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EXPERT: CUBA COULD HIT U.S. WITH EMP DEATH BLOW
Panama Canal discovery suggests 'defensive' missile capable of carrying nuke
WASHINGTON - Cuba may be in violation of the intent of an agreement that settled the Cuban missile crisis more than 50 years ago, according to an expert. But he made clear that's the least of concerns raised by new evidence.
The major concern is that the rogue island nation may have "defensive" missiles that can be loaded with nukes and dispatched to deliver an electromagnetic pulse death blow to the United States.
The comments come from an expert on EMP dangers after the recent discovery of components of Cuban SA-2 surface-to-air missiles on a North Korean ship in the Panama Canal. Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, said Cuba possessing the missiles may violate the intent of the 1962 agreement, and pose a huge danger to the U.S., especially in light of a Cuban relationship with North Korea, which has tested nuclear bombs.
The SA-2 SAMs alone do not violate the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis, which developed under President John Kennedy, since they are regarded as defensive anti-aircraft missile.
"However, if armed with a nuclear warhead and launched from a freighter, it is technically possible to use the SA-2 offensively for an (electromagnetic pulse) attack," said Pry.
Florida Prosecutor Indicted For Falsifying Arrest Warrant against George Zimmerman
Posted onJuly 24, 2013
Sounds reasonable.
Check it out:
Florida State's Attorney Angela Corey has been indicted by a citizens' grand jury, convening in Ocala, Florida, over the alleged falsification of the arrest warrant and complaint that lead to George Zimmerman being charged with the second degree murder of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida.
The indictment of Corey, which was handed down last week (see www.citizensgrandjury.com), charges Corey with intentionally withholding photographic evidence of the injuries to George Zimmerman's head in the warrant she allegedly rushed to issue under oath, in an effort to boost her reelection prospects. At the outset of this case, black activists such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who whipped up wrath against Zimmerman, demanded that he be charged with murder, after local police had thus far declined to arrest him pending investigation.
Following Corey's criminal complaint charging Zimmerman, legal experts such as Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz condemned her for falsely signing an arrest affidavit under oath, which intentionally omitted exculpatory evidence consisting of the photographs showing the injuries Zimmerman sustained, and rushing to charge him with second degree murder under political pressure.
Family rescued by Zimmerman cancels news conference, fears 'blowback'
FoxNews.com | Published July 25, 2013
A couple George Zimmerman helped rescue after their family SUV flipped over on a Florida highway canceled a news conference Wednesday, citing the possibility of 'blowback' against them.
Mark and Dana Gerstle had planned to talk about the assistance they received from Zimmerman, who was recently acquitted of charges in the death of teenager Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman's attorney Mark O'Mara told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that they changed their minds, deciding they didn't want to be in the spotlight. After discussing the situation with family and friends, O'Mara said they realized that being connected to Zimmerman right now could be toxic.
"They wanted to thank him publicly," O'Mara said. "They thought that they could not, for the possibility of blowback against them."
Darrell Issa Reveals Yet Another Potential Obama Administration Scandal: That's 'Against the Law'
The Blaze | Jason Howerton | Jul. 24, 2013 5:23pm
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials ordered subordinates not to talk to congressional investigators about their investigation into illicit hiring practices and related whistleblower retaliation allegations, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darell Issa (R-Calif.).
Issa, in a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, revealed that the deputy secretary of energy issued a gag order following the release of a highly critical inspector general report last week.
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a division of the DOE, allegedly violated DOE hiring guidelines in a manner than disadvantaged military veterans, according to the scathing IG report.
The BPA employees who cooperated with the IG's investigation were fired, suspended or disciplined in other ways, the report found.
Forget Monopoly there's a new game in town! Now you can learn the Constitution in new board game
If your family loves playing Monopoly, here's a new board game that can help adults and children learn about something more important than money - the Constitution.
It's all made in America, designed for two to four players or team play. It's great for teens and adults. The directions are simple. It's fun and engaging. It includes 223 game cards with information about the Constitution, including:
3 branches of government
Powers granted and denied
Checks and balances
Laws from the Articles
The Bill of Rights and other Amendments
Historical facts and dates
Play in less than an hour
Learn the Constitution as you play ... the more you play, the more you learn
Includes a complimentary copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence
Fun and educational for the classroom environment
Fantastic for home schooling
Great for entertainment for adults and teens who want to learn the Constitution
We are going to "Occupy" the sidewalk above 222N just past the Rt. 12 split. This overpass, end of Berkshire Blvd., IS a pedestrian overpass with a catch fence and plenty of parking in adjacent shopping mall.
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF GODS AND GENERALS AND GETTYSBURG COMES THE LIBERTY MOVIE OF THE YEAR
RON MAXWELL'S COPPERHEAD
For anyone who reveres and believes in the preservation of the Constitution of the United States, Copperhead is a must see this summer!
Copperhead is unlike any Civil War movie to date. It is a film of the war at home - of a family ripped apart by war, of a community driven to an appalling act of vengeance against a man who insists on exercising his right to free speech during wartime. A story of the violent passions and burning feuds that set ablaze the homefront during the Civil War, Copperhead the movie is also a timeless and deeply moving examination of the price of dissent, the place of the individual amidst the hysteria of wartime, and the terrible price of war - a cost measured not in dollars but in fractured families, broken loves, and men dead before their time.
Based on the extraordinary novel by Harold Frederic, who witnessed these conflicts firsthand as a small child, Copperhead tells the story of Abner Beech, a stubborn and righteous farmer of Upstate New York, who defies his neighbors and his government in the bloody and contentious autumn of 1862.
CALL TO ACTION - JULY 29, 2013
We have some work to do during Congress's August break, and WE NEED YOU. NumbersUSA has some great suggestions on how we, pro-American, pro-enforcement, taxpaying citizens, can defeat the proposed Amnesty bill. Please join us on Monday, July 29, at the Warminster Library, 1076 Emma Lane, Warminster, PA at 7 p.m. or call Marge at 215-659-6404.
If not now, then when? If not me, then who?
The Rise of the Police-State
Tuesday, July 30th, from 7PM-9PM Jeffersonville Golf Club 2400 W Main St, Norristown, PA 19403 (Right out side of King of Prussia, Philly, Phoenixville, Lansdale, and Conshohocken)
Hello Members and Friends,
I hope that you can join us for our monthly meeting. Its free and open to the public! Our monthly meetings have officially been moved to the Jeffersonville Golf Club because its a bigger and better location. We are rapidly growing thanks to our dedicated members and friends. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, July 30th and after that our regular meetings will now fall on the 3rd Tuesdays of each month at 7PM. We hope you can make it!
Meeting Topic: The Rise of the Police-State
America is rapidly devolving into the oppressive police-state that our Founding Fathers warned us about. In recent years, politicians have passed laws that destroy and erode our constitutional rights like the N.D.A.A. and The Patriot Act. Recently, Homeland Security, federal government agencies, and local police departments have widely adopted military tactics, military equipment (armored personnel carriers, flash-bang grenades) - and, sometimes, the mindset of military conquerors rather than domestic peacekeepers, and they say its all in the name of "safety" to promote a "global society".
The military industrial complex is transforming our once free country into a giant prison camp. A broke and indoctrinated society constructed in the name of fighting terrorism, was actually built to enslave the American people by making them give up their liberties in the name of security, (Benjamin Franklin warned us about that). Body scanners, sound cannons, citizen spies, staged terror, and cameras on every street corner -- it's only the beginning of the U.N. & globalist's hellish plan.
THE AGENDA:
- Steve Piotrowski and Jackie Piotrowski will give an eye-opening presentation on the police-state, and the erosion of liberties that our government has taken away from us in the name of "safety". We will also speak about what you can do, and current PA. legislation that we can support to help us all fight Big Government and protect citizens of their Constitutional and god-given rights.
- Darren Wolfe, CFL guest speaker of the year, and (author of The International Libertarian) will also give a Philosophy presentation on the police-state and why the founding fathers warned us against this, and what we can do.
- We are also hoping to get Senator Folmer to come speak. He introduced a bill that will end the N.D.A.A. in PA and make it a crime for any government official to enforce it. Hopefully we can get him to attend and talk about it, or even others that helped draft the bill.
- We will also have a round table of open discussion... Your voice matters!
US House passes bill to protect local educational control
WASHINGTON, D.C - On Friday, July 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, the Student Success Act. This legislation will reduce federal interference in education, restore control to local school districts and states, empower parents and support effective teachers.
As passed by the House, the Student Success Act will: · Eliminate the flawed Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system and replace it with state-determined accountability systems, thereby returning authority for measuring student performance to states and school districts. · Eliminate federally mandated actions and interventions currently required of poor performing schools, giving states and districts maximum flexibility to develop appropriate school improvement strategies and rewards for their schools. · Allow Title I dollars to follow disadvantaged students, at the option of individual states. This landmark 'portability' option promotes parental choice and allows all Title I schools to receive funds to promote the academic achievement of students in need. · Repeal federal bureaucrat designed teacher requirements and grant states the flexibility to develop their own teacher evaluation systems to better gauge an educator's effectiveness, if they so choose. · Maintain the requirement that states and school districts issue and distribute annual report cards, including disaggregated data on student achievement and high school graduation rates, while also streamlining data reporting to ensure meaningful information is easily available to parents and communities. · Support opportunities for parents to enroll their children in local magnet schools and charter schools, and enhance statewide parental engagement. · Eliminate more than 70 existing elementary and secondary education programs to promote a more appropriate federal role in education through the block grant program. · Consolidate a myriad of existing K-12 education programs into a new Local Academic Flexible Grant, which provides funding to states and school districts to support local priorities that improve student achievement.
The bill passed on a party line vote. The Pennsylvania delegation was split with all Democrats voting to oppose and all Republicans voting in support. It faces an uncertain future as it moves to the Democrat controlled Senate.
Pennsylvanians Against Common Core will be poised to mobilize our grass roots network at the appropriate time as it moves for consideration in the Senate.
Want to be involved in our Common Core Mail Blitz? Contact Sharon atjsshaugh1@rcn.com or sharongrammy@icloud.com
New Pennsylvanians Against Common Core flyers will be printed shortly. If you or your group would like a large quantity, please email us at contactpacc2013@gmail.comCost is $50 per 1,000.
Upcoming Common Core Meetings
Date/Time: 7:00 PM, July 31 Place: Furniture & Firearms Depot - 2165 Mt. Bethel Highway, Mt. Bethel Pa. 18343 (on Rt. 512) Group: Slate Belt Parents Against Common Core Focus: Educational assembly explaining Common Core Contact persons: Alisa Reto 570-992-1185 / Jim Comunale 570-897-3376
Date- Tuesday, August 20th, 2013 Location- Fire Company #1, 6th & Broad Sts., Emmaus Time- 7:30-9:30 PM Speakers- Mrs. Peg Luksik: Graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, in Special Education and Elementary Education. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree by Stonehill College in Massachusetts in 1997. Author of "Outcome Based Education". Free and Open to the Public
Latest News
Top teacher ignores latest reform directives Rafe Esquith, the most imaginative and productive classroom teacher I know, freely admits he overdoes it. He works long hours, including Saturdays. He leads his fifth graders in mounting several performances of a Shakespeare play each year. He helps former students prepare for college. This summer he gave speeches in China, took former students to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, drove their luggage 700 miles, showed students several John Steinbeck haunts, did an 11 day tour for this new book and took students on a Mississippi steamboat ride. As hyper as he is, after 29 years teaching mostly low-income Hispanic and Korean kids in a small, rundown classroom in Los Angeles he knows what drains teacher energy and ambition. In his new book, "Real Talk for Real Teachers," he describes this in ways I think nearly every teacher in the country would endorse: The system, "rather than encourage and support you, . . . actively works to discourage you," he writes. Read more.
Worried about privacy? How about Common Core? Increasingly worried about surveillance, concerned Americans may not have considered this issue - gathering data about children in schools and the possibility that it can become widely accessible. How? Dr. Paul Kengor explains in this op-ed about the controversial Common Core standards. Read more.
Common Core won't make kids smarter The new education standards called Common Core won't make U.S. kids any smarter. It would be better if states used their own revised and improved version of standards already successfully piloted in 12 states. The overall Common Core strategy is to raise the scores of average students by a point or two but do nothing to motivate or help the smarter kids or the dumber kids. Read more.
If you have a group that will be holding informational meetings on Common Core, please let us know at contactpacc2013@gmail.com so that we can promote.
Please continue to promote the Pennsylvanians Against Common Core on-line petitionand Facebook page. If you would like to have a spokesperson speak to your group concerning the problems and questions concerning Common Core, please contact us at contactpacc2013@gmail.com.
Visit our website at http://nopacommoncore.com
FIRST EVER!! KIDS PATRIOT CAMP
WEDNESDAY, JULY 31st 9:30am-12:00pm
Quakertown Memorial Park, 600 Mill St, Quakertown
FREE! FUN! EDUCATIONAL! (see flyer attached)
Needed:
Children who have completed grades K-5th who would like to have fun while learning about our Founding Fathers and our great country
Parents/grandparents who would like to observe and learn with their kids/grandkids
Volunteers (teens-adults) who love to work with children to assist
Volunteers contact CCG VP of Activities & Events Kathy Bessler at KEBCHICK@hotmail.com. (First come, first served)
My 8 year old Joseph and I will be there.....hope you and your children or grandchildren will join us! For liberty, Jaime
Here's a little more detail from AFP organizer Katy Abrams....
Ideally I am expecting about 30 or so kids. Two hours will be various learning/activity stations and the last half hour will be snack time with a birthday cake celebrating economist Milton Friedman's 101st birthday. The stations will be really easy to run. I am in need of 3-4 adult/teenage volunteers to help run the various stations.
Gun Control groups like Mayor Bloombergs CeasefirePA are still pushing hard to further "question" our right to Keep and Bear Arms! Just this week CeasefirePA testified at the PA Judiciary Committee hearing on HB1010 to expand background checks (next step towards registration). And the Bloomberg anti-gun bus tour continues across the USA with a likely stop in PA in the next 60 days. The recent Zimmerman trial verdict has given these anti-liberty groups a renewed energy to pass more incremental gun control laws.
This battle for our rights needs YOU to stay involved. CGOPA is an all-volunteer grassroots group of citizens, we are your friends and neighbors. There is a core group of 13 and we are always looking for more help! We need people to help coordinate legislative action and develop a formal membership framework. Please email concernedgunowners@gmail.com to get involved!
Even if you can't help directly, please continue to support our cause by showing up to one of our upcoming events.
Movie Screening- Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire
Thursday, August 8th 7:30pm
Philadelphia PA
Mike Novak stepped up to the plate and organized this Premiere in the Philadelphia area! Please check out this link and watch the trailer and then place your ticket order. We need to sell a minimum number of tickets by August 1st (less than 2 weeks away) in order to have the showing, tickets will not be charged until the minimum is met but please reserve yours TODAY. Thanks Mike for setting this up!
Townhall Meeting- Defensive Use of Firearms, Your Rights & Responsibilities
Tuesday, October 1st 7:00pm
Warminster VFW
Join us for this highly anticipated townhall meeting with 2A attorney Joshua Price from Firearms Consulting Group, an NRA instructor, and hopefully a representative of law enforcement as we discuss what you need to know if you ever have to use a firearm in a defensive manner. Not to be missed! More details to come. We will be announcing a gun raffle in the coming weeks that will be drawn this evening!
Rally & March in Support of HB357 Held June 15 in Doylestown
State Rep. Paul Clymer, co-sponsor of HB357, spoke to a crowd of almost 200 who then marched through the historic district of Doylestown handing out flyers. More info here.
We are excited to announce that Governor Nikki Haley will be attending this year's RedState Gathering!
We'll be in New Orleans August 2nd and 3rd with an all-star line-up to celebrate our Fifth Annual event. Nikki Haley hosted us two years ago in South Carolina where she hosted a great welcome reception and gave a fantastic speech that really got the crowd fired up on Saturday morning. We are thrilled to welcome her back to the RedState Gathering in New Orleans.
Confirmed speakers include:
Ted Cruz
Ken Cuccinelli
Nikki Haley
Bobby Jindal
Jim Bridenstine
Speaker invitations have also been extended to:
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Gov. Rick Perry (TX)
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Sen. Marco Rubio (FL)
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Liz Cheney
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Rep. Mick Mulvaney (SC)
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Sen. Tim Scott (SC)
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Rep. Steve Scalise (LA)
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And more!
We'll have plenty more speaker announcements coming shortly, but we're guaranteed to have a good mix of elected officials, potential 2014 cycle candidates, and other RedState friends. Remember, the Gathering is unique in conservative events in that speakers pay their own way and are required to take questions from folks in the audience.
What better excuse for a trip to New Orleans? And, don't forget, your registration even includes most of your food, as well as access to deeply discounted hotel rooms.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's marriage decisions, the movement to uphold America's core principles heads to the states, where challenges to state laws and local communities' religious liberties will surely open up in coming months.
How can citizens strategize and get the tools to effectively make the case for life, marriage, and religious liberty? Are conservative groups working together? Get the answers at Values Voter Summit 2013 >>
On October 11-13, Values Voter Summit 2013 will bring together thousands of Americans to tackle issues impacting our freedoms, families, national security, and values. This year's theme, Standing for Faith, Family and Opportunity for All, celebrates how following America's founding principles provides all Americans more freedom and better lives.
Leading voices in public policy and culture will address the summit, notably Senator Ted Cruz, former Governor Mike Huckabee, Rep. Steve King, columnistStar Parker, Senator Rand Paul, Live Action president Lila Rose, former Senator Rick Santorum, Todd Starnes of Fox News, and many more. See the latest confirmed speakers and register now >>
Heritage president Jim DeMint will deliver a keynote address to the leaders gathered, expected to be broadcast live on C-SPAN. His talk will touch on the importance of marriage and upward mobility, themes further developed in breakout sessions featuring Heritage experts.
In "Responding to the Tough Questions on Marriage, Religious Liberty, and More," Heritage's Jennifer Marshall, along with Adèle Keim of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, will tackle tough questions conservatives often hear, such as "Isn't it pro-family to expand who can get married?" and "Do conservatives care about the poor?"
Heritage will also host "How America Provides Opportunity for All: Stories and Solutions" to explore the truth of upward mobility in America. Matthew Spalding, author of We Still Hold These Truths, and Bishop Shirley Holloway, founder ofHouse of Help/City of Hope, will reveal how government redistribution runs counter to our Founders' wisdom and what the real solutions are to breaking the cycle of poverty. Get more details on breakout sessions >>
Students are also a vital part of this year's event. They will have exclusive opportunities to interact with speakers, including a Friday night mixer. In a casual interactive setting, Ryan Anderson of Heritage-famed for his CNN face-off with Piers Morgan-and the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg will help young adults develop intellectually honest answers to what friends are asking on sexuality, relationships, and why marriage matters.
Between sessions, all attendees can receive complimentary materials and speak directly with dozens of conservative groups, including Christians United for Israel, Liberty Counsel, Students for Life, Leadership Institute, and Let Freedom Ring. Plus there's much more, from networking to new initiatives by the leaders you trust.
About The Heritage Foundation Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute -- a think tank -- whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
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
WHAT IS COMMON CORE?
Common Core, or the Common Core State Standards Initative (CCSSI), as it is known at the State and Federal level, is a set of national education standards that will fulfill the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, through a waiver system. (The NCLB Act was put into place by Congress in 2001 and signed into law by President George W. Bush). Many states were failing to meet the NCLB Act requirements and, therefore, wanted something to replace NCLB.Common Core is part of the UN's plan for complete federal control over our education systems and the "Dumbing-down" of America.
COMMON CORE IS A TROJAN HORSE AND TIED TO THE UNITED NATIONS (UN)
If you cannot see that Common Core is tied to the United Nations you have not done your homework! The major funder of the Common Core Movement is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has pledged $60 million dollars to this effort. Bill and Melinda Gates are tied to UN through-and-through and have spent money in America and overseas for UN programs in Africa and all over the world for decades.
From the Conservative Teachers of American organization, they wrote an article entitled: "Common Core Standards and the Federalization of Education." In this article we read: "Many are concerned that the Common Core Standards, once successfully implemented, will provide unfettered access of our educational system by the United Nations. Some textbooks and curricula for our public schools have already been written by the [United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization] UNESCO and the International Baccalaureate program, that is currently in many school districts, across the United States. Grabbing additional access is a natural next step. Once they write the curricula, they must have authority to develop all testing tools."
The UN involvement in the American educational system has already been facilitated by treaties signed by American presidents from both parties. Those documents include but are not limited to: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Treaty on the Rights of the Child, Civic Education: Classroom Connections, and Agenda 21.
The US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development (since 2003), is the nexus of the UNA-USA and Global Leadership Coalition at the Department of Education, which altogether leverages the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014. UNESCO, the lead agency of the Decade, defines Education for Sustainable Development as "education for everyone everywhere" for the "lifelong learning" of "present and future generations".
The UNA-USA sponsors Model UN across America and tailors its Global Classrooms curricula to whichever setting the kids happen to be participating. Children are unknowingly trained to respond with prescribed consensus to the situations, simulations and stimulation's of the particular activity (Delphi Technique). Global Kids is the CFR arm of Connect All Schools Consortium, a new Department of Education network, led by Independent Sector and The White House via United Planet Partners. Global Kids is preparing children for Agenda 21.
The White House, NSA and CIA now have website divisions aimed at kids. The Public Education Network is a national association funded by Independent Sector donors: plus Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Department of Education
From the Partnership for 21st Century Skills aligning the Common Core State Standards with "professional development" content for teachers and principals and Lego Robotics curricula for students (Carnegie Mellon/Lego Education); to software curricula through websites like: cyberschoolbus.un.org, icivics.org, atomiclearning.com, renlearn.org, brainpop.com and ttl4.sunburst.com; to the weekly deliveries of Time for Kids magazine and textbook curricula into classrooms; kids are programmed with UN-defined values. State Governors administer Federal funds to "Community-Oriented Policing" systems like Crime Stoppers (The UN, FBI and other law enforcement and corporate partners administer Crime Stoppers International), the local student-equivalent of the Department of Homeland Security's' "See Something, Say Something" campaign; whereby children see hand-drawn posters of child characters on school walls displaying "Eyes Looking", "Ears Listening", "Mouth Reporting" with a hotline to call. Presidents Bush and Obama have personally followed the George H. W. Bush/Clinton trail of the Agenda 21/ Sustainable America megabanks-maze in "bipartisan" fashion.
UNESCOPLEDGESSUPPORT OF COMMON CORE
From UNESCO's document "The Vision of Education Reform in the United States" it states: "My department has been pleased to partner with the US Agency for International Development to help ensure that our best domestic practices are shared world-wide. The United States provides over a billion dollars annually to partner countries working on educational reform. Our goal for the coming year will be to work closely with global partners, including UNESCO, to promote qualitative improvements and system strengthening....Ultimately, education is the great equalizer. It is the one force that can consistently overcome differences in background, culture, and privilege."
Principle #25- "Children and Youth in Sustainable Development." In the "Activites 25.9.d" it states: "Ensure access for all youth to all types of education, wherever appropriate, providing alternative learning structures, ensure that education reflects the economic and social needs of youth and incorporates the concepts of environmental training, implementing innovative methods aimed at increasing practical skills, such as environmental scouting."
Principle #36- "Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training." In the Activities Section of this document in "36.5.g" we read: "Within two years the United Nations system should undertake a comprehensive review of its educational programmes, encompassing training and public awareness, to reassess priorites and reallocae resources. The UNESCO/UNEP International Environmental Education Programme should, in cooperation with the appropriate bodies of the United Nations system, Governments, non-governmental organizations and others, establish a porgramme within two years to integrate the decisions of the Conference into the existing United Nations framework adapted to the need of the educators at different levels and circumstances. Regional organizations and national authorities should be encouraged to elaborate similar parallel programmes and opportunies by conducting an analysis of how to mobilize different sectors of the population in order to assess and address their environmental and development education needs."
In the Activities Section of this document in "36.5 h" we read: "There is a need to strengthen, within five years, information exchange by enhancing technologies and capacities necessary to promote environment and development education and public awareness. Countries should cooperate with each other and with the various social sectors and population groups to prepare educational tools that include regional environment and development issues and initiatives, using learning materials and resources suited to their own requirements." Sounds just like PARCC and SLDS. ASU's Institute for Global Sustainability and their "Sustainable Cities Network" is doing a fine job "brain-washing" our students in our high schools on sustainability, global warming (aka climate change), etc. Go here to meet the ASU sustainability schools!
COMMON CORE SCIENCE STANDARDS TEACH GLOBAL WARMING!
Reality Check.....COMMON CORE EDUCATION = COMMUNISM IN AMERICA!
Common Core Education is the INDOCTRINATION of our CHILDREN.
DO NOT LISTEN TO THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT RHETORIC FROM MIKE HUCKABEE!!!
Reality Check- just in case you ever had a doubt......MIke Huckabee is a typical GOP Establishment person.
Mike Huckabee is now championing Common Core Education on Fox News for the GOP! How disgusting is that?!?!? "Mike Huckabee Urges Conservatives to Back Common Core Standards"
This is another reason why Constitutional Conservatives MUST leave the GOP and beware of what you hear on Fox News. Fox News continues to move to the left - to the liberal progressive side of issues. That is the very very sad but true fact. Mr. GOP Huckabee....."It's disturbing to me there have been criticisms of these standards directed by other conservatives including the RNC," Huckabee wrote. "The truth of the matter is, these criticisms are short-sighted." see attached article from Sunshine News. Send a message to Mr. GOP Huckabee at http://www.mikehuckabee.com/masterfeedback and send a loud message to the every more liberal progressive Fox News! Americans that believe in our Constitution must not be silent about this!
Do NOT let Fox News get away with promoting the very liberal progressive Common Core Education that promotes the ideology that American Children are Common/Community Property!
Do NOT let Fox News get away with promoting the loss of state's rights and the federal government taking over Education. WE NEED TO ABOLISH THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - NOT EMPOWER IT!
If you support SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM FOR THE U.S.A. then COMMON CORE EDUCATION IS FOR YOU. If you believe in the U.S.A. CONSTITUTION....then YOU WILL LOUDLY AND OPENLY REJECT AND OPPOSE COMMON CORE EDUCATION AND ANYONE THAT PROMOTES IT!!
Common Core Education is the indoctrination of American Children. This is NOT acceptable if you still believe in FREEDOM!!
The proponents of Common Core say that the standards ARE state led because they were developed by The National Governors' Association.
Well, perhaps this is true in a way that is very disturbing! Listen to this speech at the 1989 NGA conference on education (at 12:48).
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
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!
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:
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
AGENDA 21 RESOURCE PAGEs
Agenda 21 and the impact on personal property rights and land rights content, This page is updated often, last update was May 3rd, 2013 about conservation easements by Rick Buchanan The most recent updates are first, but the foundational video series are below. under the
Taking Liberty Video Documentary. We have had several hundred thousand visitors to this page due to its indepth resources on Agenda21 and property rights. You can also search our database of over 15,000 content news and commentary articles for more information. Use the search box in the upper right corner above the newsletter subscription button. Recently the UN website removed some long standing links to the 351 page document on Agenda21 (link below) Just a note: Don't be fooled by the term "non-binding", as that can be easily edited by the removal of 3 letters.
Donna Holt from Campaign for Liberty has also written extensively on this issue and her research provided valuable information both to James Simpson and Right Side News, and most importantly, the citizens of Virginia to get them involved at the local level.
Sustainable Development is code for a policy designed to transform human society, essentially eliminating individual life decisions and replacing them with top - down, one-size-fits-all government control. In steady fashion, the agenda for this new policy, designed at the international level, is put into place piece by piece with a new government council here, and new regulation there, each designed to appear as a "local" development program. Like the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling pot, many Americans fail to notice the rise in government heat.
The main course of action to impose the new agenda is through the pretense of environmental protection; "Sorry about your rights, but if we don't save the planet, then we will all perish!" And so with the devastation of a thousand pin pricks, America and its form or government is being changed through the creation of non-elected boards, councils and regional governments, designed to enforce the new regulations and "assure that we protect the environment."
The pin pricks come disguised as such issues as controls on community development; controls on use of private property; controls on use of open space; creation of development areas, many times under the excuse of historic preservation; communities designed on the blue print of pack and stack housing; making it harder to drive as roads are narrowed, even forcing cars to share the road with bicycles; the enforcement of expensive mass transit boondoggle projects; and the never ending spending spree on inefficient, unworkable alternative energy, such as wind and solar power.
In fact, control of energy and water are the two most effective tools in the enforcement of the Sustainable Development agenda. Without energy and water, human society stops. Using strict controls on how, or even if, energy and water can be used provides government with the power to dictate every aspect of society.
Mandatory Biometric Enrollment Lawsuit - UPDATE (fingerprinting, facial recognition, iris scan, DNA, etc.) By Mark Lerner: Co-Founder Constitutional Alliance
If you value liberty and understand how dangerous government mandated biometric ID is to our freedom, you need to read and understand every word of what I am writing about today. Something very important is happening so stay with me.
Over the years, the Constitutional Alliance has consistently fought against mandatory biometric ID and for the right of all citizens to be free of it. Government mandated biometric ID is the lynchpin of the modern surveillance society. The amount of control this system gives government over individuals is an anathema to a free society and we oppose it being imposed on anyone - period. You cannot reconcile a free society with a surveillance society.
The founders of this country called religious freedom "the first freedom" because it is a precondition for other important rights.. Try to imagine the value of freedom of speech, or freedom of association without religious freedom and you will quickly see why religious freedom, also referred to as 'freedom of conscience' is so important.
Here is the Big News
This past week, 19 June 2013, a Motion for Summary Judgment was filed in Kaye Beach's lawsuit in the state of Oklahoma (You can read it here). This is a pre-trial motion that presents the undisputed facts of her case and makes the strongest assertion based on those facts, that her rights are being violated. The Motion for Summary Judgment asks the Judge, based on these undisputed facts, to rule in her favor. Kaye fully expects a favorable ruling on this Motion but in the event that this doesn't happen, her lawsuit will continue on. You need only to read the first 30 pages of the Motion to understand the arguments Kaye and her attorneys have made. If you choose to read further you can read about the answers the Department of Public Safety (the department that oversees the issuance of driver's licenses) gave to Kaye's "Discovery Motion".
Kaye Beach's lawsuit, is the only substantial challenge to government mandated biometric ID, to my knowledge, that exists anywhere in our country.
Here is a brief recap of the issue and basis for Kaye's legal challenge;
Kaye is opposed to mandatory biometric identification which is required of her if she wishes to have a state issued driver's license or ID card. As we know, the ability to drive a vehicle and also banking, many financial transactions, as well as a host of other necessary daily activities are dependent upon having a government issued photo ID most commonly presented in the form of state driver's license or ID card. Try to go without one and you will soon find (like Kaye has!) that not having a valid ID is no small matter.
In September, 2011 Kaye filed a lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma for the unwarranted collection of her biometrics and for violating her religious freedom, both of which are protected under Oklahoma law. Kaye is a born again Christian.
We must stop the call for a Constitutional Convention!
Article V of the Constitution:
Gives NO guidelines for how to conduct a Con Con.
NO rules on how delegates will be eligible or selected
States have NO Guarantees they will even be represented
Con Con could result in a COMPLETE CHANGE of our way of government
There simply are NO controls over the delegates once selected.
We must stop the call for a Constitutional Convention!
I have enclosed a vitally important petition.
I desperately hope you will immediately sign. I am not exaggerating when I say the future of our nation is at stake.
I am becoming more alarmed by the day.
Because the drive to force a Constitutional Convention (Con Con) is growing stronger.
I am getting phone calls and notes from APC supporters telling me that they are receiving appeals asking them to support a Con Con.
I am seeing more and more articles in Conservative publications supporting the call for a Constitutional Convention.
The Internet is full of such messages. Many in the Tea Party are beginning to support the idea of a Con Con.
Those pushing the idea are powerful and well funded. Every single state government and all state legislators in the nation have received very expensive, professionally-produced packages detailing how a Con Con could be called and controlled for a Conservative agenda.
This is an outright lie. A Con Con can not be controlled and there can be no guarantee that delegates will do anything they are instructed to do.
By calling a Con Con our precious Constitution will be placed on an operating table and cut to ribbons. Nothing is more dangerous to our Republic.
But the movement for a Constitutional Convention is gaining strength. Conservatives are being targeted because of our love of the Constitution and our frustration over how it is being ignored by those leading our government.
The effort is misguided, dangerous and just plan wrong.
We must stop this movement now.
Urgent: I have enclosed a petition to your state's Governor asking him/her not to sign on to the Con Con movement.
You and I must deliver thousands of these petitions to every single Governor as fast as we can. They must know that Americans across the nation do not support this certain destruction of our Constitution.
Please sign your petition and we will email it immediately to your state governor.
This new Con Con effort is very serious. The organizers are misguided in thinking they can control a Con Con once it has been called.
But that's what they are telling state legislators and Governors. And many who truly want to fix our problems are starting to believe it.
ImmigrationCounters.com provides the key numbers and events related to illegal immigration in the United States. Using the latest government and private sources, research and analysis trending data is factored at their individual rates of increase. For information about the research behind the individual counters clickhere Data Sources. ImmigrationCounters.com supports legal immigration and respect for all humanity yet highlights the significant impact of illegal immigration in America.
ImmigrationCounters.com informs the public of the realities of illegal immigration while challenging the myths and misinformation surrounding it. After decades of passively watching this problem grow, most Americans are now more aware of the severity of this issue. Our government has demonstrated a complete lack of urgency to control illegal immigration both on the borders and within the interior. Because of this large failure that which traditionally had been the American way of welcoming immigration is now dividing the country because of one word, illegal. Opposing illegal immigration and wanting the laws enforced is not un-American. It is time to set the record straight on what is un-American, illegal is un-American.
The issue of illegal immigration doesn't need more laws, studies or debates, it needs leadership and enforcement. America doesn't need immigration reform, it needs leadership reform. Because our government has failed to enforce the existing immigration laws, why should anyone be confident they will do so with expanded immigration reform? Because of these failures, legislators have been addressing the problems at their local levels with bills to manage it incrementally, piece-by-piece, rather than trying to fix the national problem at once--an impossible task. What most Americans expect is to have our borders secure, enforcement of the existing laws within the interior, meaningful punishment of employers who hire illegally and removal of incentives such as birthright citizenships and public school enrollments without status verifications. We must also address the fact that we're soft on criminals caught in crimes and aren't deported. No other country would allow this to continue. 40% of them entered the country legally and overstayed their visas. Yet there's still no reliable method to verify if Visa overstays have left the country. Another incentive that must be addressed is the birthright citizenship program that has resulted in millions of children and parents receiving instant rights and benefits. Some have called them "GPS babies" and this certainly cannot be what the authors of the 14th Amendment intended to occur. Public housing and other benefits are provided for the illegal parents through their 'anchor children' while citizens are turned away because of limited resources. This antiquated program must end. Government agencies and officials at all levels must address the costs associated with this kind of abuse. Past mistakes have been made in attempts to fix illegal immigration and our communities can no longer afford these kinds of mistakes.
The House on Wednesday rejected an attempt to curtail the National Security Agency's surveillance activities after a furious last-minute lobbying campaign by the White House to defeat the measure.
The House voted 205-217 against the amendment from Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), which would have prevented the National Security Agency from using the Patriot Act to collect phone records of individuals who aren't under investigation.
Now that the 4th Amendment is no longer a guarantee against broad government spying, the floodgates have opened for tech companies to give users their privacy back. Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde's text-messaging app Heml.is already reached its funding goal, while the Skype-like Unsene platform launched its own Indiegogo campaign today.
Just in case the Pirate Bay hadn't ticked off enough people in government, Sunde wants to build a spy-proof messaging service as an alternative to text-messaging or Apple's iMessage, which are reportedly monitored by intelligence agencies. Heml.is ("hemlis" is Swedish for "secret"), uses a security protocol known as End-to-End encryption, meaning that only the user and sender have the keys to descramble messages as they are sent over the Internet.
"We've decided to build a messaging platform where no one can spy on you - not even us," Sunde explains in the video.
Moderate Democrats are retreating from Obamacare, according to the Washington Post. Hospitals are retreating from Obamacare. Americans broadly doubt Obamacare will help them. Consumers in most states won't see reductions in premiums for their healthcare, contrary to what the Democrats claimed. In fact, there are twenty-seven ways in which Obamacare will increase the costs of your healthcare. In the meantime, Obamacare is costing jobs in Ohio and elsewhere. The restaurant industry is reducing hours of employees and cutting full time workers.
Why would Republicans keep funding a law that hurts so many people and is so unpopular? Why would they do that?
Republicans in Congress have a choice this fall with the latest continuing resolution. They can choose to not include funding for the implementation of Obamacare. Negotiate everything, but make that their line in the sand. If the Democrats choose to shut down the government over an unpopular law that hurts people, it is their choice. Republicans should not fund Obamacare.
Any Republican who chooses to fund Obamacare should be primaried. The advertisements write themselves. Republicans, by voting to fund Obamacare, are putting people out of work, driving up healthcare costs, and hurting families. Republicans are not listening to voters who hate the law if they fund Obamacare.
Right now in the Senate there are fifteen Republicans who have signed a letter saying they will not vote for any continuing resolution that funds Obamacare. They would rather the Democrats shut down the government than destroy lives by funding this legislation. Call these Senators today and tell them thank you and tell them to hold strong.
The failure of Detroit is only the latest dramatic illustration of the practical failure of liberal-progressivism, standing in contrast to the great successes of free markets and conservative governance. If you are Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning New York Times columnist, this sort of thing ought to give you pause about the connection between your big-government ideas and reality. Instead, it is only the latest example of how Krugman simply writes off any facts he finds inconvenient.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3.Planned Parenthood Committed Medicaid Fraud
Planned Parenthood has begun shutting down facilities in Texas. It would have you know that it would rather not comply with regulations to ensure the safety of its patients than spend money upgrading facilities. Never mind all the money Planned Parenthood has.
Turns out that some of that money is due to over billing Medicaid. According to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, Planned Parenthood has just agreed to settle with Texas in a Medicaid investigation. It will pay back $1.4 million for "fraudulently bill[ing the] Texas Medicaid program for products, services either not provided or not necessary.". . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4.Union Allegations Of Teamster Forgeries Being Investigated By Obama's 'Other' Labor Board
With all of the attention focused on the National Labor Relations Board these days, many people may not realize that there is another labor board that governs labor relations exclusively in the airlines and railroad industries. That labor board is the National Mediation Board (or NMB) and serves to enforce the 1926 Railway Labor Act.
Right now, the NMB has its hands full with an ugly fight between unions that has just gotten uglier amid allegations of one of the unions forging signatures as three unions fight for which union(s) gets to claim $15 million per year union dues.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
5.Reign of the man-child
There's a common thread running through Anthony Weiner's latest sexting escapades, Barack Obama's 19th pivot to the economy, and much else that's going wrong in America today.This is the reign of the man-child, the era of perpetual teenage indulgence.Nothing is my fault, man.Nobody understands me.Everyone keeps hassling me about little stuff.Nobody can see the superhero I really am.Consequences are a drag, so quit living in the past.
Anthony Weiner, working under jokey pen names like "Carlos Danger," is the perfect arrested adolescent.He's a married man pushing 50 with a young child, but he carries on with 20-something girls like a drunken frat boy emailing pictures of his junk from a kegger.It's virtually impossible to quote any of the "Carlos Danger" messages without offending the sensibilities of a mature audience.Does it date me to put it that way?Nowadays when you hear mention of "mature audiences," you think cable TV is about to run something with salty language and frontal nudity.But a truly "mature" audience is offended by such crude displays, especially when they emanate from the cell phone of a man running for high office.. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
President Obama sure was excited about his speech yesterday. He talked for more than an hour in sweeping, grandiose terms about everything that's happened since he became President, and everything that's still going to happen.
If only more of it were true.
Here are three major whoppers Obama tried to sell yesterday.
1. Obamacare is going great.
He's said this before, and each time, it's actually less true. To hear the President tell it, Obamacare is all about security, free things, and discounts.
In his speech yesterday, Obama said, "There are folks out there who are actively working to make this law fail." Nope, the law is failing just fine on its own. And that's why Congress should not fund it with taxpayer dollars.
Schadenfreude, Michigan, and Mitt's Big Fumble C. Edmund Wright Detroit is The Road Warrior taking place in real life, in the middle of the United States. So why is the GOP aiding the Dems in producing the sequel? More
How Detroit Almost Killed My Business Don Wilkie Until 1984, I was a business owner in the city, employing about 20. I moved my business 60 miles away. I didn't want to leave, but I was, in effect, forced to. More
The Campaign to 'Get' Mitch Daniels Richard Winchester Too man conservatives assume that the rules are the same for them as for anyone else. Mitch Daniles is only the latest. More
The Challenge of Racism Amil Imani RAcism is a perversionof the normal human impulse to classify groups. More
A Follow-Up File is Needed Jim Yardley Although Obama disdains all things military, he does emulate one aspect of the armed forces to a fare-thee-well. He is the human embodiment of a "fire-and-forget" missile. More
American Thinker Blog
Egypt: Where Military Coups Equal 'Freedom and Hope' July 25, 2013 Egypt's "interim President," Adly Mansour -- installed by a military putsch -- gave a speech of great significance Monday, although little noticed by Western commentators More
Hillaryizing Huma (updated: it's begun) July 24, 2013 Like her mentor Hillary Clinton, the stand-by-your-man strategy will be her gateway to widespread popularity and respect. More
Scarborough EXPLODES On Jay Carney. I'm Not Someone You Talk Down To From Your Podium
Race In America! - President Obama & The Race Problem! - O'Reilly Talking Point
Detroit in RUINS! (Crowder goes Ghetto)
Sibel Edmonds Blows the Whistle on Government Blackmailing
130723trifecta2b YouTube
Race Relations In America! - What Is The State Of Race In America? - Who Are The Real Race Baiters?
New York Weiner Roll
Tampon Earrings Parody
"The Race Problem" - O'Reilly Rips Pres Obama's Race Speech - On The Record
Brilliant! Ted Cruz Takes ATF Director Nominee to Task on Guns
The Resident: We are surveillance addicts
WND EXCLUSIVE
COMING SOON: AMERICA'S OWN ISLAMIC 'NO-GO' ZONES
Expert on terror training camps says expansion plans in works
Coming soon to dozens of locations across the United States: America's own "no-go" zones where Muslims install their own courts, government, justice and punishment, much like the zones that already exist across the European Union.
His organization has been so strong in its opposition to radical Muslim expansion in the U.S., he's been targeted in a $30 million defamation lawsuit by a group called Muslims of the Americas, founded by Pakistan Sheik Mubarak Ali Gilani.
The claims are that Muslims of the Americas was damaged by CAN's publication of the book "Twilight in America: The Untold Story of Islamist Terrorist Training Camps Inside America."
Israeli government officials voiced anger at U.S. press leaks traced to the Pentagon following the July 5 Israeli missile attack on the Syrian port of Latakia that destroyed a shipment of Russian-made anti-ship missiles, according to U.S. officials.
U.S. military intervention in Syria on behalf of Syria rebels fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime risks embroiling the United States and states in the region in a wider conflict, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a letter to Congress.
Lawmakers, contractors, Defense Department employees, and military experts warned on Tuesday morning that another $52 billion in defense cuts later this year will completely devastate the U.S. military.
Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) criticized the Senate immigration bill's approach to border security during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Tuesday morning.
he White House has threatened to veto a key Pentagon spending bill unless lawmakers increase the amount of money U.S. troops pay for healthcare and decrease pay raises for troops, among several other things.
President Barack Obama's last-minute National Labor Relations Board nominees continued their rush through confirmation on Tuesday, appearing for the first time before the Senate labor committee.
Look: Superhero comic books deal with fantasy. That's kind of the whole point. These are fantasy worlds. And you know who populates fantasy worlds? Fantasy people.
A billion dollars spent to date to train 5 percent of TSA's workforce has yet to "ensure that passengers are screened objectively or show that SPOT is cost effective or worthy of expansion."
Illiteracy runs at around 47%; half the adults in some areas are unemployed. In many neighbourhoods, the only sign of activity is a slow trudge to the liquor store.
Regardless of what the main stream media (MSM) may say, there is an internal war going on in America. Liberals and Conservatives are in an invisible fight against one another.
The Huffington Post has perfected the smear technique of expressing shock and anger at things that conservatives say which make complete sense and are factually based.
Al Jazeera, the Arab news network that has provided a venue for Osama bin Laden videos, the Muslim Brotherhood and a birthday bash for a convicted murderer, is coming to America.
Misleading the public, whether intentional or not, on matters of national security and the economic well-being of American workers, is quite a different and far more serious matter. Ryan is doing exactly that in promoting comprehensive immigration reform.
Due to IRS abuse, funding has become more difficult for nonprofits like FSM.
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
Family Security Foundation, Inc. 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., #298 Washington, D.C. 20006
Daily Email - July 24, 2013
Top Story Larry Grathwohl: Eyewitness to Communist Terrorism By Cliff Kincaid | July 23, 2013 Larry Grathwohl may be best known as the FBI informant in the Weather Underground who disclosed that Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, and their Weather Underground criminal gang, had plans to eliminate as many as 25 million Americans if they came to power. Unexpectedly, Larry, a good friend for many years, passed away last week. [...] AIA Column How Elites Subvert Policy By Spencer Irvine | July 23, 2013 Elites, particularly academic ones, think that foreign policy is too important to be left to the American public, but the reverse may be true. From the AIM Blogs NYT Public Editor: Nate Silver Never Fit Into the Times "Culture"-Was "Disruptive" By Don Irvine | July 23, 2013 Guest Column The Shawarma Republics are Burning By Daniel Greenfield | July 24, 2013 Syria is burning, not because of the Arab Spring or Tyranny or Twitter, or any of the other popular explanations. The fire in Syria is the same firestorm burning in Iraq, in Turkey, in Lebanon and throughout much of the Muslim world. It has nothing to do with human rights or democracy. There is no [...] AIM Newswire Communist China Corrupt? No, You Didn't Say!
Wednesday morning, Joe Scarborough gave a verbal flogging to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on "Morning Joe" over the dip in President Obama and Congress's approval numbers just out in a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. To say things got tense, would be an understatement. Watch the clipHERE.
The chief of police in Gilberton Borough, Pennsylvania (population 834), is under fire after posting a series of profanity-laced videos that insult liberals, Secretary of State John Kerry and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. And he is in no way apologetic for any of them. Every single video in this story carries a warning for extreme and vulgar language, but you can see themHERE.
Ready Fuel is a revolutionary storable fuel. It's odorless, smokeless, and doesn't produce CO2. Ideal for home preparedness, indoor cooking, & lightweight backpacking.
North Carolina lawmakers have approved a bill greatly expanding where concealed handguns are legally allowed. The Republican-backed bill approved by both the House and Senate on Tuesday allows concealed-carry permit holders to take firearms into bars and restaurants and other places where alcohol is served as long as the owner doesn't outwardly forbid it. Watch the local television coverage of the new lawsHERE.
The family rescued last week by exonerated neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman after a car accident has been identified, but a family friend says they are keeping quiet because they are afraid for their lives. Read the story of the family and see their photosHERE.
Actor Bruce Willis joined his "Red 2" co-star Mary-Louise Parker for a radio interview with UK radio station Magic 105.4 and its DJ Jamie Edwards. The exchange, intended to offer more details on the new film, ended up being one of the most flat, awkward and cringe-worthy interviews you may ever see. Watch the entertaining exchangeHERE.
On Monday night, Billy O'Reilly gave one of the most impassioned monologues of his career. Almost 48 hours later, it seems everyone can't stop talking about it. In short, during his "Talking Points Memo" segment, O'Reilly lambasted leaders in the black community who would rather talk about the Zimmerman verdict than address some of the dire issues plaguing blacks in America. Watch the segment that's got people on both sides of the aisleHERE.
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson may be the winner of the British Open, but he's the loser when it comes to California's and the United Kingdom's tax laws. Mickelson won the title and the $1.4 million dollars that came along with it. However, he won't be bringing back half of that. See just how big of a tax bite Mickelson was hit withHERE.
It's 6am. You're on an early-morning flight and you're settling in for a three-hour journey. Your cabin companion finally takes her seat, and you pray: "Dear God, please don't let this person fall asleep, and drool, on me during the flight." See the video we all hope never happens to usHERE.
Richie Parker works at Hendrick Motorsports, a NASCAR racing organization, where he is an engineer. However, Parker is a little different than most NASCAR designers, he was born without arms. The 30-year-old says, "I don't listen too much to people who tell me I can't do something. There's not a whole lot that's going to stand in my way." See the rest of Richie's inspiring storyHERE.
Contrary to the way the media approach the issue of immigration reform, a CBS poll released Tuesday makes it crystal clear that a majority of Americans, 56%, want the border secured before anything is done to address legalization or a path to citizenship. Only 37% want the "status of illegal immigrants" addressed before the border is secured.
The media continue to fabricate a reality where the House GOP are on the wrong side of this issue because they won't pass or vote on the Senate's bloated, ObamaCare-ish immigration reform package. But no one believes the Senate bill will result in what a clear majority obviously want: border security before anything else.
CONTRIBUTOR: muckracker1. by Monica Davis The government is building the largest construction project in GSA history. This new monster government building will host the entire Homeland Security complex, from Coast Guard to FBI and ICE and more. It is a massive project of 1.3 million square feet of parking, and 4.5 million...
CONTRIBUTOR: The Liberator. Panama Canal discovery suggests 'defensive' missile capable of carrying nuke WND F. Michael Maloof WASHINGTON - Cuba may be in violation of the intent of an agreement that settled the Cuban missile crisis more than 50 years ago, according to an expert. But he made clear that's the least of...
CONTRIBUTOR: Mort Amsel. Russia's Immigration Service has reportedly granted entry permission to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been stranded at a Moscow airport since last month. "The American is currently getting ready to leave. He will be given new clothes. Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena will bring the papers he needs to leave...
CURATOR: John Rolls. Chris Martenson * Peak Prosperit In every era, there are certain people and institutions that are held in the highest public regard as they embody the prevailing values of society. Not that long ago, Albert Einstein was a major public figure and was widely revered. Can you name a scientist...
CONTRIBUTOR: The Liberator. Expert on terror training camps says expansion plans in works WND Bob Unruh Coming soon to dozens of locations across the United States: America's own "no-go" zones where Muslims install their own courts, government, justice and punishment, much like the zones that already exist across the European Union. That's...
CURATOR: John Rolls. Dave Gaubatz military coup (ˈmɪlɪtərɪ kuː) Definitions noun a coup organized and carried out by members of the armed forces The definition seems simple enough to understand, then why can't the Obama administration understand that what happened in Egypt was a 'military coup'? The answer is they...
CONTRIBUTOR: Live Free or Die. While many on the left are calling the George Zimmerman rescue this week a hoax or conspiracy, the family rescued by Zimmerman have been identified. While family friends are calling Zimmerman 'toxic', the family has revealed that now they are concerned for their own lives as shared in the story...
CURATOR: Zen Gardner. Three miles across with a tail hundreds of thousands of kilometers, ISON could be one of the brightest comets seen in modern times....
CONTRIBUTOR: Tin Hat Ranch. Sometimes leadership is unexpectedly thrust upon an individual. Sometimes it is assumed when no one else will stand in the face of adversity. As a person concerned with surviving a nation changing calamity you may someday find yourself in one of these positions. You may not realize it but just...
CONTRIBUTOR: N. Morgan. It may seem like a trivial skill to acquire, but with the shotguns limited capacity, loading and unloading could mean the difference between survival or not. With only a few rounds to work with, you have to make each and every one count, in an emergency. Three...
Remember all those dire predictions about the damage Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's public employee union contract reforms would do? Remember the angst of Wisconsin' teachers and other "vital workers" over what they saw as the end of the line for their cushy jobs and control over their state? Well they were right to be worried. They are getting crushed and put out of existence.
Now that two years have passed and the dust has settled, it's safe to say the union protestors who filled the legislative offices and camped out in Wisconsin's state capital were actually optimistic. The results of Walker's changes have been more devastating than either side could have feared or hoped for depending on their point of view.
"It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth -- and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts." --Patrick Henry
Editorial Exegesis
Obama changes stance on "stand your ground"
"Same-sex marriage isn't the only subject on which President Obama's views have evolved. In his remarks last Friday on George Zimmerman's acquittal, the President said it would be wise to 'examine' state and local laws governing the use of firearms in self-defense. He suggested that 'stand your ground' provisions are 'sending a message' that 'someone who is armed potentially has the right to use those firearms even if there's a way for them to exit from a situation.' He asked: 'Is that really going to be contributing to the kind of peace and security and order that we'd like to see?' It turns out that Mr. Obama participated in such an examination almost a decade ago and emerged as a stand-your-ground proponent. Illinois Review, a conservative blog, recently unearthed Illinois Senate records showing that then-state Senator Obama voted for and even co-sponsored a 2004 bill that expanded the protection of the state's 1961 stand-your-ground law to include immunity from civil liability for people who use deadly force to defend themselves or their property. The bill wasn't controversial in the liberal legislature, passing the Senate without dissent and the state House with only two nays before then-Governor Rod Blagojevich, also a Democrat, signed it. ... U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, a member of the Judiciary Committee, says he'll hold a subcommittee hearing on the topic this fall. Maybe he should call his former junior colleague as a witness and ask him to explain what message he was seeking to send in 2004." --The Wall Street Journal
Upright
"We wonder if Obama or Attorney General Eric Holder is familiar with the case of Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville, a black woman who received a 20-year prison sentence in May 2012 for firing warning shots against her allegedly abusive husband. The judge rejected a defense under Florida's stand-your-ground law. Alexander told police it was to escape a brutal beating by her husband, against whom she'd already taken out a protective order. For defending herself, she went to jail -- as some still wish for George Zimmerman. But by standing her ground with a firearm, she may have saved her life, just like Zimmerman." --Investor's Business Daily
"You might say, 'Profiling is unfair, and individuals should be judged individually!' Taken to the limit, such a position is ludicrous. Suppose police are trying to catch the criminal who just raped a woman in a city park. Would you want them to use sex profiling -- i.e., just round up men -- or should they round up everyone, regardless of sex? I'm betting that most people would view the latter as stupid. But there is a near equivalent in government. Ninety-six percent of the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists are Muslim, and most terrorist attacks in the U.S. have been committed by young Muslim males. Despite this, the Transportation Security Administration people behave as if each person who seeks to board a plane is of equal danger. That's why they search, frighten and inconvenience 5-year-olds and elderly people. ... God, unlike us mortals, wouldn't have to do any kind of profiling, because he knows everything. We mortals, with our imperfections, must find substitutes for his omniscience." --economist Walter E. Williams
"Like Detroit, America has unfunded liabilities, to the tune of $220 trillion, according to the economist Laurence Kotlikoff. Like Detroit, it's cosseting the government class and expanding the dependency class, to the point where its bipartisan 'immigration reform' actively recruits 50-60 million low-skilled chain migrants. Like Detroit, America's governing institutions are increasingly the corrupt enforcers of a one-party state -- the IRS and Eric Holder's amusingly misnamed Department of Justice being only the most obvious examples. Like Detroit, America is bifurcating into the class of 'community organizers' and the unfortunate denizens of the communities so organized. The one good thing that could come out of bankruptcy is if those public-sector pensions are cut and government workers forced to learn what happens when, as National Review's Kevin Williamson puts it, a parasite outgrows its host." --columnist Mark Steyn
"The moral-religious outlook of an older America ... restrained some of the wilder impulses of the human species. It was acknowledged fairly regularly that actions produced consequences; that as a man sowed, so he reaped -- due to which reality it was useful to think carefully about the crop one was planting, all the while watching the weather. ... Appraisals of this character fell out of favor as politics assumed a larger and larger role in life. What politician was going to go around with dour face and wagging finger, warning happy constituents of reckonings to come? The ancient moral law fell into disuse. History as a predictor of outcomes turned into televised entertainment. And so ... Detroit. Maybe Chicago. Maybe Los Angeles. Maybe a Medicare system yoked to unrealistic promises made for the sake of political returns, the future shoved further into the future, the can kicked as far down the road as possible. A moral overhaul for a nation suffering from the neglect of sound moral teaching is, you might say, a bit overdue." --columnist William Murchison
Democrats say Republican senators are unfairly blocking judicial nominees with "unprecedented" use of the filibuster -- to the point that Obama's nominees wind up waiting three times longer than George Bush's to be confirmed. It's a great tale of political victimization. But it's a myth.
House Republicans remain determined to take a "step-by-step" approach to the problem of illegal immigration and appear disinclined to develop wide-ranging legislation in the manner of the Senate.
In the wake of the Zimmerman-Martin case, Attorney General and Corrupt Political Hack Eric Holder has taken aim at Stand Your Ground laws because they had nothing to do with the Zimmerman-Martin case but are a distraction from the issue of racism, which also had nothing to do with it.
Al-Shabaab is claiming that it killed a veteran CIA official who oversaw the agency's September 2001 plunge into Afghanistan as well as another CIA operative as U.S. officials accompanied an African Union convoy from the airport in Mogadishu.
Weiner's schtick is wearing thin even with the crowd that was willing to believe his nonsensical babbling when he was claiming he was hacked two years ago. Even the New York Times had a rare moment of clarity regarding a politician who is a Democrat.
Panama Canal Discovery Suggests 'Defensive' Missile Capable Of Carrying Nuke By F. Michael Maloof WorldNetDaily Cuba may be in violation of the intent of an agreement that settled the Cuban missile crisis more than 50 years ago, according to an expert. But he made clear that's the least of concerns raised by new evidence.
Biden: US Ready To Engage With N Korea If Talks 'Genuine' Newsmax.com The United States is ready to engage in dialogue with North Korea, but only if Pyongyang is prepared for "genuine" negotiations and commits to giving up its nuclear ambitions, Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
USDA Grants $149,074 To Study Food Shopping Patterns With GPS By Eric Scheiner CNSNews.com The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded a $149,074 grant to study food shopping patterns that may form the basis of future shopping "interventions."
Why America Must Embrace Bible-Friendly Policy To Survive The 3rd Millennium
How Education, Literacy & the University Came From Christianity & Are Dying Without It By Kelly O'Connell CanadaFreePress.com As incredible as it may now seem, the entire history of Western education is steeped in the Christian faith. In fact, it is quite likely that without the foundational work of the Church, the modern world would not exist.
This afternoon President Obama delivered yet another major address on the economy. According to one top White House advisor, today's speech was just the beginning of "a series of speeches" Obama will deliver over the next few weeks.
Why now? Some reports indicate that the White House is hoping it can frame the agenda for upcoming budget fights. Congress is getting ready to head out of town for its August recess. And with top congressional leaders gone, Obama can dominate the headlines. But based on the latest polling data, it appears as if Obama is really in damage control mode.
Yesterday, we reported the latest Marist poll that found Obama's approval rating at a post-reelection low -- a dismal 41%, and another poll that found many Democrats have turned against Obamacare. The news isn't any better today. For example:
According to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, only 29% of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction.
While Mr. Obama is trying to take credit for an improving economy, Americans aren't buying it. Just 31% believe the economy is likely to improve next year.
Only 34% said they believed Obamacare is a good idea. Anyone who thinks Obamacare is a good idea should talk to part-time workers in Florida,Nebraska,Ohio and communities across the country where hours and paychecks are getting slashed thanks to the new law.
Asked whether they wanted Obama or Congress to take the lead in setting policy for the country, 38% said Obama, while 48% said Congress. That's an interesting finding because the liberal media constantly tries to inflate Obama's standing by noting that he's so much more popular than Congress. Yet the American people would still prefer Congress set the agenda rather than Obama!
In other news, Obama's program to aid struggling homeowners is a failure. According to a new report, nearly half of the mortgages modified under Obama's 2009 program are in default again. And taxpayers are still losing billions on Obama's bailout of "Government Motors."
Instead of just talking, maybe Mr. Obama should sit down and read a few economics textbooks!
Chaplains Must Be Religious
Here's a sign of the confused times in which we live: The House of Representatives voted last night, largely along party lines, to prevent the Department of Defense from hiring atheist chaplains.
This amendment became necessary after a liberal Democrat proposed legislation in June authorizing the Pentagon to hire individuals who are "certified or ordained as secular humanists and ethical culturists or atheists" as chaplains.
You learn something new every day. I did not realize one could become an ordained atheist!
Summing up the frustration of many Americans, Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) said the following in response to the left's repeated assaults on religious liberty:
"My constituents back in Oklahoma are shaking their heads. The secular left is so invested in ripping God from everything that I must stand here ... to prohibit Obama's Department of Defense from establishing an oxymoron -- atheist chaplains. Why does the secular left insist on ruining the integrity of the chaplaincy to serve their agenda of institutionalized godlessness?"
Rep. Bridenstine is right. This is where the left's "war on faith" has taken us. Congress is now debating atheist chaplains. It seems ludicrous. That a chaplain should be religious goes without saying. But then again, our Supreme Court just ruled that men can "marry" other men too.
Sadly, this isn't over. The assault on religious liberty in Obama's military has gotten so bad that a number of groups, including my public policy organization, American Values, have formed a coalition to defend the religious freedom of our men and women in uniform.
Once again, I implore pastors and men and women of faith to get involved in the political process. The culture war is very real and our religious liberty is at stake.
A Disgraceful Campaign
Mark your calendars, friends. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I have agreed with the editorial page of the New York Times. But to my pleasant surprise, today is one of those days.
The New York Times is calling for Anthony Weiner to drop out of the mayoral race. His campaign is a disgrace and I have little doubt that should he be elected mayor of New York City, he would only disgrace the office and betray the public's trust yet again.
Mr. Weiner warned us when he resigned from Congress in disgrace over a "sexting" scandal that more pictures and messages would likely emerge. And they have.
But no one expected, now that he is running for mayor, that these new messages would be unrelated to those that forced him from Congress. Sadly, that is precisely the case. Weiner's "I warned you" defense is no defense at all. By the way, it has been reported that the young lady Weiner was most recently "sexting" was a field organizer for Obama for America.
Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, appeared with him yesterday to assure everyone that this public humiliation doesn't change her opinion of her husband and that he is deserving of our votes. My heart goes out to her.
But I wonder if she understands how much she is hurting the cause of women. Like Hillary Clinton, who repeatedly tolerated her husband's continued humiliation of her with his exploitation of other women, Huma has apparently decided that the prospect of political power trumps the abuse she is taking.
I remember when the feminist left went ballistic in the 60s when Tammy Wynette released the popular song "Stand By Your Man." But feminist left-wing women in politics apparently are willing to be doormats for their men. A "war on women," anyone?
Unsung Black People
Dear Fellow Conservative,
It must be hard for young black males to always be viewed as criminals by people who notice crime statistics. We've jawboned that sad story for 40 years. Last week, President Obama ran it around the block again in another speech about himself in reaction to the George Zimmerman verdict.
Let's give that beloved chestnut a rest for a day and consider another way blacks have it harder than whites. Only black people are expected to never speak against their community. Might we spend five minutes admiring the courage of blacks who step forward and tell the truth to cops, juries and reporters in the middle of our periodic racial Armageddons? This one is never discussed at all.
The Editors' Top Picks NSA Taps Directly Into Undersea Fiber-optic Data CablesIn order to conduct its massive surveillance of data, the NSA taps directly into the world's network of undersea fiber-optic cables that carry electronic communications.Blurring the Line between Police and MilitaryRadley Balko's book Rise of the Warrior Cop could have been entitled The Emergence of SWAT Teams and Their Takeover of Local Law Enforcement.House to Debate Curb on NSA SurveillanceThe U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday is scheduled to debate an amendment to curb the National Security Agency's collection of records of billions of phone calls.U.S. Auto Industry Objects to Japan's Entry Into TPPA petition signed by over 50,000 U.S. autoworkers objects to Japan's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).Higher Education: Brainwashing 101More and more, colleges are becoming venues where left-wing professors attempt to indoctrinate students with liberal views, instead of focusing on academics.Disciples of Christ Vote to Embrace HomosexualityThe Disciples of Christ is the latest denomination to reject biblical integrity in favor of political correctness, as its leadership has voted to embrace homosexuality.
This week in election integrity news...
NORTH CAROLINA
Guns, Voter ID Remain as NC Lawmakers Near Adjourn - House and Senate Republicans, like Democratic leaders once in charge before them, have seen tempers flare and frustrations grow as the session continued several weeks beyond projections, causing one GOP senator to complain last week he was "sick of the House." GOP Gov. Pat McCrory's legislative wish list and the weekly "Moral Monday" protests critical of Republican policies are adding to the tension.
PENNSYLVANIA
Voter ID Law Defended in High Court - A former policy director for Pennsylvania's Department of State defended the state's tough voter identification law yesterday as a reasonable compromise that followed intense negotiations, even though it omits changes that the department proposed to ease some of the requirements.
I've written below about some of the deception in the testimony today of Cornelia Pillard, President Obama's nominee to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The pattern continued as the nominee answered questions by Republican Senators about her past positions.
Because Pillard has never been a judge, the questions necessarily focused on her writings as a law professor and, to a lesser extent, as an advocate in legal briefs. Senators may well have been hampered in such questioning by the fact that the hearing occurred within around two months of the nomination. Pillard has written voluminously, and it's doubtful that Senators had the time needed to find, digest, and formulate questions about her full body of work.
Most Republican judicial nominees have had to wait much longer for their hearings. For example, if memory serves, John Roberts had to wait about ten times as long when he was nominated for the D.C. Circuit. But President Obama needs troops on the D.C. Circuit, which is one of the few entities that constrains his power to rule through executive fiat.
Fortunately, the writings of Pillard that have been uncovered gave rise to interesting lines of questioning. Unfortunately, Pillard's answers were highly evasive and/or lacking in candor.
Only four Republican Senators out of eight on the Committee asked questions today. Ranking Member Grassley (and later Sen. Cruz) inquired about a statement Pillard made regarding Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. EEOC. In that case, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 9-0, found that the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment bar suits brought on behalf of ministers against their churches under the anti-employment discrimination laws, because churches and other religious groups must be free to choose their leaders without government interference.
Prior to the decision, Pillard wrote that the position of the defendant church represents "a substantial threat to the American rule of law." This statement was the focus of questions by Grassley and Cruz.
Pillard tried to side-step the inquiry by confessing that she is an imperfect predictor of how the Supreme Court will rule (she was referring to a statement she had also made that "the big news will be if the Court decides [the case] for the Church"). This was a cynical evasion.
The problem is not Pillard's failure to predict how the Court would rule; the problem was her radical position that the church's invocation of its First Amendment rights substantially threatens the rule of law. Pillard was unwilling to defend this position, so she dodged the question.
The significance of the 9-0 vote in favor of the church is not Pillard's failure to anticipate it. The significance lies in the fact that she took a position too radical for any of the Court's liberals to adopt. In fact, according to Cruz, Justice Kagan described the government's position in the case, which Pillard supported, as "amazing."
Pillard did no better with a question from Senator Lee about her argument that anti-abortion protesters are comparable to the members of the Ku Klux Klan who were the subject of the anti-KKK post-civil war statute. Pillard made this argument in the context of litigation trying to use that statute against anti-abortion protesters.
Pillard testified today that the comparison is "not at all fair." She explained that she had been forced to rely the anti-Klan law because there was nothing else on the books with which to go after militant anti-abortion protesters (Pillard hoped to use RICO, but the Supreme Court had shot theory that down). Pillard assured Sen. Lee that, because Congress has since passed legislation to deal with such protesters, there is no longer a need to use the anti-Klan law.
But this isn't very reassuring. The absence of better argument doesn't justify making an irresponsible, inflammatory, and indefensible (by Pillard's own admission) comparison of anti-abortion protestors to KKK members, who regularly engaged in practices such as lynching. What indefensible arguments will Pillard push the next time there is no better way to pursue her ideological agenda?
Sen. Cruz questioned Pillard about her equal protection critique of abstinence-only sex education, which I discussed here. Pillard testified that she has no objection to abstinence-only sex education unless it involves "sexual stereotyping."
This provides little comfort. Pillard plainly believes that judges have the power to review sex education courses implemented at the local level to determine whether they violate her feminist vision of what constitutes impermissible stereotyping. I agree with Ed Whelan that "anyone who imagines that federal judges should be applying these standards to decide whether a sex-education curriculum (both on paper and as taught) is constitutionally permissible shouldn't be trusted with judicial power."
Finally, Sen. Flake questioned Pillard about her "transnationalism" referred to in my earlier report. He asked her about a statement in which, apparently, she indicated that international law provides a promising source of new rights for U.S. citizens, now that recognized domestic sources of such rights may be largely exhausted.
Pillard said she doesn't agree with this view. She testified that she merely trying to explain to a Swiss audience the difference between our system and the system to which Europeans are accustomed. Specifically, she was trying to explain that we have a federal system.
I don't have the statement that Sen. Flake was referring to, and thus cannot yet evaluate the plausibility of Pillard's explanation of it. I can say, however, that Pillard is a less than ideal candidate to be explaining federalism to foreigners or anyone else. For she views "the federalism impulse" as a "sort of demonization of government" and an "effort to impede the ability of government to govern."
I left the hearing room believing (1) that the long-time acquaintance of Pillard who told Ed Whelan that if confirmed Pillard will be "the most left-wing judge in the history of the Republic" is probably right and (2) that Pillard is a quite a good actress.
Cornelia Pillard, whom President Obama nominated to serve on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning. Her testimony was articulate, polished, and at times charming. She presented herself as moderate, measured, and non-partisan.
Unfortunately, Pillard also struck me as astonishingly disingenuous, even by the modern standards of the judicial confirmation process.
When Pillard sought to ingratiate herself by fondly referring to the Virginia Military Institute (she was a lawyer in the case that forced VMI to admit women), one would never have suspected that a few years ago, in an article subtitled "The Virginia Military Institute, Where the Men are Men (and so are the Women)," Pillard derisively observed:
VMI is, after all, a tiny, rather eccentric and anachronistic military college in Virginia. Most Americans who were even aware of the Institute's existence before the litigation probably responded, at least in part, with a kind of shoulder-shrugging puzzlement about why anyone - male or female - would ever want to go to a college like VMI. The chance to become one of approximately 1300 cadets, marching around a toy-castle campus in uniforms, crew cuts and silly hats. . .hardly seems like the kind of opportunity from which anyone should worry much about being excluded.
Nor would one have guessed that, although Pillard had based her attack on VMI's all-male policy on the view that "many women are. . .physically stronger than many men," she later complained that VMI evaluates women "according to physical fitness standards set for men," and specifically that VMI's five pull-up requirement is discriminatory. Thus, the VMI matter exemplifies both Pillard's penchant, when speaking candidly, for injudicious and divisive rhetoric (she has also spoken of "conscripting women into maternity" and of treating women as "a class of presumptive breeders"), and for using egalitarian principles as a Trojan horse for the special treatment of women. Today, Pillard was not speaking candidly. Similarly, when Pillard praised Justice Robert Jackson's patriotism (in response to the question of which Supreme Court Justice she admires), one would not have supposed that Pillard is the founding Academic Co-Director and Professor at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS). That organization's mission is, as Pillard has said, "based on recognition that now we need to make some shifts from nation- or region-centric to a more broadly transnational, even global, orientation." Pillard concurs with her fellow founding CTLS professor and sometime co-author Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah, that transnational legal studies should not seek to promote U.S. interests, but rater should promote "fairer and more environmentally sustainable economic development." Sornarajah praises the transnational movement for finally reining in "the age of greed" brought about by American "hegemony." If this is American patriotism, it is a form unknown to Justice Jackson. Pillard was equally disingenuous when it came to answering questions from Committee members, as I'll show in my follow-up post.
Let it never be said that I can't say anything nice about Jimmy Carter. It's very nice that he's an ex-president, for example. (Though the attack submarine is a little much.) I look forward to being able to say the same thing about Obama some day. But lo and behold, it turns out that Jimmy Carter didn't just de-regulate airlines and trucking: he also de-regulated beer. I believe it was the fiasco of Billy Beer that made him do it-another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
In any case, Power Line's video division decided to revisit this classic story with our first ever original "mockumentary." It's about 10 minutes long, features the expert testimony of the great beer writer Martin Morse Wooster, and has a lot of painful memories for people old enough to recall the 1970s first hand.
P.S. Power Line reader with initials "FM" will want to watch all the way through the outtakes at the very end for a special shout out.
I thought that Anthony Weiner was a repulsive human being when he only appeared to be an ambitious congressman on the make and a seemingly permanent fixture on MSNBC. Yet the latest revelations of his post-scandal exhibitionism place him in a category beyond repulsive. In addition to his other vices, he is a little lacking in self-perception.
A college professor of mine once speculated that monarchy might be a more democratic form of government than democracy. In a democracy, we get a certain limited range of character types seeking higher office. In a monarchy, at least you have the randomness provided by genetic variation.
The character type thrown up by democracy used to be the man ambitious for greatness and burning to distinguish himself from his fellow citizens. In our present stage of devolution, the type thrown up is Weiner Phase I, a guy who yearns for higher office in order to wield power over the peasants who support him. Think Michael Bloomberg. Think Chuck Schumer. Think Eliot Spitzer Phase I.
As we devolve, we find ourselves confronting a variation on the type. It is the man who yearns to wield power and win the approval of voters while refusing to succumb to disgraces that would drive lesser men back into private life. His passions go well beyond the passion for power, though power is conducive to the satisfaction of all his passions. Think of the type as the Weiner Spitzer.
The new type is adapted for survival in the culture of New York. It is no accident, as they say, that Bill and Hillary landed in New York after Clinton's two terms.
The new type has emerged in New York, but he won't remain confined there. He is a predatory animal. He will overcome our resistance, which was none too high to begin with. It is now substantially worn down. We have seen the future and it is Weiner Spitzer.
Emile Griffith, one of the best fighters of his generation, died tonight at age 75. Griffith won both the World Welterweight and the World Middleweight championships; this was before the days of multiple belts and "champions" at every five or six pounds. Griffith fought 112 professional fights, winning 85. He fought an extraordinary series of luminaries, including Don Fullmer, Luis Rodriguez, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Dick Tiger, Joey Archer, Nino Benvenuti, Jose Napoles, Carlos Monzon, Bennie Briscoe and many more.
But Griffith is best remembered for his three fights against Benny "Kid" Paret. Griffith beat Paret in 1961 to win the welterweight title. Six months later, he lost a rematch to Paret in a split decision. That set up their third match, at Madison Square Garden in March 1962, in which Griffith regained the welterweight crown.
Griffith apparently was gay, or maybe bisexual. Of course, the public knew nothing about this at the time. But Paret reportedly referred to Griffith with a homosexual slur at the weigh-in before their third fight, so within the boxing world, the bout was viewed as something of a grudge match. It was nationally televised, and I happened to watch it. I can still distinctly remember the fight's tragic conclusion. In the 12th round, Griffith had Paret against the ropes. What happened next was clear to those who were watching on television: Griffith knocked Paret out, but Paret became entangled in the ropes and couldn't fall down. Griffith did what every fighter is taught to do: he kept hitting Paret until the bell rang or the referee told him to stop.
I believed at the time, and still think today, that the referee was criminally slow in stopping the fight. It was obvious to everyone that Paret was helpless. The referee, I believe, never worked another fight. Paret never regained consciousness, and died ten days later. Griffith was stricken with remorse, and some said that he was never again quite the same fighter. I doubt this, however: the Paret fight was actually quite early in Griffith's career, and he fought for another 15 years-like many other boxers, for too long.
The Griffith-Paret fight sparked several boxing reforms. Bouts were shortened (although not until some years later) to 12 rounds for championship matches, and 10 rounds for others. Referees became quicker to end fights when one of the boxers was unable to defend himself. In his later years, Griffith's many accomplishments as a boxer tended to be overshadowed by memories of Paret's appalling, televised demise and by Griffith's uncertain sexuality. In death, Griffith deserves to be remembered for what he was: a superb athlete, an indomitable competitor, and one of the most skilled boxers of the modern era.
ALAN KEYES - WND.com is reporting on the activities of people who have been gathering on highway and other overpasses in different parts of the country with signs advocating the impeachment of Barack Obama... (more)
WES VERNON, RA ANALYST - Author's Note: Below is a lightly updated version of an article I penned for The "Accuracy in Media Report" in 2009. The italicized material is new (except for the Editor's Note at the beginning, which appeared in the original.)... (more)
ALAN KEYES - Watching events unfold in the wake of the Zimmerman trial's not guilty verdict, I find it obvious once again that the Obama wing of the elitist faction has no use for the U.S. Constitution except when its provisions can be perverted into a weapon deployed against the rights and righteous liberty of the American people... (more)
ANDREW C. MCCARTHY - The first thing to remember is that, with the Obama administration, there are no coincidences. The attorney general of the United States is engaged in a shocking extrajudicial publicity campaign. Eric Holder is prosecuting George Zimmerman in the court of public opinion because he knows he wouldn't have a prayer of convicting him in a court of law.... (more)
LLOYD MARCUS - Sincere well-intentioned Americans are asking, "What must we do to heal the racial divide following the Zimmerman trial?" What my naive fellow Americans do not comprehend is that the Democratic party and the mainstream media are heavily invested in keeping racial tension alive.... (more)
THE HILL - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is pushing to fast-track legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing emails and other private online messages.... (more)
RARE - Would you trust thousands of low-level Federal bureaucrats and contractors with one-touch access to your private financial and medical information? Under Obamacare you won't have any choice.... (more)
JOHN FUND - President Obama has had a poor record of job creation, but at least one small economic sector is doing well: community organizing. The Department of Health and Human Services is about to hire an army of "patient navigators" to inform Americans about the subsidized insurance promised by Obamacare and assist them in enrolling.... (more)
JOSEPH FARAH - When Attorney General Eric Holder ordered the Sanford, Fla., police department to hold on to all the evidence in George Zimmerman's trial following his acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Trayvon Martin, he was doing more than signaling the U.S. Justice Department plans to subject the neighborhood watch captain to double jeopardy in violation of the Constitution.... (more)
WALL STREET JOURNAL - On Jan. 4 of last year, a local narcotics strike force conducted a raid on the Ogden, Utah, home of Matthew David Stewart at 8:40 p.m. The 12 officers were acting on a tip from Mr. Stewart's former girlfriend, who said that he was growing marijuana in his basement. Mr. Stewart awoke, naked, to the sound of a battering ram taking down his door. Thinking that he was being invaded by criminals, as he later claimed, he grabbed his 9-millimeter Beretta pistol.... (more)
MCCLATCHY - Courts cannot second-guess drone strikes that kill U.S. citizens overseas, an Obama administration lawyer argued Friday. A Republican-appointed judge sounded dubious about the expansive claim, saying she was "really troubled" by assertions that courts are completely shut out of the drone strike debate.... (more)
MICHELLE MALKIN - Yes, there's a war on women in America. But it's not the phony "war" that tampon-hurling feminists are always shrieking about -- as they did last week in Texas to protest tougher regulations on dangerous late-term abortion clinics. No, I'm talking about a real war on women waged by Saudi royals and elites who've imported human trafficking and abuse of domestic workers onto U.S. soil.... (more)
CLIFF KINCAID - The Rolling Stone cover photo of Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been the subject of countless news stories because people across the ideological spectrum have rightly objected to this magazine's glorification of the Islamist killer.... (more)
WASHINGTON TIMES - Attorney General Eric Holder has confiscated George Zimmerman's gun. Even though Mr. Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury in the death of Trayvon Martin, the Justice Department on Thursday ordered the Sanford police to put a hold on the evidence from the trial, which includes the Kel Tek 9mm handgun.... (more)
BREITBART - Cosby, an outspoken voice on cultural issues, says the recent trial did not prove that Zimmerman had racist motives at any point during his confrontation with Martin. That means race shouldn't be a part of the conversation regarding the case.... (more)
WASHINGTON FREE BEACON - Iran's foreign ministry on Friday criticized the acquittal of George Zimmerman and chastised the United States for widespread "racial discrimination."... (more)
NEWSMAX - A federal judge has temporarily exempted Hobby Lobby Stores Inc from a requirement in the 2010 healthcare law that it offer workers insurance coverage for birth control, which the retailer said violated its religious beliefs.... (more)
WORLDNETDAILY - Larry Grathwohl -- an FBI informant known for infiltrating Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn's radical Weatherman Underground Organization from 1969 to 1970 -- was found dead in his Cincinnati apartment Thursday.... (more)
WASHINGTON TIMES - It turns out the "rogue agents" at the Internal Revenue Service field office in Cincinnati weren't quite so rogue after all. Democrats had hoped some low-level minion at the agency would serve as the fall guy in the expanding snooping scandal. On Thursday, the fingers were pointed squarely at high-level offices in the IRS headquarters in Washington.... (more)
NEWSMAX - The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court gave the green light to the Obama administration by recertifying a court order allowing the NSA to collect telephone records in bulk on millions of Verizon customers, the White House said Friday.... (more)
WORLDNETDAILY - Amid revelations that the National Security Agency and others have monitored Americans' cell phone calls, a state court has affirmed the privacy rights of cell phone users.... (more)
WASHINGTON TIMES - House oversight committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa said Thursday he's baffled that the Justice Department declined to prosecute a government employee who apparently knowingly pried into tax records of a political candidate or donor, and said there should be a way for victims to know their rights have been violated.... (more)
WES VERNON, RA ANALYST - John Koster is not the first author to lay the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor largely at the feet of Soviet agents. He has, however, connected major pieces of that Soviet activity within the United States in significant detail. Mr. Koster, a serious author of history and U.S. Army veteran, has written a volume shining new light on the Soviet plot -- specifically as it involved Harry Dexter White... (more)
FRED HUTCHISON, RA ANALYST - During this time of political setbacks for conservatives, it is a good time to consider the vital role of Conservatism in Western cultural and political history... (more)
Morning Jolt. . . with Jim Geraghty
July 24, 2013
The Era of the Psychotic Candidate
Remember Alvin Greene? He was the guy who scraped together the filing fee to appear as a candidate for Senate on the Democratic line in South Carolina in 2010, and who won the nomination, even though almost no one in the state knew who he was. One of his major ideas to improve the economy was making an action figure of himself. We all had fun laughing at the surreal Forrest-Gump-come-to-life, and he was enjoyably crazy candidate, right up until the moment he
started howling and wailing at a reporter who showed up at his home, and then it started to feel like we were laughing at a man with serious mental-health issues.
We can still laugh at Anthony Weiner . . . and we will be laughing at him for a long time. But it is starting to feel like we're watching a man with serious, deep-rooted psychological issues relating to his sexuality, his self-control, his ability to assess risk, his inability to admit the truth unless confronted with overwhelming evidence of his falsehoods, his willingness to see others as objects and God knows how many other issues...
New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner said he sent texts and lewd photos of himself to a woman over the Internet after he resigned from Congress, prompting at least three rivals to call for him to drop out.
The gossip website The Dirty posted correspondence between the unidentified woman and Weiner, 48, who left the House of Representatives in 2011 after similar pictures sent to women surfaced. The latest images used the name "Carlos Danger," the website said. It displayed a photo taken straight down a man's body showing bare feet and strategically placed pixels.
"I said other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have," Weiner said at a press briefing in Manhattan with his wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton. "While some things that have been posted today are true and some are not, there is no question that what I did was wrong. This behavior is behind me."
Weiner said he would stay in the race for mayor.
God, I wish Andrew Breitbart were still alive so he could have hijacked the podium again yesterday.
Did anybody really think Weiner had actually changed from the man caught in scandal two years ago? Some may have hoped that fatherhood would make him grow up some, and some may be surprised that he would be so reckless as to choose to run for mayor with additional women out there, waiting to tell their tales of his much more recent tawdry behavior . . . but did anybody really believe that he had turned over a new leaf and become a changed man? Back in June, BuzzFeed's Ruby Cramer quoted professional therapists who contended Weiner's description of his short stay at a psychiatric evaluation center did not come close to what they would consider serious treatment.
People go into politics for a lot of reasons - some altruistic or idealistic or principled, some base, and for many, a mix of both. A career in politics can provide an individual with a lot of what they desire - power, admirers, fame, money. Kissinger declared power to be the ultimate aphrodisiac, so perhaps political stature is indeed a great way to enhance one's sex appeal. (Right now, half my male readers working in politics just mumbled to themselves, "I must be doing it wrong.")
Clearly, fulfilling those desires can be addictive. We've seen the comeback playbook executed by politician after politician, time after time, so that it has become a boring, predictable cliché; the more a candidate sticks to the playbook, the less persuaded we should be that there is any real remorse or acceptance of responsibility.
After the "deny, deny, deny" strategy (as Monica Lewinsky quoted Bill Clinton) blows up in a politician's face, he admits some portion of the accusations, but denies others. (A "modified limited hangout.") There may be counter-accusations; there is an acceptance of some consequences but not others. At the press conference, the wife may be rolled out as a human shield. There is an insistence that the focus on the scandal has been a distraction from the politician's real work. There is an insistence that this wrongdoing was a private matter and not the public's concern. The accusations are driven by partisan motives, anyway. There is an admission of sin and often a very public seeking of spiritual counsel from political allies who are religious figures. There is a soft-focus interview that appears to be an open confession but that remains vague on key details; the privacy of others will be cited. God will get mentioned a lot. And throughout it all, the politician remains convinced: I can come back from this. This isn't the end of me. As his presidential campaign flopped and his sex scandal ticked like a time bomb, John Edwards was utterly convinced he could trade his endorsement for the running-mate slot to either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton; when that effort went nowhere, he set his sights on being attorney general or, ultimately, a Supreme Court nomination.
They need this. They so, so need this. They really cannot go on to living a life outside the spotlight, just practicing law somewhere or running a hardware store. (Well, John Edwards is apparently returning to practicing law.)
The spoils of political victory - power, fame, groupies, lucrative post-elected-office jobs in lobbying or consulting - will always attract a certain number of unscrupulous head cases, egomaniacs, narcissists, and the borderline unhinged. They will only go away when the voters say "no."
Speaking of "no," and how some politicians don't realize it means "no" . . .
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner: Heroic Veteran of the War on Women.
A former employee of San Diego's mayor stepped forward Monday claiming she was forced to resign after she said the mayor treated women as "sexual objects or stupid idiots."
"The past six months turned out to be the worst time of my entire working life," said Irene McCormack Jackson, former communication director for Mayor Bob Filner.
McCormack Jackson had worked as a journalist and as a manager with the Port of San Diego before she accepted the position on the mayor's staff.
Among the allegations: that Mayor Filner told her to work without panties.
She also claims the mayor said he wanted to see her naked and couldn't wait to consummate their relationship even though they had only a working relationship.
"He thought it was acceptable behavior to regularly make sexual comments that were crude and disgusting," McCormack Jackson said.
SAN DIEGO - San Diego city attorney Jan Goldsmith will question the police officers in charge of Mayor Bob Filner's security.
A lawsuit filed Monday by former Filner communications director Irene McCormick Jackson claims the men who guard the mayor witnessed sexual harassment.
"McCormack Jackson was in an elevator with ... Filner along with the police officer..." the lawsuit alleges.
"The police officer was fixing his handcuffs," the lawsuit claims. "The mayor put a headlock on (McCormack Jackson) and said, 'You know what I would like to do with those handcuffs?'"
The lawsuit also says Filner stopped the harassment when a member of his security detail walked in on it.
"Mayor Filner only ceased trying to kiss her when the elevator stopped and a staffer got in with them," the lawsuit said.
Conservative Efforts Against Lindsey Graham Take a New Form
Bruce Carroll, friendly blogger, has a new project down in his home state of South Carolina:
Carolina Conservatives United launched today with a grassroots effort to Defeat Lindsey Graham in the 2014 Republican Primary. Carolina Conservatives United is a non-profit political organization based in South Carolina whose mission is to support political candidates who support conservative values and oppose those who do not.
"As residents of South Carolina and grassroots activists in the conservative movement, we are concerned not only about Lindsey Graham's voting record on important issues but also the contempt he regularly displays toward small-government conservative citizens," said Bruce Carroll, Chairman of CCU.
"Lindsey Graham is part of the DC culture that is crippling our nation. We believe that he's been there long enough and we are going to spend time outside our normal day-to-day jobs & lives to bring him home," said Breeanne Howe, CCU Board Secretary. "Fellow conservatives who would like to join us can donate to the cause and also send us leads on Graham's record through our email: DefeatGraham@gmail.com."
Bruce tells me, "Our board is expressly NOT supporting any candidate. We are only working to force Lindsey Graham into early retirement. I do not expect we will endorse a candidate for the GOP 2014 Senate Primary . . . We are starting from scratch and the investment of our time and personal money. We are starting with about $10,000 at kickoff tomorrow. I have some promises of donors once we launch, but I never count my chickens in advance. Our goal is to raise enough money to start running TV ads in South Carolina by the fall."
There's certainly no shortage of national conservatives who would prefer to see Lindsey Graham replaced with a more conservative voice, and probably a healthy percentage of South Carolina Republicans feel that way, too. But these folks will need a candidate - Nancy Mace, Lee Bright, and Richard Cash are all mentioned, but haven't jumped in yet - and Graham has $6.3 million in cash on hand.
We Now Return You to Garden-Variety Untrue Statements from Politicians
Can you stand one more politically shady deal?
Careful, Watchdog.org. This is the sort of thing that will make GreenTech sue you in an effort to intimidate you... I mean, again.
At a time when attorneys representing GreenTech Automotive said the green car firm was in financial trouble , company chairman Terry McAuliffe was running for governor - and telling a reporter his business was flush with cash.
"We are in great shape financially. I'm a big believer in get your money up front," he said during a September 2011 interview [4] with Politics Matters, a Virginia PBS news program. "It's not hard if you have a new idea . . . I could've raised a lot more money if I needed it.
Today's Movie Review: How Warner Brothers Is Probably Going to Louse Up their DC Superhero Movies
Man of Steel
I think most of the usual laments about Superman from comics writers and storytellers are accurate: He's hard to relate to compared to more "mortal" superheroes. He's either too powerful and not facing a real challenge - really, if you're a bank robber in Metropolis, just move - or a story involves Kryptonite, where he instantly changes from way too powerful for an interesting story to utterly powerless.
"If they ever find Yellow Kryptonite, both Green Lantern and I are hosed."
His villains don't seem to match up well: Lex Luthor is usually depicted as either a) attempting to conquer the city or globe in a purple and green armor-suit that is predictably doomed, or b) he's a fabulously wealthy corporate raider who farms out the dirty work to henchmen. Compared to most other superheroes, Superman is corny, doesn't have much inner conflict, and his secret identity is hard to take seriously - how many comedians have done the "it's just Superman with glasses on, how thick can Lois be?" routine? Finally, Lois usually feels shoehorned into the storylines and most depictions of the Daily Planet newspaper - really required by the story - are out of step with the modern reality of the newspaper business.
Despite all these limitations, we've seen six Superman movies in the modern era (four with Christopher Reeve, one with Brandon Routh, and now this one) and two television series (Lois & Clark, Smallville).
Man of Steel may be the best of them. The new guy, Henry Cavill, makes a very solid, likeable hero. I'd argue the very best scene is Kevin Costner as his adoptive father, Jonathan Kent, and young Clark, asking upon learning of his alien heritage, "Can't I just keep pretending to be your son?" (Your mileage may vary; perhaps I particularly enjoyed this scene because I watched the movie on Father's Day after having a nice morning with my sons. It also may help if your son looks like a young Clark Kent, and you're pretty convinced he's a gifted genius who will far surpass your accomplishments but you fear him losing his innocent worldview in a messy, complicated, world.)
A lot of comics fans are up in arms about (SPOILER ALERT) the climax where Superman reluctantly kills Zod in order to save some innocent people. In the comics, Superman rarely if ever kills anyone (please spare me the e-mails citing rare issues where he did) and quite a few feel this film fundamentally alters a core part of the character. Killing Zod can work if subsequent films emphasize that the killing of Zod was what made Superman so reluctant to ever use lethal force again, even against the most irredeemably evil foes.
If there's a catch, it's that Warner Brothers/Time Warner/DC Comics really wants to do a "Justice League" movie, driven in large part by the roughly billion dollars that The Avengers made. And done well, a two-hour action epic with all of D.C's most familiar characters - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and perhaps the Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, etc. - could be great.
But Man of Steel clearly wasn't built to introduce an audience to a larger universe, the way the end-of-credits bonus scene in "Iron Man" did. Yes, I know we see LexCorp, Star Labs, and allegedly a Wayne Enterprises satellite. But the world at the beginning of Man of Steel is very much like our own - the existence of aliens is an unproven theory and if any superheroes beyond Superman exist, the public doesn't know about them. By the end of the movie, the public knows about human-like aliens, the world sees Superman in action, and oh yeah, Metropolis has just endured a wave of destruction that's just short of nuclear annihilation. The U.S. government generally trusts Superman, but still has some wariness. (I found it interesting that Obama look-a-like Harry Lennix played the general keeping tabs on Superman and any alien threats.)
One of the many reasons The Avengers was such a delight was because the seeds of its story had been planted, line by line, scene by scene, in all of Marvel's preceding movies - the concluding scenes after Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and a good part of the storylines of Thor and Captain America. For decades, DC Comics enjoyed the advantage of having characters more popular and mainstream, but most of their recent projects either flopped or don't fit Marvel's model of a large, interconnected storytelling universe: Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern film was pretty painful, the Wonder Woman television series pilot was apparently too bad to even air; the Christopher Nolan Batman films have completed their story arc and wouldn't fit in well with a world of aliens and superheroes and magic, anyway. Similarly, the Green Arrow television series Arrow is enjoyable, but has established itself as a grounded-in-reality, no-superpowers, no-supernatural, just-very-skilled-human-vigilantes world.
So we're left with Superman, and a sense that he needs some solo storytelling to develop the character before sharing a screen.
AVIK ROY: In race relations, and so much more, it's hard to see things from the other's perspective. If only Obama acknowledged that. The Other Foot.
Hi everyone, see below for a list of smart meter co-signers for the house and senate. Please get on your Senators and House members if they are not on these bills. See below.
Control Smart Meters -PA House Bills Co-sponsors=(C/S)
HB 899 Repeal mandate -to install Smart Meters for ALL customers.25 C/S
This Sunday, July 21, will mark the third anniversary of Dodd-Frank, Washington's massive regulatory response to the housing market collapse, the failure of major financial firms, and the resulting shock to the economy in 2008.
Although three years in, the full effects of Dodd-Frank have yet to hit. Some of the most significant regulations are still winding their way through the bureaucracy. Dozens of rulemakings have been completed, but a backlog of hundreds more is prolonging regulatory uncertainty and inhibiting economic growth. Consumers are facing dramatically higher banking fees and fewer service options because of new government constraints on credit.
Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has released a discussion draft of a proposal, known as the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners (PATH) Act, that would wind down the federally sponsored housing finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and move the U.S. toward a housing finance system that protects both taxpayers and homeowners.
Conventional wisdom holds that worker productivity has risen sharply since the 1970s while worker compensation has stagnated. This belief rests on misinterpreted economic data. Accurate and careful comparisons show that over the past 40 years, measured productivity has increased 100 percent and average compensation has risen 77 percent. Inflated productivity measurements account for most of the remaining 23 percentage point difference.
An apples-to-apples comparison shows that employee compensation continues to closely follow productivity. American workers continue to earn more as they become more productive. To help Americans advance economically, policymakers should seek policies that will increase productivity.
About The Heritage Foundation Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is the nation's most broadly supported public policy organization. Heritage created the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies in 2001 to educate government officials, the media and the public about the Constitution, legal principles and how they affect public policy.
Defunding Obamacare is the Next Big Fight
The fight to stop Obamacare is not over. While Congress alone cannot repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Constitution grants Congress the "power of the purse." If Congress, led by the GOP-controlled House, chooses to defund Obamacare, the Obama administration cannot implement the law.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative Tom Graves (R-GA) are leading the charge. They introduced a bill that will defund Obamacare in its entirety. This is only a first step, though. Congress cannot simply allow the bill to languish. It must fight to attach it to must-pass legislation and force Democrats and President Obama to accept that Obamacare has failed and cannot be salvaged.
We face an October 1 deadline for the implementation of two new entitlement programs. All the new entitlement programs within Obamacare will cost taxpayers $48 billion just in the first year and nearly $1.8 trillion over the next decade. If that were not enough, nearly 2,000 new IRS bureaucrats will be on hand to enforce the individual mandate and dozens of other onerous provisions.
Thank you for joining us in the fight to end Obamacare for good.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Needham Chief Executive Officer Heritage Action for America
Insulating Obama From His Corrupt IRS By L. Brent Bozell III The media's refusal to report and investigate the targeting of tea party groups cuts to the very heart of their corrupt collusion with Obama. This IRS outrage demands firm, prolonged scrutiny. Instead, reporters by their inaction suggest that conservatives who dare to oppose the White House deserve every punishment the Obama administration hands out. That outrage demands scrutiny as well.
Nancy Pelosi, Creep Enabler By Michelle Malkin The most powerful female Democrat on Capitol Hill has turned her back on women -- again. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi refuses to say whether creepster San Diego Mayor Bob Filner should resign amid an avalanche of longstanding sexual harassment allegations, staff resignations and now a lawsuit.
Deliverance By Rich Galen A royal baby and a perverted politician, on opposite sides of the pond.
Weiner's girl: Meet the Indiana progressive activist who had the hots for Weiner
A 23-year-old Obama field organizer and progressive activist has been exposed as the latest woman to attract Weiner's affection. Likely one of the hacks promoting the GOP's war on women, this young female had no problem cheating with a married man and told Weiner she was 'turned on' by his healthcare rants. It's all downhill from there. More via TheBlaze.
"Danger" is not Weiner's middle name
Last night on Real News, Will Cain & S.E. Cupp attempted to re-enact the latest Weiner sex chatting scandal. Needless to say it was a severely edited down version of the raunchy Weiner sex chats, but entertaining nonetheless. Watch S.E. & Will do their best 'dramatic reading' of Weiner's sexts HERE.
Want more Real News? You can watch Amy, Buck, S.E., and Will weeknights at 6pm ET on TheBlaze TV. Start a 14 day free trial HERE.
Weiner's prolific history of lies
Anthony Weiner, aka Carlos Danger, admitted to more sexting yesterday and humiliated his wife once again. While he tried to be evasive, it quickly became apparent that Weiner had brazenly lied about his efforts to become a better husband after the first sexting scandal. Just one week before his big redemption family interview was published in People Magazine, he started up another racy online relationship. The history of Weiner lies & the latest lies were played on radio today. WATCH
Angry caller lashes out at Pat & Stu for being 'judgemental' on Weiner scandal
Pat & Stu both harshly criticized Anthony Weiner for his pathetic behavior - especially after he claimed he had turned his life around. But one caller took exception with the criticism of Weiner's wife, who decided to stand by Weiner and tell America he's totally fit for mayor. Check out the heated exchange from radio today.
Glenn speaks at CUFI, donates $100,000 - watch the full speech
Last night, Glenn was honored to speak at the CUFI (Christians United for Israel) event in Washington, DC. In his speech, Glenn criticized the way the administration is treating Israel and then used amazing historical artifacts to demonstrate the long history of the persecution of the Jewish people. Full story on Glenn's remarks and some of the incredible pieces of history on display can be seen HERE.
Obama 'pivots' attention to economy...for the 19th time
President Obama is still clueless about how to improve the economy. He's been in office for 1,646 days and he's still throwing big 'ideas' at the wall, hoping one sticks. Of course, none of his ideas involve shrinking taxes or the size and role of federal government, so of course the economy will continue to stagnate or get worse. MORE
All the news you need, delivered right to the palm of your hand!
Download TheBlaze iOS app to watch live and on demand video from TheBlaze TV and much more! Plus, with the new TheBlaze newsreader, access to breaking news from TheBlaze.com is easier than ever! Download TheBlaze iOS App HERE.
Carney again refers to scandals as 'pretend'
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney went on MSNBC to talk about Obama's 'pivot' to the economy but dug himself a hole when referring to the IRS and other scandals as 'pretend'. His big evidence? The media has since dropped the stories. Joe Scarborough had a rare moment of sanity and issued a smackdown. WATCH
Man in the Moon merchandise is now available!
From the Man in the Moon DVD and official soundtrack to t-shirts and more, Man in the Moon merchandise is now available. You can find all of the great products HERE.
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The sequel to The Overton Window has finally arrived!
Glenn's blockbuster novel from 2010 now continues with The Eye of Moloch - a thriller that's seemingly been ripped right from today's headlines. Follow Molly and her group of 'Founders Keepers' as they work to expose the secrets of a government that wants them dead. If you're looking for a summer beach read or just something to help you get even less sleep at night, The Eye of Moloch is a perfect choice. Buy a copy now and get an invite to an exclusive online event with Glenn. Get all the details HERE.
All the news you need, delivered right to the palm of your hand!
Download TheBlaze iOS app to watch live and on-demand video from TheBlaze TV and much more! Plus, with the new TheBlaze newsreader, access to breaking news from TheBlaze.com is easier than ever! Download TheBlaze iOS App HERE.
Tonight's primetime lineup on TheBlaze TV
5pm ET - The Glenn Beck Program: David Barton leads a special tour of the American History Museum seen at Man in the Moon.
6pm ET - Real News: Senator Mike Lee joins the Real News crew tonight.
7pm ET - Wilkow!: Pelosi hits Boehner hard on immigration.
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A couple George Zimmerman helped rescue after their family SUV flipped over on a Florida highway canceled a news conference Wednesday, citing the possibility of 'blowback' against them.
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials ordered subordinates not to talk to congressional investigators about their investigation into illicit hiring practices and related whistleblower retaliation allegations, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darell Issa (R-Calif.).
WASHINGTON, D.C - On Friday, July 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed 
Top teacher ignores latest reform directives
President Obama sure was excited about his speech yesterday. He talked for more than an hour in sweeping, grandiose terms about everything that's happened since he became President, and everything that's still going to happen.
Weiner's girl: Meet the Indiana progressive activist who had the hots for Weiner 
