shirley McCune

 She says about education:

#1) Total transformation of our society

#2) Teaching of facts and information (knowledge) is no longer the primary purpose of education

#3) Close connection between economic (sustainable) development and human capitol (human resource labor for a planned economy)

A group that allowed this kind of rhetoric to be said at their meeting? I don't think I want them developingeducational standards!  Please read to the bottom for transcripts from the 1987 NGA meetings chaired by Bill Clinton.  These transcripts are eye-opening.  They are clearly more concerned with workers for the manufacturing.  They seem to have concerns that we have students who can't read well enough (non-English speaking especially) to function in the manufacturing plants, and then on the other end of the spectrum... too many with higher ed degrees who don't WANT to work in the manufacturing.  So... what to do about all this?  Hummm.... standards!  Make sure they read well enough to function as the industrial workers, but not so well that they don't want to!!!   This is the John D. Rockefeller goal of the early 20th century when he started pushing for compulsory government schooling and funding the building of government schools. 

NOW.... review the transcripts below of the conferences chaired by Bill Clinton: 
National Governor's Association website  (find all annual meetings here with transcriptsm- )
1986-87 NGA Chair Gov. Bill Clinton's Initiative

Making America Work: Productive People, Productive Policies

March 25, 1986

1987 Winter Meeting with Bill Clinton as chair, you will find on page 12 that the governors unanimously adopted a policy to adopt an INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY.    http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/1987NGAWinterMeeting.pdf

1987 Annual meeting.   See page 34of this document to see how those governors seem to be concerned that we aren't training our students for the "workforce." They are concerned that the professors of higher ed are telling students to strive for more than the job of working in the manufacturing plants.  On page 40 they start talking about standards needed in education.  " See page 42 with this statement by Governor Sinner (great name!) to Lee Iacoccoa: "But you also made a point about the terrific cost to industry of the disparity between states in these regulations and I wondered, with all the fuss and the furor that we make over states' rights...."  http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/1987NGAAnnualMeeting.pdf 

June 11, 2013: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in a markup of the Strengthening America's Schools Act of 2013, an education initiative to replace No Child Left Behind.  http://www.c-spanvideo.org/event/220036

At the June 10 Common Core forum in Fayette County, Superintendent Barge stated over and over again that if Georgia wants to change these standards at any time, we have the ability to do so.   The testimony below contradicts this belief by Superintendent Barge and confirms that states who adopted the Common Core standards DO NOT have the ability to change the standards in any way on their own.

2:23:00 - Rep. Tim Scott discusses his amendment to Harkin's bill.  Instead of states being forced to adopt blanket standards like Common Core as a prerequisite for funding, let's put decision-making back in the hands of parents and teachers in our communities."

2:31:00 - It is admitted that states who want to change the CC standards,the Secretary of Education would have to approve it.  States DO NOT have the ultimate decision making abilities!

2:39:00 - Alexander reads page 89 of the bill stating that any changes to standards MUST go through the Secretary of Education for approval.

As are most of the amendments offered by Republicans to this education bill, the Scott Amendment is defeated 12-10.

DATA COLLECTING: Senator Burr at the 1:00:00 mark reveals information about ADDITIONAL data points that this legislation will add to the data mining.  He says that his count is now 500 data points.  

TEACHER EVALUATIONS: Senator Alexander at 2:00:00 mark discusses his amendment to end federally mandated school and teacher evaluations.  He says states had a "gun to their head" to adopt the teacher evaluations because they were desperate for NCLB waivers.   He makes the charge that the Harkin bill creates a "NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD."  The Gates Foundation involvement is mentioned frequently.  

Harkin says over and over "this is voluntary."  If states don't want to implement the programs in the bill we just don't accept the money!"    More strong evidence that our states need to "just say no" to all federal education dollars.   As is pointed out in this debate: Any private business that entered into a partnership where the partner who contributed 10% funding got 80-90% of the control (as is the case with education funding under NCLB and Common Core) the partnership is DOOMED TO FAIL!

Angela Bean
Fayetteville, GA
StopCommonCore.com 

We all know how tough it is to maintain your morals in today's media world. Here are two gifts from the AFA to you, each meant to help you navigate your way through media today:

1. Free Article: How to Watch TV Without Compromising Your Values  2. Free Guide: 300 Family Friendly Movies

The article discusses how far TV has fallen in recent years and outlines some practical steps you can take to protect your family.

And the free movie guide is a great way to find movies for family night that the whole family can enjoy.

I hope these tools are a blessing to you!

At the Boston Marathon we all witnessed what happens when people become radicalized by an extreme Islamic ideology.

IT IS TIME THAT EVERYONE GET EDUCATED ON THIS ISSUE.

Watching The Third Jihad is the ultimate way to share this knowledge with other Americans.

Share the film, the third jihad with 5 friends,
and we will send you a FREE DVD of our award-winning film Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against the West - a must-see for every American.

---

---

AGENDA 21 RESOURCE PAGEs

Following is a list of all members representing Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives.  Their name, party affiliation, office number, phone number and Congressional assignments are listed. You can print this list for immediate reference.  If you wish to have the email address of your representative, type in "United States House of Representatives," click on 'Members" and then search for your Congressman's name.  Go to his web page, where you will find his email contact page, regional office phone numbers and addresses and, hopefully, other information regarding what he is doing to preserve the Constitution.   

Please note the committee assignments of each representative.  They are very important.

Please pass this information to all those on your list!   

Thank you.

Pennsylvania

GERMAN LEADERS COMPARE U.S. INTERNET SPYING TO EAST GERMAN STASI TACTICS

by AWR HAWKINS 13 Jun 2013

A week ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to Germany, leaders are so outraged over the news of internet spying that at least one is comparing it to East German Stasi tactics. 

According to Reuters, Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said reports that the U.S. can access and track virtually all communications is "deeply disconcerting." 

She added: "The more a society monitors, controls, and observes its citizens, the less free it is. The suspicion of excessive surveillance of communication is so alarming that it cannot be ignored."

Mark Ferber sits in the European Parliament as a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian sister party. He went even further with his criticism by likening internet spying to "American-style Stasi methods."

Ferber said he thought such tactics ended with the fall of the German Democratic Republic.

Just last week a poll showed that 82 percent of the German people viewed Obama favorably. It will be interesting to see what happens to that number as more details of internet spying emerge. 

RedState Morning Briefing

For June 14, 2013

1.  They That Are Fated to be Fools Have One Consolation

Marco Rubio told Sean Hannity yesterday that he had wanted border security before amnesty, but now thinks we need amnesty first so, in paying the government for their amnesty, we can use the illegal aliens' to pay for securing the border. After all, the border will take several years to secure, so we should encourage people to cross the border illegally and forge documents to prove they've met the deadline. Then they can pay the feds to secure the border in even higher numbers. Or something like that.

While this is playing out, John McCain is demanding the President give arms to the Syrian rebels who may or may not be on our side after they kill off Assad. John Boehner has decided to vote for the farm bill, which is filled up with corporate waste, greed, and bribery. And I, having declared myself opposed to the immigration bill, but favoring not rounding up and shipping home 11 million people, am receiving hate mail from conservatives for daring to not want to throw every hispanic resident out of the country. Concurrently, Mario Lopez of the Hispanic Leadership Foundation has postponed a call in which he, a Republican, was going to declare much of the conservative movement racist for not supporting this hair brained Schumer amnesty scheme.

On top of that, Peter King and Lindsey Graham want to amend the First Amendment to silence dissent and Republicans in Congress have joined hands with Democrats to declare the NSA is a-okay.

The Republican Party as it exists in Washington, DC has lost all connection to its base and the pulse of liberty. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

2.  1986

It would include a character of John McCain demanding to "build the dang fence" in order to win reelection, and then running around two years later to demand that we build the dang amnesty, with no fence.

It would include a character of Chuck Schumer saying on the House floor in 1986 that the bill won't bring "millions of people cascading across the border," and then, 27 years into the cascade, leading the effort to do the same thing. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

3.  Ruling-class concerns

The gap between the ruling class agenda, and the things most Americans really care about, has never been more clear.  If you're a legal immigrant or native citizen, Congress has nothing to say to you right now.  Not all of the floor speeches are being delivered in English.  Democrats want their new imported Big Government-friendly voters.  Republicans are terrified of alienating the Hispanic constituency in general.  Business interests want the cheap labor.  The media likes to tell simple stories about compassionate activists versus heartless racists.  The permanent bureaucracy absolutely does not want to address a concrete problem like border security - the sort of endeavor at which it could be judged an objective failure. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →

4.  Is Colorado state senator Angela Giron resorting to PAYING to have anti-recall supporters?

So, basically it's going on like this: Colorado State Senator Angela Giron is being threatened with a recall for her support of the rather draconian gun control laws that the (currently) Democratic-controlled Colorado state legislature just passed. This was, of course, not received well by Democrats, and so Colorado Peak Politics did what all smart Right-populist groups do these days: they saturated the area with cameras and waited for Democratic shenanigans.

June 14, 2013   

Today's Articles:  

Answering Greg Gutfeld's Question
Jeanne C Minton
Does anyone have a clear idea how much they pay in taxes? More

Guaranteeing that Hispanics won't Assimilate
John Bennett
Tim Kaine's publicity stunt on the Senate floor simply underlines the problems facing Hispanic assimilation. More

Virginity and Government Payoffs
Jeannie DeAngelis
Sandra Fluke's nightmare. More

Is it Still 1984?
J.T. Hatter
When viewed from the proper distance, Obama's scandals are all of a piece. More

Our Enemy the Administrative State
Dr. Tom Barron
The vague "fundamental transformation" promised by Barack Obama prior to his first inauguration is nearly complete. Do Americans like what they see? More

Shamnesty's Latest Sellout
John T. Bennett
A diehard opponent of amnesty folds. More

The Future of the Humanities
Jeffrey Folks
Harvard has stuck its head in the sand once again, but the rest of us should pay close attention to how we can save the humanities from total irrelevance. More

American Thinker Blog

Obama and the Despots
June 14, 2013
A comment on Herbert Meyer and Paul Kengor. More

June 12,1987 - A great day for freedom
June 13, 2013
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." More

A flawed federal law enforcement agency?
June 13, 2013
An ugly picture. More

Clinton breaks with Obama on Syria
June 13, 2013
Refers to Obama's policy as "lame." More

Why the GOP really is 'The Stupid Party'
June 13, 2013
They don't learn from their mistakes. More

How to force the Republican Party to stop legalization of illegal aliens
June 13, 2013
The leadership of the Republican Party is about to join with the leadership of the Democratic Party, and all of the elected Democrats, and pass federal legislation that will legalize millions of illegal aliens. We have a way to stop them. More

Top Egyptian pols caught on camera being their America-hating selves
June 13, 2013
It would be funny if it were not so grim. More

One sentence that could keep the House in GOP hands
June 13, 2013
Out of the mouth of a leading Democrat More

Voices rise from under the Cincinnati bus
June 13, 2013
"Rogue agents" not remaining silent. More

NSA's Real Targets?
June 13, 2013
Never plan on what you expect your enemy to do, but rather plan based on what they are capable of doing. More

The Quality of Mercy
June 13, 2013
We won a big one this week. More

Time to End 'Government-by-Crisis'
June 13, 2013
Dodd-Frank is the poster child for 'bubble legislation.' More

AT Video - Click to Watch: Secret Recording: IRS Tells Pro-Life Group to 'Keep Your Faith to Yourself'

AT Video - Click to Watch: Conspiracy Theory No More

AT Video - Click to Watch: MSNBC's Mika Caught Using False Obama Talking Points

AT Video - Click to Watch: Obama Caught on Tape at Fundraiser: Dems 'Don't Want to Tax ALL Businesses Out of Business'

AT Video - Click to Watch: Flashback: Sen. Obama Slams Wiretaps Under Bush

 TOP Story: State Dept Defends while Christians Die and Media is Silent 

Three Steps to Nullify Federal Gun Control   Published 2013-06-12
Share on Facebook  

 White Guilt and How Obama Plays the Issue

Dishonesty Endemic In Our Government MUST READ   Published 2013-06-12
Share on Facebook

The Boy Scouts Doomed Compromise   Published 2013-06-12
Share on Facebook     

Thursday, June 13, 2013

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer


Snowden: Hero Or Zero?

NSA leaker Edward Snowden is answering that headline question on his own. And the answer is less than zero -- he is, broadly speaking, a traitor. Whatever comfort can be taken from Snowden's exposure of the Obama Administration's overreaching data collection efforts on law-abiding Americans is negated by what he is "exposing" now.

Yesterday Snowden gave an another interview, this time with the South China Morning Post. He claimed that the U.S. was monitoring people in Hong Kong and China and was engaged in cyber-warfare. Here's a news flash for Mr. Snowden: That is what our intelligence agencies are supposed to do!

It would be a scandal if we discovered the opposite were true: That while the Obama Administration was conducting massive surveillance in the U.S. it was not engaging our adversaries and enemies around the world. And, yes, I do include China as an adversary.

That Snowden thinks this is troubling removes any doubt about what his worldview is. Like so much of the left, he sees America as the bad guy. Snowden told the Guardian that he doesn't see China as an enemy, adding, "We trade with each other freely, you know. We're not at war. We are not in armed conflict. ...We are the largest trading partners out there for each other."

I pointed out Monday that Snowden has a "globalist" worldview. In describing his motivations for leaking the NSA program, Snowden said, "...I hope this will trigger [a debate] among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want to live in."

How many of your conservative, Tea Party friends would describe themselves as citizens of the world? Would a patriotic American concerned about civil liberties really flee to China? I don't think so. Snowden is not Patrick Henry and he is not a Reaganaut. He is a disgruntled Obama supporter.

Here's something else to consider: Because Snowden has run into the arms of our adversary and is now doing damage to us abroad, because he is so naïve that he actually believes U.S. intelligence agencies disrupting our enemies is a violation of our principles, he has likely damaged the cause of reining in the Obama Administration's spying on American citizens.

Edward Snowden is a grossly flawed messenger for the cause of liberty. I hope in the days ahead that these two issues can be separated in the mind of the general public -- and in the minds of conservatives.


What Obama Is NOT Doing

Let's put Snowden aside for now and revisit what the Obama Administration is failing to do in the fight against racial Islamic terrorism. Columnist Mark Steyn joked a few days ago that we may learn the Obama Administration was monitoring everyone's calls except those from the Middle East because that would be profiling. Unfortunately, there is some truth to his joke.

Investor's Business Daily reminds readers that while the government is collecting massive amounts of phone data from law-abiding citizens and while the IRS is harassing "Patriot" groups and organizations wanting to educate the public about the Constitution, Obama's snoopers have been ordered not to look in mosques.

The FBI had conducted many successful sting operations by placing operatives inside mosques suspected of promoting jihad. But the Obama Administration stopped the program. Referring to the Boston Marathon bombing, the IBD editorial noted, "The FBI never canvassed Boston mosques until four days after the April 15 attacks."

Why would the FBI want to monitor mosques? According to a survey of 100 mosques around the country, 81% had materials that promoted violent jihad in some manner.

Call it profiling if you want. But if you are trying to stop radical Islamists, you don't go to Episcopalian or Presbyterian churches. You go where the radical Islamists are. Unless of course you are a left-wing ideologue more committed to political correctness than America's national security. Obama is too busying profiling conservatives to have time to profile jihadists.


Speaking Of Left-wing Ideologues...

George Will's latest column provides a perfect example of why our Founding Fathers wanted limited government. Will recounts the chilling details of government intimidation experienced by Illinois Senate candidate Al Salvi during his 1996 campaign against Dick Durbin.

In the final weeks of the election, Salvi's campaign was derailed by reports that he was facing a government investigation for illegal fundraising abuses. During his inquisition, Lois Lerner, then a top official at the Federal Election Commission, told Salvi, "Promise me you will never run for office again, and we'll drop this case."

It was Lois Lerner who led the FEC's smear of the Christian Coalition. And under her leadership, the IRS demanded pro-life groups promise not to protest at Planned Parenthood clinics.

As Will points out, bureaucrats like Lois Lerner are the reason so many people are nervous about the NSA. The NSA program may be an important tool in fighting terrorism. But can we trust that the power at the NSA won't also be exploited by left-wing ideologues like Lerner?

Conservatives must make the moral case against "progressive" Big Government. Beyond budget numbers and spending, Big Government and its petty, out-of-control bureaucrats are a threat to our liberty.


Obama Threatens Religious Liberty Amendment

In recent reports, we told you about the assault on religious liberty that is taking place inside Obama's Pentagon. In response, Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) offered an amendment to the 2014 Defense authorization bill designed to safeguard the religious liberty of our men and women in uniform. Last week the House Armed Services Committee voted 33-to-26 to approve Rep. Fleming's amendment.

Sadly, the Obama White House released a statement this week threatening to veto the entire defense authorization bill. The president "strongly objects" to Rep. Fleming's religious liberty amendment. Unbelievably, his "Statement of Administration Policy" labels expressions of faith as "potentially problematic speech and actions."


The Sky Is Falling!

Last night I tuned in to the ABC evening news to get the latest on the various government scandals and other issues facing the country. But in the judgment of the news hounds at ABC, the biggest issue facing the country was a line of severe thunderstorms moving across the Midwest.

Folks, thunderstorms have been going across the Midwest for all of recorded history. They will continue going across the Midwest long after Obama has failed to stop the climate from changing or the oceans from rising.

ABC even brought in an expert to tell us what to do if you are in your car when a thunderstorm hits. What I am looking for is not how to avoid a line of thunderstorms, but rather how to get out of the line of fire of Obama's ever-growing government!


Palin Back At Fox

Here's some good news for all you Sarah Palin fans (myself included!): According to the Drudge Report, Palin is coming back to Fox News as a contributor. The details will be announced later today.  

Netanyahu at Auschwitz: The World Ignored Our Annihilation

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at Auschwitz, June 13, 2013. Photo: Israel GPO.

The world stood by as millions of Jews were being slaughtered, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, vowing that Israel would "do whatever is necessary to prevent another holocaust."

Speaking at the Auschwitz death camp during the opening of a new pavilion, Netanyahu said:

"The leaders of the Allies knew about the Holocaust in real time. They understood exactly what was happening in the death camps. They were asked to act, they could have acted, and they did not. To we Jews the lesson is clear. We must not be complacent in the face of threats of annihilation. We must not bury our heads in the sand or allow others to do the work for us. From here, the place that attests to the desire to destroy us, I, the Prime Minister of Israel, the state of the Jewish People, say to all the nations of the world: The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to prevent another holocaust."

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Netanyahu  said that the intentions of the Iranians are just as murderous as the Nazis.

THURSDAY COLUMN

It's the Profiling, Stupid!

Obama, Trust and the NSA

"All men having power ought to be distrusted..." --James Madison (1787)

Last week, Barack Hussein Obama deflected new concerns about the National Security Administration's intrusive domestic data-mining operations, saying, "If people can't trust ... the executive branch ... to make sure we're abiding by the Constitution, due process, and rule of law, then we're going to have some problems here."

Barack, we have some problems here.

Of course, trusting the Executive Branch is not the issue. The problem is Obama's life-long record of deceit and deception, and his utter contempt for Rule of Law.

Amidst recent revelations that Obama's black-bag cutouts inspired his "low-level" union cadres at the IRS to target his Patriot and Tea Party political enemies list, and scripted acover-up of the Benghazi murders in order that it not derail his 2012 re-election campaign momentum, is it conceivable that his "low-level" union cadres at the NSA might collect intelligence data on U.S. citizens to profile those whom oppose Obama?

As with the other scandals, Obama's political handlers and their Leftmedia talkingheads are obfuscating the facts regarding NSA data collection. They ignore legitimate civil liberty concerns, and focus instead on the question of whether such data is essential to our national security.

Allow me to reframe a quote from James "Ragin' Cajun" Carville's political playbook about focusing on the big issue, and adapt it for the big data debate: "It's the profiling, stupid!"

The question is not whether intelligence data collection is critical to our nation's ability to defend itself -- good intelligence is, and has always been a critical component of national defense and security.

The overarching questions are, what is the scope of domestic NSA intelligence gathering, and what is the potential for an administration to use that information to profile and target political opponents?

Read more:

Hot Mic Catches Egyptian Politician Discussing 'War' with 'Enemies' Israel and America

Daily Email - June 13, 2013      Top Story  Glenn Greenwald Regularly Attends Marxist-Leninist Conferences
By Cliff Kincaid  |  June 13, 2013
Shedding new light on the controversy over the NSA terrorist surveillance program, the journalist who has served as the mouthpiece for former NSA contract employee Edward Snowden has addressed several Marxist-Leninist conferences over the last few years.      Guest Column  Obama's Definition of 'Smarter Enforcement': None
By Michelle Malkin  |  June 13, 2013
Obama and his open-borders pals pay lip service to fairness and the rule of law for the cameras.      AIM Newswire
NJ Senate Race: Booker has early lead among Dems

U.S. sued by woman involved in Petraeus affair scandal

Iran's Khamenei set to push for hardline candidate for president 

June 13, 2013
  Outreach to the wrong people 

Patrick Poole-counterterrorism analyst, investigator, and writer-recently posted a comprehensive exposé of the failed Muslim outreach programs of three presidential administrations.

Poole's exposé begins with this introduction:

  As Poole demonstrates, this faulty outreach program was a bi-partisan effort spanning 20 years, two Democratic presidents and one Republican.

We are studying Poole's exposé and strongly encourage you to do so as well. It's eye-opening, to say the least.

You can read it here.

When there are Muslims like Tawfik Hamid, Zuhdi Jasser, and Manda Ervin speaking out against sharia law, jihad, and the Muslim Brotherhood, it is unconscionable that so many of our political and law enforcement leaders continue to cozy up to Muslim Brotherhood front organizations and their leaders.   

June 14, 2013, 2 AM

Dear Members and Friends,

The Capitol Switchboard number is 202.224.3121.  The numbers were mistakenly inverted in last night's email entitled, "Update: Immigration; July 4."

The portion of the email in question should have read:

The 850+ page Immigration bill introduced in the US Senate by Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid and the 'gang of 8' does the exact opposite of

what the overwhelming majority of you think appropriate.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/rubio-s-right-the-gang-is-far-from-a-supermajority-on-immigration-20130612

Incredibly, it awards citizenship to illegals before securing the borders. 

(All of this after the 2013 Boston Massacre!) 

Bill also includes a more generous version of the "Dream Act" than the one that was defeated a few Congresses ago (2010) in a lame duck session.

Please call the Capitol Switchboard @ 202.224.3121, today, and ask to be connected to the office of your US Senators. 

DE:  Carper, Coons;  NJ:  Chiesa, Menendez;  PA:  Casey, Toomey

Tell them that the 'gang of 8' Immigration bill should be dead on arrival.

Remind them that the only two matters they should consider is whether additional legislation is necessary to secure our borders and how to make English the official language of our great nation.  Nothing else!

Special Note:  Our New Jersey friends have a new Republican Senator, Jeffrey Chiesa.  It is urgent that you make every effort to get through to him.

As well, our Pennsylvania friends should be sure to contact Senator Pat Toomey.  We need to sure up his support for our position.

When you're done calling your own Senators, call Senators Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn.  Tell them not to cave to any under any circumstances.

My apologies for any confusion and many thanks for your calls,

June 12, 2013, 8:30 PM

Dear Members and Friends,

Fox News is reporting that Sarah Murnaghan is recuperating from a six-hour double lung transplant operation conducted earlier today at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/12/philadelphia-girl-double-lung-transplant-success-family-says/#ixzz2W3e9My6H

Association Commentary

Of course, the terminally ill Sarah would never have gotten a second chance at life had a federal judge not intervened and overruled the policy of a cruel federal bureaucracy led by the heartless Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Kathleen Sebelius is the real life embodiment of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), a calculatingly vicious character from the 1975 Academy Award winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 

That a feckless government could have the ability to prevent an innocent child from receiving necessary life-sustaining treatment should be a wake-up call to us all--liberals and moderates, too--regarding the ugly nature of ObamaCare.

We continue to pray for Sarah and her family just as assuredly as we continue to fight the healthcare beast named for our sitting President.  And like the Murnaghans, we shall overcome.

We thank our area Republican Congressional Delegation--especially the two

Patricks--Toomey and Meehan--for their efforts to save this young girl's life.

Terrific Upcoming Events

This Thursday evening (June 13), State Representative Dan Truitt will address one of the most impressive grass roots organizations in the Keystone State, the Pennsylvania Conservative Council, in the West Chester Borough Building.  The meeting is open to all.

On Friday, (June 14), we not only celebrate Flag Day--but also an extremely important milestone--the 238th Anniversary of the United States Army.

A series of commemorative events are being held in and around Independence Mall.

And if that isn't enough, on Saturday evening you'll have an opportunity to give A Hero's Welcome to World War II Veterans returning home from a commemoration in Washington DC. 

1.  State Representative Dan Truitt Addresses the Pennsylvania Conservative Council

When:    Thursday, June 13, 7 PM

Where:   Room 240, West Chester Borough Building, 401 East Gay Street, West Chester 

2.  Flag Day and US Army Observances

When:   Friday, June 14

0830-1500 ARMY BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION ON THE MALL

Includes displays of Army equipment and vehicles, demonstrations and information

0915 FLAG RAISING AT THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION

CENTER (NCC) - Frankford High School Army Junior ROTC

0925-0945 DRILLS BY JROTC and 3RD US COLORED TROOPS BATTALION 

Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Daniel A. Dailey, TRADOC CSM, to serve as reviewer.

0930 RIBBON CUTTING AND OPENING OF "1968" EXHIBIT AT THE NCC

Maj. Gen. William D. Razz Waff to attend.

0950 PARADE TO INDEPENDENCE HALL

1020 FLAG RAISING CEREMONY AT INDEPEDENCE HALL

Park Superintendent Cynthia McCloud and the Philadelphia Flag Day Association.

1040 ARMY BIRTHDAY PROGRAM, hosted by AUSA

Maj. Gen. Randall Marchi, Deputy Adjutant General, PA, Maj. Gen. Waff; Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Dailey.  Swearing in of Future Soldiers and cutting of an Army Birthday Cake.

1200 FLAG DAY PROGRAM AT THE BETSY ROSS HOUSE

Philadelphia Flag Day Association

1400 MACY'S-WANAMAKER ORGAN PLAYING THE ARMY SONG

US Army Field Band Soldiers' Chorus

1600 FLAG RETIREMENT CEREMONY AT CITY HALL COURTYARD

Philadelphia Flag Day Association, featuring the Soldiers' Chorus

3.  Tour of Honor "Arrival Celebration" sponsored by A Hero's Welcome

When:     Saturday, June 15, 6 PM

Where:    St. Kevin's Parish Hall, 200 W. Sproul Road, Springfield, PA

Please join us in welcoming over 100 World War II veterans as they return home from our nation's capitol in the final stop of a "Tour of Honor."

As their time is growing short, let's pay tribute to them for the enormous sacrifices they have made in order to preserve liberty for future generations.

These service men and women selflessly saved the world!

For more information, call 610-662-1812.

4.  Preserving America's Heritage--Independence Day 2013

When:      Thursday, July 4, 1-3 PM

Where:     Independence Mall, 5th and Market Streets, Philadelphia

Free and open to the public.  Great Line-up of speakers.  Much more!

Sponsored by the Independence Hall Tea Party Association

We hope to see you soon!

On behalf of the Association Board,

Lawsuits filed over IRS power grab. Fate of ObamaCare hangs in balance

Jun 13, 2013 06:13 am | Coach Collins

by Doug Book, editor

The future of Barack Obama's namesake effort to exercise the power of life and death over the American people will depend upon the outcome of lawsuits filed in Washington DC and Oklahoma City.

"This is huge,"writes George Mason University law professor Michael Greve. "If successful...[either] case will bring Obamacare's Exchange engine to a screeching halt...In short, this is for all the marbles." (1)

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides tax credits and subsidies for the purchase of health insurance through exchanges that are run by "a governmental agency or nonprofit entity that is established by a state." (2) To date, however, 33 states have refused to build an ObamaCare Exchange so necessary to the functioning of the law. And although the ACA made provision for recalcitrant governors and state legislators by permitting the federal government to build exchanges within their borders, it did NOT allow ... Continue Reading:Lawsuits filed over IRS power grab. Fate of ObamaCare hangs in balance

comments | read more

Edward Snowden: Hero or traitor?

Jun 12, 2013 06:20 pm | Michael D. Shaw

On the Right, at least, the battle lines are clearly drawn between those who worship the concept of "The State" over the natural rights of man, and those who believe that the individual has some intrinsic value. The State-worshipers will tell you that Snowden violated secrecy laws, so off with his head! Meanwhile, the other side worries about how all-powerful the State has become.

One is reminded of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. At least seven of the valiant members of the group were executed by the Gestapo, for the horrific crime of speaking out against the government.

White Rose survivor Jurgen Wittenstein described what it was like to live in Hitler's Germany:

The government-or rather, the party-controlled everything: the news media, arms, police, the armed forces, the judiciary system, communications, travel, all levels of education from kindergarten to universities, all cultural and religious institutions. Political indoctrination started at a very early age, and continued ... Continue Reading:Edward Snowden: Hero or traitor?

comments | read more

The Editors' Top Picks

  Central Banks' Bubble Bursting, Sending Markets Down Worldwide  Central banking and Keynesian ideology make a toxic brew, the consequences of which are beginning to show up around the world.
  Rand Paul Defends Life From Conception to "Last Natural Breath"  Sen. Rand Paul told a forum in Washington yesterday that he believes there will be a time when everyone is judged on whether they defended human life.
  Western-backed Syrian Rebels Massacre Shia Villagers  In a brutal killing spree this week, Western-backed Sunni rebel forces have massacred dozens of Shia Muslim villagers in Syria.
  Southern Baptist Resolution Condemns Boy Scouts' Acceptance of Gays  The Southern Baptist Convention has passed a resolution condemning the decision by the Boy Scouts to allow teens who identify as homosexual to participate in Scouting.
  Behind the Curtain: Booz Allen Hamilton and its Owner, The Carlyle Group  Edward Snowden's revelations have shown the incestuous intertwining of two Washington, D.C. firms: Booz Allen Hamilton and its parent, The Carlyle Group.
  Homeschooling Continues to Grow in Popularity Nationwide  The number of children being homeschooled in America has increased by 75 percent over the past 14 years, recent research shows. 

Morning Jolt  . . . with Jim Geraghty

June 13, 2013

Yes, Yes, IRS, We Know You Take Everything 'Very Seriously'

From my piece on the NRO home page today, looking at how frequently the IRS has responded to cases of corruption and abuse by declaring they take these matters "very seriously."

Some might have wondered about the effectiveness of the earlier very serious declaration of a very serious "zero tolerance policy," instituted after "a probe in 1993 and 1994 turned up more than 1,300 employees suspected of using government computers to browse tax files."

Certainly, the IRS took the 1997 case at least as seriously as the mid-1990s revelation that "a snooper in the IRS's Boston office turned out to have been a member of white supremacist groups, and a witness testified that the worker said he planned to use the tax data to build dossiers on people."

The more you look at past wrongdoing and criminal activity at the IRS, the more you see those words "very seriously." In fact, a cynical mind might conclude it was a meaningless phrase that was automatically rolled out to create the impression of severe consequences and an atmosphere of responsibility and accountability.

With all of this very serious focus on wrongdoing among current employees, the IRS hasn't been able to be quite as serious about the trend of former employees helping people commit tax fraud.

Of course, I'll probably get audited over it . . .

Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer Analyzed All of These Domestic Surveillance Issues 15 Years Ago

Imagine you're a bad person up to no good.

Maybe you're a terrorist who wants to harm or kill many, many Americans, or perhaps you're a foreign spy attempting to steal U.S. secrets, in an effort that may someday harm many Americans if your country and the United States go to war.

If you were one of these folks, and you weren't, say, the dullest knife in the drawer . . . wouldn't you already presume that the National Security Agency was already grabbing your signals from your cellular phone out of the air? Wouldn't you presume that the moment they connected a particular e-mail address with you, they could crack the password and look through it with impunity? (All of this presumes you don't have some sort of special encryption technology from your home country's intelligence service.)Wouldn't you assume that they were tracking the GPS in your phone? In every fugitive-on-the-run-from-a-sinister-government-conspiracy movie, the first thing the good guy does is smash his cell phone.

Haven't these guys ever seen Enemy of the State? It came out in 1998 and featured Will Smith and Gene Hackman.

All of Gene Hackman's dialogue describes more or less the actual domestic-surveillance system we've seen unveiled in recent days:

"The government's been in bed with the entire telecommunications industry since the forties! They've infected everything. They get into your bank statements, computer files, email, listen to your phone calls. . . . Every wire, every airwave. The more technology used, the easier it is for them to keep tabs on you. It's a brave new world out there. At least it'd better be."

"Fort Meade has 18 acres of mainframe computers underground. You're talking to your wife on the phone and you use the word "bomb," "president," "Allah," any of a hundred keywords, the computer recognizes it, automatically records it, red-flags it for analysis. That was 20 years ago."

"In the old days, we actually had to tap a wire into your phone line. Now with calls bouncing off satellites, they snatch 'em right out of the air."

This was fifteen years ago, guys. Sure, it's Hollywood, but this wasn't supposed to be science fiction taking place in the far future. (Okay, the implausibly heterosexual lingerie store in Dupont Circle may qualify as science fiction.)

Above: The exact opposite of what an actual lingerie store in Dupont Circle looks like.

The last lines of the movie are from then-CNN host Larry King, who asks his fictional government-official guest, "How do we draw the line -- draw the line between protection of national security, obviously the government's need to obtain intelligence data, and the protection of civil liberties, particularly the sanctity of my home? You've got no right to come into my home!"

Or course, Larry King works for the Kremlin now.

But the point is that while it's good that the American public has a better idea of what the federal government can do with our phone records, e-mails, social-network usage, and so on, in the name of protecting us . . . is it really that plausible that our enemies had no idea that this sort of thing was going on? If you're FSB (the Russians) or VEVAK (the Iranians) or with the foreign-affairs bureau of China's Ministry of State Security . . . wouldn't you already be operating on the presumption that the NSA had amazing abilities in penetrating, monitoring, and eavesdropping on every last method of electronic communication?

Don't get me wrong, Snowden violated his oath and broke the law, and ought to see the inside of a courtroom, where a judge or jury could decide whether his crimes were committed in service of a greater good. But maybe Montana Democrat Jon Tester -- not one of my favorite lawmakers -- is hitting the right tone here:

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) on Wednesday rejected the notion that Edward Snowden compromised the country's security when he leaked details of top secret National Security Agency surveillance programs.

Appearing on MSNBC, the Montana Democrat also said he disagreed with Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who argued that journalists who report on intelligence leaks should be punished. Tester said Snowden "probably shouldn't have done what he did" but doubted that the disclosures undermined national security. In fact, Tester said he found the recent revelations - reported on by both The Guardian and The Washington Post - to be helpful.

"The information that they wrote about was just the fact that NSA was doing broad sweeps of foreign and domestic phone records, metadata. First of all, Snowden probably shouldn't have done what he did. But the fact of the matter is I don't see how that compromises the security of this country whatsoever," Tester said.  "And quite frankly, it helps people like me become aware of a situation that I wasn't aware of before because I don't sit on that Intelligence Committee." 

Oh, by the way, President Obama's defense of these programs last Friday asserted, "Now, the programs that have been discussed over the last couple of days in the press are secret in the sense that they're classified, but they're not secret in the sense that, when it comes to telephone calls, every member of Congress has been briefed on this program."

Of Course, 'Snowden' Is Only Three Letters Away from 'Snow Job'

Dang it, Ace, I hate it when your paranoid thoughts start to sound not quite so paranoid:

I don't know what the NSA is doing, and as the days pass, I'm less sure that I even know what I thought I knew five days ago. It's now being claimed that PRISM isn't even the intelligence gathering program at all, but rather the data management tool -- i.e., the user interface -- used for looking into suspect data. . . .

Now, of course, a data-management tool implies there is data to manage, so Snowden's story is not completely debunked. The NSA is obviously gathering lots of data. But I'm not sure we know much more about this from Snowden's disclosures than we did before.

We have his say-so on some of this, but lacking actual proof, we have to rely on his word, and that is becoming a perilous proposition . . .

Snowden's backstory is not entirely accurate. Booz Allen says that his salary was 40 percent lower than was thought and a real-estate agent says that his house in Hawaii was empty for weeks before he vamoosed. Does the fact that he only worked for three months with Booz Allen and the NSA suggest he was planning a hit and run all along -- that he took the job with the NSA with the intention of stealing the documents?

Over at Blackfive, they examine and largely refute Snowden's claim that at one point he was training to join the "Special Forces." Neo-Neocon lays out the evidence that Snowden was talking to reporters about leaking what he knew from the moment he joined Booz Allen . . .

 . . . If you count backwards, he had to have started work for Booz no earlier than February 20 and probably significantly later. So, if he was already speaking to Greenwald in February, does this mean he took the Booz job with the purpose of gaining access to the documents and leaking them?

If that's true, does that change anything in the equation?

[ADDENDUM: Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who was also involved in helping publicize the Snowden leak, says that Snowden contacted her (anonymously) back in January. Again, that would have been before he started working for Booz. Interesting.]

Oh, and Hong Kong Phooey is really starting to milk the martyr routine:

"I'm very grateful for the support of the public," he said. "But I ask that they act in their interest - save their money for letters to the government that breaks the law and claims it noble.

"The reality is that I have acted at great personal risk to help the public of the world, regardless of whether that public is American, European, or Asian."

Dang it, Ace, I hate it when your posts are so crammed with wisdom I find myself wanting to quote them more and more:

[I believed] that the whole "Is Snowden a hero or a villain?" subplot was a bit of baby-talk to interest the low thinkers who cannot think in anything but those terms, in terms of people and personalities rather than ideas and principles, and who prefer such personality-based thinking to occur in the most baby-talk-ish of all possible manners of debate: Is this person completely Good and completely a Hero or is he completely Evil and completely a Villain? . . .

And I agreed, I thought, with his conclusion that such talk was a complete misdirection away from the actual questions at hand: Do we support this program? Do we even know enough about it to make that determination? Isn't the government now hiding from us not only the details of secret projects, but even the most elementary and basic information about the broad parameters of goals of such programs, such that we are denied the ability to actually make any sort of sensible judgment at all?

Is the government not essentially telling us to simply Trust Our Betters, and denying the most important of all principles underlying what was once called America -- the idea that common citizens shall make informed decisions about how their country shall operate?

And while I still mostly agree with that, I have to dispute that a bit, because much of what is claimed about this program is claimed by Edward Snowden, and I am not taking his word for it anymore than I'm taking the perjurious word of James Clapper for it. And, as Clapper's dishonesty and agenda weighs in the balance when we consider his claims, so too should such things weigh in the balance when we consider Snowden's.

ADDENDUM: The boss on the latest round of IRS excuses: "They have all made Cincinnati a byword for scandal. By their account, there's no explaining Cincinnatians. They are a strange and foreign people, noted for their bristling hostility to the tea party and their cussed resistance to direction or oversight from above. It's a wonder the IRS is even able to maintain an office in Cincinnati, given the inherent recklessness of workers in that remote southern Ohio city."

NRO Digest - June 13, 2013

Today on National Review Online . . .

Little Brother in the Big City 

Posted: 13 Jun 2013 12:19 AM PDT

Biden Launches New Imaginary Gun Buyback Initiative 

Inspired by the "Toy Gun" buyback program at Strobridge Elementary School, Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to announce today White House backing of a new "Imaginary Gun" buyback program.

"We have been plagued by a recent rash of imaginary gun incidents in our nation's schools," said Biden spokesman Aldous Orwell. "Children live in terror because of rampant imagination."

MORE >> 

Today's Headlines:  Thursday, June 13, 2013

CIA Deputy Director Steps Down 'To Spend More Time With His Family'

IRS Cancels Order for Spying Equipment

Only CNSNews.com brings you the news the liberal media ignores! Please help us with a tax deductible gift today.

Kerry Has 'Nothing to Announce' on Arming Syrian Rebels as Regime Gains Ground

Sebelius: Kids 'So Far Behind' by 3rd Grade 'May As Well Drop Out'

WH Threatens to Veto Defense Spending Bill Over Religious Liberty, Gitmo, Green Energy

Now you can access all the latest breaking news from CNSNews.com on your smartphone. Check out our mobile website today! 
Obama: 'Gov't Can Help by...Educating our Children From the Earliest Years'

Rep. Slaughter Invokes Name of Two Pro-Lifers to Support New York Pro-Abortion Bill

Unpaid Internships in Jeopardy After Court Ruling

COMMENTARY:

7 Reasons to Worry About Federal Surveillance
By Ben Shapiro
The moment America becomes a "needs" country in which the government unilaterally decides what we need and regulates everything else we cease to be America.


NEWSPAPER ROUNDUP:

Veterans waiting for benefits assured things will change -- in 2 years
Banks repossessing more homes as home prices rise
Local police agencies are assembling their own DNA records
Energy company hopes video game will help fill long list of job openings
IRS law enforcement agents are training with AR-15 rifles
Obama's invisible surgeon general to step down
Census Bureau: Asians fastest growing ethnic group in the nation last year
Trent Franks: 'Incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low'
Federal gun prosecutions rise steadily in months since December's school shooting
Forced 'infidelity check' is rape, says Swedish Supreme Court
Parents outraged after students assigned to write suicide note at N.Y. prep school